Robots have been a staple of the literary genre, but the imagination of the human mind when grasping the concept of robotic beings has truly blossomed in the photographic medium, which includes not only motion pictures, but television and in painting and art as well. This section of the Robots website presents these image from a wide variety of motion pictures and media. While "real robots" rarely look like human beings, the robots of film and media at least walk about on two legs, and when mixed with bionics, the android type of robot, which has biological parts, resembles us so much that we can't tell they are robots. This makes us futher ponder the philosophical aspect of "reality". In the motion picture AI, directed by Steven Spielberg shown in a photo above, the robot boy longs to be human, like the fairy tale Pinnochio, which is referenced heavily in the film.

Each image thumbnail on this page will be captioned and a link is provided to the Internet Movie Database page for the listed film, which includes full cast and crew, plot synopses, professional and amateur reviews of the film, and photos if available.

This Section Could Not Be Finished Prior to Going Online as of 7:40 p.m. February 13th, 2005.

I have included a sampling of the many images which will eventually be presented here on this page. When the page is completed, there will be detailed captioning for each image and photo. Right now these samples do not contain captions. Come back later to view the completed webpage.

All Attempts will be made to complete this section within the week.

The robot "Maria" in the 1927 Fritz Lang film "Metropolis", is an early robotic "icon" in their cultural history. Metropolis was made merely six years after the "robot" appeared in Karel Çapek's play, "R.U.R." From this rather stunning beginning (image from the film has been texturized) the robot started to mechanically situate himself in the cultural landscape.
The early robots were always on a rampage. In the 30s, "mechanical men", like this one, from a serial adventura, terrorized many a town and city, prompting either Superman, Commando Cody, Flash Gordon, or Buck Rogers to come to the rescue and dispatch the rampaging automaton. Although the robots in the serials of the 30 looked like an assemblage of tin cans, and hardly looked threatening, they held the interest of audiences of the day. Isaac Asimov wrote the seminal work of robotic fiction, "I, Robot", in 1940, envisioning a world where robots coexisted with mankind, and operated under a set or "rules of robotics".
In the fifties, robots ruled.. As the 50s dawned, robots were everywhere. The most famous 50s robot is Robby, who was featured in the films "Forbidden Planet" (1956) and "Invisible Boy" (1957). He was somewhat of a celebrity following the release of "Forbidden Planet", and gave personal appearance tours and showed up on television series episodes. Robby was a computer, and could molecularly reconstruct anything inserted in his hatch. He spoke in stentorian tones, and his trademark sound is instantly remembered by anyone who hears it.
Even earlier than the appearance of Robby, another robot that showed up in a famous 1950s science fiction film is Gort from Robert Wise's cautionary tale of atomic absurdity, "The Day the Earth Stood Still." (1951) Michael Rennie played Klaatu, an emisary from another world sent to urge peace on mankind before he ends up killing his entire race.
In the 60s, robots were a staple not only in the movies but on television. The dawning of the age of computers in this decade gave rise to more outlandish and also more realistic robots in films. Astro Boy is squarely in the Japanese "Manga" realm, in which robots are abundant. Created by Osamu Tezuka first as a manga in 1952, and as a television series from 1963 to 1966, the little boy robot is well remembered by a generation.
While Astro Boy was airing on television, the first "giant robot" television series, Gigantor, also appeared. Gigantor would spawn such stalwarts as "The Transformers" in the 80s.
Robot toys had always been popular, but they seemed to be everywhere in the 60s. Robots are fascinating toys, as they "move on their own" just like the real thing.
A young Kurt Russell starred in the Disney programmer "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" from 1969.
"Gog" is a 1954 film about robots on rampage, reviving the earliest robot "plot" which had gone by the wayside for a bit following Asimov's "Rules of Robotics." The robots just can't stay docile, no matter how many rules are written, and they alway seem to want to kill off mankind and take over the world.
Silent Running starred Bruce Dern and a couple of small robots named Huey and Dewey.
Commander Data from the second Star Trek series "The Next Generation" is an android robot, who looks if not acts like a human being.
The menacing robot "peacekeeper" in Paul Verhoven's "Robocop" from 1987. The peacekeeper is about to turn on his makers.
C3P0 and his "counterpart" R2D2 were the comic relief in George Lucas' space epic "Star Wars" trilogy beginning in 1977.
"Pris" portrayed by Daryl Hannah in the Ridley Scott classic, "Blade Runner" is a "replicant", a robotic life form with a limited lifespan to insure that they don't start thinking they're human. In the original treatment of the script, the "Blade Runner" played by Harrison Ford is in fact a replicant too.
The Fembots in Mike Meyer's "Austin Powers" movies are in the tradition of the "sex slave" robot.

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