‘I, Robot’ More Smith Than Asimov

You ain’t just whistlin’

I love Asimov, he’s not just a god of sci-fi, but name me someone else who quite literally has a book in every section of the library from philosophy on down to history to mystery and sci-fi. The man was a genius and his robot novels have a profound impact on today’s robotic technology. You’d be hard pressed to find a robotic technologist who isn’t at least familiar with the Asimov Robot novels. And for those who don’t think sci-fi effects your real world, all I have to do is point out that cell phones open like communicators on Star Trek and not like switchblades or books.

That said, I’m appalled by the movie. It may be a good movie but it has no right to have the name I, Robot attached to it. The only thing it seems to have in common with the novels is that both movie and books have robots in them. If they’re going to kype Asimov’s Rules of Robotics, then do so, but don’t slap his name and title on it. Hell, I’ve seen Asimov’s Rules turn up in episodes of The Simpsons. They didn’t change the name of that, did they?

They did the same thing with the movie Lawnmower Man. As I recall, Stephen King sued to have his name removed from the movie. After all, the only thing the movie had in common with the short story is that there happened to be a guy in both who mowed lawns. Other than that, nothing was similar. The movie lawnmower man was a semi retarded guy turned genius (But they didn’t call the movie Forrest Gump did they?) and the same character in the book was a psycho who ran along naked behind his lawnmower eating everything that came out the back.

I expect movies to take a little out of the book, but I don’t expect them to change everything. Once that’s done, the title should no longer be used. You could say Hardwired was based on I, Robot and that’d be different. Still, they’re using a well known name to draw people in, conning them into thinking they’re going to see something they’re not.