AI, AND THE QUESTION OF IF man-made creations could ever achieve sentience in a way that puts them on a par with humanity, has been the territory of science fiction authors for many decades. Brian Aldiss explored the theme in his story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long”. So did Isaac Asimov in The Bicentennial Man. And television producers and filmmakers soon got in on the act. Years before devising Data, Gene Roddenberry’s TV pilot The Questor Tapes posed the same question. Blade Runner’s Replicants were so indistinguishable from humans that some weren’t even aware of their own true nature. But for many of a certain generation, it was a family-friendly 1986 movie about a wisecracking robot which first made them ponder what it really means to be alive.
Directed by Saturday Night Fever’s John Badham, Short Circuit is a deep story wrapped in a cosy, Sunday-afternoon-movie coating. It follows a government-built war machine designed to destroy that, through a chance lightning strike, is imbued with independent thought and human-like sentience.
Appalled at discovering its intended purpose, the plucky Number 5 ditches the NOVA lab and embarks on a journey into rural America to find a different meaning from the one it was hard-wired for. After meeting empathic animal-lover Stephanie (Ally Sheedy), the knowledge-hungry bot acquires a new mission: to learn more about life on Earth – all while trying to avoid the detection of its creators Newton (Steve Guttenberg) and Benjamin (Fisher Stevens) and the military brass that desperately wants to disassemble their rogue hardware.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2022-Ausgabe von SFX.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2022-Ausgabe von SFX.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
ANCER MAHAGEMENT
WITH A NEW TRILOGY IN SIGHT, WE SPEAK TO THE DIRECTOR OF 28 WEEKS LATER THE ORIGINAL CHILLING SEQUEL TO DANNY BOYLE'S SEMINAL SURVIVAL HORROR
WHO YA CONNA CALL?
BEHIND THE SCENES AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
THE DEVIL'S HOUR STRIKES TWICE AS THE GENREDEFYING DRAMA RETURNS
SCARRY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
FROM THE RETURN OF EC COMICS TO SCREAM!, THIS YEAR'S HALLOWEEN OFFERS UP HORROR COMICS FOR ALL THE AGES
UNDEADS REFLECTIONS
NEIL JORDAN ON BRINGING ANNE RICE'S MODERN VAMPIRE CLASSIC TO SCREEN, 30 YEARS ON
MUNSTER MASH!
PRODUCTION HELL, SHOCK RECASTING AND HOTLY CONTESTED AUTHORSHIP. AS THE MUNSTERS CELEBRATE THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE UNCOVER HOW THE SPOOKY SITCOM WAS ALMOST DEAD ON ARRIVAL
COMING TO AMERICA
THE MOGWAI LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THEIR SECOND CHAPTER, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH
BEING HUMAN EVOLUTION
IT MAY HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT HIT, BUT BBC THREE'S DARKLY COMIC DRAMA ABOUT A HOUSE-SHARING VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/GHOST TRIO HAD A STRANGE JOURNEY TO THE SCREEN, SERIES CREATOR TOBY WHITHOUSE TELLS SFX
THE MAINE EVENT
THE DARK IS RISING IN SALEM'S LOT AS STEPHEN KING'S DEATHLESS TALE RETURNS TO THE SCREEN
WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A BITE?
THE VAMPIRE COMES HOME AS DIRECTOR EUROS LYN WELCOMES SFX TO HIS NEW DARK COMEDY THE RADLEYS