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.
Bu hikaye SFX dergisinin May 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye SFX dergisinin May 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
THE DYING DAYS
RUSSELL T DAVIES, NCUTI GATWA AND MILLIE GIBSON LOOK AHEAD TO THE TWOPART SEASON FINALE
BEWARE THE DUCHESS!
Oh, it’s been such a laugh.
Demon Daze
Archie launches its first Premium Event as Judgment Day comes to Riverdale
JEDI SLAYER ONE
A STAR WARS MURDER MYSTERY FROM THE CREATOR OF RUSSIAN DOLL? SFX GOES BACK TO THE HIGH REPUBLIC ERA TO INVESTIGATE THE CASE OF THE ACOLYTE
Children Of The Evolution
Nu-heroes assemble in Marvel's brave new Ultimates universe
Atlas Smith And J-Lo
Atlas director Brad Peyton on his intergalactic AI actioner
Pride Of Place
Wedding bells ring for Mystique and Destiny in this year's Marvel Voices: Pride
EightLegged Freak
The director of the Alieninfluenced Sting talks about his spider horror
Beauty And The Beast
Director Bertrand Bonello talks his vision of an artificial tomorrow in The Beast
Paint It Black
The Orphan Black story continues with Echoes, a new series set 30 years after the original