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Killer Robots - Scary and Fascinating Agents of DestructionIsn't it fascinating that something so tremendously destructive as killer robots can at the same time be so ludicrously simple? Just think about it, if you want to stop them all you have to do is get to their CPU, and they are dead in the water. But to get to it first you have to raze a whole city block!
Killer robots in science fiction movies don't tire, they don't pause to catch a breath, get a snack, wee, tie a shoelace. There is this image I'm sure you're all familiar with of a robot in close-up which is coming at us. His legs a trailing mess of crushed wires aglow with electric discharge, his face a burnt ruin of craggy metallic plates - out of this stark inhuman visage glower a pair of pitiless X-ray eyes - and yet for all the damage Mr. Metallo has sustained, he keeps flailing his arms and crawling closer and closer. You can shoot 'em, stab 'em, burn 'em... you break them to sub-atomic particles, and they will keep coming at you until the moment their cold titanium fingers lock around your neck, or the algorithm that's running them is replaced.
Nope! As a matter of fact, they are a product of perfectly sensible scientific minds who work for the government, or the military, and are merely carrying out orders issued by the same kind of sensible people in suits, or uniforms, who are out to protect us tax-paying citizens from some unimaginable menace, which comes in the form of a rogue state abroad, or an underground movement bent on havoc and anarchy at home. All perfectly sensible, all perfectly justified.
Here are a few killer robots from science fiction movies. Some totally badass, some quite charming! All deadly and efficient.
Hector from Saturn 3 (1980)Hector from Saturn 3 has a robust body with a tiny head and unfortunately captain Benson for a mentor. While still at a programming stage, he downloads busloads of data straight from the captain's brain, including feelings, memories and desires Benson himself has no control of. Which turns the ill-fated robot into a hopeless nut case. Killer robots - here they come!
The Gunslinger from Westworld (1973)The gunslinger from the movie Westworld is not your basic cowboy. This android is the biggest draw of the WesternWorld - A place built to recreate the spirit of the Wild West as part of a high-end futuristic amusement park named Delos. A perfect vacation spot if you are in the mood for some adventure, horseback riding, and, of course, shooting. Our silver-eyed gunman is programmed to challenge visitors and face them in a gunfight in the middle of the street or local saloon. Built in fail safe systems tends to make this an unjust confrontation. Naturally, the customer always wins. You can kill the robot countless times - the repair people will bring him back to life during the night and prepare him for the next day's ordeal. Unexpected computer virus shifts the odds in the robot's favor and a customer who comes looking for fun can just as easily find himself in the world of pain. Using his enhanced vision the gunslinger will track the hapless victim down with a vengeance. If he catches up with him, he will resolve the dispute in the most predictable way. So what options and survive tactics are there? - Accepting the gunfight is a bad idea, he is way faster than you are. The gunslinger was based on Chris, a hired gun from the classic western The Magnificent Seven, also played by Yul Brinner - in for a penny, in for a pound.
Box from Logan's Run (1976)If ever there was a lonely robot who has outlived his purpose, but who despite this thought very highly of himself, Box would have to be that. Maybe it is true what they say about robots with short names. The shorter the name, the bigger the ego. :) He is quite a contradiction. He appreciates beauty and art, even creates some of his own, but compassion is not among his stronger points. And some more killer robots...
Beam Me from Killer Robots to Robots and Robot Movies
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