Originally posted by Andy Kalish:
My favorite "synthetic humans" are
#4 - Bishop from the movie Aliens (played by Lance Henriksen)
Not a very developed character but I liked him anyway, probably because I tend to like Henriksen's portrayals no matter what he is in.
#3 - David from the movie Artificial Intelligence: AI (played by Haley Joel Osment)
I had not anticipated liking this movie (I expected a Pinocchio rehash) but some interesting plot events changed my mind.
#1 - The 5 Replicants from the movie Blade Runner
One of my favorite movies of all time (although I confess I prefer the version without Harrison Ford's voiceovers.) In my opinion all the replicants were fantastic characters in their own way. I refer to "5" replicants because despite director Sir Ridley Scott's many statements on the subject I do not accept that Deckard was a replicant as well. Also, those of you with the "Ultimate Collector's Edition" saw that Scott had a deleted scene in which you learn that Dr. Tyrell was actually deceased and that he had long ago replaced himself with a replicant duplicate. But since the scene wasn't in the released version I don't count it. 
Completely agree about Bishop, he’s one of the many good things about my favourite James Cameron movie.
I’m happy to include ‘synthetic humans’ in my mindset, as by and large most of them have engineered or proxy brains. I forget exactly what Bishop says in the particular scene I’m trying to remember, when he volunteers to crawl through a shaft to get to the outside, he momentarily displays a kind of emotion as he admits to one of the cast that he is concerned about being terminated by the aliens.
Never seen A.I. mainly because I don’t have very high expectations about it, so I’ve never bothered, I think it was Lucas and Spielbergs preposterous suggestion about remaking 2001 A Space Oddysey in homage to Kubrick that really put me off, thankfully they opted for A.I. instead.
Does anyone remember the Artificial Intelligence system Proteus, in the film Demon Seed? where using a Heath Robinson-like robot construction it impregnates Julie Christie by artificial means in an attempt to give birth to a human and A.I offspring, haven’t seen the film since I was a teenager, wonder if it would just all be laughable now!
The Blade Runner replicants are stages beyond the robot or android, with their faux blood and their preset memories, and their belief in their own humanity is so beautifully portrayed through the character of Roy Batty. I’m now completely with the idea that practically all of the main characters in Blade Runner can be read as replicants, it’s an all ‘robot’ movie, with Deckard, and even Captain Bryant not being of real flesh and blood. Even Tyrell himself would work as a replicant (although he is meant to be a clone) in all of his glory and atop his golden pyramid like an Egyptian god who is continually being reborn. For me only Gaff and Hanibal Chew are the real human’s left behind on earth, both non-caucasians, and amongst the many others that make up the visual tapestry of life around Deckard that inhabits that over-crowded city. And J.F. Sebastian and his genetic disease, well, perhaps that’s a red herring and he’s really a replicant with a particular flaw!
Originally posted by Stringy Bob:
Marvin The Paranoid Android from the original BBC TV series of Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy (not seen the movie so not sure if their Marvin was as good as the BBC's)
movie robot does look good, but lacks in something in comparison to the original, maybe its too slick? Bring back the BBC prop dept!
I’ve always liked Star Treks Mr Data as a character in a series. He’s the perfect counter-part to Mr Spock, one is non-human but wants to be human, and the other is a humanoid alien who wants to be as emotionless as a machine. But Data is such an integrated cast member that I rarely think of him as a robot, sometimes too much normalisation takes away from the suspension of disbelief that makes fantasy appealing for us. As for Seven Of Nine
well Harry kim had no chance with her, she’s way out of his league, (and that comment shows you that I’ve watched too much trek).
Originally posted by Alex S:
My recently re-displayed Dalek collection looks like this:
Alex, my teenage self wants to live in your bedroom.
I think you should remove the bright light from your detolf, might it possibly fade your collection, or am I just being anal.
I really liked the robotic assistant GERTY in Duncan Jones film ‘Moon’ from last year, admittedly it was quite limited, but it was a lovely nod towards HAL and the Silent Running Droids.
I’ve been thinking about the Decorative robot called ‘Box’, with its freezing gun that appears briefly in Logans Run, one of the more visual special effects in the film, where it attempts to preserve Logan and Jessica as food.
And as regards decorative looking robots, I’m very keen on the Art Deco inspired ones serving on the Sandminer in Tom Bakers Robots Of Death storyline, actually, I’m sure that Box in Logans Run is also a bit Art Deco, and maybe even the original Cylons in Battlestar Gallactica, add the present day Cybermen to that list and there’s definitely a style theme running here for me.
