TCM is wrapping up their Robots in the Movies Month.Godzilla isn't just a person in a Godzilla suit.
They saved the best... well, the biggest for last! Mechagodzilla, how do I rate that? If a seven foot Gort gets credit for being too tall to be a person in a suit, what to make of a 50m Mechagodzilla? I guess it depends on how much you believe
Mechagodzilla was preceded by a Mechani-Kong in the 1967 Toho movie "King Kong Escapes." Robots of unusually large size is a Japanese tradition running back at least to "The Mysterians" in 1957; although an alien invasion movie, it included a giantmonster for more box office draw; a high-tech machine used by the aliens rather than an animal.
Going forward, Mechagodzill was rebuilt for a sequel movie, then the Godzilla series finally petered out. In the '80s a Godzilla series of movies started, ignoring the previous series, being direct sequels to the original movie, after which Godzillahad not been seen for thirty years. A change in Emperors means these two sets of films can be referred to as the Showa-era Godzilla and the Hesei-era Godzilla. Spoilers, but the Hesei series will also peter out, another set of movies, each individually
Final movie of this celebration: "Deadly Friend" (1986). A youngster with a hobby robot that gets put out of commission, and a neighboring friend who falls into a vegetative coma, thinks to combine the two to get one functional friend. The robot BB (Charles Fleischer provided the voice) is a rather mechanical design, perhaps sometimes puppeteered or marionetted, but mostly controlled remotely by cable or radio. The IMDb trivia says Johny 5 from "Short Circuit" parts were used for BB, but call me
"Booby Trap"). (With a fifth, "Flight of the Navigator" involving a computer of a CGI ship.) Was there something in the air? Or maybe the water? I would point to "The Terminator" endoskeleton appearing back in 1984. This was from director JamesCameron, previously a special effects artist, who knew what animatronics innards were needed for moving a human-like design. (Interestingly, another use of his moviemaking technology onscreen to save time designing future technology is in his "Aliens"
cheaper. There was a quote from a movie-maker earlier in the '80s to the effect that if they could design a single prop that could do everything required in the script, there'd be more money in selling it than in using it to make a movie. The propdepartment and set design know all the scrapyards to scrounge for cool stuff. I picture a movie made in the future with an ASIMO wearing a tin robot suit.
IMDb trivia for "Short Circuit" says the proximate inspiration for that was "Let's Go," a short Showscan film made by Douglas Trumbull for the Expo in Japan in 1985. (And now I wish I'd explained the proto-Showscan of his "Brainstorm" when I mentionedthat movie earlier.) I was this week old when I found this out, and now I'm wondering if there is any way to see this, or other Expo films. It was a '60s documentary short that brought Douglas Trumbull to the eye of Stanley Kubrick for "2001."
Later, Sunday morning, is "It!" -- possibly. The online schedule has that title, and the cast for that movie, but a synopsis for "It! The Terror from Beyond Space." It's anybody's guess what the technician will pull out to run in that spot. If it isthe Roddy McDowall movie, it(!) is a golem-like statue. Later in the day is "I Walked with a Zombie." One aspect of the robot concept seems to be control over another intelligence: think of Doctor Smith pulling the power pack of the Robot, or Harcourt
trilogy of movies treats the creation as, mostly, an innocent. Thoughts about death as a reboot or clean install of mind, breaking the cycle of bad habits? Sleep is often touted for a change in outlook. Does the sleep of death actually mean you arereborn?
How to rate these robots? They are, essentially, robots; the movie magic is their motivation and control source -human rather than computer- and substitutions of specialized versions for specialized actions. I will rank them in their believability asrobots:
Protectors ("Killbots")and Doctor Who's K-9 as being cute because they are designed to be cute, but Number 5 should be designed to be a warbot. The eyeshades and exposed articulation just seems too delicate for that. A podcast I was listening to last week made the point
the robot from "Wired to Kill" -- I only watched it once, if it has a designation, I've forgotten
Johny Five
BB
Any Johnny 5 advocates here? Adam Savage's Tested recently dropped a Youtube video about a complete prop coming up for auction and mentioned that those who like the film really like the film. I think he is just too cute. I've defended VINCent, Muffet,
As to numerical values, I'm thinking scoring them from 0.9 to 1.0, adding and subtracting milliislands for scenes where they "cheating": having picked something off the floor when the arms can't reach that far down, things like that. However, by myexplanation of the scale: "It's not a man in a tin suit," these rate a full 1.0, as there is no one in the suit, and "No Man" is an island. That opens up the robot-as-robot scale for one, two, infinity (and beyond). Should that be the way it goes?
Any Johnny 5 advocates here? Adam Savage's Tested recently dropped a
Youtube video about a complete prop coming up for auction and mentioned
that those who like the film really like the film. I think he is just
too cute. I've defended VINCent, Muffet, and Doctor Who's K-9 as being
cute because they are designed to be cute, but Number 5 should be
designed to be a warbot. The eyeshades and exposed articulation just
seems too delicate for that. A podcast I was listening to last week
made the point that WALL-E is essentially a cutified Number 5.
Any Johnny 5 advocates here? Adam Savage's Tested recently dropped a Youtube video about a complete prop coming up for auction and mentioned that those who like the film really like the film. I think he is just too cute. I've defended VINCent, Muffet,and Doctor Who's K-9 as being cute because they are designed to be cute, but Number 5 should be designed to be a warbot. The eyeshades and exposed articulation just seems too delicate for that. A podcast I was listening to last week made the point
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