Discussion Forums - Science Fiction

The scary robot bent on destruction is a sci-fi trope of the '50s -- Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet being the rare exception. The Terminator of the '80s launched a franchise. But in all honesty, the Terminator was not so scary as it was thought-provoking because SkyNet was humanity magnified -- just like HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey. (And what's not scary about that? Okay, I get your point...)

Hector from Saturn 3, arguably a forerunner of the Terminator, was a very creepy robot. I'm not sure if it was the see-through veins and "angry" noises it made, or the fact that Harvey "I'm Victor, the Cleaner" Keitel programmed him.

The ABC Robot in Judge Dredd ("I knew you'd say that!") was also very frightening. The rust and the grinding and the venting steam gave it the quality of a pissed-off bulldozer. If Battle Angel Alita ever makes it to live-action film, I expect the ABC Warriors to be favorites in the arena.

Robocop 2 in Robocop 2 was not really a robot, but a cyborg. Still, the scene in the warehouse where he turns everyone into dog food was the most frightening scene out of the whole movie. The warehouse was dark, the cyborg had his blinding headlamps on, and that's exactly how those faceless, indescribable monsters come at you in nightmares. (Kudos to the FX artists for a beautifully detailed and articulated model -- especially those raptor-like claws on the feet.)

The Nestor 5s in I, Robot, directed by central brain VIKI, attacked in swarms like insects. But two things kept them from being scary: They were too beautiful, and the movie was too much of a thought experiment. That is, VIKI carried the Three Laws of Robotics to their logical extreme, the sort of overlooked trap in the technology like telling the computer in Jurassic Park (the book) to report only missing dinosaurs, or like the real blackout of the eastern US in 1965 caused by interconnected safeties and failure to monitor the system after it was set up.

I have to give the award for scariest robot to the doomsday machine from the Star Trek episode "The Doomsday Machine." Writer Norman Spinrad said he modeled the tale after Capt. Ahab and Moby Dick. I had always assumed the episode was adapted from Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories. However, the book berserkers talked and were devious, where the doomsday machine was a blind and dumb brute lumbering after its next target, like the shuffling monsters of the old thrillers. Like a politician, it was just smart enough to be dangerous.

In truth I'm a fan of technology, and we're already surrounded by robots, although they are not humanoid in form. Still, there is something very visceral about a man-shaped killing machine that is not really a man. 

What scary movie 'bot gave you nightmares?

Hi Matt:

I really don't think the "Doomsday Machine" was a robot.  It was really an organic entity that was just gobbling up everything it could lay it's hands on.  I would like to see it come up against the Borg......wonder how that confrontation would go?  LOL!

Some of the Dr. Who robots (Robo Men?) were scary to me as a kid.

Best Wishes!

CherS

Well, Spock said the Doomsday Machine was a robot, but then one might argue that animals are organic ("carbon based") robots. The DM's hull was said to be "neutronium" (also known in other sci-fi as "collapsium" or any other term meaning artificial neutron star matter). James Hogan's CODE OF THE LIFEMAKER posited non-organic robots that evolved into "living" creatures. 

Considering the political bent of TNG, I found the Borg as an enemy ironic. I imagine the Doomsday Machine would mark their passing with a simple burp. The "giant amoeba" in "The Immunity Syndrome" might give the DM a run for the money, though.

I was in my 'teens by the time I first saw DOCTOR WHO syndicated in the US, and thus beyond nightmares. (Although the climactic scenes of the anime -- yes, a cartoon -- SCHOOL DAYS disturbed my sleep for a few days.) The Cybermen and the Daleks were both repeat offenders. We all know what the Cybermen represent, as they are fierce opponents of the gold standard. :)