I, ROBOT / ** (PG-13): Wikipedia got a mention in Roger Ebert’s review of “I, Robot,” posted this morning.
Asimov’s robot stories were often based on robots that got themselves hopelessly entangled in logical contradictions involving the laws. According to the invaluable Wikipedia encyclopedia on the Web, Harlan Ellison and Asimov collaborated in the 1970s on an “I, Robot” screenplay, which, the good doctor said, would produce “the first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made.”
Beautiful. On another note, the company at the center of this movie is called “U.S. Robotics.” Was it called that in the book, or did they borrow the name from the modem company? Which came first?
The Asimov books always contained U.S. Robotics. The modem compnay named themselves after the fictional one, with Asimov's blessing, as I recall.
I love Ebert's closer: As for the robots, they function like the giant insects in "Starship Troopers," as video game targets. You can't even be mad at them, since they're only programs. Although, come to think of it, you can be mad at programs; Microsoft Word has inspired me to rage far beyond anything these robots engender.
Amen, brother.
