I, Robot

I actually enjoyed reading this screenplay very much, and Ellison's forward explains a lot as to how the movie deal never worked out. I think that making this movie in the 70s when the screenplay was initially written would have been difficult given the extreme amount of special effect shots. It is unfortunate that 20 some years later a movie WAS made with this title and that it so very little resembles Ellison and Asimov's more faithful rendition. The artwork included in this edition is also absolutely fantastic. It really helps to visualize what some of the shots could have looked like. ( )

Harlan Ellison did a very good job of putting Asimov's "I, Robot" stories into a cohesive screenplay. Of course the story was tweaked some but kept the core ideas of the short stories from that collection. Unfortunately, I don't think this will ever get made into a movie. It really had it's best chance when it was originally written. Read Ellison's forward on how the movie deal fell apart: a funny little story. However, I do think it would work well as a 3D animated film, and probably would have more of chance of getting made that way. If you were a fan of the book, you'd probably like this screenplay. ( )

This is Ellison’s script, written in the late 1970s, for a full-length movie incorporating several of Asimov’s classic I, Robot stories.

The essay which begins this book is not as vitriolic as some others of Ellison’s, but it pulls no punches in chronicling the script’s journey through Hollywood. The process was characterized by delay after delay. The script was supposedly “impossible” to film. At one point, Ellison realizes that a certain studio executive, with the power to say Yes or No to the project, hadn’t even read the script, despite being given many months to do so. At another point, Ellison is asked to make the robots cute like C-3PO (this is the era of Star Wars), something he refused to do. Eventually, all of the options are used up and the script is never put into production. It is decided to get some “use” out of the script and it is later published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

The story concerns robot psychologist Susan Calvin. Her life story is the history of robotics. A reporter named Bratenahl is told to find the answer to the question “Who is Susan Calvin?” Now an old woman, she has become very secretive. Bratenahl talks to people who knew Calvin and worked with her in the past. One remembrance is when the Calvin family had a robot as a part time playmate for six-year-old Susan. Her father worked for US Robotics, but her mother was not convinced that a robot in the house was a good idea. The robot was seven feet tall, and could break Calvin like a toothpick if it so desired. One day, the robot is sent away, permanently.

Another remembrance is about a robot who could read minds, and who interpreted the Three Laws of Robotics (programmed into every robot) in an unexpected way. A third memory of Calvin is about the time she was part of a manned mission to Mercury. A certain element, available on the surface, is vital if the ship is going to leave Mercury, and return to Earth. It’s far enough away so that a human will not make it back to the ship without burning up in the sunlight of Mercury, so a robot is dispatched. Having received unclear instructions, the Second and Third Laws of Robotics cause the robot to go temporarily cuckoo. Calvin goes out on the surface, and almost dies, but “fixes” the robot, and they are able to leave Mercury.

If filmed as written, this would have made a great film. It’s interesting and complex, the characters are real people, and, best of all, it doesn’t rely on sex, violence or car chases. Highly recommended. ( )

This isn't the script of the dreadful Will Smith film from a few years ago, but rather Ellison's 1970s straight adaptation of the Asimov "story-cycle", which never got produced because Ellison doesn't know when it pays to be polite to people. It's an interesting thought experiment, though-- visually, it would have made a magnificent film, as the gorgeous illustrations show, though it's hard to imagine it satisfactorily being pulled off in the 1970s. Nowadays, though... The adaptation of the chosen short stories is handled quite well-- inserting Calvin into "Robbie" is an obvious but excellent choice; I was surprised but happy to see "Runaround" included, as it's one of the best "Law problem" stories, and the addition of Calvin works; "Liar!" is adapted almost exactly, which makes sense, as it's probably the best Calvin story Asimov ever wrote; and "Lenny" might not actually be in the original book, but its method of inclusion here is inspired. All in all, it makes for an excellent (and ultimately much more optimistic than Asimov's own) vision of the future of mankind. The world is clearly not a Asimov one, though, but rather an Ellison one, and though that bothered me at times, it's the nature of adaptations. If there's any substantial flaw, it's that the frame story is a little too long and involved; not everything that that happens in it is particularly relevant to the story Ellison is trying to tell. But as for Calvin, Byerley, Powell, Donavan, and the rest, this is the cinematic treatment they deserved. (originally written December 2007)

This is a screenplay, and does not read as easily as a novel, but it is much better than the script that was actually used to make the movie by the same name that was recently produced. The illustrations are also very good. ( )