I, Robot

[phantom power]

I finally watched that movie "I, Robot" on HBO. I was expecting to be disappointed, but it was actually a good movie. Even more surprising, whoever wrote it had obviously read the "robot" stories and novels, and had paid attention. It had clear allusions to that short story about the dreaming robot, and the Zeroth Law.

[YankeyMCC]

1. I'll admit I enjoyed it

and I did notice someone must've have paid attention to the old stories but the overlay of the hollywood big "bang" story style, overpowered the better aspects I think and kept it from being a much better movie.

I happen to be rereading the robot novels now and oh how I wish a more faithful version of "Caves of Steel", "Naked Sun" and "Robots of Dawn" could be made.

[phantom power]

2. I'm surprised more people don't attempt adaptations like that.

Hollywood is allergic to anything too cerebral, but an outfit like HBO could do a bang-up job with a miniseries, if they ever wanted to.

So far, what I mostly see missing is the "miniseries" angle. I've seen worthy attempts fail by trying to squeeze a novel into a 2-hour movie.

The other mistake I see is that for some reason film makers lose sight of the fact that science fiction is primarily "the literature of ideas." They adapt the superficial aspects of a story, but they fail to preserve the core ideas that made the story great in the first place.

[YankeyMCC]

3. Miniseries is a good idea

[Beetwasher]

4. My Fantasy Is A Huge Project Covering the Whole Robots/Foundation

meta series...Never happen though, but I can dream!

[YankeyMCC]

5. It's a fantastic dream

All you have to do get a job in the TV industry work your way up to producer or director, convince someone (probably HBO or someone like that) to back it and get it made and aired.

No sweat!

;)