# Best android or robot in a movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2017, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133 "2017-05-21T11:21:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/1 "2017-05-21T11:21:34Z")
What in your opinion is the best depiction you have ever seen in a film of an artificial human, whether it’s mechanical or biomechanical or whatever? By best I’m not talking about the strongest or the scariest or the strangest, I simply mean the most effective. My own choice would be Roy Batty, the replicant from the original Blade Runner. I think the fact of their limited life-span and their knowledge of that combines to make these androids the most moving and effective I have ever seen on the screen. Rutger Hauer’s delivery of Batty’s last words still makes me choke up whenever I hear it again. “… like tears in the rain.” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/2 "2017-05-21T12:43:37Z")
Can I ask a question? Except for sexbots, why in the world would anyone in the future make their robots or androids completely indistinguishable from real humans? That’s just asking for (and getting) trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/3 "2017-05-21T13:08:18Z")
I thought Alicia Vikander was fantastic as Ava in _Ex Machina_; a very effective performance. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/4 "2017-05-21T13:27:38Z")
K2-SO was the only character I felt sad for when they “died” in Rogue One. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/5 "2017-05-21T13:44:26Z")
Robbie the Robot ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/6 "2017-05-21T14:00:56Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Can I ask a question? Except for sexbots, why in the world would anyone in the future make their robots or androids completely indistinguishable from real humans? That’s just asking for (and getting) trouble. Yeah, the idea is so utterly stupid it detracts from the film. Shit, even if you want the robots to pass any casual inspection, put a tag in their junk DNA, or seed some radioactive isotope in their bones. Ontopic: I actually think the robot in the Lost in Space film is pretty compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/7 "2017-05-21T14:10:22Z")
I think Wall-E is up there, especially by being a character that neither looks or acts like a human but still shows humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/8 "2017-05-21T14:22:25Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Can I ask a question? Except for sexbots, why in the world would anyone in the future make their robots or androids completely indistinguishable from real humans? That’s just asking for (and getting) trouble. Do you want an android uprising? Because that’s how you get an android uprising. 🙂 My vote is for Star Trek’s Data. By the end of the series of movies, he had very few limitations, and was better than humans in a whole bunch of ways. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/9 "2017-05-21T15:14:26Z")
If you’ve never seen Houdini’s silent film serial [The Master Mystery](https://www.flyingcarsandfoodpills.com/houdinis-film-robot) (1919), you’ve missed the first movie robot and a wonderfully bizarre oddity. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/10 "2017-05-21T15:39:48Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Can I ask a question? Except for sexbots, why in the world would anyone in the future make their robots or androids completely indistinguishable from real humans? That’s just asking for (and getting) trouble. Spies or infiltration would be one obvious answer (see Terminator). Perhaps for medical purposes where people respond better to a “human” nurse than a robot (same for maids, childcare, etc). Heck, even if you aren’t going to boink it, there’s something to be said for robotic salespeople, restaurant staff, receptionists, etc who look like attractive humans. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/11 "2017-05-21T15:59:44Z")
I’d like to mention Interstellar’s TARS. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/12 "2017-05-21T16:16:15Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Can I ask a question? Except for sexbots, why in the world would anyone in the future make their robots or androids completely indistinguishable from real humans? That’s just asking for (and getting) trouble. > [@Jophiel](#): > > Spies or infiltration would be one obvious answer (see Terminator). Perhaps for medical purposes where people respond better to a “human” nurse than a robot (same for maids, childcare, etc). Heck, even if you aren’t going to boink it, there’s something to be said for robotic salespeople, restaurant staff, receptionists, etc who look like attractive humans. I agree, but I would add a very important reason: for ethical reasons, that I agree with, humans can not be used for medical research when harm is or becomes a result of the testing. I do think that basic biological components will be integrated in more than a few android subjects that will have the capacity to “die” biologically with all the human symptoms and even pain used as a layer of communication with researchers. But once their biological parts are dead they will just getup to get their bio kit again from the research corporation. I would not be surprised to find that those biological walking models will even propose new research paths and even more gruesome experiments to make the human owners/friends happier. Just think of all the plot points the use of that technology in other fields can get you. Like police work, finally a good reason for that Hollywood movie cliché of a cop testing a suspected drug powder in a crime scene by tasting it -what if it is poison you dope?- an android with biological components will tell the other cops what it is with the tasting act in what actuality will be a real crime test lab. All other capabilities one can think an android can have would also be there too, recordings, microscopic pictures, almost perfect gathering of evidence, etc. will be available. [Sub] I’m not afraid of sharing some ideas I have because I use posts like this one as evidence if I do get to start a scifi series I have in mind. (started one Nanowrimo but failed when very early I hit a big plot point that needs more research) [/Sub] ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/13 "2017-05-21T16:25:03Z")
Bender. As a robot he has no emotions and sometimes that makes him very sad. R2D2, the central character of the Star Wars films. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > If you’ve never seen Houdini’s silent film serial [The Master Mystery](https://www.flyingcarsandfoodpills.com/houdinis-film-robot) (1919), you’ve missed the first movie robot and a wonderfully bizarre oddity. Now that’s a robot with good birthing hips. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/14 "2017-05-21T16:58:27Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > What in your opinion is the best depiction you have ever seen in a film of an artificial human, whether it’s mechanical or biomechanical or whatever? By best I’m not talking about the strongest or the scariest or the strangest, I simply mean the most effective. > > My own choice would be Roy Batty, the replicant from the original Blade Runner. I think the fact of their limited life-span and their knowledge of that combines to make these androids the most moving and effective I have ever seen on the screen. Rutger Hauer’s delivery of Batty’s last words still makes me choke up whenever I hear it again. “… like tears in the rain.” I couldn’t agree more. In the final Deckard vs Batty showdown, we already know that Replicants are “more human than humans”, but by sparing Deckard’s life Batty shows that they (rep’s) are in fact capable of being more _humane_ than humans. IMO, regardless of Roy’s actual screen time, that scene establishes him as the film’s real protagonist and hero. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/15 "2017-05-21T17:08:52Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Do you want an android uprising? Because that’s how you get an android uprising. 🙂 > > My vote is for Star Trek’s Data. By the end of the series of movies, he had very few limitations, and was better than humans in a whole bunch of ways. I was going to mention Data, too. In the movies he had his emotion chip. Even though some people thought it was sappy, I liked the ending of _Generations_ when he found his pet cat. Data: Counselor, I believe my emotion chip is malfunctioning. I am happy to see Spot, yet I am crying. Troi: No, Data. It’s working perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/16 "2017-05-21T17:44:52Z")
I actually found [The Iron Giant](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0129167/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) to be quite compelling and affecting. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/17 "2017-05-21T18:03:24Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Just think of all the plot points the use of that technology in other fields can get you. Like police work, finally a good reason for that Hollywood movie cliché of a cop testing a suspected drug powder in a crime scene by tasting it -what if it is poison you dope?- an android with biological components will tell the other cops what it is with the tasting act in what actuality will be a real crime test lab. All other capabilities one can think an android can have would also be there too, recordings, microscopic pictures, almost perfect gathering of evidence, etc. will be available. Why do you need an android who can pass for human to do any of that? Specialized gizmos can handle all of those things at far less cost. A humanoid android is like buying a blender/toaster/motorized wheelchair. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/18 "2017-05-21T18:53:31Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Why do you need an android who can pass for human to do any of that? Specialized gizmos can handle all of those things at far less cost. A humanoid android is like buying a blender/toaster/motorized wheelchair. Nowhere I do say that other types of androids will not be norm. What I think (and it is mostly for fictional purposes here, although of course I do think a lot of this will take place) is that a lot of development will happen on the medical field and with costs reductions and seeing how industries diversify I think a lot of designs will be re-purposed for other industries (_here I remember how when I worked at testing of electric components the industries we tested for were for the medical and the aerospace and military industries._) I see DARPA launching competitions to get androids that in an emergency can use diverse tools and work with doors, switches, etc that humans normally use. There is IMHO the need for robots that are similar to humans. Some will remain like Star Wars’ C3PO, but I do think that the combination of simulating human medical conditions and to aid humans in emergency situations a more human like robot is a good option. Yes, not for all situations, but for some very risky environments and situations I do think a humanoid android will be **one** type that we will see in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/19 "2017-05-21T19:41:38Z")
Number Five is alive! He’s got a plausible origin (designed by the Department of Defense to replace human soldiers) and a plausible design (arms, hands, and sensors on top of a tank-tread chassis). There’s a reason given for him not behaving as programmed (the lightning strike, followed by his own reprogramming of himself). And once he finds himself with free will, he makes good choices. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/20 "2017-05-21T20:47:29Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Nowhere I do say that other types of androids will not be norm. > > What I think (and it is mostly for fictional purposes here, although of course I do think a lot of this will take place) … I agree that fiction will continue to be flooded with humanoid robots/androids/cyborgs. The symbolism is too good to give up for realism. In the real world, general purpose artificial humans aren’t efficient. I can come up with a few special purpose applications, which means that any group of people could come up with many more. They will exist. Just not for any of the reasons that fiction uses them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133.md?page=2)