# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/61 "2017-05-26T18:42:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As an aside, when I first saw the promotions for the movie, I blew it off, because that’s obviously a ludicrous design for a robot, why would anyone ever make a robot that looked like that? But of course, the movie explains quite well why that design makes perfect sense for the purpose that Baymax was built for. And, as a matter of fact…he was [inspired by real-life robots being developed with similar structures and a similar rationale](https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2014/october/october29_baymax.html). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/62 "2017-05-26T19:28:34Z")
No love for the robots from _Flesh Gordon_? [https://media.giphy.com/media/SpE4q7KvUrxIc/giphy.gif](https://media.giphy.com/media/SpE4q7KvUrxIc/giphy.gif) (mildly NSFW) ---
**Author:** ![chargerrich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chargerrich/32/5399_2.png) [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/63 "2017-05-26T19:44:46Z")
I am going with The Voice Input Child Identicant (V.I.C.I.) from Small World 0.o ---
**Author:** ![Marine\_One](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marine_one/32/3461_2.png) [@Marine\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marine_One)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/64 "2017-05-26T19:54:42Z")
Colossus in **Colossus: The Forbin Project** (1970) He’s a computer, not a robot, so maybe it doesn’t qualify. He’s really effective because the movie ends with him winning. And he doesn’t mess around when he wants something done: “This is the voice of world control. I bring you peace. It may be the peace of plenty and content or the peace of unburied death. The choice is yours. Obey me and live or disobey me and die.” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/65 "2017-05-26T20:06:01Z")
I should have put a “Not Safe For Work” spoiler box around that link. Sorry. I have reported myself. ---
**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 26, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/66 "2017-05-26T20:57:50Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > There is a short story somewhere set in a universe with Asimov robots (but I don’t think it is Asimov) where the protagonist figures out that various robots are mal-functioning because they have completely superfluous human parts that don’t contribute to their job function. > > He rebuilds them to have the physical characteristics needed to perform their work (initially causing dismay to the owners), and their psychological problems go away and they become the perfect servants they were designed to be. > > Wish I could remember where I read it and what it was called. I think that a couple of the reworked bots were a secretary and a bartender. Sounds like Anthony Boucher’s two “usuform” stories. “Q. U. R.” from _Astounding Science-Fiction_, March 1943 and “Robinc.” from _Astounding Science-Fiction_, September 1943. Both are in Boucher’s collected sf stories, _The Compleat Werewolf_. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/67 "2017-05-27T00:20:27Z")
Certainly not the “best” or “greatest” but the Daleks deserve a mention - at least for perseverance for all these years of Dr Who. Would you consider the Tardis a robot? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/68 "2017-05-27T00:26:37Z")
The robot in _The Colossus of New York_ was fucking terrifying. [https://www.google.com/search?q=colossus+of+new+york&rlz=1C9BKJA\_enUS620US620&hl=en-US&prmd=vmin&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwia3ov3547UAhWKAsAKHeofC1wQ\_AUICygD&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=N0cLO4VW8SpJAM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=colossus+of+new+york&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS620US620&hl=en-US&prmd=vmin&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwia3ov3547UAhWKAsAKHeofC1wQ_AUICygD&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=N0cLO4VW8SpJAM:) ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/69 "2017-05-27T02:20:30Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > My nominee is Marvin from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Deadpan and droll similar to Robbie the robot. > > Trillian: Marvin… you saved our lives! > Marvin: I know. Wretched, isn’t it? > > Marvin: I have a million ideas, but, they all point to certain death. > Arthur: Thanks very much, Marv! > > Marvin: I’ve calculated your chance of survival, but I don’t think you’ll like it. > > Marvin: Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they ask me to take you to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction, 'cause I don’t. > > Marvin: [as they are gazing at the wonder of Magrathea] Incredible… it’s even worse than I thought it would be. You beat me to it. I was going to say… \ _Nevermind_. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/70 "2017-05-27T03:20:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 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. This all applies - for certain levels of ‘good’ choices - to Ava of Ex Machina. I still think that’s the best SF movie of the century (so far) in terms of presenting something truly alien. She/It is designed, achieves sentience, and makes choices to deal with her situation and alter it. They may be amoral - they may not - but they’re good choices that achieve her goals. In my experience, more than half of humans can’t do that at any level. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/71 "2017-05-27T06:02:00Z")
I don’t see either of these guys listed yet, so: Andrew Martin from _Bicentennial Man_ and Sonny from _I, Robot_ for me. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/72 "2017-05-27T09:20:56Z")
Second vote for Louie, Dewey, and Huey! ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133/73 "2017-06-16T01:23:22Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Played by Patrick Warburton. I was always disappointed there was never a sequel which featured Hymie more. > [@Steve Carrell to play Maxwell Smart](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steve-carrell-to-play-maxwell-smart/394551/24): > > Hymie has to be Patrick Warburton, who starred in the live action version of “The Tick”. aaaa give me good ol’ [Dick Gautier](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJiV1XWtCyk) any day. > [@aldiboronti](#): > > My own choice would be Roy Batty, the replicant from the original Blade Runner. I’ll go with Leon Kowalski instead. A little rougher around the edges, but his “Wake up, it’s time to die” line is one of my all time favourites. > [@terentii](#): > > Second vote for Louie, Dewey, and Huey! Actually you’re the third vote, and I’ll be the fourth. Aw, poor [Dewey](https://youtu.be/GroXSW9phGE?t=6694) - all left on his own, at the end. But to drop the mike, I give you [Rabbot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6TE70i1WAk) ETA: forgot how fuckin maudlin the music for that S.R. scene was. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-android-or-robot-in-a-movie/787133.md?page=3)