# Futuristic sci-fi movies where robots have a sense of humor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909 "2015-04-05T20:21:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/21 "2015-04-06T15:40:43Z")
One _Batman: The Animated Series_ episode had a this argument with the Batwing autopilot: > [@](#): > > **Alfred:** This must be the place. Bring us down. > **Batwing:** Negative. > **Alfred:** But Master Bruce is down here, we have to land. > **Batwing:** Impossible, area too confined. > **Alfred:** Land, you bucket of bolts! > **Batwing:** Your funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/22 "2015-04-06T16:22:43Z")
Jarvis, the AI in the Iron Man movies, has a sense of humor. ETA: I see **Ethilrist** beat me to it. Didn’t the drones in **Silent Running** have a sense of humor? Seems like there was some funny stuff going on during the card games, but I may be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/23 "2015-04-06T16:25:45Z")
_I, Robot_ bore very little resemblance to the Asimov classic short-story collection of the same name, but I thought it was a pretty entertaining sf adventure in its own right. Sonny the robot gets some good lines. Det. Del Spooner: Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you, you are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a… canvas into a beautiful masterpiece? Sonny: Can _you_? Det. Spooner: I thought you were dead. Sonny: Technically I was never alive, but I appreciate your concern. Of course there’s Marvin the Paranoid Android in _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_. Trillian: Marvin… you saved our lives! Marvin: I know. Wretched, isn’t it? Marvin: I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed. Trillian: Well, we have something that may take your mind off it. Marvin: It won’t work, I have an exceptionally large mind. Trillian: Yeah, we know. Marvin: I have a million ideas, but they all point to certain death. Arthur: Thanks very much, Marv! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/24 "2015-04-06T16:44:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > As for those lines where Robby appears to be dcemonstratingh wit (as with the “I rarely use it myself sir” and the exasperated “Again?”), I hold that Morbius programmed those in, just as he programmed Robby with all those languages and dialects – Morbiusd is a _philologist_, after all, and language is his business – including wit and humor. I guess Morbius needed something to occupy his time as Altaira was groiwing up. You’d think exploring an advanced, alien machine the size of an entire city would take up most of his time. But I wonder if Robby is more than Morbius intended him to be. He designed and programmed him as a robot, using knowledge he gained from the great machine. And then spent the next twenty years with Robby as basically his only companionship, aside from his daughter. I think it would be hard, in those circumstances, not to start thinking of the robot as human. And what Morbius thinks, becomes true. His subconscious desire to have a genuine companion on the planet could have subtly reworked Robby until it was a true AI, and not just a machine. Also, “Dcemonstratingh” is a town in Wales, right? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/25 "2015-04-06T16:46:02Z")
The 1970’s version of _Buck Rodgers_ had TWIGGY, a one-liner spewing robot. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/26 "2015-04-06T16:57:05Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > The 1970’s version of _Buck Rodgers_ had TWIGGY, a one-liner spewing robot. Twiki. Bidi-bidi-bidi. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/27 "2015-04-06T17:02:21Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Twiki. > Bidi-bidi-bidi. One of my old Sig Lines: > [@](#): > > “Bidi-Bidi-Bidi — Sarah Connor?” > > … --SkyNet unwisely goes with the lowest bidder. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/28 "2015-04-06T17:13:12Z")
_Ice Pirates_. There’s a '70s pimp robot, a huge black warrior robot - who is black “Because I wanted him to be perfect” - and a robot who unscrews something in his belly and falls apart in pieces. Maybe it’s all robot humor rather than humorous robots. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/29 "2015-04-06T17:15:03Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I just watched interstellar and enjoyed how they gave the robots a sense of humor. I don’t see that much in sci fi films or TV. What other shows or films have that? Most robots are portrayed as either malicious or ultra intelligent but negligent in social skills. In my experience, the number of “comic relief” robots _far_ outnumber the evil ones. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/30 "2015-04-06T17:22:27Z")
The point of using a robot character rather than a human being is to play off the fact that something about the robot is not human, because this allows the script to explore something about what it means to be human. A total lack of emotion, let alone humor, can be a big, easy vehicle for that approach. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/31 "2015-04-06T17:33:07Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > The point of using a robot character rather than a human being is to play off the fact that something about the robot is not human, because this allows the script to explore something about what it means to be human. A total lack of emotion, let alone humor, can be a big, easy vehicle for that approach. It could be, but it’s not invariably used for that purpose. The script might simply introduce robots for atmosphere – to remind viewers that this is science fiction by keeping the SF element front and center. It’s also easy to forget that the robot really IS supposed to be something different, and write them as if they are just Metal People – something I believe happened with R2D2 and C3PO. It was also easy to write the “Drones” in _Silent Running_ as card-cheaters (they show each other their hands), but harder to validate that. Movies with robots that really are include Forbidden Planet and the original **Terminator** (which also derives a lot of very dark humor from “unintentional” quirks of behavior (fully intended by the scripter, of course). The original Terminator was utterly devoid of human feelings, compassion, or humor. **Terminator 2** softened that quite a bit, although there was still a lot of the old Terminator in him. **Tik Tok** of Oz, in L. Frank Baum’s books (and in the underappreciated Disney film **Return to Oz** is also of this type. The **Star Trek** franchise has always tried to keep on board at least one character who is “learning to be human”. In the original series it was Spock, but in Next Generation is was Data. In Voyager it was THe Doctor (who, although a “hologram” – very loosely defined – is virtually a robot, being a machine intelligence). ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/32 "2015-04-06T19:58:38Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Likewise Bishop seems to have a somewhat dark sense of humor. Taking Hudson’s hand for the knife game and the wry look he gives the pistol Vasquez hands him for his tunnel trip before passing it off the Ripley. > > Also, “I may be synthetic, but I’m not stupid.” Minor nitpick: the was Drake (Mark Rolston) who put (forced) Hudson’s hand up on the table; Bishop just laid his hand on top of Hudson’s. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/33 "2015-04-07T03:04:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …the original **Terminator** (which also derives a lot of very dark humor from “unintentional” quirks of behavior (fully intended by the scripter, of course). The original Terminator was utterly devoid of human feelings, compassion, or humor. **Terminator 2** softened that quite a bit, although there was still a lot of the old Terminator in him… “Fuck you, asshole.” “He’ll live.” “Hasta la vista, baby.” ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/34 "2015-04-09T19:35:34Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > It strikes me that Kryten also would joke about the others at times. **Lister:** Tell me somethin’ good about meself, Kryten, somethin’ … _laudable._ **Kryten:** Laudable? Hmmm… well, sir, sometimes you assist me with my laundry duties by turning your underpants inside out - thus extending the “wear time” by three weeks! **Lister:** That can’t be me! It’s like some kind of barely human slimeball! **Kryten:** It’s all flooding back now, is it, Mr. Lister, sir? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/35 "2015-04-09T22:13:46Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Didn’t the drones in **Silent Running** have a sense of humor? Seems like there was some funny stuff going on during the card games, but I may be misremembering. after they were reprogrammed Dewey, Huey and Louie were funny even with poker faces. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/36 "2015-04-10T00:28:13Z")
Not a movie, but Ennesby the AI in _Schlock Mercenary_ is quite a punster. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909/37 "2015-04-10T00:43:43Z")
[quote=“Elendil\_s\_Heir, post:23, topic:716909”] Of course there’s Marvin the Paranoid Android in _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_. In the original radio play, there’s a bit where someone accuses Marvin of making something up: Marvin: Making it up? Why should I want to make anything up? Life’s bad enough as it is without having to invent any more of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futuristic-sci-fi-movies-where-robots-have-a-sense-of-humor/716909.md?page=1)