If you’ve seen the movie, can you explain how Williams’ significant other (SO) could have lived to some old age matching his age of 200 years? I don’t know how to make those “spoiler” covers, so I am just going to leave it at that. Maybe someone can make one for me so we can discuss further…
It’s a pretty good movie, but slow and requires a little stretch of imagination in some confusing scenes…so go rent it! - Jinx
Use (SPOILER) and (/SPOILER) but replace the parenthesis with square brackets .
I saw the film only once, way back when it was released. But, IIRC
She doesn’t. Andrew is already 75 when he goes searching for others like him and gets the make over from android to Robin Williams. His original love interest (the girl he carved the horse for) is still alive at that time. But, she marries somebody else and dies of old age. Andrew’s wife is her daughter. It’s been too long to remember her age very closely. But I’d say Andrew’s wife lived to be around 100. Considering that life expectancy is ~76 now, and that Andrew invented artificial organs, and that she was bedridden and required several machines to keep her alive, I’d say 100 years is pretty reasonable.
BTW- I feel they really screwed up on marketing this film. The ads showed Andrew jumping out the window and Galatea dancing and saying “Let’s get loco, robo!” and made it out as a wacky kids film.
The film is actually a long look at what it means to be human. The ads should have included Andrews speech to the UN "Isn't possible for a man to be mostly mechanical but partly real" "What part?" "(points to heart)Here." and the hospital scene when he watches somebody he's known all her life die and says to the relatives "It's not fair that you can cry and I can't."
Marvellous film.
The original short story was the best.
The stretched-out novelization sucked. I haven’t seen the movie, but I can’t imagine it being anywhere near as good as the original.
Yep, Little Miss died at an old age and Andrew later marries Little Miss’ daughter - both of whom were played by the same person, of course.
And, yeah, I thought the movie did drag a bit. Pretty interesting film, though.
They never made a movie version of Bicentennial Man. People will lie to you and say they did, but those are the same people who say there were sequels to Highlander, movies after Aliens, and Godfather III.
It would be a great story to make into a movie, though.
Robin’s spouse refers to recieving regular infusions of DNA elixir (of his invention) but states she now wishes to age naturally.
In response, he begins regular blood transfusions so he himself can age along with her.
What are you talking about? Either you mean they never made a sequel, or you mean there was no “Bicentennial Man” movie because the original book (by Asimov) was entitled “The Postronic Man”. - Jinx 
Rebuttal to DocCathode:
It was an excellent movie, but dragged in spots. Also, they could have interwoven a little more humor, but the minimal humor served to preserve that 1950’s tone regarding robots replacing man - typical of Isaac Asimov as well as Ray Bradbury.
However, regarding the age issue:
[SPOILER] Andrew, the Android is a new model household appliance when purchased, and Little Miss is maybe 6 years old. She has an offspring around maybe 20-25. (A generation is assumed to be 20 years.) The offspring grows, and Andrew eventually falls in love with her…what’s her name?
There’s no way Andrew could be 200 years old at the end! Yes, at one point they mention his age of 200 years. Even if what’s her name (Little, Little Miss) lives to be 100 or 110, Andrew could only be about 130! He is only one generation older than Little Miss’ offspring. Also, IIRC, she refused the prosthetic implants, but now I’ll have to watch it again! [/SPOILER]
Heading soon to a VCR near me, ASAP.
It’s called DENIAL, Jinx.
I thought it was her grand-daughter.
No, the book wasn’t the original. The original was a short story which was, in fact, called “The Bicentennial Man”. But I think that Captain Amazing was speaking in the same sense that there’s never been a movie of Starship Troopers.
The original story was longer than a short story; it was actually a novelette. It won the 1976 Nebula and the 1977 Hugo for best novelette.
Andrew being 200 years old was the whole point of the story’s title. (The title was inspired by the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976.)
The woman he ended up with was Little Miss’ granddaughter, making her great-grandchild of Sam Neil’s character, known to Andrew as Sir. In a world with somewhat extended lifespans, the time from one person’s 6th year to the death of their elderly grandchild (everyone in the family lived to a venerable age) could easily be 200 years, particularly if they didn’t have kids until they were 40-45 years old.
And The Positronic Man was just an over-expansion of the original, much shorter novelette. Asimov allowed the same thing to be done with his short story Nightfall, so that it could be sold as a novel. I guess publishers were tired of putting together anthologies that people would buy just for these particular stories.
Bicentennial Man was basically a kid’s movie. It was directed by Chris “Home Alone” Columbus who was in so far over his head it got embarrasing. Plus it featured, once again, Williams’ phoned-in, done-to-death, cutesy man-child character. Bleeech!