From: jack.bohn64@gmail.com   
      
   On Friday, October 7, 2022 at 12:13:49 PM UTC-4, Paul S Person wrote:   
   > On Fri, 7 Oct 2022 08:02:31 -0700 (PDT), Jack Bohn wrote:    
   > >    
   > >"The Day the Earth Stood Still" is based on the short story "Farewell to   
   the Master" by Harry Bates. An alien and robot visitor land their spaceship in   
   Washington, D.C., hijinx ensue. One aspect of the story not brought over is   
   that the robot is the    
   master of their society... or was that fact just hidden in the movie?   
   > If by "hidden" you mean "not present at all", then yes, it was.    
   > Indeed, given their characterization as all-powerful policemen, having    
   > them in charge would have been seen as a robot revolt.   
      
   I admit my thoughts were just a stream-of-consciousness roll to get something   
   out, but I can try to defend it.   
      
   If robots are claiming government's exclusive right to violence, can they   
   avoid the other responsibilities of government?   
   I guess I'm thinking of "Colossus: The Forbin Project" (I've been thinking   
   about the movies they aren't showing, see below) there the transfer of power   
   was a bit disorderly, one could say unplanned.  But Colossus was working under   
   the handicap that -as    
   Asimov says- a computer is an immobile robot (a bit different view from a   
   robot being a mobile computer) the only actuators it had available was the   
   humans it could threaten with nuclear annihilation.  The only book in the   
   series that I've read was _The    
   Fall of Colossus_ where (spoiler) it still has to jealously guard its nuclear   
   monopoly, and is still trying to figure out the motivations and responses of   
   the humans.   
      
   If we look at their behavior on this mission, with the story's warning against   
   assumptions, they could be said to be equal partners.  They equally expose   
   themselves to being shot, although Gort is impervious, Klaatu slightly less   
   so.  Oh, hey, then we    
   see a demonstration of its automatic reaction against the aggressor, ...and   
   anyone standing around that might back up the aggressor.  He doesn't   
   immediately go after the higher-level enablers, but they may be out of reach.    
   Then there is the curious    
   incident of the guards in the nighttime.  Was there any justification for   
   Gort's actions except that of necessity?  Or just a robot's gonna do what a   
   robot wants to do?   
      
      
      
   Perhaps TCM should have paired this movie with "Colossus," the latter is a   
   Universal picture, but they have a good relationship with them vie classic   
   movies: the three Frankenstein movie starring Karloff will have pride of place   
   on Halloween.  Also, if    
   they had gotten "Colossus" they should have gotten "Silent Running" with the   
   wonderful Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  Oddly, they aren't showing their own "GOG"   
   with cool robot designs if not such a cool robot story.  (Hmm... it looks like   
   "GOG" was    
   distributed by United Artists, it must have merged with Warners' holdings   
   through Turner's purchase of the MGM/UA library, so they'd also have "The   
   Twonky" with its non-humanoid robot.)  Overall I don't quite understand   
   limiting it to two movies of a    
   Saturday night.  This is seemingly the "Star of the Month" slot, but I'm   
   thinking times they run a star's films from prime time until the wee hours of   
   the morning.   
      
   --    
   -Jack   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)