Description: Season 3, Episode 35
Air Date: May 18, 1962
Plot Summary: After the death of their mother, three children are raised by a robotic grandmother.
Review: I would say the story used for this episode, written by Ray Bradbury, is slightly more famous than the episode itself. Speaking of which, the story is like a whimsical, sci-fi fairytale if that makes much sense--as if "Mary Poppins" were a robot. After a man's wife dies, and he's bitched out by some old geezer, he is told by one of his kids about a robotics company offering various companions. Feeling as though the kiddies need someone in their life, he proceeds to let the children pick their ideal companion. I do like the reaction of the dad when he hears about the robots available as if this such a revelation. Fool, you're telling me robots this advanced are news to you?! That's like someone today in shock that cellphones aren't the bricks they used to be; how do you escape this knowledge? Oddly enough, the company making these robots looks a bit seedy rather than this giant, mega-conglomerate that it would actually be. So the kids pick out their ideal old lady, but I bet the dad was pissed that they didn't want it to look like their mom; he was probably wanting to secretly make it a sexbot!
Days later (I guess) the robot, simply referred to as grandma, shows up to impress the kids. One of the brats is still whining over her mom's death as if the mom chose to die or something. But after "grandma" saves the brat from near death at the hands of an obvious idiot, everything is great between them; love that braindead grin on the driver's face when he realizes he didn't kill anyone. Then we get a little time lapse as the kids grow up with grandma until they're off to college and grandma is off to be...recycled? Listening to the grandma describe the robot afterlife sounded extremely depressing especially when the episode keeps stressing she can feel and love. Is she an AI or not? I don't think I'd be able to let my Rika-bot die if I were in this world! The episode ends with the grandma going off to her uncertain fate, but it is implied it will be pleasant...from her perspective at least.
As much as this episode is intended to be an idyllic world, come on, if immortal robots, who can materialize things out of thin air, were easily accessible to the public, we'd already be way past FUCKED! I suppose it's always nice to imagine the family-friendly outcomes to technology, but, as much as I'd love to live in that utopia, we live in a world where exploitation and greed are the keys to control. We would have had a robot war, or humanity is mechanized, or some other hellish nightmare brought to life. This is an interesting episode, but it's idealistic view of the world clashes with my cynical reality. I wish they spent a little more time to expand things, like the mom's death and how the robot can feel, but this is still a decent tale.
No comments:
Post a Comment