I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay

by Harlan Ellison and Isaac Asimov

Book Overview

With an Introduction by Harlan Ellison, explaining what happened to "I, Robot" and why it never reached the screen, this book features cover art and interior illustrations--both black-and-white sketches and 16 pages of full-color paintings--by fan favorite artist Mark Zug.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446670626
• ISBN13: 9780446670623
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: Aspect
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating--the "I, Robot" movie that WASN'T filmed

This screenplay should be said to be "inspired" by the book _I, Robot_, since it takes the world described in Asimov's short story collection and extends it in all manner of ways. Four of Asimov's short stories appear in this book in one form or another, usually as flashbacks. The story, though, is of one reporter's quest to find robopsychologist Susan Calvin, who, in her later years, has isolated herself almost completely from the outside world. The reporter tries every avenue possible to learn more about his subject as he pursues the goal of actually interviewing her. This is a screenplay, not a novel. Reading it takes some getting used to; it uses abbreviations freely ("CU" for close-up, etc.) and is formatted as the movie script that it is. There are color plates of illustrations based on the screenplay (perhaps from a storyboard for the proposed film?). They are numbered by scene so that the reader can find the part of the action the picture is depicting. There are also occasional black and white drawings in the main text. The illustrations are quite evocative and set the scene well. The story is a fun read, but near the end it gets a little weird (a metaphysical contest is a little hard to decipher). But overall, I liked this take on the book and wonder how it would have looked as a movie.

A blockbuster we'll never see...

With the release of the new I, Robot movie, there are probably a lot of people confused by the different versions of I, Robot that exist. If you are a fan of Isaac Asimov's works, then you should probably steer clear of the new movie starring Will Smith. Published accounts I have read have indicated that the studio acquired the rights to the I, Robot stories and then took an already existing script (having nothing to do with Asimov's stories) changed some character's names, and added the three laws of robotics. Hardly, does justice to some of the most famous science fiction stories ever written. However, years ago, Harlan Ellison did write a screenplay for an I, Robot movie, that does keep to the spirit of the Asimov stories. In fact, in this reviewer's opinion, this screenplay ties the stories together and adds a level of emotion that make it more powerful and memorable than Asimov's original book version. The character of Susan Calvin is, little by little, given real depth - and her saga will bring a tear to your eye on more than one occasion. Despite the fact that it is written as a screenplay, making it somewhat more awkward to read than straight prose, once you begin to read, it is impossible to put down. I read it in one sitting, in the time it took to...well...watch a movie. Upon completion, part of me was sad that this was not the version that was filmed, for it would have been a classic movie. But, I am grateful that this illustrated screenplay version exists. Do yourself a favor and buy it. As you read, it will become your own personal blockbuster, whose images will remain in your heart and mind long after the lights come up in your local theater. And we have Harlan Ellison to thank for it.

An Incredible Read

Although I'm not much of a fan of Science Fiction this book really appealed to me. It has everything, emotional struggle, action, romance, and an ending that ranks among some of the best of all time. It is quite possibly my favourite book even though it's a screenplay. If you can't find it here get it anywhere. It deserves, and needs to be read by as many people as possible.

THIS SCREENPLAY MUST BE PRODUCED!

If produced as written, this would be (barring 2001) the greatest science fiction film ever made. Harlan Ellison has created a mature, thought-provoking, intelligent screenplay. I finished it today, on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, and the final words (and major theme of the story)--"are people basically good?"--haunted me long after I put it away. Only the greatest art can do that. This is a film that must be made.

An unfilmed screenplay superior to many finished SF films.

Harlan Ellison's adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic "I, Robot" stories for the screen answers many questions posed by science fiction readers for years; most notably, why nobody has ever made Asimov's trademark Robot stories into a film. The answer, as well as how Ellison came to write the screenplay, is recanted in the book's Introduction and is a fascinating story unto itself, filled with all of the elements of one of Ellison's dangerous visions--hope, fear, rage, and retribution. But "I, Robot" is not about Ellison's angst, it's about Asimov's shining vision of the future, in which human want is alleviated by sophisticated robots powered by intricate positronic brains (it was Asimov and not "Star Trek" who gave us that term). In Asimov's tomorrow, robots are capable of performing every kind of menial task and quite a few complex intellectual tasks as well--which often manifest themselves unexpectedly and with surprising consequences for their human masters. Asimov was not the first science fiction writer to conceive such a future, but he was the first to give it viability in the shape of the famous Three Laws of Robotics, which imposed a humanitarian discipline upon all of his creations. More importantly, the limits of the Three Laws (as they are affectionately known) imposed an unbreakable literary discipline upon the author himself, which served to hone his imagination and talents. Ellison's screenplay opens with an on-screen incantation of the Three Laws, which were recited like a mantra at the opening of every Asimov Robot tale. From this familiar introduction, guaranteed to endear him to Asimov loyalists everywhere, Ellison launches into a taut, deftly plotted, and wholly original science fiction yarn of considerably greater depth than most of today's Spielberg-style blockbusters. Ellison has a daunting task--how to interweave several of Asimov's short stories into a cohesive whole without resorting to episodic cliches. He does this by building his movie around the central figure of most of the Robot stories, Dr. Susan Calvin. Calvin is a robopsychologist, a specialist in the arcane thought processes of positronic brains, a woman who can explain all facets of robot behavior but is unable to come to grips with her own human frailities. Asimov's stories in this vein focused on Calvin at various stages of her life and career. Ellison takes his cue from Asimov and goes him one better; he ties the Calvin chronology together with the story of investigative reporter Robert Bratenahl's search for Calvin after a passing glimpse of the aging, reclusive scientist at the funeral of a celebrated colleague, Stephen Byerley. Bratenahl's chance encounter sends him on an odyssey around the world and across space in search of surviving sources who can shed some light on Susan Calvin's life story. This familiar narrative technique, first used by Orson Welles