You’ll Never Guess Which 5 Fictional Robots Are My Favorite

Actually, even if you don’t know me, you’d probably be able to guess at least one or two of them just on dumb luck. With Alita: Battle Angel now in theaters, it got me thinking about other fictional robots in pop culture. So, here’s a look back at some well known and maybe not so well known robots from movies and TV.

Small Wonder was a sitcom in the mid-80s about a father who built a robot that looked like a 10 year old girl whose purpose was to help handicapped kids. He brings it home so that its AI can learn from interacting with the family. This show was dumb AF . . . also a little creepy. But I mean, what else would you expect from the decade that brought us ALF?

Data was essentially the new Spock for Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was the first of his kind (or so he thought), built by Noonien Soong. Not being able to feel emotion left Data often confused by the world around him. Some of Data’s best moments on the show were when he was trying to learn how to be more human. Some of my favorite moments were when he tried to learn humor from Joe Piscopo, when Q gave him a brief moment of laughter, and when he finally got the joke Geordi told him in the series premiere.

I don’t know about you guys, but when I think about a good role model for a kid, it’s almost always a super advanced sex-bot. AI has a crazy history. The film started development way back in the 80’s with Stanley Kubrick wanting to produce it with Steven Spielberg on as director. After years in development hell, the film finally went into production in 2000. Kubrick was going to direct it himself after being talked into it by Spielberg, who had other projects he wanted to work on; but after Kubrick died in 1999, Spielberg found himself back in the directors chair for it

Anyway, back to Gigolo Joe. Jude Law’s performance made you actually feel for the robot who had to go on the run after one of his customers was murdered by her husband. The stark contrast between what he was and how he cared for David made for a really compelling story arc in the movie.

I’m going with the original. Sure, T2 was the superior film, but You never forget your first evil cybernetic killing machine. In the first movie, Arnold was just a brute force of destruction. He had one singular goal and did what he had to in order to complete his mission. Also, everyone just accepted that this robot from the future had an Austrian accent.

The Iron Giant is absolutely one of my favorite animated films. It’s also the movie that made me pay attention to Brad Bird. While Bird had worked on other things I watched as a kid, like, Amazing Stories, The Simpsons, and *Batteries Not Included I was old enough when this movie came out to actually think about looking at who was involved in it.

The story is similar to T2 in how the giant forms a bond with Hogarth and how he’s a deadly killing machine, but trying to do better. Set in the 50’s, the movie has a very distinct aesthetic and really makes you feel for both the giant and Hogarth. This film also prepared Vin Diesel to be the voice of Groot.

So, that’s my list. There are tons of other fictional robots out there that are great in their own right. . . some of which are probably much better than some of these. But, this is my list and these are the ones I chose. Who’s your favorite robot? Let us know in the comments. Make sure to catch out Sci-Fi show Friday nights on Facebook and subscribe to us on YouTube to keep up to date with everything trending in Geek Pop Culture.