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Killer Robots

Caustic Soda, robot fighters! We pit our powerful podcasting techniques against robotic threats like the biomass consuming EATR, firearm-wielding TALON and SWORDS, the frighteningly named Multiple Kill Vehicle and iRobot’s “Warrior” model. Also: Robots hitting people FOR SCIENCE, quadrocopters, The Terminator, Cylons, replicants, Westworld and many more robotic threats!

Music: Big Robot Dinosaur by The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets

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This episode sponsored by Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy!

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51 Responses

  4. I’m sure this got cut from the final version (I blame robots) but cinema is rife with killer robots that didn’t get a mention.

    I grew up watching so many B-movies about killer robots, I don’t even know where to begin. Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still. Hector from Saturn 3. Any robot in Screamers. The computer that impregnates a woman in Demon Seed (who also killed so I’m still on topic with that one). God knows how many episodes of Star Trek had killer robots. Heck, how about Mechagodzilla who started his giant robot dinosaur career attacking Tokyo and killing thousands.

    In the meantime, if you want to track our imminent demise at the hands (claws, tentacles, etc) of our steely oppressors, you’ll want to check this site out…

    http://www.killerrobots.net/

    1. I tried to sell them on Saturn 3, but they dismissed Hector as technically being a cyborg.

      But Runaway totally should have been mentioned, if only for the Vancouver connection.

      PS sweet link. Must… ignore… work to…. do!

  5. I’m sure this got cut from the final version (I blame robots) but cinema is rife with killer robots that didn’t get a mention.

    I grew up watching so many B-movies about killer robots, I don’t even know where to begin. Gort from The Day The Earth Stood Still. Hector from Saturn 3. Any robot in Screamers. The computer that impregnates a woman in Demon Seed (who also killed so I’m still on topic with that one). God knows how many episodes of Star Trek had killer robots. Heck, how about Mechagodzilla who started his giant robot dinosaur career attacking Tokyo and killing thousands.

    In the meantime, if you want to track our imminent demise at the hands (claws, tentacles, etc) of our steely oppressors, you’ll want to check this site out…

    http://www.killerrobots.net/

    1. OH I forgot Runaway! How could I have forgotten Runaway?

      Tom Selleck! Gene Simmons! KIRSTIE ALLIE! Filmed in VANCOUVER!

      GENIUS!

    2. I tried to sell them on Saturn 3, but they dismissed Hector as technically being a cyborg.

      But Runaway totally should have been mentioned, if only for the Vancouver connection.

      PS sweet link. Must… ignore… work to…. do!

  6. Hey, I think you gave Sam Worthington a bad rap.

    Go check out “Getting Square”, it’s an Aussie heist film.
    One of the better films to come out of our prison island.

    You forgot the killer robots from “The Chopping Mall”.

    “Eight teenagers are trapped after hours in a high tech shopping mall and pursued by three murderous security robots out of control. ” – IMDB

    How bad can it be?
    Switch it off and watch infomercials, that’s how bad!

    1. Yeah yeah, i agree, that description is misleading. Motion capture is where they stick you in a special suit (with tracker balls all over it) and have a computer track the position of each ball and record that data. then the tracked data is used to animate a cg character rig. It looks more “fake” because we’re used to the squash and stretch of key-frame animation, so many many companies use mocap as a first pass and then key frame/clean-up the animation from there.

      oh <3 the pod cast, this is the first time i had anything to say.

    1. Yeah yeah, i agree, that description is misleading. Motion capture is where they stick you in a special suit (with tracker balls all over it) and have a computer track the position of each ball and record that data. then the tracked data is used to animate a cg character rig. It looks more “fake” because we’re used to the squash and stretch of key-frame animation, so many many companies use mocap as a first pass and then key frame/clean-up the animation from there.

      oh <3 the pod cast, this is the first time i had anything to say.

  9. I dunno if it strictly classifies as a killer robot (it doesn’t come standard with grenade launchers, as far as I know), but the Boston Dynamics BigDog is pretty effin’ scary: http://bigdogrobotvideos.com/ The official explanation is that it’s supposed to function as a robotic ‘pack mule’, but there has also been a fair amount of theorizing that it could also be used to run down fugitives (with some speed modifications). Anyway, enjoy!

    1. I love Big Dog (and the little brother), but my favorite thing about it is the visceral reaction people have to the robot being kicked (to show its stability). “*gasp!* He just KICKED that poor… oh, uh, mechanical… thing.”

    2. When i first saw it, i was reminded of the Invid’s Robot minions the Cougars (aka Hellcat) from Robotech the Sentinels

  10. I think the Big Dog is a good example of Joe’s Uncanny Valley – when that thing gets shoved or slips on the ice, the way it moves to correct is scary organic looking. Always creeps me out.

  11. I think the Big Dog is a good example of Joe’s Uncanny Valley – when that thing gets shoved or slips on the ice, the way it moves to correct is scary organic looking. Always creeps me out.

    1. It wasn’t a ramp or a spinning blade? How did you feel once it had been completely demolished?

  15. One of my favourite killer robot stories is the Philip K. Dick story “Second Variety”, which was made into a really bad movie called “Screamers”.

    Robots made to kill commies in the future end up building their own robots to do their job better, then they start building robots that look like people, and start killing all humans.

    The movie is bad, but the book is pretty good.

  19. Along the lines of how Roomba also makes kill bots, John De Lancie from Star Trek TNG starred in a B movie ‘Evolver’ about a prototype military robot that got repurposed as toy. “Want to play?”

    Also on the awesome DC cartoon Young Justice when they fight Prof Ivo and his Amazo robot, Ivo also has the quite annoying servitor robots called M.O.N.Q.I.s (Mobile Optimal Neural Quotient Infiltrators) that look like robot monkeys with jet packs and make laughing noises. He even laments ‘oh, and after all the trouble i went through finding an acronym for monkey…’

  20. Shocked and dismayed that you left out these killer robots from your pop culture discussion:

    1. Call-Me-Kenneth leads the robot rebellion in Mega-City One but is eventually defeated by Judge Dredd (2000 AD progs 10-17)

    2. The “Robots of Death” run amok on a sandminer but are outwitted by Dr Who (season 14)

  21. Shocked and dismayed that you left out these killer robots from your pop culture discussion:

    1. Call-Me-Kenneth leads the robot rebellion in Mega-City One but is eventually defeated by Judge Dredd (2000 AD progs 10-17)

    2. The “Robots of Death” run amok on a sandminer but are outwitted by Dr Who (season 14)

  23. Pop Culture- In the movie Red Planet there was a dog-like robot that got whacked out and tried to kill people.

  24. Pop Culture- In the movie Red Planet there was a dog-like robot that got whacked out and tried to kill people.

  25. you guys forgot GLaDOS from Portal, she killed all of the scientists and who knows how many test subjects…

  28. 1 Thing about the Autobots killing the Decepticons, ya maybe seemed heartless that Autobots kill er destroy the Decepticons, but if say ur ppl were nearly wiped out do to some other species and say that other species still has it out for the remaining of ur species. (They dont want to talk just destroy u). What would u do or be like? I for one would be a lot like Optimus Prime. Dont forget now he does want to save humanity as well, many a times he has put his life in danger to rescue a human. “Excuse poor grammar at work got to do fast and this is just my thoughts.”

    1. Executing a defeated and helpless foe begging for mercy isn’t “heartless”, it’s a war crime.

      And remember, that Decepticon wasn’t doing anything wrong. He was just hiding out, and then running. And then hunted down, defeated, begged for mercy, and then shot in the face by the Autobot version of Captain America. The noble, calm leader of the Autobots. Remember the line “Easy, Ironhide.” from the cartoons? That line showcased the difference between the hotheaded warrior and their leader.

      Michael Bay shit on all that and made Optimus a savage, murderous asshole, though I’m sure that tool was trying to make him a “badass”.

      It doesn’t matter that he’s put his life on the line. What matters is he chased down an opponent who was currently doing nothing wrong, defeated him in combat handily, and when they begged for mercy he executed them. This wasn’t the heat of battle, there was no danger. The opponent was defeated, and there was no great rush to get anywhere else, except Bay’s rush to get to the next scene.

      The movie Optimus Prime has no mercy, and that makes him more a villain than a hero.

      More reasons to love the Captain America movies: They made a total badass with a strong moral center. “I don’t want to kill anyone. I don’t like bullies; I don’t care where they’re from.” <3