I, Robot (1995 The Outer Limits)
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| "I Robot" | |
|---|---|
| The Outer Limits episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 18[1] |
| Directed by | Adam Nimoy[1] |
| Written by | Otto Binder, Alison Lea Bingeman[1] |
| Production code | 19 |
| Original air date | 23 July 1995[1] |
| Guest actors | |
|
Cynthia Preston as Mina Link, Leonard Nimoy as Thurman Cutler, Robert Clothier as Dr. Linstrop, John Novak as Voice of Adam, Barbara Tyson as Carrie Emerson, Eric Schneider as Det. Barclay[1] |
|
"I, Robot" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 23 July 1995, during the first season. It is a remake of "I, Robot" (1964), an episode of the original series.
Contents
Introduction
A robot, Adam, wakes up while being serviced by Dr. Link. He asks the doctor what he was doing, but he replies "Nothing you should worry about." After Adam shuts down, Dr. Link continues to work on Adam's hardware. A malfunction occurs and Adam activates and kills Dr. Link. Adam crashes around the lab and falls out a window. A lab technician calls the police and tells them that Dr. Link has been killed.
Opening narration
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It is said that God made man in his image, but man fell from grace. Still, man has retained from his humble beginnings the innate desire to create. But how will man's creations fare? Will they attain a measure of the divine? Or will they, too, fall from grace?
Plot
Dr. Link is working on the central memory of a robot, Adam, when he suddenly activates and attacks him. A lab assistant enters the room in time to see Adam smashing up the laboratory before crashing through a window and escaping. Dr. Link is left dead.
Some time later, a police officer finds Adam in a back alley. He asks the officer to contact Dr. Link and apparently remembers nothing of the incident. Adam is taken to a cell and preparations are made to disassemble him.
Mina, Dr. Link's daughter, contacts a lawyer, Thurman Cutler. Cutler pushes for a murder trial, insisting that Adam is his client and not simply a machine.
A court hearing begins, and the prosecutor pushes for dismissal of the case and immediate disassembly on the grounds that Adam is just a machine. Cutler argues that, although Adam is clearly not human, he possesses intelligence and will, and on that basis, deserves a trial.
During the hearing, one of Dr. Link's colleagues reveals that he had lost his funding. Cutler begins to look into Dr. Link's financial records and finds that he was working for a defense contractor — and eventually discovers that he was working to turn Adam into a weapon. Cutler is threatened by a shady representative of the defense company, but brings the matter up in court anyway. He argues, with supporting evidence of financial accounts and company memos, that Dr. Link was forced into attempting to rewrite Adam's central programming, effectively lobotomizing him. Adam reacted in the way any human might when faced with death.
The court eventually finds that Adam is a person and will stand trial for the murder of Dr. Link. As he is being led away, Adam sees the prosecuting attorney in danger of being run over and rescues her, sacrificing his own life in the process.
Closing narration
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Empathy, sacrifice, love. These qualities are not confined to walls of flesh and blood but are found within the deepest, best parts of man's soul... no matter where that soul resides.
Trivia
- Leonard Nimoy was also in the original episode, but in a different role, that of newspaper reporter Judson Ellis.
- The episode is not based on the well-known Isaac Asimov short story collection, but rather the earlier short story by Eando Binder.
- The building/business name "Rossum Hall Robotics" is a reference to Rossum's Universal Robots/R.U.R., a 1921 science fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek, noted for introducing the term "robot".
See also
- Adam Link
- I, Robot (short story)
- I, Robot (1964 The Outer Limits)
- The Measure of a Man (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
