As humanity approaches the cusp of creating true artificial intelligence and robots that can almost coexist alongside humans, it’s important to member that this is not just a recent dram, but one that has been dreamt about for many years in different forms of novels, comics and films for over a century.
And it was 35 years ago when a certain young boy named D.A.R.Y.L (not to be confused with the other name people sometimes call Darryn by) burst onto our scenes. The sci-fi movie from the ‘80s starred Barret Oliver as an artificial intelligence housed in a robotic body resembling a ten-year-old boy who had to figure out the world – and most importantly – the human race was a popular movie for young kids like myself back then, even if it perhaps hasn’t had staying power and being largely forgotten by many.
D.A.R.Y.L though will be coming back though in a new comedy TV series for TBS, written by Jody Lambert and Matt Oberg starring Tony Hale (via The Hollywood Reporter). Except this time, D.A.R.Y.L will no longer be a ten-year-old boy, but rather an adult who has grown up with his human counterparts and in the form of a comedy series. It’s not exactly clear if this film will be a sequel to the firm’s character or an alternate take at the story, but I can definitely see how a robot living as a human could work as a comedy series, so hopefully, it can be fun.
The official synopsis for the show reads:
A half-hour comedy that picks up where Paramount’s 1985 feature left off. What if a top-secret, 10-year-old human weapon grew up to be a 44-year-old guy just trying to keep up with a world that he was never designed for? And what if the story morphed from an ’80s sci-fi adventure movie about a child with a computer in his skull … into a single-camera comedy starring Tony Hale? The boy everyone wanted … has become the man no one needs … in the TV adaptation, nobody asked for.
“The boy everyone wanted … has become the man no one needs”. Sounds like the tagline for Darryn’s life story. Perhaps Darryn is a robot after all? That would explain his terrible taste in food and pretty much everything else.
Last Updated: June 30, 2020
