Home Entertainment Top List Thursdays – Top ten robots

Top List Thursdays – Top ten robots

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For as long as movies have been around, robots have been a crucial part of them. Some of the best heroes and villains in films have had a robotic side, something that movies have been all too willing to exploit. So join us today, as we look at ten of the best robots to grace our screens.

R2D2 – Star Wars franchise

r2d2

 

We all know who the real star of the farp-off galaxy franchise really is. It wasn’t some whiny kid with a lightsaber, a swaggering smuggler or Samuel L Motherlovin’ Jackson. It was R2D2, a robot who managed to kick all kinds of ass without the use of a voicebox of a proper set of arms. While linguist droid C3P0 was wandering around begging for an oil bath, it was R2D2 that smuggling in lightsabers, zapping aliens and helping to save the day. In fact, Star Wars would have been boned if this little astromech droid had never been around.

T-800 – Terminator franchise

terminator

 

What’s the best way to kill humans in the future when you’ve taken over the world? Why, by taking a standard T-800 endoskeleton, wrapping some Austrian man-flesh around it and sending it into battle! Tough, durable and able to kick all manner of advanced ass that came it way, this was a robot that was clearly running on Windows XP software, in comparison to the Vista operating system of its more technologically superior successors which allowed the Arnie-bot all manner of ass-kicking advantages.

ABC Warrior – Judge Dredd

abc-warrio

 

Does a robot that happens to be made to wade through atomic, bacterial and chemical battlegrounds really need to be even more intimidating? The answer to that is hell yes, as the ABC Warrior was a rough and tough growling mean machine. I both love and hate this guy. I love him because he put a bullet through Rob Schneider. But I hate him because he was somehow defeated moments later by that same fella. What a terrible end for a truly great piece of hardware.

Gypsy Danger – Pacific Rim

gypsy danger

 

To battle the monsters at our doorsteps, we didn’t just build monsters of our own. We built walking engines of destruction with rocket-powered elbows, swords the size of a skyscraper and a heart made from a nuclear furnace. In other words, we came, we saw and we kicked some Kaiju ass in Pacific Rim.

Pris – Blade Runner

pris

 

Replicants. They’ve seen so much during their short lives, and yet they’re doomed to a life devoted to only one task, ending in a quick death. Pris may not have been as fast or as clever as her fellow replicants, but she was strangely dangerous in her own right, something that Harrison Ford’s mumbling Deckard found out the hard way in Blade Runner.

Mecha Godzilla – Godzilla franchise

mecha godzilla

 

There’s no denying that Godzilla is the king of all monsters. He’s an atomic age mutant lizard that fires nuclear power from his mouth and always gets hungry for another round Asian city destruction after an hour. So how do you combat ol’ Gojirra? Why with a mechanised version of him of course! What could possibly go wrong?

Marvin – The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

marvin

 

What’s the point? Why even bother describing the depressed Marvin to you all. Our civilization is doomed, our planet will be consumed by the Sun in a few billion years, the Andromeda galaxy will soon collide with the Milky Way after that event and most of the stars in the sky are already dead, just like my dreams.

Iron Giant – The Iron Giant

iron giant

 

I dare you to not choke back a few tears at the end of the Iron Giant, when the massive mech reveals that even a gigantic alien killing machine bred for domination and destruction can have  a change of heart when faced with nuclear annihilation. There’ll never be a robot that can move your heart, like the Iron Giant.

Wall-E – Wall-E

wall-e

 

Well shit, I stand corrected. Wall-E was tiny, built for one task and left all on his own. And after spending many years all on his lonesome, Wall-E may just have been the most human character to ever set foot/tread in a CGI film.

Robocop – Robocop franchise

robocop

Robocop actually has more than three prime directives. Sure, there’s that secret fourth one regarding OCP executives, but there’s also a hidden fifth rule that officer Alex Murphy follows as well. Namely, kicka s much ass as possible, look good while doing it and break as much glass as possible when arresting perps.

 

Last Updated: February 6, 2014

30 Comments

  1. The ABC Warrior was the best part of Stallone’s Judge Dredd.

    No love for the old Cylons?

    Reply

    • The D

      February 6, 2014 at 15:47

      I’ve never seen them!

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        February 6, 2014 at 16:06

        O_O Next you’ll say you never saw Twiggy from Buck Rogers.

        Reply

        • The D

          February 6, 2014 at 16:31

          I heard he died of Dia-bidibidibidetes.

          Reply

  2. VampyricSquirrel Monk

    February 6, 2014 at 13:46

    Marvin is actually my favorite on that list with R2D2 a close second.

    Reply

  3. CrasH

    February 6, 2014 at 13:52

    Sentinals in the x-men series?

    Reply

    • The D

      February 6, 2014 at 15:47

      Too soon. Need to see ’em in action first!

      Reply

  4. RinceThis2014

    February 6, 2014 at 13:56

    Awesome list Darryn!

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      February 6, 2014 at 14:00

      Have you watched Dredd yet or are you a little girl?

      Reply

      • RinceThis2014

        February 6, 2014 at 14:03

        That’s reserved for Friday and a bottle of wine 🙂

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          February 6, 2014 at 14:20

          Good man. I’d advise wearing a bib, & possibly a second bottle of wine, because you’re going to be spitting out a bit.

          Reply

          • RinceThis2014

            February 6, 2014 at 14:21

            THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID! BOOOOOOOOM!

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 6, 2014 at 14:22

            ….okay…I’m not into that kind of roleplay. O_O

        • Andre116

          February 7, 2014 at 14:35

          Dredd was awesome…I enjoyed it…only the annoying techno soundtrack put me off.

          Reply

          • RinceThis2014

            February 7, 2014 at 15:16

            Going to watch it tonight with a glass or ten. May be online later if I see you.

      • TiMsTeR1033

        February 6, 2014 at 14:20

        Dredd was okay…

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          February 6, 2014 at 14:22

          SHUT UP!

          Reply

          • TiMsTeR1033

            February 6, 2014 at 14:29

            I shall not be silenced! Dredd was okay at the very best.. Judge Dredd was a far better movie.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            February 6, 2014 at 14:44

            O_O

          • Skyblue

            February 6, 2014 at 18:21

            Dude, stop smoking that stuff. it seriously impairs judgement.

  5. CAE9872

    February 6, 2014 at 14:02

    R2D2 vs Terminator…tough call..

    Reply

  6. General JJ the ashamed

    February 6, 2014 at 14:24

    What about Data from Star Trek?

    Reply

    • The D

      February 6, 2014 at 15:40

      I never liked him to be honest. Ergo his omission

      Reply

      • General JJ the ashamed

        February 6, 2014 at 16:13

        I actually just thought of him because the Admiral mentioned the FTL Star Trek mod. C3PO may be Star Wars’ golden boy (no pun intended) but I definitely agree with R2 being the better bot.

        Reply

  7. TiMsTeR1033

    February 6, 2014 at 14:32

    what about Optimus Prime!! flipping hell man!

    Reply

    • SheHulkNigri

      February 6, 2014 at 14:56

      Yeah, this list is almost as bad as that Ausie journo’s that had all those Fable games in his top 10. Amiright?

      Reply

  8. SheHulkNigri

    February 6, 2014 at 14:52

    Yeah, as much as I loved Pacific Rim, does Gypsy Danger really count as a robot? It was human driven after all, with zero AI of its own.

    Reply

    • The D

      February 6, 2014 at 15:39

      My list, my rules dammit!

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        February 6, 2014 at 16:09

        I’m surprised there wasn’t a Dalek. Dr WHO CARES #amirite

        Reply

  9. Skyblue

    February 6, 2014 at 18:38

    Like how you you chose the “basic pleasure model” from Blade Runner :p Replicants are clone derivatives though. The T-1000 was superior to the T-800 but didn’t look nearly as badass and nothing was as badass as Arnie in the original Terminator so cudo’s for that call. Never got all the fuss about R2-D2, George Lucas destroyed my childhood when he released The Phantom Kak and only managed to partially patch the damage with Episode 3.

    With Robocop being my favourite in your list (technically he was a cyborg though) I loved Marvin, Gypsey Danger, Wall-E and Iron Vin but here are some of my other fav’s:

    Ghost in the Shell
    Ash in Alien or Bishop in Aliens (both excellent)
    David in A.I.
    Sonny in I, Robot
    ED-209 (best badly designed robot ever)

    Reply

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