Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time

Last updated

Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time is a series of six science fiction novels featuring Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. Written by American author William F. Wu as novels for children, they were the first series authorized to use Asimov's fictional universe after his death in 1992.

Contents

Plot outline

Set on Earth, it tells the story of the Governors, a series of state-of-the-art administrative robots. Each Governor is physically composed of six smaller units and is responsible for single-handedly directing the operations of a human-inhabited city. When the Governor robots begin to fail mysteriously, Mojave Center (MC) Governor acts to protect his own existence by separating into his components and traveling into the remote past to escape disassembly.

MC Governor is not aware, however, that the time travel method used alters its molecular structure, with the result that his components explode via nuclear blasts when they reach the moment in which they were originally altered. A team composed of three humans and one robot embarks on a series of missions to the past to retrieve the robots before they can alter history. Opposing their efforts are a renegade roboticist and his robot companion, who seek to track down the Governors in order to solve the problem of their mysterious failure before their team can.

Books in the series

  1. Predator (1993) - A new robot named Hunter assembles a team of humans and journeys to the age of dinosaurs to find the first component robot, MC 1, before his actions in the late Cretaceous alter the course of Earth's zoology.
  2. Marauder (1993) - Hunter pursues MC 2 to 17th-century Port Royal, Jamaica, in the time of privateers and buccaneers.
  3. Warrior (1993) - Hunter and his team travel to Germany in the year 9 to stop MC 3 from interfering at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, a turning point in the history of the Roman Empire.
  4. Dictator (1994) - Hunter tracks MC 4 in the World War II-era Soviet Union, shortly before the German army invades during the Battle of Moscow.
  5. Emperor (1994) - MC 5 is followed to 13th-century China, where Hunter and his team meet the Manchu Emperor Kublai Khan and traveler Marco Polo.
  6. Invader (1994) - In the final installment, the team travels to southern Britain to capture MC 6 in 459—in the time when a man named Artorius (King Arthur) led the Celts in war against the invading Saxons.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Asimov</span> American writer and biochemist (1920–1992)

Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books. He also wrote an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. Best known for his hard science fiction, Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as popular science and other non-fiction.

<i>The Caves of Steel</i> 1954 novel by Isaac Asimov

The Caves of Steel is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just being a limited genre in itself.

<i>Foundation</i> (book series) Science-fiction books by Isaac Asimov

The Foundation series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories and novellas in 1942–50, and subsequently in three books in 1951–53, for nearly thirty years the series was widely known as The Foundation Trilogy: Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953). It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov later added new volumes, with two sequels, Foundation's Edge (1982) and Foundation and Earth (1986), and two prequels, Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993).

<i>Robot</i> series Series of stories by Isaac Asimov

The Robot Series is a series of thirty-seven science fiction short stories and six novels created by American writer Isaac Asimov, from 1940 to 1995. The series is set in a world where sentient positronic robots serve a number of purposes in society. To ensure their loyalty, the Three Laws of Robotics are programmed into these robots, with the intent of preventing them from ever becoming a danger to humanity. Later, Asimov would merge the Robot series with his Foundation series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Three Laws of Robotics</span> Fictional set of rules by Isaac Asimov

The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, which were to be followed by robots in several of his stories. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround", although similar restrictions had been implied in earlier stories.

<i>Nemesis</i> (Asimov novel) 1989 science-fiction novel by Isaac Asimov

Nemesis is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. One of his later science fiction novels, it was published in 1989, three years before his death. This novel is connected to Asimov's other works by several ideas from earlier and later novels, including non-human intelligence, sentient astronomical bodies ("Hallucination"), and rotor engines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Asimov</span> American author, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst (1926–2019)

Janet Opal Asimov, usually writing as J. O. Jeppson, was an American science fiction writer, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst.

<i>Robots and Empire</i> Science fiction novel by the American author Isaac Asimov

Robots and Empire is a science fiction novel by the American author Isaac Asimov, published by Doubleday Books in 1985. It is part of Asimov's Robot series, which consists of many short stories and five novels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Bicentennial Man</span> Novelette by Isaac Asimov

"The Bicentennial Man" is a novelette in the Robot series by American writer Isaac Asimov. According to the foreword in Robot Visions, Asimov was approached to write a story, along with a number of other authors who would do the same, for a science fiction collection to be published in honor of the United States Bicentennial. However, the arrangement fell through, leaving Asimov's the only story actually completed for the project. Asimov sold the story to Judy-Lynn del Rey, who made some small changes to the text. Asimov restored the original text when the story was collected in The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories (1976).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elijah Baley</span> Fictional character

Elijah "Lije" Baley is a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's Robot series. He is the main character of the novels The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn, and of the short story "Mirror Image." He is seen in flashbacks several times and talked about frequently in Robots and Empire, which is set roughly 160 years after his death. He is further mentioned in passing in "Foundation and Earth" as a "Culture Hero". Besides Asimov's works he appears in the Foundation's Friends story "Strip-Runner" by Pamela Sargent, and "Isaac Asimov's 'The Caves of Steel'" poem by Randall Garrett.

<i>The Positronic Man</i> 1992 novel by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg

The Positronic Man is a 1992 novel by American writers Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, based on Asimov's 1976 novelette "The Bicentennial Man".

This is a bibliography of the books written or edited by Isaac Asimov, arranged alphabetically. Asimov was a prolific author, and he engaged in many collaborations with other authors. This list may not yet be complete. The total number of books listed here is over 500. Asimov died in 1992 at age 72; a small number of his books were published posthumously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norby</span> Fictional character

Norby is a fictional robot created by Janet Asimov and Isaac Asimov who stars in his own series of children's science fiction books, The Norby Chronicles. His first appearance was in the 1983 book Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot, in total he appeared in 11 novels in the 'Norby' series. According to Isaac Asimov, although Janet Asimov did 90% of the work, his "name was wanted on the book for the betterment of sales [and he] went over the manuscript and polished it a bit."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnus, Robot Fighter</span> Fictional superhero

Magnus, Robot Fighter is a fictional superhero who battles rogue robots in the year 4000, appearing in comic books created by writer/artist Russ Manning in 1963. Magnus first appeared in Magnus Robot Fighter 4000 A.D. #1, published by Gold Key Comics in February 1963. The character was subsequently published by Valiant Comics and Acclaim Comics in the 1990s, and was reintroduced by Dark Horse Comics in August 2010. Some aspects of the concept have varied with each publisher.

<i>Isaac Asimovs Robot City: Odyssey</i> 1987 novel by Michael P. Kube-McDowell

Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Odyssey is a science fiction novel written in 1987 by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. It is part of the series Isaac Asimov's Robot City, inspired by Isaac Asimov's Robot series. The 1995 computer game Robot City is based on the plot of Odyssey.

The Foundation universe is the future history of humanity's colonization of the galaxy, spanning nearly 25,000 years, created through the gradual fusion of the Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation book series written by American author Isaac Asimov.

<i>Autómata</i> 2014 science fiction film

Autómata is a 2014 English-language Spanish-Bulgarian science fiction action film directed by Gabe Ibáñez starring Antonio Banderas. The film is co-written by Ibáñez with Igor Legarreta and Javier Sánchez Donate, and co-stars Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Melanie Griffith, Dylan McDermott, Robert Forster, and Tim McInnerny.

In a writing career spanning 53 years (1939–1992), science fiction and popular science author Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) wrote and published 40 novels, 383 short stories, over 280 non-fiction books, and edited about 147 others.

Depending on the counting convention used, and including all titles, charts, and edited collections, there may be currently over 500 books in Isaac Asimov's bibliography—as well as his individual short stories, individual essays, and criticism. For his 100th, 200th, and 300th books, Asimov published Opus 100 (1969), Opus 200 (1979), and Opus 300 (1984), celebrating his writing.

References