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).
Small Wonder was an American children's comedy science fiction sitcom that aired in first-run syndication from September 7, 1985, to May 20, 1989. The show chronicles the family of a robotics engineer who secretly creates a robot modeled after a human girl, then tries to pass it off as their adopted daughter, Vicki. The series turned out to be a surprise hit, specifically with children, as many channels belonging to different nations witnessed while re-running the show. Owing to its popularity in some countries, the show had to be dubbed for different languages.
Flubber is a 1997 American science-fiction comedy film directed by Les Mayfield and written by Hughes and Bill Walsh. A remake of The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), the film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and stars Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden, Christopher McDonald, Ted Levine, Raymond J. Barry, Wil Wheaton, and Clancy Brown with Jodi Benson providing a voice. The film grossed $178 million worldwide and received negative reviews from critics. In selected theaters, the Pepper Ann episode "Old Best Friend" was featured before the film.
Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights is a 1994 made-for-television film produced by Hanna-Barbera, and aired on syndication on September 3, 1994. It is an adaptation of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights and features appearances by Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Rogers, in wrap around segments.
The Mad Thinker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is portrayed to be an evil genius specializing in robotics. He is sometimes referred to just as "The Thinker".
The Toyman is the name of three supervillains and one adolescent superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, as an adversary for Superman.
Ashley Thomas is a fictional character from the British soap opera Emmerdale, played by John Middleton. He made his first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 5 December 1996. It was announced on 22 October 2015 that Middleton would be departing as Ashley at the end of his contract after the character was diagnosed with vascular dementia in the episode aired on that day. The contract was later extended in order for the storyline to be extended. It was revealed that Ashley would be killed off at the end of the storyline. Middleton filmed his final scenes in March 2017 after his contract ended, and Ashley died on-screen on 7 April 2017, ending his 21 years on Emmerdale. Ashley appeared in further episodes in home movie scenes, making his final appearance on 13 February 2018.
The concept of uploading a mind into a computer, often into a simulated reality, is a recurring theme in science-fiction novels and films since the 1950s. Some stories describe societies of such minds.
Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American science fiction comedy-drama film starring Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz, Wendy Crewson, and Oliver Platt. Based on the 1992 novel The Positronic Man by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, the plot explores issues of humanity, slavery, prejudice, maturity, intellectual freedom, conformity, sex, love, mortality, and immortality. The film, a co-production between Touchstone Pictures and Columbia Pictures, was directed by Chris Columbus. The title comes from the main character existing to the age of two hundred years.
Maico 2010 is a manga series by Toshimitsu Shimizu which ran in Young King from 1997 to 1998. The manga was adapted to an anime television series on WOWOW that ran from April 6, 1998 to September 28 of that year titled Android Announcer Maico 2010 as part of the Anime Complex omnibus show. The series was published in English by ComicsOne. ComicsOne rated the series as "Suggested 17Up."
Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe is a science fiction radio drama series by the ZBS Foundation, written by Thomas Lopez. The first series, Ruby: Adventures of A Galactic Gumshoe, was created in 1982. In each story, the title character Ruby is hired to solve a metaphysical problem. New series have been released every few years, reaching Ruby 11 in 2023. Ruby is played by actress Laura Esterman.
The Vision is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Avengers #57. The Vision is loosely based on the Timely Comics character of the same name who was an alien from another dimension. The character is an android built by the villainous robot Ultron created by Hank Pym. Originally intended to act as Ultron's "son" and destroy the Avengers, Vision instead turned on his creator and joined the Avengers to fight for the forces of good. Since then, he has been depicted as a frequent member of the team, and, for a time, was married to his teammate, the Scarlet Witch. He also served as a member of the Defenders.
Skaar is a fictional character, a comic book superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character in stories featuring his father, the Hulk, who conceived Skaar with the extraterrestrial Caiera during the 2006–2007 "Planet Hulk" storyline. Created by writer Greg Pak and artist John Romita Jr., the earliest version of the character appeared in a cameo in an alternate history story in What If? Planet Hulk #1, in which the character was drawn by Rafa Sandoval. The Earth-616 version of the character appeared in World War Hulk #5, by Pak and Romita, Jr.
"Special Service" is the sixty-fourth episode, and the twenty-seventh episode of the third season (1988–89), of the television series The Twilight Zone. It was written by J. Michael Straczynski. In the episode, a man discovers that for the past five years, he has been under constant video surveillance and the footage broadcast 24/7 as a hit TV show. Some critics noted similarities between the episode's story and the critically acclaimed 1998 feature film The Truman Show. Unlike The Truman Show, however, "Special Service" consistently treats its premise as humorous and implausible, a satire of the human tendency to assume that events revolve around oneself.
Robopocalypse (2011) is a science fiction novel by Daniel H. Wilson. The book portrays AI out of control when a researcher in robotics explores the capacity of robots. It is written in present tense. Writer Robert Crais and Booklist have compared the novel to the works of Michael Crichton and Robert A. Heinlein. It was a bestseller on the New York Times list.
Mother/Android is a 2021 American post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller film, written and directed by Mattson Tomlin in his feature directorial debut, and starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Algee Smith and Raúl Castillo. It follows a pregnant woman and her boyfriend who try to reach a fortified Boston amidst an AI takeover. It was released on December 17, 2021 on Hulu.
