Author | Doug Chiang and Orson Scott Card |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Chronicle Books |
Publication date | 2003 |
Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
Pages | 208 pp |
ISBN | 0-8118-4041-7 |
OCLC | 51984808 |
813/.6 21 | |
LC Class | PS3603.H525 R63 2003 |
Robota (2003) is an illustrated book by Doug Chiang and Orson Scott Card about a mysterious fourth planet of the solar system named Orpheus. In a time before the events of the book, an alien race known as the Olm came to Orpheus and warned the people, explaining that their planet will crash into Earth in several thousand years. The Olm gave humans very advanced technology and the ability to create robots with artificial intelligence. But over the centuries, entropy and mismanagement have taken their toll. The humans have reverted to a preindustrial existence in a world populated with chimerical beasts such as the saurian jodhpurs, relying on bio-sciences for whatever support they can derive. With their mysterious leader, Font Prime, silenced, the robots have fallen under the baneful influence of Kaantur-Set, who directs a program of human extermination. But the robots themselves are on the point of extinction, as their technologies of reproduction no longer work. In this dire end of times, the story follows the adventures of Caps, a human who wakes up inside a metal capsule with no memory of his past.
Orpheus was the fourth planet in our solar system, it was also the sixth largest. Its orbit intersected Earth's orbital path every 50 years. Rich in life, it gave rise to sophisticated human, animal and robot civilizations. About 2.1 billion years ago, after avoiding proto-Earth for countless years, these two planets inevitably collided. Orpheus was obliterated and the Earth shattered. Eventually, Orpheus's fragments coalesced to form Earth's moon, which stabilized our planet's erratic rotation and allowed life to germinate. Robota is the story of life before the collision and the conflict between animal life and the machines that sought to dominate them.
Kaantur's City was the home of Kaantur and the base of operation for his robots, the City levitates over ocean sinkholes hundreds of miles from shore. Measuring 9 miles in diameter, the City is protected by the peculiar qualities of the gravity wells that form the sinkholes. Thought to be over 800 years old, little is known about the City's original purpose or builders.
The home of the last humans aided by the sentient jodhpurs and other species who have gained sapience over the generations. They act as a dwindling but firm resistance against the tyranny of Kaantur-Set and his followers. The Mushroom City is, as the name implies, composed of massive fungal structures, carved hollow, and appropriated as great dwelling places. It is here where Caps first meets others of his kind who inspire him to go on a mission to fight against Kaantur and find himself.
Orpheus was visited centuries ago by a cybernetic race called the Olm. The Olm found the world populated with humans possessed of a steam-age technology. The benevolent Olm made massive changes, seeding the world with their own kind, before they departed. A peaceful and productive alliance of robots and humans then reigned.
In 2002 Sparx Animation Studios in France produced a three-minute computer-animated video, it was followed by two other short films, one of which included a live character interacting with two animated robots. For some time, it was speculated that a feature film was being produced.
A video game adaptation [1] was announced in early 2015 which would be produced by SiXiTS Studios [2] and Doug Chiang Studios. Gameplay would have been akin to Infinity Blade .
The kickstarter was created but failed to raise enough funds in time. There is no news regarding the video game's development at the current moment.
Speaker for the Dead is a 1986 science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, an indirect sequel to the 1985 novel Ender's Game. The book takes place around the year 5270, some 3,000 years after the events in Ender's Game. However because of relativistic space travel at near-light speed Ender himself is only about 35 years old.
The Memory of Earth (1992) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card. It is the first book of the Homecoming Saga, a loose fictionalization of the first few hundred years recorded in the Book of Mormon.
Xenocide (1991) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, the third book in the Ender's Game series. It was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1992. The title is a combination of 'xeno-', meaning alien, and '-cide', referring to the act of killing, together meaning the act of killing populations of aliens; comparable to genocide.
The Dark Side of the Sun is a science fiction novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1976.
My Life as a Teenage Robot is an American animated science fiction superhero comedy television series created by Rob Renzetti for Nickelodeon. It was produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Set in the fictional town of Tremorton, the series follows the adventures of a robot super-heroine named XJ-9, or Jenny, as she prefers to be called, who attempts to juggle her duties of protecting Earth while trying to live a normal human life as a teenage girl.
Andrew "Ender" Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's 1985 science fiction novel Ender's Game and its sequels, as well as in the first part of the spin-off series, Ender's Shadow. The book series itself is an expansion of Card's 1977 short story "Ender's Game."
The Mysterious Planet is the first serial of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord which encompasses the whole of the 23rd season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 6 to 27 September 1986. The title The Mysterious Planet is not used on-screen and only appears in the serial's scripts with the four episodes that comprise the story being transmitted as The Trial of a Time Lord Parts One to Four.
The Autobots are usually featured as the main protagonists in the Transformers multimedia franchise, and are depicted in a collection of various toys, cartoons, films, graphic novels, and paperback books first introduced in 1984. The Autobots are living robots from the planet Cybertron who, like most Transformers, are each imbued with a unique "life force" known as a "spark." Led by Optimus Prime in most stories, the Autobots believe "freedom is the right of all sentient life" and are often engaged in a civil war with the Decepticons, a faction of transformers dedicated to military conquest and usually headed by Megatron. In a mirror universe portrayed in Transformers: Shattered Glass, the Autobots are villains opposed by the heroic Decepticons.
The Noon Universe is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The universe is named after Noon: 22nd Century, chronologically the first novel from the series and referring to humanity reaching its noon in the 22nd century.
Doug Chiang is an American film designer and artist. He is vice president and executive creative director of Lucasfilm.
Lovelock is a 1994 science fiction novel by American writers Orson Scott Card and Kathryn H. Kidd. The novel's eponymous narrator, a sentient monkey, takes his name from James Lovelock, the scientist-inventor who formulated the Gaia hypothesis, which figures heavily in the book.
Optimus Prime, also known in Japan as Convoy, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Transformers franchise. The Transformers characters were developed for an American market after Hasbro representatives visited the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show. The characters were modified and the coloring was changed; notably, Optimus Prime was colored red, chrome, and dark blue. The popularity of the Transformers toys resulted in comics, movies, and even a TV series.
Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card co-produced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
"In the Doghouse" is a science fiction short story by American writers Orson Scott Card and Jay A. Parry. It appears in his short story collection Maps in a Mirror. Card originally published this story in the December 1978 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact.
Pathfinder (2010) is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The novel tells the story of Rigg and his unusual ability to perceive the "paths" of living things throughout time. It is the first book in the completed Pathfinder series, and is followed by Ruins and Visitors.
Visitors is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card, who is best known for his novels, Ender's Game (1985) and Speaker for the Dead (1986). This novel continues the story of Rigg and his evolving ability to see and travel to the past, in an attempt to save the future. It is the third and final book of the Pathfinder series, preceded by Ruins and Pathfinder.
AI takeover—the idea that some kind of artificial intelligence may supplant humankind as the dominant intelligent species on the planet—is a common theme in science fiction. Famous cultural touchstones include Terminator and The Matrix.