Heard of Adam Link?

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2004)

'I, Robot' is a great movie. Alex Proyas has done an amazing job. It cleverly weaves a lot of Asimov's themes, characters and story lines. However, the filmmakers have failed to credit the true origins of the title. Asimov published his 'I, Robot' in 1950 BUT he actually 'borrowed' the title from an author called Eando Binder (a pseudonym for the brothers Earl & Otto Binder) who wrote their story, 'I, Robot' in 1939. It was about a robot called Adam Link who finds himself on trial for the murder of his creator (sound familiar?) Of course he is innocent but the monster that humanity cannot understand must be destroyed. There were many other Adam Link stories but 'I, Robot' seems to have been the most popular. The story was also published in comic form in 'Weird Science Fantasy' (EC Comics - 1955) and was produced for television in an episode of 'The Outer Limits' in 1963. Now the film makers have used this same plot in their movie and yet give no credit to the true originators. Yes, the film deals with Asimov's themes but the main character of Sonny is based on Adam Link, a character that was not created by Asimov at all. It would seem that Asimov has been given full credit simply for publicity reasons. Everyone's heard of him, which gives the film more 'dollar' credibility. Understandable but a bit of a shame, that's all. Still, I really enjoyed the film and everyone involved should be applauded.