Robot Stories

Four stories about robots make up Greg Pak's inventive, comedic science-fiction film. In My Robot Baby, a couple of aspiring parents go to an adoption agency, anticipating their first child. However, instead of the human baby they expected, they are given a robot baby as a parenting test. Equipped with computer sensors, the robot baby monitors its parents' caregiving, recording such crucial information as when it is fed and how often it is cuddled. However, when its father is called away on a business trip, mom is left with a significant burden--a very bad robot. Next, in The Robot Fixer, which is the most effective and moving story of the bunch, a mother and daughter tend to their son/brother, who has fallen into a coma after being hit by a car. Going to his apartment, they find a neglected collection of Microbots, and they decide to reassemble the bots piece by piece--finding arms, legs, and other accoutrements at garage sales and in toy stores. Machine Love is the most outrageous of the vignettes. It is the story of a G9 iPerson, the newest model of personal computer in the year 2007. The computer appears to be an actual person who looks like an office worker and is programmed not only to perform work, but to adapt to office culture. When the iPerson meets his love interest, his programming proves to be very multifunctional. In the final installment of ROBOT STORIES, entitled Clay, an old man living in 2027 prepares to die. Longing for the wife he lost long before, he debates whether to die a natural death or undergo "scanning," a process by which his consciousness may live on after his body is gone. ROBOT STORIES is a unique and truly entertaining film.