how similar is the movie IRobot to the book by isaac asimov?

Question

I really want to read the book but i'm kind of discouraged because ive seen the movie... how similar are the two?

Answer 1

The film I, Robot originally had a different title. One of the production team said 'let's steal Asimov's title and incorporate the three laws.' The book I, Robot has nothing to do with the film. (I read I, Robot many, many years before the film came out.) I don't mind the film, but I am deeply bothered that they tried to use the Asimov connection to increase interest, because originally there was no connection between the film and this book. Read it. It's a collection of short stories that point in a crooked line towards a broader picture.

Answer 2

I'd say barely similar - I can't hate the film, for a whole tangent of reasons I don't want to go into, but I definitely think it could have made more of a social commentary. I thought that was what it was going for based on the title, and was sad when it didn't.



But I did read the book afterward, just to give the original material credit, and I will tell you it's worth it. The book itself is told through many different stories, they themselves told from the perspective of Dr. Calvin, a famed roboticist looking back on her life and work. They deal a lot with human views on robots and prejudices they have when the robots actually start to develop connections and feeling.



As a person who's fascinated by robots, I'd say all the ideas are very interesting - what little of them were covered in the film was interesting as well - and again not to harp on, but it was closer to what I had hoped the film would be: a story exploring what separates man from machine, and if they are really that separate at all.

Answer 3

Let me please recommend a resource for this: Harlan Ellison's screenplay for the adaptation of Asimov's "I, Robot". It is human and humane, sensible and touching, full of action and intrigue. Quite frankly if THAT were the version actually filmed, and not the popularized, over-stylized and hack-job version starring W. Smith, it would have been a blockbuster.