Thursday, September 25, 2003

I, Unoptimistic Asimov Fan

A friend of mine from Vancouver, Canada recently passed along this story from a local newspaper. Here's the first few paragraphs:

Gunfire rang out early Tuesday morning from the set of I, Robot near Cordova and Burrard, waking up the neighbourhood.

The blasts ricocheted through the highrise and hotel district, destroying dreams and generally causing people to rise from their bed, wondering what was happening.

20th Century Fox's $100-million I, Robot, starring Will Smith, is an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction short story collection.

"It was a huge shock," said Chris Lin, who lives in a Coal Harbour highrise condo.

"If I didn't know they were filming a movie, I would have thought it was a terrorist attack. It was very loud."


OK, now, people being woken up by movie gunfire is mildly amusing, if you're not one of the people involved. But that's not what gets me about this story. What gets me about it is that I'm suddenly very, very nervous about what they're doing to this movie. I mean, I know it's been quite a while since I've read it, but I don't remember any big gunfights in I, Robot. Sigh. I suppose they'll also throw in some gratuitous gore and some exploding spaceships, and Susan Calvin will a be a hot babe in a miniskirt. Right?

Ah, if only they'd filmed Harlan Ellison's version. I've read that, and, judging by the script, it would have rocked.

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