Westworld

[ulthar]

Caught Westworld on TV this weekend and here's a few comments I thought might be of interest.

1.  I believe I read that story (or one very, very similar) in an anthology called "The Twilight Zone," that should have been by Rod Serling (right?).  Yet this movie has Michael Crichton as the writing credit.  Anyone familiar with the TZ anthology I'm talking about and can shed some light on if Crichton wrote it (and maybe Serling just edited)?

If it helps, the first story in the anthology was about a robotic Casey At the Bat.

I *know* I've read this story SOMEWHERE.

2.  In light of our other recent discussions of CGI, IMDB has this film credited with THE FIRST use of CG imagery in a feature film: the pixelated POV from Yul Brynner's "Robot Gunslinger."  It's pretty cool (to me) that it took 8 hours of computer time to produce 10 seconds worth of film, way back in 1973.

3.  I had placed Richard Benjamin from "The Last Married Couple in America" but totally missed that he was the dude in Catch-22.  I guess I just zoned out.

4.  Wasn't this similar to "The Terminator" and all the films where the bad-guy/monster just keeps relentlessly coming, no matter what you do?

5.  *** SPOILER BELOW ****




I like movies with 'darker' endings; except for Benjamin's character, no one else survives.  No one.  I bet that was a toughie for audiences in 1973.

[trekgeezer]

This was a precursor and probably where Cameron got his idea for the Terminator.

As far as the ending, directors in the 70's weren't afraid to have endings like this.

[odinn7]

I liked this movie quite a bit when I was younger. I watched it every time it was on tv. I found it on tape about 10 years ago for $3 and bought it. I figured watching it would ruin it for me but surprise, I still liked it. It was cheesy but still fairly well done. What really made the movie was Yul. He was perfect as the relentless robot.
Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions except for the Terminator comparison. I thought that also when I saw the Terminator. I wonder if the idea came from Westworld? It seems entirely possible.

[Master Blaster]

I read somewhere that the Sci Fi writer Harlan Ellison sued Cameron or something claiming he stole the idea from an Outer Limits episode and one of his short stories. The only Ellison story I've read was "I Have no Mouth Yet I Must Scream" which bears similarities to Skynet and is also a very dark post-apocolyptic story similar to the Terminator. It's been suggested ideas were taken from that story as well. Cameron claims the terminator came from a dream where he saw the endoskeleton emerging from flames.

[ulthar]

Master Blaster wrote:

> Cameron
> claims the terminator came from a dream where he saw the
> endoskeleton emerging from flames.

Well, if Cameron had this dream the night after watching Westworld, the conclusion is completely different than the one he is pushing.  Food for thought, eh?  There WAS over ten years between Westworld and The Terminator.

This begs the question, though:  what was 'the first' movie to depict this type of relentless, inhuman 'monster'?  In all the 'classic' horror films, the monster had a specific vulnerability (silver bullets, stake through the heart, etc).

[DaveMunger]

I think the credits on The Terminator say something like "inspired by the works of Harlan Ellison". He comes up a lot in the credits of stuff as a consultant or something. Science Consultant on Babylon 5, which is kind of funny since science isn't exactly what he's known for. I heard the inspirations for The Terminator where Demon With A Glass Hand, and another Outer Limits that Ellison wrote, the one where the soldier from the future is accidentally transported to the 60s. The part I remember from that one is that he instinctively cries out "C.O." instead of "mommy".

I think of the mummy as the king of the inexorable shamblers, what was his weakness?

[trekgeezer]

Harlan won the lawsuit (I think people pay him to shut up).  The Outer Limits episode was Demon with a Glass Hand,  the stories Soldier,  A Boy and His Dog, and the one you mentioned.  When it is shown now there is a special credit to Harlan.

To tell the truth, I don't know how anybody can write anything anymore without  being influenced by something else.  Harlan Ellison has sued a lot of people, he even sued AOL because they weren't fast  enough making someone get one of his stories off their webpage.

[ulthar]

Dave Munger wrote:

>
> I think of the mummy as the king of the inexorable shamblers,
> what was his weakness?


You caught me!  The Mummy is actually one of my all-time favorites.  Oh the memories of sleepless nights as a kid with images of Boris Karloff in my mind.

I deliberately left The Mummy off my list of critters with known vulnerabilities, cuz I couldn't think of one.

[Master Blaster]

Yeah I looked up some Ellison stuff after I posted just being curious. Seems to be a bit of a freak. Assimov said he was completely tactless. Still, I think he writes well. He's probably one of those eccentric writer types.

[Scott]

Westworld was a fasinating film to see as a kid in the 70's.

The Twilight Zone actually did many things much better than movies and movie ideas of similiar storylines.

[BoyScoutKevin]

"Westworld," I believe, was something of a suprise hit. It made enough money to spawn a sequel, "Futureworld," which I actually saw, before I saw "Westworld."

One wonders if this is what Disneyland, with its audio animatronic figures, would look like in the future. Though, the film does show that films are far more advanced in their science then real life. Disney came up with the audioanimatronic figures in the early '60;s, but even in the early '00's, we have yet to have audioanimatronic figures as advanced as those in the film. Though, the people at Disney have invented an audioanimatronic dinosaur, which can move independently, and which can be seen at Walt Disney World.

As for Harlan Ellison, he may be eccentric, but he has to be (IMHO) considered to be one of the great writers of television programs. Not only penning some of the most memorable episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits," but also writing "The City on the Edge of Forever" for "Star Trek."