"The Outer Limits" I, Robot (1995)

Director:

Adam Nimoy

Writers:

Otto Binder (story)
Alison Lea Bingeman (writer)

TV Series:

"The Outer Limits" (1995)

Original Air Date:

23 July 1995 (Season 1, Episode 18)

Genre:

Mystery | Horror | Sci-Fi | Fantasy | Thriller

Plot:

Late at night, Dr. Link works on his creation, a powerful robot named Adam Link. Adam goes berserk and murders Dr...

Plot Keywords:

Robot As Pathos | Futurism | Reboot Of Series | Female Nudity | Biohazard

Cast

Cynthia Preston	...	Mina Link (as Cyndy Preston)
Barbara Tyson	...	Carrie Emerson
Nathaniel DeVeaux	...	Col. Birch
Leonard Nimoy	...	Thurman Cutler
Ken Kramer	...	Judge Clancy
Eric Schneider	...	Detective Barclay
Robert Clothier	...	Dr. Linstrop
J.B. Bivens	...	Security Guard
Robert Moloney	...	Lab Technician
Don MacKay	...	Dr. Link
John Novak	...	Voice of Adam (voice)

Trivia:

The first season episode "I, Robot" was a remake of an episode by the same title from the second season of the 1963 series. Leonard Nimoy, who played a reporter in the original episode, played attorney Thurman Cutler in the remake ('Howard DaSilva' in the original). The remake was also directed by Nimoy's son, Adam - the name of the robot accused of murder in the story.

Quotes:

[last lines]
The Control Voice: Empathy, sacrifice, love. These qualities are not confined to walls of flesh and blood, but are found within the deepest, best parts of man's soul, no matter where that soul resides.

Movie Connections:

Remake of "The Outer Limits: I, Robot (#2.9)" (1964)

Unfocused Sci-Fi Courtroom Drama

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

While this is an improvement over the Outer Limits' first try at dramatizing this story, it still doesn't work well because, this time around, it's just an odd melange of ideas that don't reinforce each other.

Presumably, the issue at hand is whether artificial intelligence will deserve human rights, but the show, instead, plays around with whether the robot's lawyer is just a cocky cynic who wants to mock the justice system or a crafty advocate who uses misdirection and mockery to defend his client. Yes, that's all kinda interesting, but the authors never bothered to tie it into the show's theme, so, why did they spend our time on it?

And instead of finding ways to dramatize the robot's "humanity," it shows us how humane the robot's best friend and surrogate sister is. Okay, she's cool, but what about the subject of the show?

And instead of asking the audience to see the injustice in creating an artificial intelligence, and then denying it any rights, the show pulls a bogeyman out of its hat by blaming the robot's actions on its secret military sponsors. But why even go there? It's just a cliché that doesn't address the point of the show.

This episode never really went anywhere because it forgot where it was going right after it started.