Sadly, Dick Tufeld, the voice of the robot (the actor was Bob May) in the TV series "Lost in Space" died Sunday, Jan. 22 at the age of 85. Still, we are fortunate to always have him with us when watching some of the old TV shows or movie. He was even featured in a 1998 documentary with John Larroquette, Will Robinson and Dr. Smith. And he is immortalized in toys as a Remote Control Replica turns, moves forward and back, and will keep on repeating "Danger, Will Robinson" forever (or until his batteries need replacing.)
If you can remember as far back as the 60s, then you will appreciate film director Bryan Barber's acquiring the rights to the cartoon Gigantor. Here's a refresher if you don't. A young lad's father creates a huge robot as a flying weapon but the boy bonds with it and uses it in peaceful ways.
Barber tracked the rights to an aging Fred Ladd, who owned the Japanese language cartoon and adapted it for English speakers. Considering that the run of Transformer movies are never-ending and with the recent big bucks from Real Steel, Barber may have a hit on his hands. He says the live action film will be "Transformers meets Goonies."
You know that the holidays will soon be upon us when new toys start to appear, including the latest Let's Rock Elmo. The Sesame St. muppet certainly has evolved and now comes with a microphone, tambourine and drum set, and sings 6 different songs. This will be one of the hot toys this season, so shop early.
Note that Hasbro also wants your kids to play along with separately sold Let's Rock Guitar, Keyboard and Mic , but you can save those for birthdays.
Check out this episonde of Andy Samberg appearing on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" with Elmo. Towards the end it shows a video that Samberg did on "Sesame Street" with "Super Bots."
Last week, General Hospital brought back James Franco to reprise his roll as the sinister villain of the same last name. Not only did he ham it up with an obnoxious monkey, he featured an assortment of Kikkerland wind-ups like the MxyKikker shown here that were supposedly embedded with cameras. Yeah, we always knew they were toys to die for!
Back in February, Watson beat out Jeopardy champs and his keepers decided his next move would be Med School. Teaming with the University of Maryland, software developer Nuance and Columbia UMC, the computer "learned' about anatomy, conditions and symptoms to help diagnose patients' illnesses. Dr. Eliot Siegel, the team's head, says they will use Watson as a sort of "safety check" to determine if proper care and medicines have been prescribed. Yeah, he ought to stay in the background as he probably doesn't have much of a bedside manner.
Note: If you are a Watson fan and watched him on Jeopardy, PBS' Nova presented "The Smartest Machine on Earth" this month. It discussed computer learning and how IBM prepared him for his TV debut, including auditions. This is a must see for anyone into A.I. and you can still watch it online.
Will.i.am, using his power of celebrity, backed a star-studded TV special last night that explored the 20th annual FIRST Robotics Championship. ABC aired "i.am.FIRST: Science Is Rock and Roll" and the singer supported it because "Most kids are not dreaming of being programmers, scientists or engineers. The ones that are do not get the spotlight or attention. Instead, they are looked at as geeks or uncool, when in actuality technology is the only thing that is cool today."
Good for him, and it certainly doesn't detract from the group's own geekiness in its stage shows and extracurricular activities.
Geico has been using robots in commercials, from the Gecko dancing to XtraNormal spots. This is their latest, a mom who endorses robot daycare. It's closer to reality than we think.
If you have never seen the remake of The Stepford Wives, this is the time. They don't just lobotomize these women, they turn them into ATM machines. ("She gives singles." Matthew Broderick quips.) There is a puppybot Rover 3000 and Mike, the head of the group, played by Christopher Walken, gets his name from his former place of employment, Microsoft. I don't want to give too much away but you are going to love this ending if you were not satisfied with the one in the first Stepford.
If you watch "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" regularly, then you already know he is the timidest of hosts. He cringes at wild animals brought on his show and turned down an offer from Jeff Probst to be a celeb Survivor. So watch how he reacts when Mike Tyson takes him on with the game Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots.
You have already seen most of these robots, but you should check out PBS' Nova Science Now for their recent program on that very subject. Included is David Hanson's Phil, named and fashioned after sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick. He is human-looking to the point that he seemed real to the interviewer, a scary thought that makes you think that the robot takeover is coming anytime now.
By the way, the episode also tallied up all the songs they could find written with robot in them. Their count was 44, but we suspect that was a low estimate.
We expected no less. IBM's Watson slaughtered both Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter yesterday on a 'Jeopardy' test run. The real contest will take place at IBM today and air Feb. 14 - 16. In true geekish fashion Rutter commented on the victory, "When Watson's progeny comes back to kill me from the future, I have my escape route planned, just in case."
The Sci-Fi Channel released the Emmy nominated mini-series 'Tin Man' in 2007 that featured some very creative CGI. An homage to "The Wizard of Oz," when you get to Milltown, you get a very happening Robomayor as well as some botty admissions from some of the townsfolk. Watch the recently released Blu-ray Two-Disc Collector's Edition for the special effects and the outstanding performances of Alan Cumming as the clever Glitch and Kathleen Robertson as the evil Azkadellia.
And while the adults watch the aforementioned videos, kids will dig
"Meet the Robinsons," an animated film with boy-genius Louis visiting the future. Look for a robotic spider, hat and Carl the robot, who has a small team of minions.
Ans. - Watson, Quest. - What Bot is Going to be on Jeopardy?
Watson will be going up against former 'Jeopardy' champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Often referred to as "Google on Steroids", the IBM bot has already competed against chess champ Garry Kasparov and won in 1997. This challenge will test Watson's knowledge, speed and ability to ask silly questions. You can see him starting on Valentine's Day in a 3 day competition.
In Tribute to Dick Tufeld
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