Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Harlan Ellison has written or edited 75 books, more than 1700 stories, essays, articles and newspaper columns, two dozen teleplays and a dozen movies.

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Until the recent announcement of the Will Smith/Alex Proyas collaboration scheduled for release in 2004, numerous attempts had been made to adapt Isaac Asimov's classic story-cycle, I, Robot, to the motion picture medium. All efforts failed. In 1977, producers approached multiple-award-winning author Harlan Ellison to take a crack at this "impossible" project. He accepted, and produced an astonishing screenplay that Asimov felt would be "The first really adult, complex, worthwhile science fiction movie ever made." That screenplay is presented here in book format, brought to scintillating life by the illustrations of artist Mark Zug. After you read it, then decide: Is this not the greatest science fiction movie never made?

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I, Robot

Ibooks

Chapter One

1. BLACK FRAME

The SOUND of an insistent high-pitched BEEP-BEEP is heard. It is not strident enough to make one wince, but it is very clearly intended to get and hold one's attention. The SOUND CONTINUES for several seconds, then in the center of the frame a line of copy prints itself in one of the machine languages (ALGOL, FORTRAN, COBOL or, more likely, BASIC).

ALL OPERATORS HOLD INPUTS

It begins to STROBE in FLUORESCENT GREEN in letters large enough to be easily read. The strobing is in sequence with the beeping. Then, below that line (still strobing), a second line prints out and we realize we are looking at a COMPUTER TERMINAL READOUT PANEL

PRIORITY ONE INFORMATION IN TRANSMISSION

The second line begins to STROBE in GREEN in alternate sequence with the first line. Then both vanish to be replaced by

THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS

The line holds for several beats as the beeping continues. Then the screen is cleared and the following appears:

1-A ROBOT MAY NOT INJURE A HUMAN BEING, OR, THROUGH INACTION, ALLOW A HUMAN BEING TO COME TO HARM.

This message HOLDS as we HEAR in b.g. the SOUND of WATER BUBBLING. The very faintest of luminescence begins to suffuse the frame, as though dawn were coming up far in the distance. We can still read the First Law clearly. Then it wipes and a second message prints itself:

2-A ROBOT MUST OBEY THE ORDERS GIVEN IT BY HUMAN BEINGS EXCEPT WHERE SUCH ORDERS WOULD CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST LAW.

This message HOLDS as the SOUND of BUBBLING WATER grows louder and the filtering of light in the frame grows more pronounced. Now we see gradations of brightness and darkness, and a vague upward movement of the b.g. as if we were reading the Three Laws through water. The Second Law wipes and a third message prints itself:

3-A ROBOT MUST PROTECT ITS OWN EXISTENCE AS LONG AS SUCH PROTECTION DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST OR SECOND LAWS.

This message HOLDS clearly and easily read in the glowing green computerese as the light fills the b.g. and we see bubbles of water rising in streams from the bottom of the frame. CAMERA BEGINS TO PULL BACK as the Third Law wipes and a final line of printout STROBES large and RED:

THESE ARE THE THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS. THEY CANNOT BE BROKEN.

CAMERA BACK though we can read this last message clearly. As CAMERA PULLS BACK we realize we have been reading the printout in the ultramodern magnetic fluid tank of a very highly advanced "liquid memory system," one of the new "water computers" that use a magnetic fluid instead of printed circuits to store data. It is a huge unit, awesome in its complexity, backlit and seething with life as reflected in its terminals and control banks, but centered on that liquid intelligence in the great translucent pillar of bubbling fluid. CAMERA HOLDS on the fluid and its rising bubbles as we

MATCH-DISSOLVE THRU:

2. CHROMA/KEY SHOT-GRAVESITE ON ALDEBARAN-C XII MATCH WITH RAIN

The bubbles of the preceding SHOT MATCH with RAIN coming down in sheeting slanting grayness. We are clearly on another planet, in point of fact the twelfth planet out from the third sun of the triple-star Aldebara n. We are looking at a.group of people, some human, some aliens, gathered around a peculiar gravesite. And we are seeing them in SOLARIZATION (bright, fluorescent color of choice). HOLD the shot in Chroma/Key solarization for several beats as we HEAR the VOICE of ROBERT BRATENAHL speaking o.s.

BRATENAHL (O.S.) (hushed tones) On this day of mourning, even the three suns of Aldebaran-C XII seem to have gone out. (beat) A sorrowful rain attends the funeral of Stephen Byerley, First President of the Galactic Federation. (beat) This is Robert Bratenahl, at graveside for Cosmos Magazine.

As the preceding DIALOGUE OVER progresses, CAMERA MOVES IN toward the gravesite and suddenly the CHROMA/KEY view of the scene moves aside so we can see it was an image in a VIEWSCREEN on a minicam sort of apparatus. Now we see the scene through our own eyes.

3. GRAVESIDE SCENE-MED. LONG SHOT

as we MOVE IN. The grave itself is a circular pit perhaps three feet in diameter. A shining metal pillar protrudes from the hole and embedded in the top is a wonderfully-shaped vacuum bottle in which a foglike mist floats, its substance sparkling with tiny scintillas of colored light. Through the slanting rain we can see a dozen forms, some of peculiar-but still humanoid-form, others clearly human. CAMERA MOVES IN STEADILY as we

CUT TO:

4. ANOTHER ANGLE-INCLUDING BRATENAHL

as he moves toward the group, yet is politely separated from them by protocol. Bratenahl is a tall, graceful man who seems to be in his mid-thirties, yet there is a fine, boyish quality about him, the young James Stewart perhaps. He wears a harness rig on which we see a modernistic piece of equipment that is obviously the camera and transmitting device through which we saw the solarized scene earlier. The screen has been swept back from in front of his face, but the minicam keeps filming as he walks through the rain. We CONTINUE TO HEAR HIS VOICE OVER. BRATENAHL (V.O.)

Earlier this morning, in a private pre-dawn ceremony, the body of President Byerley was atomized, by his specific request. The vacuum bottle you see on the burial pillar contains a token mist scintillated from the star chamber where the atomization occurred.

5. MED. LONG SHOT ON GRAVESIDE-MOVING IN

CAMERA MOVES IN STEADILY through the slanting rain as SHOT begins to FEATURE an old woman, huddled between two tall, heroically proportioned young men. At first we cannot see her face because of the rain-hood. Each of the men holds a slim silver rod, as do several others of the mourners around the grave. The rods are held aloft, and though they are not attached to anything, the rain does not fall below the level of the rods. They are implements that create an invisible force-field, and though there are more important uses for them, in this case they are employed to keep the rain off the old woman. As CAMERA COMES IN we HEAR the VOICE of BRATENAHL OVER:

BRATENAHL (V.O.).

Clustered around the burial pillar are the living legends of our time, those select few Stephen Byerley called his closest friends. President Bramhall of the Orion Constellation; Dion Fabry of Perseus; Karl Hawkstein of the Triangulum ... (beat) Well, I'll be damned ... (catches himself) Central! Edit that out. (beat) Reference: punch me up a scan on C-for-cat Calvin. First name, Susan. Robopsychologist.

As the preceding VOICE OVER ends we have come up to a CLOSE SHOT on the old woman standing dry and huddled as the rain pours down around her force-field shield. For the first time we see the face of SUSAN CALVIN. She is eighty-two years old, but because of the anti-agapic injections looks a well-preserved and alert sixty. She is a small woman, but there is a towering strength in her face. Tensile strength, that speaks to endurance, to maintaining in the imperfect world. Her mouth is thin, and her face pale. Grace lives in her features, and intelligence; but she is not an attractive woman. She is not one of those women who in later years it can be said of them, "She must have been a beauty when she was younger" Susan Calvin was always plain. And clearly, always a powerful personality.

CUT TO:

6. MINICAM IMAGE-SUSAN CALVIN

It is the same face, but younger See: she wasn't pretty, even then. But the potency is there. The image, broadcast from Central, light-years away in another star-system, fills the FRAME as we HEAR the VOICE of Bratenahl OVER:

BRATENAHL (V.O.) (jubilant) I was right! It's Calvin! (beat) Central! Give me everything readout you've got on Susan Calvin. (beat) Especially cross-reference materials with Calvin and Stephen Byerley together.

The image breaks up into scintillance, is replaced by green fluorescent words in lines that stream onto black field. (Full text to be provided for production.)

BRATENAHL (V.O.)

Born 1994, Old Earth Time. Father, Edward Winslow Calvin, middle-level executive, U.S. Robots Corp., died 2004. Mother, Stephanie Ordway Calvin, died at birth of daughter ...

CUT TO:

7. GRAVESIDE-ON BRAMHALL

officiating at the ceremony. BRAMHALL is in his seventies, tall, distinguished, dressed in the severe togalike clothing of his galaxy's home world, his three sets of arms folded across his middle, twenty-four fingers clasped.

PRES. BRAMHALL (gently) I've heard it said: life is only a troubled sound between two silences. (beat) Stephen Byerley spent nearly half a century, forty years Old Earth Time, gentling that troubled sound, sweetening it for the thousand races of the million worlds. (beat) Goodbye, Stephen, old friend ...

CUT BACK TO:

8. SAME AS 6-VIEWSCREEN OF MINICAM

as a series of READOUT SCENES (some in b&w, some in single-color overlay, some in full color, some in Graphicon version pattern overlays flash on and off the minicam showing a variety of clips as the CENTRAL COMMUNICAST VOICE succinctly identifies each scene OVER:

SAME AS 48-ASSEMBLY ROOM, U.S. ROBOMEK: on the balcony running around the perimeter of the robot assembly complex. Susan (age 21) and ALFRED LANNING with HALF A DOZEN EXECUTIVES of U.S. Robots, smiling, shaking hands, pointing out across the buzzing conveyor line of robots assembling robots.

COMMUNICAST VOICE (FILTER) At age twenty-one, DL Susan Calvin joins staff of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men as first fully accredited robopsychologist; year, 2015. (Year spoken as: twenty-fifteen)

SAME AS 272-INT. U.S. ROBOMEK TEST AREA NINE: four LNE model robots cutting diamonds in the b.g. as we see SUSAN CALVIN, ALFRED LANNING, NORMAN BOGERT and various REPS OF THE COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA being shown LENNY, one of the robots.

COMMUNICAST VOICE (FILTER) Year 2032, DL Susan Calvin develops multi- purpose robot based on LNE model.

SAME AS 216-INT. EARTHCENTRAL COMPUTER COMPLEX: down the shaft into high-ceilinged tunnel filled with complex, multifaced, flickering computer banks of incredibly advanced design, to the group of EARTHCENTRAL OFFICIALS, STEPHEN BYERLEY and a small group of others. FREEZE-FRAME and MOVE IN on the group of others till we get SUSAN CALVIN, hidden in that group, in CU. A red fluorescent circle appears around her face.

COMMUNICAST VOICE (FILTER) Year 2036, rising political figure Stephen Byerley taken on tour of the underground EarthCentral computer complex. (beat) Total Central scan reveals this as first public appearance of Byerley and Calvin together. No mention made of this at the time.

CUT TO:

9. DESCENDING BOOM SHOT-ON GRAVESITE

as DION FABRY of Perseus steps forward. He wears an all-enshrouding blood-red cape that has a high- standing stiff collar. We can barely see his features. As he comes to the pillar, he sweeps back the cape to reveal long, thin insectlike arms ending in leafy pads. He places the fronds of his hands on the pillar and speaks. His voice is strange and deep, hardly what we would expect from a creature half-human, half-vegetable.

DION FABRY (sadly) He saved my world and my race. What can I say in love and loss to this container of his essence that was never said to him in life? (beat) God be between you and harm in all the empty places you walk, Stephen.

Continues...

Excerpted from I, Robotby Harlan Ellison Copyright © 2004 by Harlan Ellison. Excerpted by permission.
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