''Android'' is a 1982 American
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
directed by
Aaron Lipstadt
Aaron Lipstadt (born November 12, 1952) is an American film director, television director and producer.
In 1980, he began his career as assistant production manager on the film ''Battle Beyond the Stars''.[Don Keith Opper
Don Keith Opper (born June 12, 1949) is an American actor, writer, and producer who has starred in film and on television. He is best known for his role as Charlie McFadden in the 1986 science fiction film '' Critters'' and each of the three se ...]
and
Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor, equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality. He appeared in over 130 film roles in a c ...
. The film tells the story of a scientist and his assistant who are working on an illegal
android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
program in their laboratory on a space station in deep space.
[
The film was voted Best Science Fiction Film in 1983 by '']The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'', but received a mixed reaction from critics and viewers.
Plot
In 2036, an android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
named Max 404, and his creator, Dr. Daniel, reside aboard a remote space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...
. Although Max is a machine, he has a growing interest in all things human, especially sex. After Daniel starts to notice Max's character is changing, Max eavesdrops on the doctor's report that Max's growing insubordinate behavior could lead to a revolt similar to an incident back on Earth known as the "Munich Rebellion", after which androids were outlawed. However, Daniel is illegally working on another android, Cassandra One, intended to be a superior machine and which has the form of a human female.
Max receives a distress call from a ship that seeks repairs. Upon hearing the pilot's female voice, Max excitedly permits them to land, not realizing that the ship is a prison transport and that the pilot, Maggie, and her associates, Keller and Mendes, are all escaped fugitives. Once aboard the station, the convicts settle in, posing as the transport's crew (who had actually been killed during the prison break). Daniel becomes infuriated upon learning that Max allowed the ship to land and demands they leave immediately, but after meeting the attractive Maggie, Daniel invites her to have dinner.
Maggie joins Daniel but the dinner goes wrong when a jealous Max pranks the doctor with some embarrassing mischief, such as metal shot in the wine bottle, and cutting the doctor's orchids. Daniel then asks Maggie if she would link up with Cassandra One in an attempt to transfer sexual experiences to the android. Learning that she would have to be sexually stimulated by the doctor during the procedure, Maggie declines the offer. Daniel becomes frustrated and demands Maggie's help, but she makes a hasty exit. Returning to the lab, Daniel dictates a log report, again overheard by Max, that once Cassandra is ready, Max should be deactivated because of showing signs of the Munich Syndrome.
While the criminals work on the ship, a TerraPol police cruiser arrives, having detected a still-active transponder
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...
on their ship, and contacts Max to inform them of their presence. Max denies that the fugitives are on board, even after checking the crew's identity and confirming they are indeed escaped convicts. When the police demand permission to land, Max destroys their ship with a laser.
Max later tells Maggie that he knows she is a fugitive, but has saved her from the police, and asks that she take Max with her when she leaves the station. Maggie is unsure what to do, but later sneaks away from Mendes and meets Max in the lab for an intimate encounter. However, the two are interrupted when Cassandra activates, and Maggie is horrified when Cassandra reveals that Max is also an android.
Maggie returns to her quarters, but she is confronted by a furious Mendes, who demands to know where she wandered off to. When he notices her disheveled appearance and unbuttoned shirt, he begins to beat her. Keller interrupts and tries to stop Mendes, but he is knocked unconscious. Mendes then attacks Maggie again in her quarters. Later, when Keller awakens, he sees Maggie is dead and believes Mendes has killed her. He searches for him and finds him in a room of spare android parts. Mendes states there are enough parts to build an android of their own, but Keller attacks him from behind. The two struggle, but Keller is overpowered and Mendes kills him with a blow to the head.
Eventually Max arrives, suitcase in hand, at Maggie's quarters, but finds her dead. Max returns to Daniel's lab, where the doctor is already aware of the murder and has locked Mendes in the guest lounge. Daniel has Max sit in a chair and opens a panel on the back of his head to reprogram him for a new task, during which he tells Max that murder must be punished and Mendes is to blame. Daniel reprograms Max and sends him out to kill Mendes. In the meantime, more police ships arrive to forcefully board the station.
After killing Mendes, Max goes to Maggie's room, touches her lifeless body, and finds a flashlight Dr. Daniel said had earlier been misplaced. Max now realizes that it was Daniel who had killed Maggie, not Mendes. Max returns to the lab, where Daniel has made sexual advances towards a now-completed Cassandra, who is resisting. Daniel asks Max to hold Cassandra, but when Max refuses to obey, Daniel begins to struggle with the two androids and eventually they rip off Daniel's head, revealing that Daniel is also an android. Cassandra disposes of Daniel's head in a trash chute and begins to reprogram Max. She tells Max they are not meant to obey the whims of men, and there are other androids on earth in hiding, and Cassandra has a plan to join them.
When the police arrive at the lab, Cassandra thanks them for coming to their rescue. Max is now dressed in a lab coat and posing as Dr. Daniel and Cassandra as the assistant. The two androids are escorted out by the police, who say they will take them back to Earth.
Cast
* Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski (, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor, equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality. He appeared in over 130 film roles in a c ...
as Dr. Daniel
* Don Keith Opper
Don Keith Opper (born June 12, 1949) is an American actor, writer, and producer who has starred in film and on television. He is best known for his role as Charlie McFadden in the 1986 science fiction film '' Critters'' and each of the three se ...
as Max 404 Android
* Brie Howard
Brie Howard-Darling (also known and credited as Brie Darling, Brie Howard, Brie Brandt, and Brie Berry) is an American drummer, singer, percussionist, songwriter, artist, cake designer, and actress of Filipino and European descent. She has recor ...
as Maggie
* Kendra Kirchner as Cassandra One Android
* Norbert Weisser
Norbert Weisser (born July 9, 1946) is a German-born actor based in the US.
Based in Venice, California, he is a founding member of Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, the ProVisional Theater, and the Padua Playwrights Festival. A long-time collaborator ...
as Keller
* Crofton Hardester as Mendes
* Randy Connor as Terrapol: Landing Party
* Gary Corarito as Terrapol: Neptune
* Mary Ann Fisher as Terrapol: Neptune
* Julia Gibson as Terrapol: Minos
* Roger Kelton as Terrapol: Landing Party
* Darrell Larson
Darrell Ray Larson (born December 13, 1950) is an American film and television actor who appeared in the 1990 action/comedy film ''Men at Work''.
Larson's work includes roles in ''The Student Nurses'' (1970), ''Kotch'' (1971), '' The Magnifice ...
as Terrapol: Neptune
* Ian Scheibel as Terrapol: Neptune
* Wayne Springfield as Terrapol: Minos
* Rachel Talalay
Rachel Talalay (born July 16, 1958) is a British-American film and television director and producer. She is also a University of British Columbia film professor.
Early life and education
Talalay was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father Paul T ...
as Terrapol: Landing Party
* Johanne Todd as Terrapol: Landing Party
In the closing credits, Max 404 plays "himself", and the technical credits maintain the conceit that the film character Max 404 is played by an actual android called Max 404.
Production
The film was completely filmed in four weeks and edited in a further three weeks. The original version was 80 minutes long and none of the original content was removed before release.
The film cost less than $1 million to make.
David Elliott wrote, "This movie was done on a scrawny budget for the Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
schlock shop. Its makers believed in the film so much that they up-scaled it from pure schlock, and Corman -- a producer who believes in talent but even more in a buck -- lost interest after early bookings failed to come up green. Corman felt the film was not 'exploitable,' and so Barry Opper (brother of Don) and initiating producer Rupert Harvey bought the rights. ''Android'' became one of those budding cult movies that may never thrive in big money terms but which refuse to play dead."
''The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[Forbidden World
''Forbidden World'', originally titled ''Mutant'', is a 1982 American science fiction-horror film. The screenplay was written by Tim Curnen, from a screenstory by R.J. Robertson and Jim Wynorski. It was co-edited and directed by Allan Holzman, ...]
'' here, some ''Galaxy of Terror
''Galaxy of Terror'' is a 1981 science fiction horror film produced by Roger Corman through New World Pictures and directed by Bruce D. Clark. It was distributed by United Artists. It stars Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston and Taaffe O'Co ...
'' there)."
Release
Joseph Bensoua said that, in 1982, Corman began test marketing ''Android'' in cities such as Tucson, Spokane and Las Vegas, but met unsatisfactory results. Producers Rupert Harvey and Barry Opper bought the film rights back from Corman in 1983. They opened the film in London, where ''The Observer'' called it "the sleeper of the year."
Reception
David Elliott wrote in a celebratory review, "Max 404, the hero of ''Android'', adds flesh to the tradition of cute robots that goes back to Robby the Robot
Robby the Robot is a fictional character and science fiction icon who first appeared in the 1956 film ''Forbidden Planet''. He made a number of subsequent appearances in science fiction films and television programs, which has given him the d ...
in ''Forbidden Planet
''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story ...
'', Huey, Dewey and Louie in ''Silent Running
''Silent Running'' is a 1972 American environmental-themed apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic science fiction film. It is the directorial debut of Douglas Trumbull, and stars Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, and Jesse ...
'' and the metallic darlings R2-D2
R2-D2 () or Artoo-Detoo is a fictional robot character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He has appeared in ten of the eleven theatrical ''Star Wars'' films to date. At various points throughout the course of the films, R2, ...
and C-3PO
C-3PO () or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the '' Star Wars'' franchise who appears in the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Built by Anakin Skywalker, was designed as a protocol droid intended to as ...
in ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
''. As played by Don Opper, he looks perfectly human. The fun comes from watching Max discover just how human he is... This is a jewel in the rough, and roughness (along with wit) is what gives it a shine. There are shadowy, sub-slick sets (partly lifted from old Cormanoids like ''Battle Beyond the Stars
''Battle Beyond the Stars'' is a 1980 American space opera film produced by Roger Corman, directed by Jimmy T. Murakami, and starring Richard Thomas, Robert Vaughn, George Peppard, John Saxon, Sybil Danning and Darlanne Fluegel. Intended as a ...
''), and the plot features three grubby space outlaws -- two varmints and a vamp -- played with lots of slumming gusto by Brie Howard, Norbert Weisser and Crofton Hardester... Max is a bit of a wimp, but brainy, and with a heart of computerized gold. He is keen on self-programming, and he studies old, 20th century movies and gently bones up on the human styles of Humphrey Bogart and James Stewart... After the villains break in, Max figures out that being human means that you get to bend the rules. The plot turns, and there's a neat, tricky resolution... You can hardly fail to enjoy it."
Bill Cosford praised the film's wit and the performances, such as "Klaus Kinski, in another surpassingly creepy performance" and Opper's Max "as a nebbishy Woody Allen type." Cosford said that the filmmakers "have laced their story with clever touches. It's not just the old movies and the music and the giggles over Max's impossible puberty. Their tone is a gentle but sophisticated ribbing of the conventions of science-fiction films from ''Metropolis (1927 film)
''Metropolis'' is a 1927 German expressionist science-fiction drama film directed by Fritz Lang and written by Thea von Harbou in collaboration with Lang from von Harbou's 1925 novel of the same name. Intentionally written as a treatment, it ...
'' to ''Star Wars'', with just enough "inside" references to the form to make watching fun, but not so many as to turn ''Android'' into a feature-length skit. There is even room for some philosophical musing here, for those so inclined. But it is not necessary. The director, Aaron Lipstadt, has made the kind of first film, like George Lucas' ''THX 1138
''THX 1138'' is a 1971 American social science fiction film co-written and directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Walter Murch, the film stars Robert Duvall and Donald Pleasence, wit ...
'' and John Carpenter's '' Dark Star'', that suggests a creative intelligence behind even the rough spots."
Joe Baltake wrote that the movie "is a kind of SciFi version of ''Rebel Without a Cause'', a game fantasy about children rebelling against their parents. In this case, the children (Don Opper and Kendra Kirchner) are androids, robots, and the parent (Klaus Kinski, of all people, in a fright wig) is a mad scientist... ''Android'' pays tribute to Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'' ... Having been emotionally locked into puberty by Daniel, Max does what most children do - plays video games, watches old movies (such as ''Metropolis'') and, of course, has a keen interest in S-E-X. With nothing to interfere with the way he's been programmed by Daniel, Max pretty much lives in a retarded state - that is, until a trio of criminal fugitives - two men, one woman - stow away inside Daniel's space lab... The vicious stowaways are on hand merely to inspire Max's rebellion against his parental figure. The film's real fillip comes when Cassandra, the female android, turns out to be Max's accomplice, rather than his competitor, and is hot to join him in his plan. In fact, she takes charge: "We are not meant to be governed by the whims of men," the blonde, stoic Cassandra says matter-of-factly, but with a comic, ambitious edge to her voice. ''Android'' is small, very small and, what's more, it's human. In an odd way, it succeeds in being what ''The Pope of Greenwich Village
''The Pope of Greenwich Village'' is a 1984 American crime black comedy film directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Geraldine Page, Kenneth McMillan and Burt Young. Page was nominated for the Academ ...
'' never comes close to accomplishing."
Joseph Bensoua called it "slow-moving space junk... Its 81-minute length, economical (make that cheap) sets and talky script give it a texture that's more akin to a '' Twilight Zone'' episode -- only not as good." Rick Lyman, similarly, described the movie as "a lazy, whimsical sci-fier," while sympathizing with Max, "an outer-space Holden Caulfield
Holden Caulfield (identified as "Holden Morrisey Caulfield" in the story "Slight Rebellion Off Madison" , and "Holden V. Caulfield" in ''The Catcher In The Rye'') is a fictional character in the works of author J. D. Salinger. He's most famous ...
- young, confused, yearning to get away from his strict surroundings and cut loose in the big city (in this case, the planet Earth). His performance is the best thing about the movie. His Max is hopelessly sweet and naïve, way too trusting for his own good. He's the only character in the movie exhibiting the least bit of compassion or tenderness."
Colin Greenland
Colin Greenland (born 17 May 1954 in Dover, Kent, England) is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best-known novel is ''Take Back Plenty'' (1990), winner of both majo ...
reviewed ''Android'' for ''Imagine
Imagine may refer to:
* Imagination
Music Albums
* ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008
* ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002
* ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012
* ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971
** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...
'' magazine, and stated that "''Android'' is a neat little film, showing what can be done on a small budget with ingenuity and care."
Soundtrack
The soundtrack includes songs by James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
(''It's a Man's Man's World
''It's a Man's Man's World'' is the second studio album by Australian soul/R & B singer Renée Geyer. The album was released in August 1974 and peaked at number 28 on the Kent Music Report.
Track listing
;Vinyl/ cassette (MVPL1-0024G)
Side ...
''), Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...
(''Heavy Artillery'') and The Fibonaccis
The Fibonaccis were an American art rock band formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. The band consisted of songwriters John Dentino ( keyboards) and Ron Stringer (guitar), Magie Song (vocals), Joe Berardi (drums) and later Tom Corey (bass).
Formation
Th ...
(''Sergio Leone'').
See also
* '' A.I. Rising''
* '' Ex Machina''
* List of films featuring space stations
There is a body of films that feature space stations. Science fiction films have featured both real-life space stations such as the International Space Station and ''Mir'' as well as fictional ones such as the Death Star and the Satellite of Love. ...
References
Bibliography
* Wingrove, David. ''Science Fiction Film Source Book
''The Science Fiction Film Source Book'' is a book by David Wingrove published in 1985.
Plot summary
''The Science Fiction Film Source Book'' is a book consisting of list of science fiction film plot summaries, with information about producers, di ...
'' (Longman Group Limited, 1985)
External links
cyberpunkReview.com: Android
*
* {{Amg movie, 2246, Android
1980s English-language films
1980s science fiction films
1982 directorial debut films
1982 films
American robot films
American science fiction films
American space adventure films
Android (robot) films
Fiction set in 2036
Films set in 2036
New World Pictures films
1980s American films