From Wall-E and RoboCop to Short Circuit and I, Robot, we are well-served with stories of robots built to serve that develop distinct personalities and humanity, and then eventually save the day. Apple TV+‘s Murderbot, the latest entry in this subgenre, mashes up several versions of this story into something that straddles the line between the familiar and the new. The titular character combines several robots and robot tropes — part Terminator and part Replicant — and its story ends up being something akin to Terminator 2 or an adult version of The Iron Giant, but with a lot more swearing. It would be the easiest thing in the world for this series to feel cheap and derivative, but thankfully, while it definitely lands in familiar territory, it still manages to carve out an identity of its own.
Set in a far-flung dystopian future where humanity has expanded into the stars but corporations retain control over everything, the series follows a team of scientists who take on a contract to explore and study a planet. Things go sideways almost immediately when a large, combative millipede monster attacks two members of the team, who saved by their Security Unit (“SecUnit”), the titular Murderbot played by Alexander Skarsgård.
They soon discover important information missing from their survey packet, including maps and records of the large, aggressive fauna. Not only that, they learn that their SecUnit has a face instead of just the helmet they’ve seen, which is perhaps an even greater revelation.
SecUnit has a secret though: he’s hacked the governor module in his system that removes his free will and is hiding in plain sight, walking a delicate line between acting like a security robot and finding humans stupid and repulsive (except the ones on the soap operas he’d rather be watching).
Link: https://exclaim.ca/film/article/murderbot-series-review-apple-tv-plus
‘Murderbot’ Is a Replicant of Other Robot Stories | Exclaim!
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