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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Check out this screenplay as well as the Will Smith movie, 25 Jul 2004
Many, many years ago I happened to hear an audio tape of Harlan Ellison reading the first part of his "I, Robot" script for a Science-Fiction convention, so I was very happy to see that what may well be the most infamous unproduced script in Hollywood history is available in print. The artwork in this illustrated screenplay is by Mark Zug, and consists of both color paintings and black & white character sketches that help to flesh out your mental images. Ellison takes several of Isaac Asimov's classic Robot short stories and weaves them into the life story of Susan Calvin, told in flashbacks to a reporter at the funeral for Stephen Byerley, First President of the Galactic Federation. Consequently, Ellison avoids the traditional pitfall of omnibus movies, such as "Tales from the Crypt," "The Twilight Zone" or "Creepshow," where whatever is used to link the segments together is of no importance to the overall film. Ellison's introductory essay is certainly not as vitriolic as his story about what happened to his "Star Trek" script "The City on the Edge of Forever," but it does recount the bizzaro world of movie making. Both the essay and the script are testaments to Ellison's affection for Asimov. A special treat is Ellison's revelation as to the casting he had in mind when he wrote the script: Joanne Woodward as Susan Calvin, George C. Scott as Reverend Soldah, Martin Sheen as Robert Bratenahl, and Keenan Wynn and Ernest Borgnine as Donovan and Powell. You may come to this book as a fan of Ellison or of Asimov or of both. Regardless of your point of origin I think it is important that you have read the original Asimov Robot stories before you read the script. The stories are Asimov's but the adaptation is Ellison's, and you have to know the original tales to appreciate the inspired organization of this script. Of course, now that there is a Will Smith movie version of "I, Robot" out, reading Ellison's script and comparing it to what Hollywood has wrought is a perfect case study of what Tinsle Town is all about. At the start of "I, Robot" the three laws of robotics appear one by one, imposed over bubbling water, which had better be an intentional homage to the start of Ellison's screenplay where the three laws appear over the bubbling water of a highly advanced liquid memory system or I see a lawsuit coming.
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by Alan Moore
by Kate Mosse (foreword)
by Richard Matheson
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