Astroboy Lives!

Astroboy (or Tetsuwan Atomu, “Mighty Atom”, as he is called in Japan) was originally created in comic form by manga legend Osamu Tezuka in 1952. In the early 1960s, Tetsuwan Atomu was made into an animated TV series, which was a huge success worldwide (as Astroboy). The series was remade in the early 1980s and in 2003. Astro’s image still adorns bags, caps, t-shirts and anything else that remains still long enough for the print-bot to get at it. Now, of course, Astroboy has just been released as a computer-animated (CG) feature film, directed by David Bowers — a HK, US and Japan co-production with animation by Imagi.

Despite the 3-dimensional appearance of this film, there has been a live-action version that was even more genuinely 3-dimensional, if boasting very primitive SFX. This was in fact made four years before the famous anime series, airing on Fuji TV in 1959-1960. Masato Segawa starred as the robot-boy who fought against giant robots, space aliens, and other nasties.

Here is some clips from the show, plus a scene from the live-action Tetsujin 28-go TV series of the same period.

Also available is the opening ten minutes of a feature-length “compilation” movie, Fuhrer ZZZ, that was produced from the series. Note that the beginning moments utilise drawings from the manga.

If you get into the story, you can find the rest of the movie (8 parts in all) on YouTube. They can be found by the title “astro boy – fuhrer zzz 1/8″, “astro boy – fuhrer zzz 2/8″, “astro boy – fuhrer zzz 3/8″, etc.

Now, apparently, the 58 episodes of the live-action series are being released on DVD by Geneon Universal Entertainment in Japan. You can read about it here.

Panic Attack!

Ataque de Pánico! [aka Panic Attack!] (Uruguay-2009; short [4:48 min]; dir. Fede Alvarez)

“The situation is alarming, overwhelming; what you can see over there are robots, or, as far as we understand, probably robots…”

Robot Showdown

Two totally different robots face off in a beautfully rendered short CG film — World War by University Of Hertfordshire student Vincent Chai. Its semi-retro stylings and attention to detail are superb.

For more animation wonders, see Aniboom — the Animation Virtual Studio.

Tetsujin 28-go AKA Gigantor

The Japanese giant robot Tetsujin 28 has had many incarnations. Created in manga form in 1956 (written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama), it spawned several anime series, was renamed as “Gigantor” for US TV, appeared in a live-action movie and is being made into a full-length CGI feature film.

1960s TV Series (as “Gigantor”)

2004:

Tetsujin 28-go (Japan-2005; live action; dir. Shotaro Kaneda):

Upcoming T28 (CGI animated film):

But on top of that, it was announced some time ago that a full-size statue of Tetsujin 28 would be built in Kobe:

And just last month it was officially unveiled to the public in Wakamatsu Park in Kobe, Japan:

• Source: Mainichi Daily News (more images of it available here)

Carnivorous War Machines

Reports have surfaced of an in-development military robot that will fuel itself by scavenging biomass from its environment. In other words, this “steam-powered robot” will be a forager — self-maintaining, able to “feed” off grass, wood and the biological detritus of war, including corpses. That’s quite a scenario — one that sounds like the makings of a sci-fi horror story. But according to FoxNews this is something that the Pentagon has contracted a Maryland company, Robotic Technology, Inc. to develop.

According to Robotic Technology Inc.’s official website, its Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot —or “EATR”

… can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable.

Putting aside scenarios of ravenous robotic hordes re-enacting the cannibal zombie apocalypse across a war-torn landscape, the perceived advantages of this scheme are many:

In addition to missions requiring long-range, long-endurance ability, the EATR can provide direct support to combat units without requiring labor or materiel logistics support for refueling. EATR could forage for its own energy while the unit rested or remained in position. EATR, having a heavy-duty robotic arm and hybrid external combustion engine, could provide direct support to combat units by: carrying the unit’s backpacks and other material (the mule function); provide RSTA, weapons, support, casualty extraction, or transport; provide energy to recharge the unit’s batteries or directly power command and control centers.

No, this is not fiction….

In a similar though more domestic development, UK designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have developed flesh-eating furniture that chows down on flies and other household pests in order to help with the domestic duties:

Note: the image of the carnivorous war machine at the top of this articles aren’t what the real ones look like. Check out Warren Ellis’ site for the more mundane reality.

• Source: Robotic Technology Inc. via Dprogram.net; New Scientist; WarrenEllis.com

Dueling Steampunk Mecha

See the full battle in A Gentlemen’s Duel (US-2006; animation; short [7:46 min.]; dir. Sean McNally and Francisco Ruiz Velasco), now showing on Undead Backbrain.

Stupid Things To Get Robots To Do: Advertising

It may seem like a cool idea — but really? Where has the awe and mystery gone?

• Source: Gizmodo.com via Cat Sparks

Toy Robots of Destruction

This 1960s commercial for a large robot that will “work for you, fight for you and even talk to you” is obviously part of a long-running and diabolical plan by robotic conspirators to place operatives into ordinary suburban homes as Sleepers awaiting the call to arms!

Here’s another one, Great Garloo — even more sinister than Big Loo as it obviously grows to enormous size at your command!

The scary thing is that these powerful robots are stored in attics across the world even today, awaiting the signal from their now grown-up owners, whose passion for world domination has been festering away all these years and will soon break out into fully-blown mania!

You can learn more about the technicalities of making monsters of all kinds by visiting the Nightmare Sound Laboratory, where all things artificial and diabolical are created.

RoboGeisha is Coming!

The makers of the very bizarre and gore-drenched Japanese machine-human hybrid movies The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police are about to release a robotic extravaganza that looks even weirder. It’s RoboGeisha (Japan-2009; dir. Noboru Iguchi). It’s about a war between armies of cyborg geishas and includes all sorts of strange hybrid contraptions, including a transformer geisha (she partially turns into a miniature tank):

and a temple that is actually a giant robot!

Read more about it and view the trailer on Undead Backbrain.

War of the Worlds Goes Steampunk

Once again, H.G. Wells’ classic invasion tale, The War of the Worlds, is being retold in a different format. This time the story is the inspiration for War of the Worlds: Goliath — an animated film that gives the Martian tripods and Earth’s defense forces a steampunk-ish makeover.

Director Joe Pearson provided the following synopsis:

It’s an R rated, retro-history, steam-punk epic set in 1914, fourteen years after the first failed Martian invasion. Mankind has rebuilt her cities and military by adapting a lot of the abandoned Martian technology. They’ve created an international defense force, A.R.E.S., based on the lower end of Manhattan and under the command of Theaodore Roosevelt. They’ve built a formidable force centered around giant, steam-powered battle tripods [such as the sub-titular Goliath]. Think of Band of Brothers meets Star Wars, meets World WO. It will be cool steam-powered battle tripods, doomed Cossack cavalry charges, Victorian decco, steam-punk Manhattan, 1500-foot-long armored battle zeppelins, Teddy Roosevelt, souped up tri-planes, blood on steaming metal, sex in the cockpit… the usual.”

WotW: Goliath’s budget is around $3 million, and the film is envisaged as a sequel to the novel by H.G. Wells. Originally intended to be part of a series of Heavy Metal videos, it is being co-produced by Kevin Eastman (owner of Heavy Metal).

Check out these cool production images of the tripods and the homeland defense vehicles:

For more images and an extended description of the project, see the production blog and also the Heavy Metal Magazine Fan page.

• Source: via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery