Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway
by Ariel Waldman 
posted Jun 19th 2009 at 1:08PM
Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.
Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we tapped into the near dystopian future of fear in Brazil. Keeping on that 1980's near-future vibe (but with a slightly more sentient twist), this week we check out Michael Crichton's Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Filled with circuitry and hardwired chips, the movie reinforces wholesome family values by featuring warranty voids as the gateway hack to murder.
Leaping Insect Robot
Measuring in around the size of a human head, these six-legged, spider-like, autonomous robots are mechanical in movement but shockingly precise in killing prey. The autonomous insects have the ability to propel themselves up to seven feet in the air, allowing for attacks on unsuspecting victims. Dual-functioning, the legs are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces, albeit awkwardly and rather slowly. After programming targets into a mainframe, the robots are able to identify and kill victims by injecting them with acid via a probe before short circuiting and eventually exploding into a ball of flames. Sadly, the robots lack any sort of remote control, making human errors in target-programming unable to be edited.
Smart Bullet and Lock-On
Essentially deadly tracking devices, the smart bullet and lock-on follow unique signatures at high speeds with an amazing amount of accuracy. Lacking sentient nature, the Lock-On seeks out planted "bugs". Used in high traffic situations, Lock-Ons can easily glide on smooth surfaces and navigate through obstacles at high speeds (60 MPH+) before exploding at the site of the target bug. The smart bullet acts as a mini-missile, requiring use of a custom-made gun. The bullets seek out the unique heat patterns of individuals in order to identify the recipient of their smoldering and massively fatal bullet wound. The bullets consist of a solid propellant and different valves for direction control (including dodging objects/corners and turning around). We're uncertain if the user interface for programming targets lies within the gun or if the bullets are acutely sentient in their ability to analyze the gunman's desired victims, as we were unable to observe any need for punching buttons or flipping switches in between rapid fire.
Domestic Robots
Ranging from Type 9-12 basic house cleaners to Series 12 full-on nannies, domestic multi-purpose robots appear to dominate households in the world of Runaway. We're guessing the design decision to not make any of the robots taller than four feet was deliberate so as to demand hierarchy in the human-to-robot relationship. The domestic robots can come equipped to cook, take messages, carry on conversation and monitor electronic activity such as remote power surges. Similar models such as the 577 are used in offices, and have the unique capacity to taser misbehaving employees at levels ranging from shock to stun. The dials-and-buttons controls are left exposed for easy day-to-day programming, but most also possess the ability to accept voice codes for operation. Seemingly without an open API, modifications to these domestic robots typically result in fatal situations rather than improved capabilities.
Ariel Waldman is a digital anthropologist and the founder of Spacehack.org, a directory of ways to participate in space exploration.
Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we tapped into the near dystopian future of fear in Brazil. Keeping on that 1980's near-future vibe (but with a slightly more sentient twist), this week we check out Michael Crichton's Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Filled with circuitry and hardwired chips, the movie reinforces wholesome family values by featuring warranty voids as the gateway hack to murder.
Leaping Insect Robot
Measuring in around the size of a human head, these six-legged, spider-like, autonomous robots are mechanical in movement but shockingly precise in killing prey. The autonomous insects have the ability to propel themselves up to seven feet in the air, allowing for attacks on unsuspecting victims. Dual-functioning, the legs are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces, albeit awkwardly and rather slowly. After programming targets into a mainframe, the robots are able to identify and kill victims by injecting them with acid via a probe before short circuiting and eventually exploding into a ball of flames. Sadly, the robots lack any sort of remote control, making human errors in target-programming unable to be edited.
Essentially deadly tracking devices, the smart bullet and lock-on follow unique signatures at high speeds with an amazing amount of accuracy. Lacking sentient nature, the Lock-On seeks out planted "bugs". Used in high traffic situations, Lock-Ons can easily glide on smooth surfaces and navigate through obstacles at high speeds (60 MPH+) before exploding at the site of the target bug. The smart bullet acts as a mini-missile, requiring use of a custom-made gun. The bullets seek out the unique heat patterns of individuals in order to identify the recipient of their smoldering and massively fatal bullet wound. The bullets consist of a solid propellant and different valves for direction control (including dodging objects/corners and turning around). We're uncertain if the user interface for programming targets lies within the gun or if the bullets are acutely sentient in their ability to analyze the gunman's desired victims, as we were unable to observe any need for punching buttons or flipping switches in between rapid fire.
Domestic Robots
Ranging from Type 9-12 basic house cleaners to Series 12 full-on nannies, domestic multi-purpose robots appear to dominate households in the world of Runaway. We're guessing the design decision to not make any of the robots taller than four feet was deliberate so as to demand hierarchy in the human-to-robot relationship. The domestic robots can come equipped to cook, take messages, carry on conversation and monitor electronic activity such as remote power surges. Similar models such as the 577 are used in offices, and have the unique capacity to taser misbehaving employees at levels ranging from shock to stun. The dials-and-buttons controls are left exposed for easy day-to-day programming, but most also possess the ability to accept voice codes for operation. Seemingly without an open API, modifications to these domestic robots typically result in fatal situations rather than improved capabilities.
Ariel Waldman is a digital anthropologist and the founder of Spacehack.org, a directory of ways to participate in space exploration.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
chris @ Jun 19th 2009 1:13PM
the "Leaping Insect Robots" remind me of the headcrabs from half-life
rallyprox @ Jun 19th 2009 1:35PM
6 legged, spider like...
Amun @ Jun 19th 2009 1:52PM
Facehuggers. They always scared the crap outta me in AvP.
Dunhill @ Jun 19th 2009 1:18PM
SO THAT'S THE MOVIE.
i remember seeing this when i was really young and I could never find out what movie it was. lol
it's those insect killer robot thingies!
TREX6662k5 @ Jul 31st 2009 6:21PM
HA!
I watched this as a kid but I only remembered the homing bullets, never figured out what film it was in. I feel warm now.
Frogboy @ Jun 19th 2009 1:18PM
I loved this movie growing up.
hellsdark @ Jun 19th 2009 5:42PM
So you didn't like it that much.
:p
McStagger88 @ Jun 19th 2009 1:20PM
i totally remember this movie and thought it was great when i was a kid. i would love to see someone make a throwback movie like this but take it seriously.
Ethan Rom @ Jun 19th 2009 1:20PM
I was just talking about this movie the other day and none of my friends every heard of it. The robot spiders shooting acid scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. And Gene Simmons as the bad guy was awesome. Great movie and thanks for reminding me to look for it on Netflix.
zero2dash @ Jun 19th 2009 1:30PM
"The robot spiders shooting acid scared the shit out of me when I was a kid."
Same here. I had nightmares. =O
Good movie though now that I'm no longer afraid of acid injecting robot spiders. =)
Amun @ Jun 19th 2009 1:54PM
Gene Simmons gives me nightmares to this day (and not the rock legend coming to eat your brains type of nightmare, the sleazy sexist asshole type).
ehisforadam @ Jun 19th 2009 1:29PM
The only thing I remember about that movie were those robots and Tom Selleck, when he's going up the construction elevator and getting attacked by them.
Chad @ Jun 19th 2009 1:44PM
SRSLY? That's all you can remember? You don't remember the bullets that were heat seeking and had an explosive payload or that Kirstie Alley had to strip to get rid of all the bugs Simmons had planted on her? The RC car that was just as fast as a full sized car and magnetically attached itself to the undercarriage right before it blew you to smithereens? The robot maid that was hacked and went berserk? OH yes that movie was so chocked full of FAIL that it made it full circle to WIN.
Xenoterranos @ Jun 19th 2009 2:36PM
Wha?! This had the retarded-fast RC car too?! That's another one I can cross of my list!
Throwing stones, killing birds.
Andrew @ Jun 21st 2009 7:10PM
A killer RC car also featured in the last Dirty Harry movie - The Dead Pool
Lear @ Jun 19th 2009 1:46PM
I just picked this up from the Discount bin for $5.99 and watched it with my roommates this weekend.
It was just as totally awesome as I remembered. :P
Yeshlynch @ Jun 19th 2009 1:49PM
Tahm Sehllick...
Chris @ Jun 19th 2009 1:57PM
In the early 90s I visited the robotics company that built many of the "spiders" for the movie. I was there to test some equipment they were designing and building for the US Navy, and did not know about their role in the movie. It was quite a surprise to see these menacing looking spiders all over the office. In the workshop they had a large sign from the movie's construction site that said something like "Caution, Humans and Robots at work".
rubi76 @ Jun 19th 2009 1:59PM
You gotta love Gene Simmons in this movie! It was probably the first time he didn't wear his make up ...... KISS rules!
Forrest @ Jun 19th 2009 2:12PM
You forgot about the technology they have to resurrect already-bad TV shows and make them much worse!
They took TJ Hooker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzu2cCRf3fc) and turned it into TJ Laser! :O
Even as a kid I /facepalmed at that :|
Xenoterranos @ Jun 19th 2009 2:32PM
This movie and "The Wraith" where at the top of my "What the hell was that movie called?" list for the longest time. I remember being scared shitless of parking garages as a kid because of this movie. If you've seen it (and where under age 9 at the time) you know what I mean. :/
umm....hello??? @ Jun 19th 2009 2:35PM
great movie--probably one of the last shows Kirstie Alley and Tom Selleck were in that were halfway decent--and before Kirstie had all that weight gain. The blond chick that was Tom's partner is hotter than Kristie, though.
Gowry @ Jun 19th 2009 2:41PM
Was I the only person that thought "Replicator" upon seeing this article?
dennis118 @ Jun 19th 2009 2:44PM
What is that....
chris @ Jun 19th 2009 2:46PM
hiya!
ttrentham @ Jun 19th 2009 2:55PM
I would've been about 13 when I saw this in the theater. I distinctly remember Kirstie Alley as the hot chick with a contempt for cops who had to strip at one point. Rowr. Look how she's changed though.
You left out the best part. Gene Simmons, surely the washed up rock star with the biggest ego and mouth to go along with it, is fittingly dispatched with a grenade in that over-sized gob of his.
Best. Ending. Ever.
bradmss @ Jun 20th 2009 11:26AM
Just saw this in the bargain bin at KROGER yesterday!
I won't spoil the ending to this movie... but it's hinted to in the article...
The Grenade-in-the-mouth ending is from Wanted: Dead or Alive, where Gene plays a terrorist.
JoeSmack @ Jun 19th 2009 3:03PM
They say the main character's name, "Ramsey", 52 times in that movie.
Mark @ Jun 19th 2009 3:20PM
All I saw when I scrolled past this photo - for a brief second - was a bent over man, naked from the waist down, wearing a white cotton long-sleeved shirt (right arm dangling down) with a mechanical robo-thing ramming up his ass. It took me a second to realize it was a robot spider on a piece of wood.
asuka @ Jun 19th 2009 4:00PM
Those are KISSbots. They are programmed to commit KISSocide. They run KISSium4 CPUs and have 600KISSobyte KISSdrives.
Erik @ Jun 19th 2009 4:10PM
Ahhh....Cynthia Rhodes...what hotness. She looked pretty fine in Flashdance too...http://www.starman-imaging.com/archive/crfldnce/crfldnce01.htm.
But then she ended up with Richard Marx and not me.......her loss.
spartadog @ Jun 19th 2009 4:12PM
hmmm..Cynthia Rhodes...she was sooo hot. She actually retired to marry Richard Marx and have his babies....even though he was much younger than her...classic cougar
Erik @ Jun 19th 2009 4:14PM
Dude...what were the odds?
Fred @ Jun 19th 2009 5:24PM
Got this on DVD a few months ago. Guess I'll have to break it out and watch it again tonight. Love this movie!
Rick @ Jun 19th 2009 5:41PM
Classic movie.
Joe @ Jun 19th 2009 6:02PM
May I show you to the door? May I show you to the door?
Philip S @ Jun 19th 2009 6:45PM
This movie scared the crap out of me as a kid. Took me forever to find out just a few months ago what the name of it was.
harrison @ Jun 20th 2009 6:47PM
hmmmmm..... Robots that "are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces"? check this out: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robert_full_on_engineering_and_evolution.html . This guy has taken a material they synthesized similar to a lizards foot surface and made a robot that can totally climb up all sorts of surfaces.
TimeHunter @ Jun 19th 2009 9:29PM
I loved that movie. Of course, I was also seriously jonesing on Cynthia Rhodes at the time. But hey! It was still a good movie for the day!
Gregory Pius @ Jun 20th 2009 12:54AM
I want a Ford Tempo with the Special Service package...