Graeme McMillan, Author at Gizmodo

Countdown Science Fiction’s 10 Most Murderous Robots

It’s one thing to talk about Killer Robots, but which ones have actually managed to really rack up the senseless slaughter? Here are our choices for the ten deadliest robots for you to avoid. Now, we know that this list is going to upset more than a few of you (Especially if you disliked the…

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Could’a Been Contenders…

Wondering where Daleks, Cybermen and the Borg are? They’re over in the “Do cyborgs really count as robots?” corner, although it’s arguably worth pointing out that Daleks aren’t really robots at all, just aliens inside weirdly-shaped suits of armor… that may as well be robots for all we actually care. I’m sure there will be…

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#1: The Manhunters

How deadly are they? They destroyed all life within Space Sector 666 because of a “programming glitch.” How big is a Space Sector? Unknown, although the entire universe is split into at least 3601 of them, and Final Crisis claims that there are “thousands of worlds” within Earth’s sector. So let’s just say that’s a…

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#2: Unicron

How deadly is he? He eats planets for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. And if they’re populated, all the better; it adds texture, apparently. Who’s responsible? It very much depends who you ask; Unicron has been given multiple histories throughout the years, including being a fallen god who somehow became a robot, a murderous robot…

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#3: The Cylons

How deadly are they? They destroyed the twelve colonies of humanity, committing genocide on a scale unimaginable to everyone except Glen A. Larson and Ron Moore. Who’s responsible? It depends on which version you’re asking about. The original series had the robots built by a dying alien race also called cylons, whereas the recent reboot…

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#4: Separatist Battle Droids

How deadly are they? Apparently, an unstoppable killing machine that continually causes trouble for the Republic and their Jedi forces during the many years of Star Wars’ Clone Wars. Despite their apparent ineffectualness, the war continued for many years, therefore the estimated high kill-rate and higher ranking on this list. Sorry, prequel haters. Who’s responsible?…

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#5: Skynet/The Terminators

How deadly are they? They took over the Earth and are pretty much trying to destroy all human life, starting with a successful nuclear annihilation of three million people. You’ve seen The Terminator movies, right? Who’s responsible? The military. Sure, you could blame original creators Cyberdyne Systems, but I’m blaming the bulk of the problems…

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#6: Sentinels (The Matrix)

How deadly are they? They took over the Earth and keep humans around only as batteries. Which, you know, is potentially an environmentally solution to the whole need for energy (Although they did start out with solar power. Who’s responsible? Humanity en masse. The robots that ended up taking over the world started out as…

io9 Graeme McMillan

#7: Sentinels (Marvel Comics)

How deadly are they? They almost eradicated the mutant race, killing millions in one afternoon’s work by destroying the island of Genosha. There’s also a much-visited future where the Sentinels have taken over the world and killed the X-Men and many other superheroes. Who’s responsible? Humanity’s intolerance and fear. Oh, and Dr. Bolivar Trask, a…

Movies Graeme McMillan

#8: Ultron

How deadly is he? He singlehandedly slaughtered the inhabitants of the fictional European nation of Slorernia, before enslaving the alien robot race the Phalanx and taking over countless planets as a result, for his own nefarious ends. Who’s responsible? Hank Pym (the superhero known as Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket and, currently, the Wasp)…

Movies Graeme McMillan

#9: ABC Warriors

How deadly are they? As deadly as you want them to be; in the future’s Volgan war (When the west goes to war with the fictional Russian-analog “Volgan Republic”), human soldiers are slowly replaced by robots created to fight wars. Slowly enough, in fact, that the ABC Warriors get more than a few kills in…

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#10: Mechagodzilla

How deadly is he? He rampages continually against Japan and fights Godzilla on a regular basis, with his laser eyes and flamethrower breath. I’m guessing there’s got to be some level of collateral damage going on there. Also, he kills giant monsters, which can come in handy. Who’s responsible? Originally alien monkeys the Simians (who…

Movies Graeme McMillan

Commercial Spaceflight Will Be Green, Claims President

Never mind the thrill of commercial flights into orbit, the true excitement of Virgin Galactic‘s plan to make spaceflight open to the world will be the new way their crafts use to get there, apparently. Writing in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Virgin Galactic’s president Will Whitehorn attempts to explain why the company will be more environmentally…

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Dueling Draculas and Heroes Revealed In This Week’s Comics

Alien invasions, competing vampires and robots that are more than meets the eye are all populating the comics that’ll be making their way to your local shelves tomorrow. What else do you need to know? Well, I guess I could tell you more… For one thing, this is the week where we find out who…

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Marvel Finds Its Avenging Trickster

A day after announcing who will play Thor, Marvel Studios have quietly unveiled who’s going to play his half-brother, Loki. But don’t think that unknown Tom Hiddleston isn’t a key part of their longterm plans. While Marvel’s keeping mum about Loki’s role in proceedings beyond 2011’s Thor movie (Variety’s report of Hiddleston’s participation explains that…

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Sarah Connor’s Boss Says Goodbye

Feeling angry and frustrated at Fox for canceling Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? One man wants you to fight that feeling, and you might want to listen to him; he’s the guy behind the show. Blogging on Fox’s official Terminator blog, showrunner Josh Friedman addressed the cancellation and came out much more philosophical, and grateful,…

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Star Trek’s Final Frontier Not Fashion

Star Trek may still be riding high at the box office, but there’s one area where it’s lacking, according to (of all places) the Financial Times: It’s fashion sense. The newspaper’s Peter Gutierrez enjoyed the movie, but found the visual style somewhat lacking: As the script makes clear, Vulcans and Romulans share a common ancestry…

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Thank Chernobyl For First Space Plants?

Apparently, it’s not all downsides to the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor; the intergalactic future of plant life may already exist on Earth, thanks to the effects of radioactive fallout from the 1986 disaster. New Scientist reports that scientists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences investigating the vegetation around the nuclear plant have noticed…

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An Unexpected Chance To See TSCC Again?

With the fate of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles apparently cancelled (according to Entertainment Weekly, at least), one website has come up with a convincing Plan B allowing the show to live. End Of Show suggests that, even though TSCC has been cancelled by Fox, the show may have a future as a straight-to-DVD movie…

io9 Graeme McMillan

Tomorrowland Treads On Buck Rogers’ Moonboots

A hotshot pilot with a ridiculous name accidentally ending up hundreds of years in the future…? Sounds like Buck Rogers, but it’s actually the set-up to Disney’s upcoming Tomorrowland movie, starring the Rock. Collider spoke to screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore about the movie, which does for the Tomorrowland ride what Gore Verbinski and…

io9 Graeme McMillan

Graeme McMillan

Countdown Science Fiction’s 10 Most Murderous Robots

Could’a Been Contenders…

#1: The Manhunters

#2: Unicron

#3: The Cylons

#4: Separatist Battle Droids

#5: Skynet/The Terminators

#6: Sentinels (The Matrix)

#7: Sentinels (Marvel Comics)

#8: Ultron

#9: ABC Warriors

#10: Mechagodzilla

Commercial Spaceflight Will Be Green, Claims President

Dueling Draculas and Heroes Revealed In This Week’s Comics

Marvel Finds Its Avenging Trickster

Sarah Connor’s Boss Says Goodbye

Star Trek’s Final Frontier Not Fashion

Thank Chernobyl For First Space Plants?

An Unexpected Chance To See TSCC Again?

Tomorrowland Treads On Buck Rogers’ Moonboots

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