Collect Questions

Was having the usual chat,you know "did you see blah.. blah.."
when A.I. came up and so I mentioned about the ending (which I
don't have a problem with;) ) and to my surprise I was the target
of an assasination plot with a rather large figurative flame-thrower.
"Nah nah nah they're aliens come to earth who were studying the humans through the boy" said rather condescendingly!
Both of them were adamant this was the case,I think they just
banded together in backup mode.
I held my ground a restated the facts as I saw it that they advanced robots were studying the humans........:brickwall
and a change of subject ensued.
Odd that AI has been out quite a while now,and still maybe
many who saw it still believe this alien lark :oh-hum:



When I saw it at the pictures I thought they were aliens BUT the producer has since come out and said they were robots and it should have been obvious to all and sundry.
So you are right and you go back and give them both barrels for being so patronizing:)



Definately Advanced A.I creatures.
But I thought they were Aliens when I saw it at the Cinema aswell.
Gary A



Yep - very advanced AI critters..... I never saw it in the cinema so I can't comment.... they did look Roswellian though



Had no idea they were AI - assumed they were aliens. Are there not some comments made by them near the end about humans destroying the planet - is this not knowledge they would all have if they had been created on earth i.e. would they need to communicate this to each other?:)



Depends on if AI created AI for millennia and some historical data got lost over the ages.....



Well I guess they did look very alien-like,but it never even crossed my mind they'd be .........
.......may have got an inkling from guys in the know beforehand
I spose;)



There robots.
That's the whole point of the film. A.I getting too big for it's boots.



They're not There ;)
Gary A



Having thought about it,during my "shower time", **** it no
I saw it the first time at the cinema and I never thought
those there pesky folk were aliens :p
Note your poor grammar Mr Stanton by GAmbrose:lol:



To be fair theres so many different explainations to the ending that I don't think anybody can be totally right.
The official explaination is that they are robots, but the ending is filmed in such a way as to keep you guessing.



I think the production designers made a mistake by making the advanced mechas look too much like bog-standard Spielberg aliens. The whole story makes much more sense when they are viewed as mechas trying to rediscover their origins through the preserved David (those pesky human creators having died out long ago).
All in all, a very much underrated film, which would have perhaps been more successful if Spielberg had gone for an 18 cert film (Flesh city could have been rather more interesting, then....)



They were robots :confused:
Guess I need to watch this film again, and mabye pay attention this time...



I thought they were aliens too.
In my book, the director has made a bit of a cock up if the majority of people who saw it though they were aliens.
Maybe they've peddled this angle to get us all to buy the DVD and watch it again? :)



Do you think they would stoop so low? ;)



Made me watch it again:)



Damm, that teddy bear's so cute !!!



I never thought they were aliens. When you see their ship flying over the frozen Earth's surface it's shaped exactly like the computer processor gizmo that is removed from the female androids head at the beginning of the film. I think this was probably a clue as to the creatures origin.
:dork:y I know but there you go. :D



Well spotted !;)



The other big clue as far as I remember is that they actually say that they are robots :D



Originally posted by BLADERUNNER
I never thought they were aliens. When you see their ship flying over the frozen Earth's surface it's shaped exactly like the computer processor gizmo that is removed from the female androids head at the beginning of the film. I think this was probably a clue as to the creatures origin.
:dork:y I know but there you go. :D
When i get my DVD back from my mate im going to have a look.
Great spot mind you:thumbs:



Originally posted by Jungle Ted
The other big clue as far as I remember is that they actually say that they are robots :D
ahhhh a red herring, surely!! ;) ;) ;)



Originally posted by Brian_JD
"Nah nah nah they're aliens come to earth who were studying the humans through the boy"
HE was a boy? I thought he was a robot! :lol:



Originally posted by Mark Orme
HE was a boy? I thought he was a robot! :lol:
...who thought he was a boy....



The official explanation as appeared in Kubrick's notes and Spielberg's script were that:
Man has since been destroyed, or actually destroyed itself so all that are left are mecha (shadowing what Gigalo Joe says to David). The Mecha then built other Mecha, sort of like an evolution in Mecha until all that are left are the intelligent Mecha you see at the end. As the one explains to David - "You are all that is left" - something like that - and so, to study what human life would've been like they 'take' David's memories and try to construct something from his mind, but all he has there are memories of his 'Mother' and good ones at that - he sees her the way he'd like her to be and without a husband or another child.
So David is the missing link in a way - altough the irony is that he isn't human, just a slightly disturbed Robot - and that is all that was left of mankind - well and Teddy, who actually seemed far more intelligent then David - so they could've used him instead - but i digress.
However, as for that last shot - the one where David 'sleeps' - i'm not really sure what that is (It's not made that clear in the script either) - many people assume that David dies as he has reached the end of his quest. Others think he's become a real boy (That is never said or hinted at in the script). I believe he does die - so in fact the last link to mankind is in fact Teddy!



They are the Asymmetrical Robotic Servile Entities as far as I can remember..



I asked my wife whether she realised that they weren't aliens at the end, only to realise that I watched it with a mate and not her...
It's been a bad week for me giving things away in films (see best death scene thread) :(



mate of mine thought they were aliens until i pointed out that they were supposed to be advanced AIs which he then thought made much more sense :p
might have to borrow it from him again just to watch the end bit between where he goes down in the sub and they bring his mother back - best bit of the film imo



The only reason they made them look like that is because ILM were practicing for Attack of the Clones - compare the cloners with the advanced mecha. :dork:



Originally posted by GAmbrose
They're not There ;)
Gary A
So where are they then? ;)