Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Robophobia!

DOCTOR WHO.
TV series: 1963-89, 695 episodes.
"The Robots of Death" (1977) (script HERE).
IMDb data (with SPOILERS): Part 1, Part 2Part 3, and Part 4.
"I have an uncomfortable feeling that if the murderer doesn't kill us, the commander will. That is assuming they're not one and the same person."
A science fiction series has a go at combining a couple of Agatha Christie plots (can you tell which ones?) and succeeds. By the third part you'll know whodunit but you won't have a clue about how the Doctor intends to cure the problem:
The TARDIS materializes aboard a sandminer, a mining ship on a desert planet run by a robot labor force headed by a fairly small but sniping human crew. As one crewman is discovered strangled to death, the Doctor and Leela arrive just in time to become the prime suspects. — Written by statmanjeff on IMDb
Other memorable quotes:

"Yes, I suppose it's also a coincidence that, as soon as you two arrive, three of our people are killed. Well?"
"Oh, sorry, I thought it was a rhetorical qu... Yes, it's just a coincidence."

"You're a stowaway. What could be more suspicious than a stowaway?"
"A dead stowaway."

"He was murdered!"
"How do you know?"
"Because people don't strangle themselves."

"I don’t suppose there are any weapons aboard this mine."
"They aren’t necessary."
"They are now.

"Have you never heard of the double bluff?"

"There are three types of robots aboard this mine: Dumbs, Vocs, a Super-Voc, and then there's you. Would you care to explain that?"

"Please do not throw hands at me."
Resource:
- The most detailed description of "The Robots of Death" (a complete SPOILER, of course) is on the amazing DOCTOR WHO REFERENCE GUIDE HERE.

Category: Science fiction mysteries

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