This series of photos came from the October 1977 issue of
Gallery, with this text:
In motion pictures, books, and television (remember "Star Trek?"), science fiction has always claimed millions of serious devotees. But no matter how much early confidence George Lucas may have had in the ultimate popularity of his film, Star Wars, he couldn't possibly have guessed the degree of national furur that would be created by his robot-filled fantasy.
Already, Hollywood insiders are predicting an even greater popular and financial success for David Spielberg's forthcoming Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a U.F.O. take about visitors from outer space. According to reports, Close Encounters may well maker Spielberg's earlier hit, Jaws, seem minnow-like by comparison.
Given these successes, there seems little doubt that imitative producers will soon be filling both the big screen and the little tube with all sorts of variations on the science-fiction theme.
All of this inspired Gallery to find out what would happen if three very mechanical robots were to suddenly encounter a very down-to-earth earthling. Judging from our observations, the metal trio seemed to know the terrain very well - which leads us to conclude that things must be pretty much the same throughout the galactic universe. If so, there's reason to hope for some interesting discoveries as our own space explorations get under way.
We are left with one lingering worry, however. As we human mails continue to seek labor-saving mechanical devices to ease our daily burdens, let's not go so far that we begin to assign robots to take over all of our activities. We'll want to reserve a few choice ones for ourselves.
Photography is credited to Neil Sanderson.
