Extant

I agree, long dull stretches where they're just padding things out.

I think the kid is a good actor, but I think the existence of a robot character totally undermines the whole story. I think the technology in a robot like this is over 100 years away (if that), especially a self-contained robot that can walk around and not crack the floorboards. I think they threw him in just to reinforce the idea that maybe the unborn child is going to be the first of a new race of beings that will make humans extinct.

 

I wouldn't be that pessimistic overall, though making a perfect simulacrum of real person will probably not happen, not because of computer tech but due to more mundane reasons.

There are several elements that need to come together for make a robot boy:

1) AGI or artificial general intelligence. Ironically, I think this will be one of the easer steps! There are current projects which simulate a cortical column on a neuronal level, including ion channels, neurotransmitters, connectivity, etc. It's a bottom-up approach as opposed to the traditional top-down approach. This is akin to what they're doing in Extant - the brain learns through environmental stimulus and learning.

Once memristors displace transistors (not far away), you won't need to simulate neurons computationally because memristors are basically a h/w analogue of neurons.

2) The skeleton. Two legged walkers have already been built and I don't mean Asimo which isn't a natural walker (which involves catching yourself before you fall over as you take each step). Boston Dynamics have some cool 4 legged animal walkers as well as two legged ones.

However, I don't think that gears and motors (or worse, hydraulics) will be the answer, but artificial muscles. There are already artificial muscles which contract when a voltage is applied, like real muscles. No floor cracking required.

3) Power. This is a general problem which may the hardest to solve. Battery tech won't cut it and battery improvements have at best been incremental. Internal combustion is a non-starter. Maybe fuel cells which can be easily swapped out. But whatever the power source it will need excellent performance (which is why we need artificial muscles, not gears).

4) Uncanny Valley - The external skin must not look or feel like rubber or plastic, but be truly lifelike, otherwise you get that creepy quality which would just scare everyone away. That's a tough one.

Bottom line, I like the humanich story element (though a bit of a silly name).

 

The 'robot' character projects an underlying sense of unpredictability and therefore potential danger, which in this story seems to be missed by his clueless happy-face 'father' and otherwise distracted mother.

 

Yeah, I agree with your points. One thing I laughed out loud at: they showed the skeletal "early" robot boy with a mouth sitting on a robot head, and it was shaking, vibrating, and looking like what it was -- a crappy mechanical prop. It's funny how the kid's movements got a lot better once his entire body was in place.

I think the reality is that the robot kid is a gimmick that's going to play out somewhere in the finale. My bet is something ridiculous will happen like Halley Berry will give birth to a Demon Seed baby, and the robot kid will try to defend the family... or something equally silly. I'd be very surprised if something like this doesn't happen.

The trades note that the live ratings on the show suck, but it's doing a lot better in DVR+3 ratings. I gotta say, I let a lot of stuff like this stack up on the DVR. There's no way I'd have the patience to watch them live. As bad as the show is, it's better than (say) the last couple of J.J. Abrams shows, and it's better than Terra Nova was (which sets the bar very low).

 

Off topic: WELCOME BACK VIDIOT

 

The latest double ep (7,8) was pretty darn good, as has been the entire season. The series deserves a second season!

 

i like everything about it other than the father, who is a genius scientist, believing the robot kid is close to real, when he knows full well it's a robot. that is the only stupidity written into this.......so far.

 

I don't see the problem. Of course he knows it's a robot with artificial intelligence. The whole point of treating the boy as 'real' is to develop/program the AI by raising it as a real child. The learning is to happen through experience, not through top-down programming. Top-down programming has failed as a suitable model for AI over the last 50 odd years.

The only realistic way to achieve true AI, IMO, is by example through a natural upbringing. They've tried this with chimps, though with limited success as chimps are...chimps. But with a robot with a sufficiently connected brain to learn from experience, I think true AI is achievable and is why I like the approach taken in this series.

 

Brilliant ! I never knew that.

 

I agree, and going against what everyone else is saying here, I think this show is quite strong. They have consistently managed to reveal important plot details while creating good complications from each one. I really don't know where they're going with this story, and that's a good thing here, as opposed to, say, Under The Dome, where I don't know where they're going with that, but it's a bad thing there because the show seems so aimless.

Anyone think the boy-bot's assistant creater has some issues (had to look her up - Julie (Grace Gummer) - she looks like she needs glasses since she's squinting all the time)? I keep waiting for her to abduct boybot.

 

I'd been having trouble with getting to sleep, but about 15 minutes into this show and I was "cured!"

 

Oh, there's far more stupidity in the show than this.

 

I watched the first couple of episodes and then checked out but caught the latest one because I was reading and didn't bother changing the channel. It still seems like two unrelated shows that have been grafted together. I like her story and find bits of the robot boy plot interesting but I can't believe that a guy who is smart enough to build a robot boy can be so incredibly stupid when it comes to detecting the obvious flaws. Who needs an off switch? I can't access his programming anymore, oh well, I'm sure that won't be a problem.

 

Another gripping episode. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a new scifi series...probably not since Stargate Universe. Which means it will probably get canned!

 

I find it fairly interesting. A good vehicle for Jeff Goldblum to be in somewhere.

 

I hardly think so - this show does not need pseudo-scientific schlock characters!

 

Story pacing is uneven; some episodes move-along, others would cure insomnia.

 

I always wonder what is Spielberg's actual involvement in these shows? He turns up for a few lunch meetings and early pre-production conference calls? "Yeah you can slap my name in the credits for $25,000 an episode!"

 

My bet is that he's only involved in pre-production and gets synopses of script ideas, then maybe sees a rough cut at the end. In the case of Terra Nova (which they should have called Terra Bull), there were something like 17-18 producers on that show, which might tell you how TV works -- this many people involved, including Spielberg, and the show was still terrible and had no audience. And lost a lotta money.

Spielberg has done great TV before -- E.R. was one of the early Amblin productions and was extremely successful. But it's interesting to note that Spielberg only produced the first season. Some of his other shows, like Seaquest and Amazing Stories were huge flops that lost a lotta money.

 

Dr. L̶u̶k̶a̶ John and Molly seem to have no chemistry whatsoever. And Halle Berry is not remotely believable as an astronaut. For an Oscar winner, she's made some colossally bad choices. The kid, however, is creepy as all get-out.

 

I feel that this show has gone downhill in a big way. It's premise was somewhat fresh, but the plot started to unravel & get stupid . I actually couldn't sit thru the full episode 9. I'm not aware of the show's ratings, but I will not be tuning in if it is renewed. Halle shimmying up & down in an elevator shaft? A disappointment...

 

I think the kid is pretty much supposed to be creepy, and the young actor is actually pretty good in the role. I totally agree with your other comments. There's no way this thing gets renewed.

 

I totally agree with the first part of your comment, but I would love to see it get renewed. There are far, far worse shows that get picked up all the time.

 

I'm afraid watching the entirety of the on-air "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has really ratcheted up my awareness and intolerance of melodrama. You know, one character has something important to say, and the character they are trying to talk to shuts them down with something like "I don't have to listen to you!"...then the repercussions of that refusal to listen continue for another three episodes. The extra run time serves mostly to allow the injection of even more elements of forced stupidity springing from refusals to watch...or refusals to listen...or refusals to think of the punter du jour as a worthwhile fellow being. Or maybe the extra run time provides the home for a bit of CGI as things blow up real good.

I watched all of "Extant"--it was on, reasonably well photographed, and some of the concepts had entertainment value in a 'Science Fiction, Lite' kind of way. Perhaps it could have been written tightly, perhaps it could have been pared down to something compelling. But as it progressed it mostly felt like melodrama standing on the shoulders of melodrama.