Isaac Asimov Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Isaac Asimov
Writing
Biography
Isaac Asimov (born Isaak Yudovich Ozimov, January 2, 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 9,000 letters and postcards. His works have been published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (The sole exception being the 100s: philosophy and psychology, although he did write a foreword for The Humanist Way, which is published in the 100s). Isaac Asimov is widely considered a master of hard science fiction and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, he was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series; his other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, both of which he later tied into the same fictional universe as the Foundation Series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those pioneered by Robert A. Heinlein and previously produced by Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson. He wrote many short stories, among them "Nightfall", which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time. Asimov wrote the Lucky Starr series of juvenile science-fiction novels using the pen name Paul French. The prolific Asimov also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as much non-fiction. Most of his popular science books explain scientific concepts in a historical way, going as far back as possible to a time when the science in question was at its simplest stage. He often provides nationalities, birth dates, and death dates for the scientists he mentions, as well as etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Examples include his Guide to Science, the three volume set Understanding Physics, Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery, as well as numerous works on astronomy, mathematics, the Bible, William Shakespeare's works and, of course, chemistry subjects. Asimov was a long-time member and Vice President of Mensa International, albeit reluctantly; he described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more joy in being president of the American Humanist Association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, a crater on the planet Mars, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, a Brooklyn, New York elementary school, and one Isaac Asimov literary award are named in his honor. Description above from the Wikipedia article Isaac Asimov, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Magnificent Major
A young girl learns the importance of reading, when she ends up in a dystopian future where reading is banned.
Voyage chez les vivants - L'Aventure des hommes
Isaac Asimov: Voyage to the Outer Planets & Beyond
Travel to the edges of our solar system with this unique blend of photographic images, video and computer animation. Hosted by renowned scientist and author Isaac Asimov, the program is set to Gustav Holst's moving 1917 musical suite "The Planets." The infrequently seen footage from NASA includes images of planets and other impressive galactic bodies, including Jupiter, Saturn's rings, Pluto and much more.
Towards Tomorrow: Robot
Documentary from 1967 on how robotics could shape human society. Your future is being created now - for better or for worse? How close are we to constructing the robot of the future? Will there be one in every house? How human will It look? These are some of the questions this programme tries to answer. Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer and prophet of the robot age, introduces the programme and predicts a future in which man and robots form a combined culture. A culture in which, to use his own words, 'mankind may want robots not only as helpers and servants but also as friends, as something with which they can identify'. Towards Tomorrow explores laboratories in England and America to discover how near scientists and engineers are to turning Asimov's science fiction into science fact.
Target... Earth?
Really strange documentary of Wheeler Dixon production quality on the Tunguska Event and the possibility of it happening again causing an apocalypse (basically a meteor scare film) sprinkled with UFO conspiracy kooks, and other 'professionals', riddled with stock footage of all kinds, freaky moog music and sound fx, a Dr. Who rip-off end theme, Victor Buono as Homer the Archivist, a philosophical history recorder in a space ship with a HAL 9000 type talking computer named Ino, there's also another space ship with Egyptian looking aliens girls with pasties and see-thru blouses.
This Fantastic World 12
Based on science fiction stories about the relationship between man and robot: A. Belyaev’s “Open Sesame” about how a robot servant robbed two old men; A. Azimova's "Liar" about a robot who can read minds and turns out to be the most humane among people; F. Chilander's "Court" about how robots tried the last person living in the city.
Who's Who
Produced for American Public Television, this documentary on the long-running Doctor Who television series features interviews with actors and actresses who played the traveling companions of the Time Lord hero and with three actors, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, and Colin Baker, who portrayed the title character, as well as footage of a U.S. fan convention where Tom Baker, appeared and answered questions. The fan backlash against the 1985-6 hiatus for the series and the finding of some previously lost Jon Pertwee era episodes are addressed, and this documentary closes with some on-the-street interviews with British viewers, who tell who their favorite Doctor is.
Isaac Asimov: A Message to the Future
With over 500 publications to his name, from the 50’s to the 80’s, he had anticipated computers and electronic gadgets invading the household, autonomous vehicles and man’s withdrawal from nature. Science fiction and anticipation stories have never been as popular as today. It inspires literature, drama series, films, even politics and the military. As the world we live in faces an unprecedented technological acceleration, we are more concerned than ever by the issue of our future.
Since '45
Produced in 1979, this classic short documentary explores the mass media and its impact upon society, uncovering shocking details showing how in many cases it is the media itself that drives the news cycle.
Production
The End of Eternity
Somewhere outside of time as we understand it is the timeless realm known as Eternity, where a group of highly trained technicians – drawn from all the Centuries under their control – have manipulated the Earth’s history to transform it into what they believe to be a perfect world, free from every disaster and hardship. But when Senior Computer Twissel sends a young Technician named Harlan to study the 480th Century in the company of a seductive woman, Harlan begins to suspect that Twissel may have some secret plan of his own which has something to do with the forbidden centuries before time travel was invented...
Science Fiction Is Us
A comparison of science fiction and real life.
The Ugly Little Boy
Edyth Fellows is a nurse recruited for an research project with a time travel device that can snatch any being from any time and bring it to the present. The first such test brings an Neanderthal child to the project and Fellows is responsible for his care for the interim. As she manages this task, Fellows is increasingly revolted at how the scientists dismiss him as little more than an animal, especially when his real intelligence shows. This growing moral dilemma comes to a head when Fellows realizes what they plan to do with him and she cannot stand by and let it happen.
The Android Affair
Karen Garrett, a promising young doctor, is assigned to perform a difficult operation on Teach, an advanced android who has never "blanked" (had his memory erased.) She soon realizes that Teach is much more than an assignment, and is drawn to his desire for a very human life. When Karen takes Teach into the outside world, they soon discover that there is something far more mysterious and dangerous than a medical experiment planned for them.
Teach 109
In the future, surgeons practice their skill on androids designed to imitate patients, but Dr. Garrett sees this as pointless since she cares little about fake robotic patients. However, her latest patient Teach 109 changes her mind.
All the Troubles of the World
Depicts the not too distant future when computers have been so perfected that the largest directs the world's economy, science and human psychology. Presents a story about an assassination threat against Multivac, a computer that directs much of the world's economic and human existence, and how this threat draws everyone together.
Little Lost Robot
The only surviving play from the anthology series, Out of This World, presented by Boris Karloff.
The End of Eternity
Directed by Andrei Yermash, and written by Isaac Asimov, Budimir Metalnikov, and Andrei Yermash, «Konets vechnosti» is a 1987 Science Fiction film, starring Oleg Vavilov, Vera Sotnikova, Georgi Zhzhyonov, Sergei Yursky, Gediminas Girdvainis and Boris Ivanov.
Bicentennial Man
Richard Martin buys a gift, a new NDR-114 robot. The product is named Andrew by the youngest of the family's children. "Bicentennial Man" follows the life and times of Andrew, a robot purchased as a household appliance programmed to perform menial tasks. As Andrew begins to experience emotions and creative thought, the Martin family soon discovers they don't have an ordinary robot.
I, Robot
In 2035, where robots are commonplace and abide by the three laws of robotics, a technophobic cop investigates an apparent suicide. Suspecting that a robot may be responsible for the death, his investigation leads him to believe that humanity may be in danger.
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