Line #36 Film/RobotMonster


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5	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Do not uncomment them without explaining how they apply to the film. Just a trope name is not context; just a trope name and a character's name is not context. Examples should be understandable to people who have never seen the film.
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10	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robot_monster.jpg]]
11	[[caption-width-right:350:[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou We know you are trying not to laugh.]]]]
12
13	->''"I cannot - yet I must. How do you calculate that? At what point on the graph do 'must' and 'cannot' meet? Yet I must - but I cannot!"''
14	-->-- '''Ro-Man [=XJ2=]'''
15
16	A 1953 BMovie, released in 3D, by Phil Tucker, ''Robot Monster'' is one of the most famous SoBadItsGood sci-fi films ever made. Simply put, it is about a family having a picnic in UsefulNotes/{{California}} and meeting an evil alien invader: the nefarious Ro-Man, who has used a special DeathRay to KillAllHumans. But the family survived by taking [[AppliedPhlebotinum a special serum invented by their scientist dad]].
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18	Using his amazing advanced galaxy-conquering technology -- you can tell, because it emits soap bubbles at moments of high drama -- Ro-Man must find a way around their defenses. The kicker is the Big Guy's also struggling with unforeseen human desires... oh, did we mention the scientist's nubile daughter? Not to mention her hunky lab assistant boyfriend, annoying younger brother and... Yeah, you figured? OK then.
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20	So far, so run-of-the-mill. It could even be argued that hey, as compared to, say, ''[[Film/ManosTheHandsOfFate Manos]]'', this thing has an actual plot (though not a good one), also a soundtrack involving the onscreen actors speaking in their own voices. But no other classic bad movie can boast of [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ro-man2.jpg Ro-Man]], the titular "Robot Monster". Quoth the film's then-twentysomething ''auteur'', recalling the inspiration (and, not incidentally, budget) behind his lead character:
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22	''"...I talked to several people that I knew who had robot suits, but it was just out of the way, money-wise. I thought, ‘Okay, I know George Barrows.’... When they needed a gorilla in a picture they called George, because he owned his own suit... I thought, ‘I know George will work for me for nothing. I’ll get a diving helmet, put it on him, and it’ll work!’"''
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24	Well... no. At least, not in the way he intended.
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26	In his book, ''On Writing'', Creator/StephenKing recalls seeing the movie as a kid, and says that he felt it was "art of quite a high nature"[[note]]In King's other non-fiction essay book, ''Danse Macabre'', King provides an account of the first time he saw the movie while high and "almost laughed [himself] into a hernia."[[/note]]. It was also Creator/JohnCarpenter's favourite film when he was a child.
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28	For the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode see ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S01E07RobotMonster here]]''.
29	----
30	!!''Robot Monster'' provides examples of:
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32	* ActionFigureSpeech: The titular aliens, looking for all the world like a guy in a gorilla suit wearing a space helmet flailed around wildly while speaking.
33	* AfterTheEnd: It's explained that much of movie takes place after Ro-Man has (almost) completely wiped out human civilization.
34	* AliensAreBastards: The Great Guidance is one for ordering the destruction of all humankind.
35	* AllJustADream: After the Great Guidance comes to Earth, [[spoiler:Johnny wakes up, apparently having hit his head and dreamed the whole thing.]]
36	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling:
37	** Carla, Johnny's younger sister. In a meta example, her actress was so annoying that the other actors begged to have her character killed off so they could get her off the set.
38	** Johnny himself is this too, to Alice.
39	* ApocalypseHow: Starts off as a Planetary Species Extinction, thanks to the the effect of the Calcinator Death Ray. [[spoiler:Later upgraded to a Planetary Physical Annihilation, as the Great Guidance gets pissed off at Ro-Man's failure to kill the humans and unleashes a "Q-Ray" which completely destroys the planet]]. Subverted when it turns out to [[spoiler: be AllJustADream.]]
40	* BMovie: And how! Rampant use of StockFootage from other movies, a shaky scifi plot with an incoherent TwistEnding, and one of the most iconically silly monsters in cinema history!
41	* BigBad: The Great Guidance, the space overlord who sent Ro-Man to Earth in the first place.
42	* TheBlank: Stockings, worn over the face and under the helmets, to convey the effect.
43	* BronsonCanyonAndCaves: A classic use of Bronson Canyon, and one that would set the tone for most of its '50s appearances.
44	* BullyingADragon: Johnny taunts Ro-Man from an apparently safe vantage point.
45	-->'''Johnny''': You look like a pooped-out pinwheel!\
46	'''Ro-Man''': ''(flatly)'' Now I will kill you.
47	* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the poster that appears as this page's article image, this movie does not have a [[Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms rhedosaurus]] in it, although there is plenty of StockFootage from much worse dinosaur movies with [[{{Slurpasaur}} much worse effects]].
48	** Most of the posters show Ro-Man with a SkullForAHead under his helmet, but in the actual movie he appears to be more TheBlank.
49	* CrapsackWorld: There are only two life-bearing planets in the Universe. One is Earth, the other is a mechanical dystopia. The dystopic planet attacked Earth, and has won. There are only eight people left at the start of the film, relentlessly pursued by a robotic fiend.
50	* DeathOfAChild: Carla, the little girl, is strangled by Ro-Man, and Johnny is killed when The Great Guidance comes to Earth to kill the rest of the humans.
51	* DeusExMachina: Just when all seems lost, [[spoiler: it turns out to be AllJustADream.]]
52	* ADogNamedDog: Ro-Man's race are called Ro-Men. Great Guidance refers to him specifically as [[YouAreNumberSix "Extension XJ2"]], however. This is probably a deliberate point about their MechanisticAlienCulture having no use for individuality.
53	* EarthShatteringKaboom: At the end, after killing [=XJ2=], the Great Guidance decides he has no more use for the Earth unleashes a "Q-Ray" to make the planet start to collapse and split apart. The only thing that prevents it from succeeding is [[spoiler:[[AllJustADream Johnny waking up]]]].
54	* EvilOverlord: The Great Guidance (who is played and voiced by the same actor who does Ro-Man, except with a slightly different helmet).
55	* FantasticRacism: Ro-Man's contempt for us "hu-men"
56	* FunnyForeigner: It's unknown if the Professor was supposed to be one, but he certainly sounds like it (the actor playing him, John Mylong, was Austro-Hungarian).
57	* GarnishingTheStory: We get a few cutaways to StockFootage from dinosaur movies, including the [[{{Slurpasaur}} baby-alligator-with-plastic-sail vs. lizard]] fight from ''Film/OneMillionBC'' and some triceratops and sauropod StopMotionAnimation scenes from ''Film/LostContinent''. They don't add anything to the plot, never interact with any of the main characters, and their presence makes no sense. An easily-missed line from Great Guidance suggests that somehow he has brought the dinosaurs back to life so they'll eat the last few humans.
58	* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Ro-Man ''almost'' seems like he's going to stop being a {{Jerkass}} at the end, but the Great Guidance has other plans.
59	* HerrDoktor: The Professor's European accent. See FunnyForeigner, above.
60	* IdiotBall: Johnny goes by himself to confront Ro-man, insult him to his face, [[CannotKeepASecret and brag about exactly HOW his family is immune to the calcination beam]]. Ro-man vows to adjust the beam to counteract it.
61	* InNameOnly: Ro-Man is supposed to be short for 'robot man'.
62	* KickTheDog: Ro-Man shows the family the destruction of humanity on their video screen. Why? Oh, ''just to make them feel shitty''. JustifiedTrope, when you consider it's trying to drive the humans to despair and perhaps [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]].
63	* KidHero: Johnny, the viewpoint character of the movie.
64	* KillAllHumans: Eight are left at the start and it goes down from there.
65	* KillerSpaceMonkey: The use of a gorilla suit to portray an alien.
66	* {{Lunarians}}: According to the poster, Ro-Man is a "Moon Monster" though in the movie he claimed to be from the planet Ro-Man.
67	* MadnessMantra / LogicBomb: "I must... but I cannot..."
68	* MarsNeedsWomen: Played with in a weird way - Ro-Man has no idea why he wants to get into Alice's pants, and while he's struggling with it Great Guidance orders him to kill her, so he goes into the MadnessMantra.
69	* {{Martians}}: Though the alien comes from the plane Ro-Man, an alternate title for this movie is ''Monster From Mars''.
70	* MechanisticAlienCulture: The film features Ro-Man... Appearing as a man in a gorilla suit with a deep sea diver's helmet, the alien invader's exact morphology is elusive. It seems to be a cyborg, it comes from an advanced civilization, it is able to resist radiation, and speaks in a typical [[RoboSpeak robotic]] [[CreepyMonotone style monotone]] [[{{Zeerust}} popular at the time in B-movies]]. However they are not simply constructs or tools, as we learn in the scene where the earth stationed Ro-Man contacts the leader of the Ro-Men, who is a similar diving helmeted gorilla-bodied biped.
71	* MomentKiller: The Great Guidance calls up Ro-Man at the most ''inopportune'' times....
72	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Right there in the title. He's a robot who is also a monster. ''And'' an alien, thought the title doesn't mention that.
73	* OrWasItADream: [[spoiler: While it's shown to be Johnny's dream, the movie ends with Ro-Man repeatedly running out of the cave like he does in the beginning..]]
74	* {{Panacea}}: The immunity serum was discovered by accident while attempting to create something that could cure all diseases.
75	* PeopleInRubberSuits: Ro-Man looks like a person wearing a cheap gorilla costume and a diving helmet.
76	* TheProfessor: There's a character literally called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin ...The Professor.]]
77	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Ro-Man has a gorilla body because there was no money for a robot costume, and the actor playing him already owned his own gorilla suit.
78	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Ro-Man falls in love with Alice, but in a twist, he is horrified and confused by his emotions.
79	* RobotAntennae: The villain Ro-Man's head is a space helmet with antennae sticking out of it.
80	* RobotNames: Ro-Man [=XJ2=]
81	* RuleOfThree: The end? Nope, [[spoiler:Ro-Man comes out of a cave stretching his arms at the viewer!]] The end? [[spoiler:Put that funky shot again, boy!]] The end? [[spoiler:One more time!]]
82	* ShaggyDogStory: The ending essentially renders the rest of the movie a moot point.
83	* ShirtlessScene: Alice's boyfriend Roy spends a good chunk of the movie shirtless.
84	* ShutUpKirk: Johnny gives Ro-Man a piece of his mind:
85	-->'''Johnny:''' "I think you're just a big bully, picking on people smaller than you."
86	-->'''Ro-Man:''' "Now I will kill you."
87	* SillySimian: Part of the reason this movie is remembered at all is Ro-Man's hilarious gorilla suit.
88	* SkullForAHead: The poster shows that Ro-Man has a skull inside his helmet.
89	* SpaceSuitsAreSCUBAGear: Ro-Man's diving helmet is supposed to be a space helmet.
90	* SpockSpeak: The ultra-rational dialogue of the Ro-Men.
91	* StockFootage: A few random "[[{{slurpasaur}} dinosaur]]" shots from ''Film/OneMillionBC'' and ''Film/LostContinent'' are worked in. The rocket launch, space platform, and destroyed human cities are all shown via stock footage as well.
92	* StrawVulcan: Ro-Man's overly "logical" MechanisticAlienCulture is set up specifically to be discredited by the narrative, with even Ro-Man realizing its flaws.
93	-->'''Ro-Man:''' To be like the hu-man! To laugh! Feel! Want! ''Why'' are these things not in the plan?
94	* {{Technobabble}}
95	--> '''Ro-Man''': I am ordered to kill you. I must do it with my hands.\
96	'''Alice''': How is it you're so strong, Ro-Man? It seems impossible.\
97	'''Ro-Man''': We Ro-Mans obtain our strength from the planet Ro-Man, relayed from individual energizers.
98	* TinMan: The titular robot has a hard time dealing with his emotions
99	* TheUnseen: Jason and [=McCloud=], as well as the garrison on the "space platform". All end up killed by Ro-Man anyway.
100	* VideoPhone: Ro-Man uses a video linkup to communicate with Great Guidance on the planet Ro-Man.
101	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Ro-Man doesn't understand his sexual interest in the heroine of the film, accompanied by the above MadnessMantra. Doubles as a LogicBomb.
102	* WouldHurtAChild: Ro-Man has no problems killing children.
103	* YouAreNumberSix: The main Ro-Man differentiates from the others by his codename, [=XJ2=].
104	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: After [=XJ2=] continually defies the orders to kill Alice first, Great Guidance has had enough.
105	-->''"If you wish to be like the Hu-man, then you will die like the Hu-man."''

Context Film / RobotMonster