Maybe some robots just want to dance.
Tonight at Aspen Grove Shopping Center, the Alamo Drafthouse Denver is offering a Real Steel, a movie about a robot that dances. (Okay, it fights, too, but what else do you expect from a robot?). To set the mood for the film, the good people of Alamo have planned a preshow presentation of dancing robots, like these.
Pretty cool, eh? We thought so, and were inspired to search out other dancing robots from movies, television and music. Here are six of the best.
See Also: - Event: Real Steel with dancing bot battles - Slideshow: Robot Prom - List: Ten best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes
Wall-E Ah, good old Wall-E. When he's not busy saving the Earth, he finds some time to dance. In space. Because if there's anything better than robots dancing, it's robots dancing in space.
Robots The CGI film Robots didn't wow critics the way that Wall-E did, but it did feature a couple of pretty sweet robot-dance routines. After all, if you can't manage an original story or compelling characters, you can always rely on a melange of pop-culture references and cutesy robots busting a move. Hey, it worked on us.
Short Circuit The '80s offered plenty of reasons to fear robots (e.g. The Terminator), but it also offered reason to love them, in the form of Short Circuit's Johnny-5. A bolt of lightning gave him sentience and free will, but it took John Travolta to give him some sweet-ass moves.
"Rockit" Speaking of the '80s, one of the most first-ever examples of robot dancing in music-video history was unveiled in 1984 with the video for Herbie Hancock's "Rockit." Sure, those robots look pretty janky by modern standards, but it was the '80s -- you didn't criticize how well the robots danced, you were just amazed they existed at all. Besides, the song sounds as fantastic as ever.
Citroen commercial Wisely recognizing the appeal of a robot with sick moves, Citroen commissioned this slick commercial featuring a Transformers-like 'bot getting down. It probably won't make you want to buy a Citroen (are those even sold in the U.S.?), but it probably will make you want to watch the commercial a second time.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Data was always obsessed with becoming human, so is it any surprise he took the time to learn to dance? Of course it doesn't. Does it surprise you that he picked it up with lightning speed? Of course it doesn't -- dude's a robot with perfect recall and muscle control, after all.
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