Author Topic: EP126: The Sweet, Sad Love Song of Fred and Wilma  (Read 32598 times)

Russell Nash

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Reply #25 on: October 09, 2007, 04:08:08 PM
I'm in love with my toaster.  We've been secretly together for about a year now, but we always kept things secret.  My wife wouldn't understand, and the blender would be jealous of my love the toaster so we kept it between us.  I can't live like that anymore.  I am in love with my toaster and I don't care who knows about it!

I know how you feel.  My bread machine and I have had a thing going for about a year and a half. 



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Reply #26 on: October 09, 2007, 04:16:30 PM
I'm in love with my toaster.  We've been secretly together for about a year now, but we always kept things secret.  My wife wouldn't understand, and the blender would be jealous of my love the toaster so we kept it between us.  I can't live like that anymore.  I am in love with my toaster and I don't care who knows about it!

I know how you feel.  My bread machine and I have had a thing going for about a year and a half. 

Does it make you rise?

(I'm sorry.)

"Farts are a hug you can smell." -Wil Wheaton

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Reply #27 on: October 09, 2007, 04:18:20 PM
I'm in love with my toaster.  We've been secretly together for about a year now, but we always kept things secret.  My wife wouldn't understand, and the blender would be jealous of my love the toaster so we kept it between us.  I can't live like that anymore.  I am in love with my toaster and I don't care who knows about it!

I know how you feel.  My bread machine and I have had a thing going for about a year and a half. 

Does it make you rise?

(I'm sorry.)

Oh God...what have I started?

Those who would sacrifice liberty for safety deserve neither.


Russell Nash

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Reply #28 on: October 09, 2007, 05:37:55 PM
I'm in love with my toaster.  We've been secretly together for about a year now, but we always kept things secret.  My wife wouldn't understand, and the blender would be jealous of my love the toaster so we kept it between us.  I can't live like that anymore.  I am in love with my toaster and I don't care who knows about it!

I know how you feel.  My bread machine and I have had a thing going for about a year and a half. 

Does it make you rise?

(I'm sorry.)

Oh God...what have I started?

When it's on the kneading cycle, it gets so excited.  It's really cute.



contra

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Reply #29 on: October 09, 2007, 08:55:44 PM
Now I'm one of those who gets emtionally moved by Resnick and other authors here...

This story did nothing to stir my emotions...  I have no idea why..

I liked it, and it has a satisfying ending.  The ideas introduced are interesting, the characters believable, the robot well done.  But something about it just seemed off the mark.  I can't put my finger on what...
but it was a classic story, with a sci fi topping.

I can't love every one I suppose.

It entertained me on my way to work on a damp Glasgow monday at 7am... and really thats all you want on that situation...

---
Mike---Glasgow.  Scotland.-->


Biscuit

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Reply #30 on: October 09, 2007, 09:26:58 PM
I'm in love with my toaster.

Is that some sort of code, Doctor Baltar?


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Reply #31 on: October 10, 2007, 02:07:00 AM
Quote
Did anyone else wonder
 why humans had jobs at the law firm
 if  Wilma had the abilities
 to do Fred’s work for him?

Yes. Note that not only was Wilma able to Fred's job, but did it so well that Fred became a partner within a year.



Biscuit

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Reply #32 on: October 10, 2007, 02:51:08 AM
Quote
Did anyone else wonder
 why humans had jobs at the law firm
 if  Wilma had the abilities
 to do Fred’s work for him?

Yes. Note that not only was Wilma able to Fred's job, but did it so well that Fred became a partner within a year.

Not explicitly said, but it implied human ego - they'd send a robot to do a dangerous/life threatening job (exploration of Mars) or low status job (cleaning a hotel), but a High Status job (hairy chest thumper law) would be out of bounds.


Russell Nash

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Reply #33 on: October 10, 2007, 07:06:57 AM
Quote
Did anyone else wonder
 why humans had jobs at the law firm
 if  Wilma had the abilities
 to do Fred’s work for him?

Yes. Note that not only was Wilma able to Fred's job, but did it so well that Fred became a partner within a year.

Not explicitly said, but it implied human ego - they'd send a robot to do a dangerous/life threatening job (exploration of Mars) or low status job (cleaning a hotel), but a High Status job (hairy chest thumper law) would be out of bounds.

She was a robot that was specifically designed and engineered for a NASA mission, probably at the cost of millions.  She's a little out of the price range of normal folk or companies.  Fred makes a point of telling us how special she is.  She wasn't an off-the-shelf laptop.



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Reply #34 on: October 10, 2007, 01:57:14 PM
Quote
Did anyone else wonder
 why humans had jobs at the law firm
 if  Wilma had the abilities
 to do Fred’s work for him?

Yes. Note that not only was Wilma able to Fred's job, but did it so well that Fred became a partner within a year.

Not explicitly said, but it implied human ego - they'd send a robot to do a dangerous/life threatening job (exploration of Mars) or low status job (cleaning a hotel), but a High Status job (hairy chest thumper law) would be out of bounds.

She was a robot that was specifically designed and engineered for a NASA mission, probably at the cost of millions.  She's a little out of the price range of normal folk or companies.  Fred makes a point of telling us how special she is.  She wasn't an off-the-shelf laptop.

I think bring up another
 confusing aspect of the story.
If a hotel could hire a robot;
 why couldn't the law firm hire robots
 to do the legal work Fred was doing?
They must be
 inexpensive to hire
 if a hotel can do it.

And this
 still bothers me.
Why did Wilma
 have to be a robot at all?
What greater value
 did a robot bring
 to the story that a
 human woman would not?

These inconsistencies
 help to make it a
 weak story or
 a MEH.

If the robot was
 changed to Valerie Bertnelli
 the story might have been
 picked up by Lifetime TV.

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

I imagine that yes is the only living thing.

e. e. cummings


gedion_ki

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Reply #35 on: October 10, 2007, 02:45:21 PM
I'm in love with my toaster. 

Ok well since we are all coming clean, my coffee maker and I have been going on for years and my wife has no idea...

Eh the story had some good points, but not on my top 10 list. I did enjoy the "imposable relationship" situation, but I kinda knew where we were going with this by the half way point.



Russell Nash

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Reply #36 on: October 10, 2007, 03:18:13 PM
Quote
Did anyone else wonder
 why humans had jobs at the law firm
 if  Wilma had the abilities
 to do Fred’s work for him?

Yes. Note that not only was Wilma able to Fred's job, but did it so well that Fred became a partner within a year.

Not explicitly said, but it implied human ego - they'd send a robot to do a dangerous/life threatening job (exploration of Mars) or low status job (cleaning a hotel), but a High Status job (hairy chest thumper law) would be out of bounds.

She was a robot that was specifically designed and engineered for a NASA mission, probably at the cost of millions.  She's a little out of the price range of normal folk or companies.  Fred makes a point of telling us how special she is.  She wasn't an off-the-shelf laptop.
I think bring up another confusing aspect of the story.  If a hotel could hire a robot; why couldn't the law firm hire robots to do the legal work Fred was doing?  They must be inexpensive to hire if a hotel can do it.

My wife works in a law firm.  The non-partner lawyers make 80-250K a year.  Across the streat is a Hilton that pays the housekeeping staff about 22K a year.  Why didn't the managing partner go across the street and hire the maids from the hotel.  He would have saved about 3.5 million a year.  Maybe it has something to do with capability.  If you want more capability you have to pay for it.



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Reply #37 on: October 10, 2007, 07:51:35 PM
I think bring up another
 confusing aspect of the story.
If a hotel could hire a robot;
 why couldn't the law firm hire robots
 to do the legal work Fred was doing?
They must be
 inexpensive to hire
 if a hotel can do it.

Cheaply made robots with "Level 1" intelligence. Wilma was an anomaly, having been made for NASA.

Quote
And this
 still bothers me.
Why did Wilma
 have to be a robot at all?
What greater value
 did a robot bring
 to the story that a
 human woman would not?

It was the absolute basis of the story - a robot taught Fred to love/become human in a way a human woman couldn't (the affair with Crummy was the juxtaposition of this).

Quote
If the robot was
 changed to Valerie Bertnelli
 the story might have been
 picked up by Lifetime TV.

That's the whole point - that's what made it Sci Fi. It would have just been a boring old love story if not for the robot.


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Reply #38 on: October 11, 2007, 01:24:59 AM
And this
 still bothers me.
Why did Wilma
 have to be a robot at all?
What greater value
 did a robot bring
 to the story that a
 human woman would not?

It was the absolute basis of the story - a robot taught Fred to love/become human in a way a human woman couldn't (the affair with Crummy was the juxtaposition of this).
Especially so since Wilma wasn't even made to be an attractive android (or should that be "gynoid"?), judging by the reference to the "tin can" appearance of her head. She got by totally on talent and personality, not looks.
Fred was afraid of contact with real women, and Wilma was not likely to laugh at him.

Something I'm wondering about is the choice of names. I used to work at a radio station with an automation system that was nicknamed "Fred", being an old (WWII era?) acronym for "F***ing Ridiculous Electronic Device". Evidently this has been the nickname for many different kinds of high-tech equipment that have been introduced with little training for the technicians who had to deal with them. We had an auxiliary system that was named "Barney", which is no doubt a more recent usage. I've also heard of installations where the auxiliary equipment is called "Wilma".

Was that, if only partly, the inspiration for the Fred and Wilma names? (Besides the hilarity of a "Flinstones" convention, of course.)

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Reply #39 on: October 11, 2007, 08:41:15 PM
Quote
If the robot was
 changed to Valerie Bertnelli
 the story might have been
 picked up by Lifetime TV.

That's the whole point - that's what made it Sci Fi. It would have just been a boring old love story if not for the robot.

OK
  I understand it now.

This should be a
 fun movie
 in the same vane.

http://www.larsandtherealgirl-themovie.com/

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

I imagine that yes is the only living thing.

e. e. cummings


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Reply #40 on: October 12, 2007, 04:52:19 AM
 "Fred", being an old (WWII era?) acronym for "F***ing Ridiculous Electronic Device".

OK, I now know what I'm naming my computer, scanner, printer, fax machine, answering machine, internal (broken) CD rom, external CD/DVD...maybe even my husband...



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Reply #41 on: October 15, 2007, 04:37:38 PM
I almost busted out laughing in the library when Wilma spoke for the first time. That was a great stroke. (I do wonder why her voice wasn't more melodious in the final scene, unless she un-upgraded herself in response to Fred's betrayal.) I enjoyed this story, it was pretty good. I didn't expect Wilma to come in as a "cleaning mech," I thought this was going to turn out to be another gaming story where the guy falls in love with his computer. The "I'll briefly summarize for you" segments got to be annoying after a bit.

And who knew, e. e. cummings is best when recited by a robot. His work has never made so much sense.

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Planish

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Reply #42 on: October 17, 2007, 03:05:49 AM
I was hoping for a cameo from our favorite Escape Pod Announcer voice for Wilma, ...
Yeah, me too.  :(
Maybe it's a Union thing, an announcer doing a voice acting gig.  ;)

BTW Steve, does "our favorite Escape Pod Announcer voice" have a name?
She sounds a little bit like the Mac OS X voice named "Vicki".
« Last Edit: October 17, 2007, 03:09:52 AM by Planish »

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Russell Nash

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Reply #43 on: October 17, 2007, 07:41:15 AM
I was hoping for a cameo from our favorite Escape Pod Announcer voice for Wilma, ...
Yeah, me too.  :(
Maybe it's a Union thing, an announcer doing a voice acting gig.  ;)

BTW Steve, does "our favorite Escape Pod Announcer voice" have a name?
She sounds a little bit like the Mac OS X voice named "Vicki".

Steve mentioned in an episode about a year ago that the voice is indeed "Vicki".



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Reply #44 on: October 17, 2007, 11:10:37 PM
I didn't care much for this story.  The Hanna-Barbara tie-in only detracted from the story.  I would have been happier if the protagonists were renamed, and Fred was tricked into going to a Furry convention.

But my main complaint is Wilma.  She's a far less believable non-human companion than the dolphin Ishmael was.  With Ishmael, I fully bought the idea that the story was being narrated by a somewhat alien mind.  Wilma?  Not so much.  There were details that tried to make her sound alien (such as not experiencing the passage of time).  But I don't remember any explanation as to why she would be interested in sexual contact with a human, which seems like something that really ought to be explained.

At the end, I was on pins and needles, wondering how Wilma the A.I. would respond to a situation that a human woman would consider a betrayal of their romantic bond.  I thought it would be a bit pat if she just brushed it off with an, "Oh, I'm a robot, so I don't experience sexual jealousy."  But Wilma's actual response was exactly what you would expect from a human.  Her reaction wasn't alien enough to warrant belief.



gedion_ki

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Reply #45 on: October 18, 2007, 02:14:24 PM
Her reaction wasn't alien enough to warrant belief.
You know I think you just named what I found to be a bit bothersome about the story ending. I can accept a some what human like response, after all Wilma is a reflection of humans being programmed by them, but I would have like to see a response that was somewhat off from the usual human response. A stranger response might have resulted in Fred reacting in a somewhat different manner even.



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Reply #46 on: October 18, 2007, 03:41:14 PM
Her reaction wasn't alien enough to warrant belief.
You know I think you just named what I found to be a bit bothersome about the story ending. I can accept a some what human like response, after all Wilma is a reflection of humans being programmed by them, but I would have like to see a response that was somewhat off from the usual human response. A stranger response might have resulted in Fred reacting in a somewhat different manner even.
That's a good point, but by that time Wilma's character has been mostly established as largely human as soon as she comes back to Fred's room to complain. It makes a contrast between Wilma who is a robot but quite "human" and Fred who is a human but has no idea how to function in human society (as well as Crummy who is explicitly described as "mechanical," and the rest of the law firm who place so much emphasis on superficial characteristics).

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Reply #47 on: October 21, 2007, 10:52:12 PM
It wasn't without its faults... But i loved it! As Steve suggested, the sequel could be interesting!



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Reply #48 on: September 29, 2010, 02:09:11 PM
I couldn't stand this one, mostly just because Fred was such a colossal jerk.  Wilma literally enhances his life in pretty much every way that he could hope for, and asks NOTHING of him in return (and he's content to give nothing in return).
-She does all of his work for him, and so well that he gets promoted, which he'd never been able to do on his own
-She cleans him up and helps him socially fit in, which he'd never been able to do on his own
-She has copious amounts of sex with him, which he'd never been able to do with anyone else

And then when, for the first time, a woman shows interest in him, he jumps in the sack with her immediately.  As-is, he'll likely lose his job (because he can't do it as well as Wilma could), will be lonely again (Crummy, the office prostitute, isn't exactly a long term relationship), and is no better equipped to live in the world than he was before (except perhaps, more stylish clothes).  Woohoo!  Victory against the oppressing slavedriver dillweeds of the world!  What?  I'm supposed to be sad at the end of their relationship?   ???  Why?   ???

The Flintstones references seemed like nothing more than a gimmick distraction, some brand naming to grab my attention but not really enhancing the story.