Android

views updated May 23 2018

Android ★★½ 1982 (PG)

When an android who has been assisting a quirky scientist in space learns that he is about to be permanently retired, he starts to take matters into his own synthetic hands. Combines science fiction, suspense and cloned romance. A must for Kinski fans. 80m/C VHS, DVD . Klaus Kinski, Don Opper, Brie Howard, Norbert Weisser, Crofton Hardester, Kendra Kirchner; D: Aaron Lipstadt; W: James Reigle, Don Opper; C: Tim Suhrstedt; M: Don Preston.

Android

views updated May 29 2018

Android

A man made by other means than the natural mode of reproduction. The automaton attributed to Albertus Magnus, which St. Thomas destroyed with his stick because its answers to his questions puzzled him, was such an android. Some have attempted to humanize a root called the mandrake, which bears a fantastic resemblance to a human being. In modern times, androids or robots have become commonplace in science fiction stories and films.

(See also Mandragoras )

android

views updated May 23 2018

an·droid / ˈanˌdroid/ • n. (in science fiction) a robot with a human appearance.

android

views updated May 23 2018

android an automaton resembling a human being; in science fiction, a synthetic human being. The term comes (in the early 18th century, in the modern Latin form) from modern Latin androides, from Greek anēr, andr- ‘man’ + the suffix -oid denoting form or resemblance.