Posted by sean at threshold8n.jpmorgan.com on July 10, 2001 at 09:38:29:
In Reply to: Re: A.I. Answers? posted by Vincent on July 09, 2001 at 23:17:02:
: Plus when the SuperMecha find David they refer to him as "one of the original robots, he knew actual humans!"- plus the way they "interfaced" with each other was decidedly non-biological and machine-like in nature. Hell, the dialogue that the one has with David I thought made it pretty clear what they were. Yeah, they didn't come out and SAY "We are advanced Mecha", but it was clearly inferred. The only reason I can come up with for some people thinking they are aliens is because they look kinda like the aliens at the end of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.
...that they seem to speak telepathically, the shot introducing them is straight out of STAR WARS, and the interest that they show in humanity seems more archaelogical than religious.
Mind you, I'm not disagreeing with Harlan; I agree the ending of the film only properly works if the beings are robots. My point is just here's why I initially made the mistake that many people seem to, because Spielberg was sloppy and rushed through the ending just like he rushed through the film. Maybe if he weren't anti-test screenings, he would've found out the flaw of interpretation at the end of the film and been able to fix it. My vote would be for a big, computer animated arrow that says "robots!" pointing at them. Or a change in dialogue. Whatever.