D.A.R.Y.L.

D.A.R.Y.L. Simon Wincer, dir. USA: Paramount, 1985.

The cinematic "citations" in the film are to Robbie the Robot in FORBIDDEN PLANET (q.v. below) and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, but D.A.R.Y.L. may be most quickly described as an SF version of Walt Disney's PINOCCHIO, with an android with a microcomputer brain (interfaced with a mainframe) replacing the puppet, and the Turing Test answering the question of Daryl/D.A.R.Y.L.'s humanity. Note highly sentimental handling of android combined, decorously, with very negative view of military bureaucrats (for comparisons and contrasts see CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, E.T., JOE . . ., Questor Tapes, REPO MAN, STARMAN, TERMINATOR, WARGAMES [covering the years 1977-1985]). A Berkley/Pacer novelization of the film has been advertised.