WESTWORLD
INFLUENCE

My Books and Movies!

E.C. McMullen Jr.
RUMOR

RUMOR: People are dying to know the truth

PERPETUAL
BULLET

"'Some People' ... may be the standout story in the book."
- John Grant, Infinityplus

E.C. McMullen Jr.
WILLOW BLUE

"'Willow Blue' will burrow under your skin and stay there long after you've put the book down."
- Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of
FINAL DESTINATION

IN OTHER BOOKS
E.C. McMullen Jr.'s
short story
CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE
in the anthology
FEAR THE REAPER

"This Ray Bradbury-esque is one of the most memorable and one of the more original stories I've read in a long time."
- Steve Isaak,
Goodreads

HORROR 201:
The Silver Scream

Filmmaker's Guidebook
featuring
RAY BRADBURY,
JOHN CARPENTER,
WES CRAVEN,
TOM HOLLAND,
E.C. McMULLEN Jr.,
GEORGE A. ROMERO,
and many more.

And In
CINEMA
E.C. McMullen Jr.
Head Production Designer

MINE GAMES
(Starring:
JOSEPH CROSS,
BRIANA EVIGAN,
ALEX MERAZ,
ETHAN PECK)

Dept. head
Special Effects Make-Up
(SFX MUA)

A SIERRA NEVADA
GUNFIGHT
(MICHAEL MADSEN & JOHN SAVAGE).

Production Designer

UNIVERSAL DEAD
(DOUG JONES,
D.B. SWEENEY,
GARY GRAHAM)

Art Director

THE CRUSADER
(COLIN CUNNINGHAM,
GARY GRAHAM)

Article by
E.C.McMullen Jr.

WESTWORLD
MOVIE REVIEW

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
SCIENCE MOMENT

WESTWORLD: Over 50 Years of Influence

- 1973
USA Release: AUG! 15, 1973
MGM
Rating: USA: PG
USA Release: Nov. 21, 1973

Over 50 Years of Artificial Intelligence!

Can you believe it? I can't believe it because it's not true.

Yet Writer and Director Michael Crichton, coming hot off the box office hit of his novel, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, the Bestseller list for his novel, THE TERMINAL MAN (already in production at the time), and having proved himself as a Director with his TV movie hit, THE PURSUIT, based his novel and this movie off of a visit to Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

But Michael was already in the right frame of mind for robots after having penned the chilling, THE TERMINAL MAN.

More than watch the robots, he observed how the tourists reacted to them, as they murmured in awe at how realistic they were. Michael knew that we didn't need to have Intelligent self-aware robots, we could be tricked into thinking them intelligent if they simply imitated us: our conversational bromides and mannerisms. And what better way to fool modern tourists than by taking them out of their comfort zone of the present, and putting them in various theme parks in history where they have no actual idea of how people communicated and behaved toward each other?

Because the danger isn't that the robots want to harm humans, but that a simple glitch makes them unable to tell humans from the robots they are programmed to harm, in fights and shoot-outs, for entertainment.

The problem is not that the robot is intelligent, but that it's not intelligent and so follows its automatic function without the ability to realize its harming life.

The idea not only works for 1973, it still works today when driverless cars can't "see" the red light and run through an intersection. If its sensors can't see the world around it, even Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics won't save you. Which is why Michael Crichton's work from JURASSIC PARK to WESTWORLD remains prophetic and relevant half a century later.