Astro Boy: Behind the Tech

Director David Bowers discusses how not everything in his latest animated adventure is completely "sci-fi-y!"

By bsprecher - Oct 21, 2009 03:10 PM EST

Filed Under: Astro Boy

While we're a long way from having flying robots with butt rockets, Astro Boy director David Bowers recently told Popular Mechanics that while the overall design is futuristic, many of the elements are relatable to our modern world.

"The robots are pretty fanciful, mostly sci-fi-y. They aren't humanoid, like Astro Boy—they're designed to do a job. I just really love the idea of nanobots, they're very cool. And if you're doing a sci-fi movie, you have to have military tech. You have to have robots with big guns.

I wanted the technology to be relatable. That's why the cars look vaguely like cars. I wanted people to understand without having to say, 'What the hell is that?'"

While Astro Boy himself might be a little far-fetched, Bowers said that Astro's nemesis, the Peace Keeper mega-robot, is based on current ideas about "modular robots" capable of self-assembly.

"When I came up with the idea [for the Peace Keeper], I thought, I have no idea how I'm going to achieve this! I wanted Astro Boy to be fighting a robot so huge and powerful that people would wonder how he could defeat it."

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7 Comments

LEEE777 - 10/21/2009, 4:08 PM

I hope this has a huge success, cool stuff!!

Hey ya never know, in the future this stuff could actually happen!

LEEE777 - 10/21/2009, 4:09 PM

Ah crap i gotta change my little picture now lol! ; D

thwhtGuardian - 10/21/2009, 4:54 PM

sweet I can't wait to see this

LEEE777 - 10/21/2009, 7:29 PM

Where is everyone??!

luffycapri - 10/21/2009, 9:00 PM

the anime english voice actor for astro boy sounds alot better than the CGI movie voice actor. But he still sounds cool

Kalabog - 10/22/2009, 1:15 AM

Wow! Astro would looks great in 3D! Can't wait for this movie. I hope story-line and concept the movie remains faithful to the original material.

@ LEEE777. Luv the new villainous look of that guinea pig! Always makes me laugh. X-D

Turtleman - 10/22/2009, 2:08 AM

Yeah man, so pumped for this movie, though the stills kind of remind me of Jimmy Neutron

Astro Boy: Behind the Tech

Director David Bowers discusses how not everything in his latest animated adventure is completely "sci-fi-y!"

Whispers68 Review of Astro Boy

First "Astro Boy" Movie Review Hits You Tube!

Whispers68 Review of Astro Boy