Max 404 (Don Opper) is an innocent android created by Dr. Daniel (played by real-life android/actor Klaus Kinsky). They are the only two inhabitants on a lonely research station out in space. One day, Max overhears Dr. Daniel having a difficult conversation with Earth. He's being told, in no uncertain terms, that the "Cassandra Project" will be canceled and that no woman will be coming to join them.
Then, fate intervenes in the form of three escaped criminals. They have killed their guards and taken over a prison shuttle. Their ship is damaged in the escape, and they have to put in at Dr. Daniel's station for repairs.
The doctor is overjoyed. The trio includes a female! (Brie Howard) It's not romance he's after. He wants to take readings of Maggie, the female criminal, via remote sensors. It seems that her lifesigns are within the parameters he needs for the activation of Cassandra (Kendra Kirchner), his new android series.
Max again overhears the doctor, this time as he's making plans to shut Max down after Cassandra is activated. Max is beginning to show signs of the "Munich Syndrome", when 'droids take control, run riot, rape, and kill. Max 404 is starting to make decisions on his own-- the first terrible symptom.
The good Doctor tries to convince Maggie to be sexually stimulated, and in so doing, activate Cassandra.
In the meantime, the spacecops have tracked the escaped felons down. To protect Maggie, Max denies their presence. He alerts her two companions of the law's arrival. And then, Max does something surprising: taking his cues from the video games that he's been playing, he deploys a laser canon and blows the cop ship into space dust.
Will Max find true happiness with Maggie? Will Dr. Daniel have his way, activate Cassandra, "the perfect worker, the perfect woman," and throw the kill switch on Max?
Rent this nifty little space drama and find out. "Android" is a wonderful example of an entertaining SF movie made on almost no budget. It's DIY SF!
(P. Sugarman)
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Android
New World, 1981
(home video release) Media Home Entertainment, Inc., 1982
Directed by Aaron Lipstadt
Here is the TEXT POPUP for Android:
Rumor has it that this movie was made in a few days, for only a few million bucks, at the Roger Corman Studios. The set was built for one of Corman's pictures, but before it was struck, he let Lipstadt and crew rent it. Corman, the B-Movie king, is known for being a very spend-thrifty director and a mini-studio mogul.
