Love, Death, Robots, and the legacy of short stories

What better words can we use to summarize the sci-fi genre other than love, death, and robots? As the name indicates, the Netflix series Love, Death, and Robots brings the best science fiction can offer in episodic stories that inspire awe, fear, and introspection. All of this in less than ten minutes, to boot!

This Netflix series is notable for not having drop the quality over the seasons. One can argue that it got even better over the years, with several episodes bound to become classics in this short-fiction anthology show.

Why is the show so successful? Incredible storytelling? Excellent animation? Great productions? All at once?

L,D+R is reminiscent of the golden age of science fiction, which own popularity was attributed to pulp magazines filled with amazing stories in the shorter format. I know many of you prefer full-length novels; getting attached to the plot or the characters when we don’t spend much time with them can be challenging. But historically, short fiction was central to the boom of the science fiction genre.

Short tales of futuristic worlds and possible realities are at the core of science fiction.

Forget about the internet, let’s go to an era before television!

In the early 20^th century, magazines such as Amazing Stories and Astounding Science Fiction were the go-to media for fast entertainment. In 10 or 15 minutes, you could read whole stories about alien invasion, time travel, post-apocalyptic worlds, and (of course) robots.

(You can read a concise history of science fiction short stories here.)

The beauty of short fiction resides in conveying a message with only few words. These narratives that can take you far and beyond, explore love and death, make an indelible impression in under a couple of dozen paragraphs.

When television came into play, longer narratives became more common. They needed room for commercial breaks. Short fiction did not disappear, but it was usually presented in a serialized format. It was important to create a commitment to a show to guarantee a faithful audience.

The widespread of the internet changed our media consumption once again. In a world where everything moves at the velocity of a mouse click, fast entertainment or, as the kids say, bingeable content has become more popular.

There’s a lot to criticize about this binge consumption, and what it does to our brains. Still, the silver lining is that it opened our hearts to short fiction again. And the success of Love, Death, and Robot is a testament to that.

L,D+R has the same appeal the magazines of the golden age of sci-fi had. The shorter format sets it apart from other anthology series, like Black Mirror or Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams. These are also episodic sci-fi stories but having one hour per episode makes them slower in pace. With Love, Death, and Robot, in just under 10 minutes you get to explore the world through the eyes of three robots, experience the dangers of space travel, or watch a war unfolding between an old man and the rats in his shed. It’s phenomenal!

This comparison is not a coincidence. Many of the stories in Love, Death, and Robot are adapted from actual short stories, written by the biggest names of modern science fiction and fantasy, like Peter Hamilton, John Scalzi, Alastair Reynolds, Ken Liu, and many others.

AND… you can read a few of them online!

All of this is to say, if you enjoy Love, Death, and Robot, why not try reading short stories? Be it picking up a collection by a particular author or signing up to receive copies of sci-fi magazines (they still exist!), give it a go. You’ll be amazed.

So, going back to the question, to what do we own the success of Love, Death, and Robots? Incredible storytelling? Yes! The show checks this box, for the reasons I listed before.

But also, television shows are a different media than short stories. While in the written format, we mainly depend on our imagination to experience the story, the animated version has the visuals embroidered in the plot. And the animation is definitely one of L,D+R’s strengths. Each episode has its own style; a style that, more often than not, is the right choice for the story being told.

So, excellent animation? Check! Great Production? Also check!

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That’s it for today, folks! What is your favorite episode of Love, Death, and Robots?

For me, it is hard to choose one single episode as my favorite. Zima Blue, the episode of the first season based on the short story by Alastair Raynolds, is a contender. I will also point to a super underrated one: The Drowned Giant (2º season), adapted from a homonymous story by J.D. Ballard. The short story is equally excellent, bringing to the discussion a powerful commentary on society in a humorous narrative.

Tell me in the comments which episode is your favorite!

See you next post,

Ra.

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Carla Ra is a scientist by day, sci-fi writer by night.

You can check out her anthology ARTIFICIAL REBELLION here.