Originally published in 1943 inFantastic Adventuresunder the byline of “Tarleton Fiske” (one of
a dozen or so Robert Bloch pseudonyms), “Almost Human” represented Bloch’s successful
melding of science-fiction and horror with a Frankenstein-motif. In 1949 he contributed an essay
“Why I Selected ‘Almost Human,’ to the anthologyMy Best Science Fiction Story. “It is primarily
a story of personality, human and non-human.”
A scientist builds a robot-- "Junior"-- capable of intelligence and consciousness, but the
machine is stolen by a criminal who has other ideas for its uses. Junior, however, has plans of his
own.
“With a strange cinema noir feel, a robot is controlled by a gangster who teaches the mighty
machine evil. As is always expected, the gangster is himself a victim of the robot, after it learns a
little about love and wants the gangster’s woman for itself. With direct reference to the
Frankenstein Complex but with a neat and unique gangster overlay, this simple story may support
less confident students studying the sub-genre of artificial intelligence.”
May 13, 1950“Almost Human”
George Lefferts (scriptwriter).
Jack Grimes, Rita Lynn, Santos Ortega, et al.
August 11, 1955“Almost Human”
George Lefferts (scriptwriter).
Joan Allison, Lin Cook, Jack Grimes, Joseph Julian, Santos Ortega, Nat Pollen, Guy
Repp.