Do you know the Greek legend of Talos, the giant bronze robot whose job it was to protect Crete from invaders? In the days before electronics, microchips and A.I. he was brought to life by a magical substance called ichor which circulated through his body and could be topped up by removing a plug on the back of his heel, just like the filler cap on a car. So if you want your robomofo to help around the house or walk the dog all you need is a pint of ichor and a funnel and away you go. When foreign ships approached the Cretan coastline, Talos would throw boulders at them and if that failed to deter them, he would jump into a fire until he was red hot and deploy his deathly embrace, crushing and burning his enemies simultaneously. But Talos finally met his end when Jason (of the golden fleece legend) wanted to land on Crete for supplies. He had a witch on board called Medea who, with a bit of trickery, was able to remove the plug on Talos’s heel and syphon out his Ichor. I can’t help thinking he could have been brought back to life by a refill, but I’m no expert. Here’s how Talos was depicted in the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts.
