The Clockwork Things

神話や伝説から続く人造の怪物たち
Man-made monsters from myths and legends

The Clockwork Things

SF小説をはじめとするフィクションのなかで育てられてきた、機械仕掛けの人形たるロボットへの憧憬。「夢」であったそれらが具体化しうる現在では、これらは「予知夢」と呼ばれるべきものとなりつつある。

An admiration for robots that are mechanical dolls that have been nurtured in fiction such as science fiction novels. Now that those “dreams” can materialize, they are becoming something that should be called “precognitive dreams.”

The Clockwork Things

青銅の巨人タロスや泥人形ゴレムなど、数多くの神話や伝説の登場するオートマトン(自動人形)。これら人造の怪物は時代を経て、1920年の作家カレル・チャペッ「クに「ロボット」と名を与えられ、サイエンス・フィクションというジャンルで成長していくことになる。

Automatons (automatic dolls) that appear in many myths and legends, such as the bronze giant Talos and the mud doll Golem. Over time, these man-made monsters were given the name “robots” by the 1920s author Karel Capek and grew up in the genre of science fiction.

Karel Čapek was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel War with the Newts and play R.U.R., which introduced the word robot. He also wrote many politically charged works dealing with the social turmoil of his time. Wikipedia

初期のSF物語において、ロボットたちは、あるときは人間の友として、またあるときは敵として描かれる。彼らが明確に「戦争で使用される兵器」として設定されたのは、太平洋戦争前後に発表されたさまざまな空想科学軍事小説だった。戦後なら、60年のロバート・A・ハインライン『宇宙の戦士』のパワード・スーツ(機動歩兵)や、正確にはロボットではないが、64年の石ノ森章太郎『サイボーグ009』のサイボーグ戦士なども入るだろう。

In early science fiction stories, robots are sometimes portrayed as human friends and sometimes enemies. They were clearly set as “weapons used in war” in various science fiction novels published before and after the Pacific War. After the war, the powered suit (mobile infantry) from Robert A. Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers” in 1960, and the cyborg warrior from Shotaro Ishinomori’s “Cyborg 009” in 1964, although not exactly a robot, would be included. right.

Shotaro Ishinomori was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and tokusatsu, creating several immensely popular long-running series such as Cyborg 009, the Super Sentai series, and the Kamen Rider series. Wikipedia

兵器が機械化されていく近代戦争において、「いかに自軍の兵士が傷つけずに敵を殺すか」は、軍事における最大のテーマ。それに着目したのが、映画や小説、コミックのSFストーリーだった。航空機や戦車、戦艦のように人間が乗り込む、あるいは遠隔地から操縦するロボット兵器は、まさに夢の技術だったのだ。

In modern warfare, where weapons are being mechanized, the biggest theme in military affairs is “how to kill the enemy without hurting your own soldiers.” It was the science fiction stories of movies, novels, and comics that focused on it. Like aircraft, tanks, and battleships, robot weapons that can be piloted by humans or controlled from a remote location are truly dream technologies.

「ゴジラ」シリーズにおいて最初ロボット兵器が登場したのは、74年『ゴジラ対メカゴジラ』。侵略者が遠隔操縦するこのメカゴジラかいらいは、タロスやゴーレムと同じ、傀儡の無機質な怪物にすぎなかった。しかし時代が経つにつれ、ロボット怪獣たちは科学としてのリアリテイを加味され、未来の地球人やゴジラと戦う人々が保有する兵器へと変貌していく。そして今やこれらは、「空想の産物」ではなくなってしまった。

Robot weapons first appeared in the “Godzilla” series in 1974, “Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla.” Remotely controlled by the invaders, this MechaGodzilla puppet was nothing more than a puppet inorganic monster, just like Talos and Golem. However, as time goes by, the robot monsters are added to the reality as science, and they are transformed into weapons possessed by people who fight against future earthlings and Godzilla. And now they are no longer “fantasy.”

これまで、時代とともに、数多くの科学の暴走の危険を指摘してきたシリーズにおいて、やはりロボット兵器も「予言」のひとつだった。ロボット兵器は、すでに各国の軍隊で研究され、危険性を指摘されている。この章に集められたのは、来たるべき未来に登場するだろう、脅威の力を秘めた人造の悪夢の雛形なのかもしれない。

Robot weapons were also one of the “prophecies” in the series that has pointed out the dangers of many scientific runaways over time. Robot weapons have already been researched by armed forces around the world, and their dangers have been pointed out. Collected in this chapter may be the prototype of a man-made nightmare with menacing power that will appear in the future to come.

Source: ゴジラ売全解読, p 116