Where's my jetpack got to? We are still waiting for the retro-futuristic tech and social revolutions envisioned in science fiction's old gold, writes Annalee Newitz "You might still be waiting for your jetpacks. There is a game some people like to play when thinking about the future. Call it "Where's my jetpack?" We pore over science fiction from years past (often the years when we were impressionable kids) and ask: "Why didn't we get all the cool stuff we were promised?"

We write a lot about robots here at New Scientist – the latest cutting-edge developments, the newest technology. But we also have a great deal of fondness for them in fiction, whether that's the super cute likes of WALL-E and BB-8, or the darker side of the robotic family, from the Terminator to Ava from Ex Machina. Last month, Sierra Greer's novel about the rebellion of a robot designed for intimacy, Annie Bot, won this year's Arthur C Clarke award, the UK's top prize for science fiction. It was described by judges as "a tightly-focused first person account of a robot designed to be the perfect companion who struggles to become free". Greer's win felt like the right moment to ask New Scientist staff to nominate their own favourite fictional robotic beings, from page or screen. After a bit of quibbling about what constitutes a robot, and a lot of people plumping for various Star Wars droids and Futurama creations, here, in no particular order, they are.

Science fiction is full of characters, set pieces, and scenarios that few other genres could ever get away with. Due to its often speculative nature, the most accomplished sci-fi movies can sometimes require a bit of work on the part of the viewer. Yet as fans of the genre understand, when it's done right, a great sci-fi film is well worth the mental gymnastics that watching it might demand. Speaking of sci-fi done right: Whether you're a lifelong genre devotee or have never even sat through a Star Wars movie to the end, a little guidance can go a long way--and that's exactly what we've got for you. When you're ready to take your mind on a cinematic journey, check out any one (or all) of our picks for the very best science fiction movies you can watch right now.

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for replacing fossil fuels and said clean energy projects across the world need to be fast-tracked during MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday. Hollywood legend Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed that the future artificial intelligence technology that was predicted in the iconic "Terminator" franchise has "become a reality." During a Los Angeles event honoring the 75-year-old Austrian-born actor and his limited edition photo book, Schwarzenegger remarked on the similarities between today's real-world AI technology and the AI portrayed in the 80s action epic he starred in. "Now over the course of decades, it has become a reality," Schwarzenegger claimed. He also added praise for "Terminator" filmmaker James Cameron for predicting the future.

Yes, you have your R2-D2, your BB-8, Data (Brent Spiner), even WALL-E. So while we still can, take notes on these robots before they become our technological overlords. Not only are the Fem-bots evil, they are Evil's evil. Dr. Evil's (Mike Myers), to be precise. Attractive and seductive, the Fem-bots were a means of distracting, and killing, Austin Powers (Mike Myers), not only with their agility but with their "machine gun jubblies," guns protruding from their breasts.

Aliens, astronauts, time travel--you name it, there's a dazzling sci-fi film about it. That makes compiling a list of the best sci-fi nearly impossible. It's almost impossible to know where to start--or where to stop. To understand where sci-fi films came from, you need to head back to the dawn of the cinema age. Right at the beginning, Metropolis, released in 1927, used groundbreaking visuals to create a reference point for all future urban dystopias--it's no fluke, for example, that the aesthetic of Blade Runner bears more than a passing resemblance to Fritz Lang's prophetic city hellscape. Then along came War of the Worlds (1953), a gripping tale of alien invasion adapted from H. G. Wells' classic novel. In 1964, Dr. Strangelove did more than most films before or since to ossify the fear of a nuclear holocaust. Below is WIRED's ever-evolving selection of the sci-fi movies everyone should watch, from the obscure to the hugely influential. You may also enjoy our guides to the best sci-fi books of all time and the best space movies. This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. When Alfonso Cuarón wrote the screenplay for Gravity, he wasn't setting out to make a film about space itself. Rather, he was interested in exploring the concepts of adversity and human resilience, with space as a secondary background. But it was hard for audiences to not be wowed by the visuals in this Oscar-winning film about two scientists (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) who find themselves stranded in space, and what they must endure in order to get safely back to Earth.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Terminator" character said "I'll be back," this probably wasn't what he had in mind. The actor and former governor of California is suing a robotics company for $10 million, after the business decided to use his name and likeness. Schwarzenegger's lawsuit against the tech startup, called Promobot, alleges that the robot lookalike... "diminishes his hard-earned and well-deserved reputation as a major motion picture star," according to TMZ. The robot isn't just meant to look like Schwarzenegger, it also has his name. Promobot advertises the creation on its site as a "companion robot," one of several that emulates the appearance of world-famous celebrities.

Deep in the heart of the CES expo floor, an unexpected Hollywoood actor - a face that most people would recognize - is fielding questions from the crowd. Arnold Schwarzenegger is telling jokes; he's answering questions like'what is the biggest country in the world?' and'how do you feel about humans? The star-studded Q&A session and friendly conversations aren't a paid endorsement or part of CES programming, but rather a new product by the flashy Russian robotics startup, Promobot, called'Android Robo-C.' While this isn't Promobot's first time at CES, it's the debut for Robo-C, which is being positioned as a kind of anthropomorphic office assistant that can handle customer queries and hook up to a smart home to help people interface with other gadgets.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger said "I'll be back" in The Terminator, he probably didn't realize the film would keep coming back in discussions about robots and artificial intelligence. Yet 35 years after Schwarzenegger portrayed a cyborg assassin from an AI-dominated future, much of Western discourse on robots is repeating a Terminator-like scenario: panic that robots will take our jobs, and that AI will take over the world, Skynet-style. Western culture has had a long history of individualism, warlike use of technology, Christian apocalyptic thinking and a strong binary between body and soul. These elements might explain the West's obsession with the technological apocalypse and its opposite: techno-utopianism. In Asia, it's now common to explain China's dramatic rise as a leader in AI and robotics as a consequence of state support from the world's largest economy.

"Terminator: Dark Fate" also marks the return of writer/producer James Cameron -- who directed the first two movies in the franchise, but wasn't involved in the three sequels that followed. Although monstrous machines have figured in movie plots since Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" in 1927, Schwarzenegger's performance in "The Terminator" set the stage for worries about out-of-control intelligent machines. Billionaire techie Elon Musk is among the best-known doomsayers. "I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see robots going down the street, killing people, they don't know how to react because it seems so ethereal," Musk said in 2017. On the other side of the debate, Oren Etzioni, the CEO of Seattle's Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, or AI2, keeps telling people to calm down.