Tracing the development of robots from the sleek and sinister constructions of Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' to the inimitable destructiveness of 'The Terminator', award-winning director Jamie Doran explores how Hollywood's visionaries have already foreseen humanity's bitter end. Thanks to evolutions grafted by the imagination of science fiction, the tin-men of 1930s cinema are no longer walking washing machines, but uncanny beings capable of enslaving humans.

Over the years technology has matured on screen and innovations in artificial intelligence and bio technology are making it harder to distinguish man from man-made. The debate is set, who has the upper hand: the great minds of Hollywood, or the world's leading scientists? It is a question that becomes increasingly disturbing as the line that separates sci-fi and sci-fact becomes ever more blurred. Featuring an array of clips from the distant world of 'Lost in Space' to the domestic horror of 'The Stepford Wives', this intriguing documentary brings together legendary filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott as well as pioneers in cyborg research.

Originally conceived as an aid to humanity, robots are ready to repress the masses. 'I'm an optimist - we have a 51% chance of survival', Arthur C. Clarke wryly observes. It's time to listen up: life as we know it today was last generation's science fiction. The only problem is that the warnings offered by cinema are being ignored.

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