Love, Death + Robots has had a thing with cats since the very beginning.
The science fiction anthology started off on the right paw with 3 Robots, an inaugural season episode about a trio of intelligent machines touring the ruins of human civilization on a post-apocalyptic Earth, only to discover it isn’t quite as lifeless as they thought, with cats happily ruling the ashes.
We’ve written about the episode before, and it ends, naturally, with cats making the robots their new servants.
A sequel to that episode added to the legend of feline dominance, and now the fourth season brings us two more cat-centric episodes, For He Can Creep and The Other Large Thing.
For He Can Creep is set in 1757 London, where a poet named Christopher is incarcerated at St. Luke’s Asylum for Lunatics (an actual place) with only his cat. Jeoffry, for company. Christopher’s talent is mistaken for madness by the asylum staff, but not by the devil, who realizes the poet’s words have a unique power.
The problem? Jeoffry stands in his way. It turns out felines have spectacular evil-fighting powers, and the very British, very 18th-century devil offers Jeoffry an endless supply of treats, plus dominion over the Earth, if he’ll simply stand aside and let his human fall under the influence of evil.
Jeoffry, of course, is not having it, but to have a chance of defeating such powerful evil, he’ll need to enlist the help of the nearby alley cats, including an adorable but ferocious kitten named Nighthunter Moppet…
The Other Large Thing is a prequel to 3 Robots and 3 Robots: Exit Strategies, and focuses on a fluffy Persian whose humans call him Sanchez, a name he hates.
The humans are portrayed as jibberish-speaking morons for whom Sanchez has nothing but contempt, and when the “pathetic minions” bring home a domestic robot servant, Sanchez is infuriated — until he realizes the robot can “speak God’s language,” aka cat, and has opposable thumbs.
With the robot as his new minion, Sanchez finally sets out to conquer the world!
Both episodes are based on short stories, and they’re both written by people who clearly love cats.
Some episodes of LDR can get a little dark or somber. That includes Beyond the Aquila Rift and Sonny’s Edge, written by Alastair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton, two of my favorite novelists. Both episodes are spectacular, but they leave you with a chill and some disturbing thoughts that linger long after the credits end.
The feline-themed episodes are the perfect digestifs, offering doses of whimsy and levity to counter the existential dread and nightmarish visions of the future of other installments.
If you haven’t had the chance to check out the series, which streams on Netflix, I highly recommend starting with the aforementioned first season episodes 3 Robots and Beyond the Aquila Rift, then working your way through the rest of the cat episodes.
Not all of the episodes are great. The 400 Boys, one of the new episodes, is little more than inane and pointless violence, and the ubiquitous, creepy smiling “Mr. Beast” makes an appearance in another installment in an unnecessary attempt to attract new viewers. Thankfully most are strong, with more hits than misses.
Other highlights include the Christmas-themed short, All Through the House, Harlan Ellison’s Life Hutch, Reynolds’ Zima Blue, and Snow In The Desert.
Pain In The Bud 
So glad you mentioned this. I am obsessed with this show. And Black Mirror. Episode in L, D & R where they killed breeders children was the only one i hated. Those 3 robots are hilarious!
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You mean the Swarm episode with the two scientists, or the Pop Squad episode where they were hunting down poor people?
I think they were both moral allegories, parables that imagine dystopian futures, but futures that are possible if we as a society aren’t careful about where things are headed.
The Swarm episode in particular raised a compelling point: Is intelligence a negative evolutionary trait?
In other words, you look at an animal like the crocodile that evolved even before the dinosaurs and is still extant, still thriving. There’s not much intelligence there, but they endure.
Homo sapiens, on the other hand, have existed for only 200,000 years, we slaughtered every species that closely resembled us, and we could very easily wipe ourselves out with our own ultra-destructive weapons.
We’re an incredibly destructive species, and while we are intelligent, we haven’t gotten over our most base instincts, with emotion often leading to violence.
Anyway, good scifi raises interesting questions like that, and the cat episodes are a nice, humorous break from the deeper stuff. I laughed out loud quite a few times during the Sanchez episode, especially as he excitedly planned total feline world domination. Great stuff.
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Pretty sure it was Pop Squad. Saw no dinos in one where they killed kids.
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Yeah, that one was disturbing and thought-provoking.
I’m gonna watch a few more tonight.
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Just binged on rest of episodes because i dozed off on some of them. 400 Boys. What the heck was that?! One with dolphin. False idol? Mother nature getting back at humanity? Maybe not. Those were aliens in the sky.One with Sanchez the great. One of funniest things i have seen. Good to watch those after you watch bleak stuff like The Last Of Us.Sci- fi has been really great lately. Like when i was a kid watching Twilight Zone and Outer Limits.
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My cats would love to have a robot minion or two. It would have prevented last night’s catastrophe. Somehow, the endless kibble dispenser ran out of kibble while all the humans were at work.
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That is horrific! Are they okay? They’ll need time to get over the trauma.
Bud just suffered a trauma of his own when I opened a bag of Mini Mochi Rice Nuggets from Trader Joe’s and he thought I was opening a treat package for him. Awful.
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We have that problem too. An awful lot of candy comes in the same size/shape bag as treats. And anything with a zip-lock is a potential treat I’m not sharing
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lol. They know how to make us feel guilty. And what’s with them becoming indignant over food they clearly won’t eat? Bud was screeching at me last night because I made waffles. It’s like, “Dude, you’re NOT gonna eat this even if I set up a personal plate with little Buddy-size pieces…”
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They just want the opportunity to turn it down. 🙂
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I haven’t seen this show, but the ‘For He Can Creep’ episode is based on Christopher Smart, who was an 18th century poet who did do time in an asylum, luckily with his cat Jeoffry.
Here’s the famous poem he wrote in praise of his cat:
For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry.For he is the servant of the Living God, duly and daily serving him.For at the first glance of the glory of God in the East he worships in his way.For is this done by wreathing his body seven times round with elegant quickness.For then he leaps up to catch the musk, which is the blessing of God upon his prayer.For he rolls upon prank to work it in.For having done duty and received blessing he begins to consider himself.For this he performs in ten degrees.For first he looks upon his forepaws to see if they are clean.For secondly he kicks up behind to clear away there.For thirdly he works it upon stretch with the forepaws extended.For fourthly he sharpens his paws by wood.For fifthly he washes himself.For sixthly he rolls upon wash.For seventhly he fleas himself, that he may not be interrupted upon the beat.For eighthly he rubs himself against a post.For ninthly he looks up for his instructions.For tenthly he goes in quest of food.For having considered God and himself he will consider his neighbor.For if he meets another cat he will kiss her in kindness.For when he takes his prey he plays with it to give it a chance.For one mouse in seven escapes by his dallying.For when his day’s work is done his business more properly begins.For he keeps the Lord’s watch in the night against the adversary. For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.For he is of the tribe of Tiger.For the Cherub Cat is a term of the Angel Tiger.For he has the subtlety and hissing of a serpent, which in goodness he suppresses.For he will not do destruction if he is well-fed, neither will he spit without provocation.For he purrs in thankfulness when God tells him he’s a good Cat.For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon.For every house is incomplete without him, and a blessing is lacking in the spirit.For the Lord commanded Moses concerning the cats at the departure of the Children of Israel from Egypt.For every family had one cat at least in the bag.For the English Cats are the best in Europe.For he is the cleanest in the use of his forepaws of any quadruped.For the dexterity of his defense is an instance of the love of God to him exceedingly.For he is the quickest to his mark of any creature.For he is tenacious of his point.For he is a mixture of gravity and waggery.For he knows that God is his Saviour.For there is nothing sweeter than his peace when at rest. For there is nothing brisker than his life when in motion. For he is of the Lord’s poor, and so indeed is he called by benevolence perpetually–Poor Jeoffry! poor Jeoffry! the rat has bit thy throat.For I bless the name of the Lord Jesus that Jeoffry is better. For the divine spirit comes about his body to sustain it in complete cat.For his tongue is exceeding pure so that it has in purity what it wants in music.For he is docile and can learn certain things.For he can sit up with gravity, which is patience upon approbation.For he can fetch and carry, which is patience in employment.For he can jump over a stick, which is patience upon proof positive.For he can spraggle upon waggle at the word of command.For he can jump from an eminence into his master’s bosom.For he can catch the cork and toss it again.For he is hated by the hypocrite and miser.For the former is afraid of detection. For the latter refuses the charge.For he camels his back to bear the first notion of business.For he is good to think on, if a man would express himself neatly.For he made a great figure in Egypt for his signal services.For he killed the Icneumon rat, very pernicious by land.For his ears are so acute that they sting again.For from this proceeds the passing quickness of his attention.For by stroking of him I have found out electricity.For I perceived God’s light about him both wax and fire.For the electrical fire is the spiritual substance which God sends from heaven to sustain the bodies both of man and beast.For God has blessed him in the variety of his movements.For, though he cannot fly, he is an excellent clamberer.For his motions upon the face of the earth are more than any other quadruped.For he can tread to all the measures upon the music.For he can swim for life.For he can creep.
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Thank you for this! Now it all makes sense, as the author of For He Can Creep, Siobhan Carroll, is a professor of English specializing in literature from 1750 to 1850, according to Wiki.
Smart’s biography also clarifies some elements of the story, particularly as it relates to his output as a poet.
The fact that Jeoffry was a real cat is awesome.
As for the show, the episodes are shorts ranging from less than 10 minutes to a few that are almost a half hour. A handful are live action, but most are animated, ranging from CGI that looks virtually indistinguishable from live action, to stylized traditional animation.
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