Is Your Television Trying To Kill You?

The Year is 1963. The Vietnam war is coming to an end with US and South Vietnamese troops pushing NVA forces back into Hanoi where the NVA will make their final stand and inevitably surrender. This overwhelming victory was brought about by new war machines developed by SYRUS industries, Americas number one developer of consumer products and military technologies.

With the war over and the US economy booming, SYRYUS industries releases a new item to the public. Re purposed military technology has given birth to SYRUS industries' most acclaimed product, The Television Butler. The Television Butler or TVB for short, can preform a variety of household tasks while simultaneously playing the consumers favorite TV shows. The average American family can now have their very own robotic servant. The product is received positively by the public and soon after, in 1967, the TVB2 is on it's way to stores around the country.

The TVB2 is an improvement over the first model in every way. The odd mechanical movements that consumers once found to be "unsettling" are a thing of the past. The new and improved model has an updated motor skills system that makes the machines movements graceful and human like. What used to be a binary response system of the machine responding "yes" or "no" to commands, is now a complex linguistic system that not only contains every word in the English dictionary, but also allows the learning and implementation of new words and ideas when provided by the consumer. The robotic servant can now converse with it's human masters if the consumer wishes it to speak.

The TVB2 is the most popular item available, but this warm reception is short lived. A few months after the TVB2's initial release consumers begin reporting problems with their devices. The machines are reported to be disobeying orders and on occasion, remain completely unresponsive to commands. Rumors of the TVB2's becoming violent are now a popular rumor. There is a massive recall, and all of the TVB2's are rounded up and prepared for decommission.

This is a story I have been planning for a few years now. It has been on the back burner for a while but this week I thought I would revisit some of my old drawings. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. Is this is story you would be interested in?