History Theatre / RUR

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Harry.

The play is most notable for featuring the first use of the word "robot," taken from the Czech word for slave labor (Capek credited his brother Josef for coming up with it). The term took off like wildfire through numerous languages, despite the play's own robots being quite different from the modern concept of the term.

* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture

* RoboSpeak: According to Čapek's instructions, the robots are "slightly mechanical in their speech". They don't use contractions, except for Helena and Primus at the end.

* MassOhCrap: The men at the factory believe that the robot uprising has been put down because the mail boat arrived on time. [[Spoiler: The boat turns out to be stuffed to the gills with copies of the Robot Manifesto.]]

* MassOhCrap: The men at the factory believe that the robot uprising has been put down because the mail boat arrived on time. The boat turns out to be stuffed to the gills with copies of the Robot Manifesto.

* HollywoodAtheist: Rossum created artifical humans because he was a materialist, and wanted to prove that God is not needed for the creation of man.

It opens up in the island where Helena Glory, a member of the League of Humanity, pleads Harry Domin (or Domain; the General Manager of R.U.R.) for rights for the robots, thinking they were people being enslaved. He reveals to her that [[UncannyValley the robots aren't human, although they look convincingly like them.]]

Harry explained that while the original inventor Rossum wanted to create a living, working human from synthetic protoplasm that dogs won't eat, his nephew thought that it'd be easier to create simplified human bodies from that same stuff. Harry then explains that this is a good thing; with robots doing all the work, man will overcome the need for toil and poverty will end because robots don't need to be paid, thus making goods cost nothing.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Aside from Alquist, every main character dies - amost all offstage.

* MeaningfulName: Rossum is derived from the Czech "rozum" meaning "reason". Domin is derived from the Latin "dominus" meaning "master of the house" Robot is derived from the word "robota" which was forced labor for ordinary people on fields of nobility.

* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Duh

* RobotRebellion: The TropeNamer

* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Inverted. The leader of the robot government, Damon asks Alquist to dissect him in order to find out how to make more robots. Alquist tries it, but breaks down in the middle.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Harry says that Rossum first created artifical tissue in 1932. The story is set several years later (not exactly specified how many).

A play by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek Karel Čapek]], set mostly in an island where they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin manufacture]] [[ArtificialHuman artificial people]] called [[TropeNamer robots]], which was released in book form in 1920 and premiered in [[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]. ''R.U.R.'' - a.k.a. ''Rossum's Universal Robots'' - tells a story we might be familiar with.

A play by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek Karel Capek]], set mostly in an island where they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin manufacture]] [[ArtificialHuman artificial people]] called [[TropeNamer robots]], which was released in book form in 1920 and premiered in [[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]. ''R.U.R.'' - a.k.a. ''Rossum's Universal Robots'' - tells a story we might be familiar with.

* {{Neologism}}: The word "robot" first appeared in this play. According to Capek, it was his brother, Josef, who came up with it.

* RoboSpeak: According to Capek's instructions, the robots are "slightly mechanical in their speech". They don't use contractions, except for Helena and Primus at the end.

* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans

* AIIsACrapshoot: "Robot tick", a "disease" the robots had when they were first built to feel pain, which pretty much led to sentience. [[ItGotWorse Then they rebel.]]

* MeaningfulName: Rossum is derived from the Czech "rozum" meaning "reason". Domin is derived from the Latin "dominus" meaning "master of the house".

A play by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek Karel Capek]], set mostly in an island where they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin manufacture]] [[ArtificialHuman artificial people]] called [[TropeNamer robots]], which premiered in [[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]. ''R.U.R.'' - a.k.a. ''Rossum's Universal Robots'' - tells a story we might be familiar with.

Apparently, the robots lacked the ability to sense pain, something which was really counterproductive when robots ended up unintentionally destroying themselves. So they were redesigned to feel exactly that. And then the governments of the world decided that they'd make great soldiers. Outside the island, a rogue robot]], Damon, organizes a rebellion. By the time Harry, Helena, and the staff find out... well...

The robots spare Alquist because he does manual labor like them. The robots then found out that the formula for their manufacture was lost (it was destroyed by Helena; Harry wanted to use that as a bargaining tool). Lacking the knowledge to manufacture themselves, with a lifespan of only 10 years, and relying solely on the only human left, the robots seemed doomed.

* UncannyValley: The robots look exactly like humans.

* LuddWasRight: Even before the robots revolted against humanity, their influence was bad for society. Because nobody had to work anymore, people become hedonists, and women stopped having children.

* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Inverted. The leader of the robot goverment, Damon asks Alquist to dissect him in order to find out how to make more robots. Alquist tries it, but breaks down in the middle.

A play by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek Karel Čapek]], set mostly in an island where they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin manufacture]] [[ArtificialHuman artificial people]] called [[TropeNamer robots]], which premiered in [[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]. ''R.U.R.'' - a.k.a. ''Rossum's Universal Robots'' - tells a story we might be familiar with.

A play by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek Karel Capek]], set mostly in an island where they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin manufacture]] [[ArtificialHuman artificial people]] called [[TropeNamer robots]], which premiered in [[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]. ''R.U.R.'' - a.k.a. ''Rossum's Universal Robots'' - tells a story we might be familiar with.

A play by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek Karel Capek]], set mostly in an island where they [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin manufacture]] [[ArtificialHuman artificial people]] called [[TropeNamer robots]], which premiered in [[OlderThanTelevision 1921]]. ''Rossum's Universal Robots (R.U.R.)'' tells a story we might be familiar with.

Harry explained that while the original inventor Rossum wanted to create a living, working human from synthetic protoplasm that dogs won't eat,]] his nephew thought that it'd be easier to create simplified human bodies from that same stuff. Harry then explains that this is a good thing; with robots doing all the work, man will overcome the need for toil and poverty will end because robots don't need to be paid, thus making goods cost nothing.

!! ''R. U. R.'' provides examples of:

* AIIsACrapshoot: "Robot tick," a "disease" the robots had when they were first built to feel pain, which pretty much led to sentience. [[ItGotWorse Then they rebel.]]

** UncannyValley: They look exactly like humans.

* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Inverted. The leader of the root goverment, Damon asks Alquist to dissect him in order to find out how to make more robots. Alquist tries it, but breaks down in the middle.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: the trope codifier.

** WellIntentionedExtremist: Harry