“Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty.”
― William Archer
A tourist is backpacking through the highlands of Scotland, and he stops at a pub to get a drink. And the only people in there is a bartender and an old man nursing a beer. And he orders a pint, and they sit in silence for a while. And suddenly the old man turns to him and goes, “You see this bar? I built this bar with my bare hands from the finest wood in the county. Gave it more love and care than my own child. But do they call me MacGregor the bar builder? No.” Points out the window. “You see that stone wall out there? I built that stone wall with my bare hands. Found every stone, placed them just so through the rain and the cold. But do they call me MacGregor the stone wall builder? No.” Points out the window. “You see that pier on the lake out there? I built that pier with my bare hands. Drove the pilings against the tide of the sand, plank by plank. But do they call me MacGregor the pier builder? No. But you fuck one goat … “
The clues to a great story transcript:
https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story/transcript?language=en
Wall-E was in part inspired by R2-D2 (1:50):
More on WALL-E: WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, 2008) — Humanity and Dysfunctional Robots:
Yet throughout the film, robots express much more emotion than the humans. Almost all of the robot characters, from WALL-E to AUTO to MO have personalities, feelings, desires, and prerogatives outside of their simpler tasks. Even simpler robots, like the typing bot outside the Captain’s quarters are shown to have personality and desires, although they might be latent or ignored in favor of their pre-determined purpose. The human characters, on the other hand, are portrayed as dull and almost lifeless; they do nothing for themselves, are perpetually bored, and exhibit none of the creativity or connections that supposedly characterize the human race. They become almost robotic: they have a singular purpose, behave in repetitive ways, and rely on external input to change their actions. In a way, the robotic characters are far more human that the actual human beings because they do exhibit genuine emotions. The “dysfunctional” robots in the ward, for example, seem to feel real relief when WALL-E frees them, and even help her in the ensuing revolution aboard the ship.