Karel Čapek

“The play that gave the world the word 'robot.' On a remote island, the factory of Rossum's Universal Robots turns out artificial workers by the hundred thousand, to free mankind from labour. Helena Glory comes to plead for their souls and stays to marry the general manager; ten years later the Robots rise against their makers, and only one man, who still works with his hands, is left alive to see whether life will go on.”

“A Czech sea captain finds a colony of clever, upright newts in a bay off Sumatra and teaches them to kill sharks and fetch pearls. A Prague industrialist turns them into the cheapest labour force the world has ever seen. The newts learn to talk, read the evening papers, build harbours and continents, and multiply into billions, until one night a hoarse voice on the radio announces that they need more coastline, and the continents will have to make room.”