WALL•E (character)
From Pixar Wiki
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| Performer: | Ben Burtt |
| Appeared in: | WALL•E Your Friend the Rat BURN-E |
WALL•E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter: Earth class) is a Robotic Worker and the main character of the movie WALL•E. He is a trash compacting robot built in 2105 by the Buy n Large megacorporation.
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History
After all the humans leave Earth aboard a giant spaceship called the Axiom, millions of the robots are left behind to clean up the dirty planet. In the year 2110, however, rising toxicity levels make life unsustainable and the Buy n Large officials decide humanity can never return. They evacuate the planet and shut down all the WALL•E robots, somehow missing one. WALL•E spends the next 700 years still hard at work, blissfully unaware of the futility of his situation. In he meantime he befriends a cockroach (who he names Hal). Though he continues obeying his directive to compact trash, as he develops curiosity, he begins saving odds and ends that fascinate him. He hides out from sandstorms and rain in his truck, spending his time sorting his collection, the pride of which is an old VHS copy of the musical Hello, Dolly!.
One day after work, he finds a mysterious red thing that zips away from him. He follows, not noticing that there are several others behind him. Once the red thing stops, he tries to grab it, but it turns out to be a light from a massive ship coming down on him. He narrowly escapes by digging a hole into the ground to hide in. Once the ship lands, it deposits EVE, a robot sent back to Earth to evaluate the soil to check for signs of ongoing photosynthesis, proof that life is sustainable again. WALL•E is fascinated with this new robot, and soon falls in love with her, wishing to hold her hand like he'd seen done in his movie. He shows her a plant he had found earlier, which she immediately takes and stores in her cavity before going into standby mode. Alarmed, WALL•E tries to wake her inert body but fails, so for the next several days, he protects EVE, taking her out on "dates". Eventually he gives up on her awakening and attempts to return to work, but finds he cannot focus on his directive; EVE is all he cares about.
When her ship returns to pick her up, he clings to its hull as it travels through space to the Axiom. Once there, in a cat-and-mouse chase, he pursues the cart carrying EVE to the bridge, followed by the cleaner bot M-O who is determined to clean WALL•E of foreign contaminants. On reaching the bridge, WALL•E hides from sight but eventually gets discovered by EVE, then Captain McCrea. EVE, who discovers the plant to be missing, presumes WALL•E to be the thief. They are then both sent to maintenance. WALL•E thinks the diagnostics to be hurting her and breaks out to try and help her, accidentally blasting the power console with her gun arm and freeing other malfunctioning robots. After a chase through the Axiom's halls evading security, EVE tries to send WALL•E home in an escape pod, but he refuses to leave her. They hide when GO-4 arrives and places the missing plant in the pod. WALL•E tries to retrieve it only for the pod to be jettisoned into space, set to self-destruct. Storing the plant in his chest and grabbing a fire extinguisher, he escapes the pod just before it explodes. EVE is so grateful he saved the plant that she kisses him, then they share a space dance before re-entering the Axiom.
She tells him to stay put near the pool while she goes up the garbage chute to deliver the plant to Captain McCrea. But WALL•E gets fed up with waiting and climbs up the chute, in the process saving the plant from falling. But he is electrocuted by Auto and sent down to the garbage depot, along with EVE. They are compacted with other garbage by WALL•E's bigger counterparts, the WALL•As. But they are prevented from being sucked into the vacuum thanks to M-O and the WALL•As shutting the airlock. EVE, who had witnessed her security files of WALL•E protecting her, changes her directive to caring for him. But his motherboard is damaged beyond repair and his replacements are halfway across the galaxy, so she agrees to fulfill her original directive if only to get him home. With the Captain's guidance, they make their way to the holodetector, which, when inserted with a plant, will send the Axiom back to Earth. But Auto, still obeying a 700-year-old directive issued by Buy n Large CEO Shelby Forthright, is determined to stop them by tilting the ship and closing the holodetector for good. WALL•E wedges himself underneath to keep it from shutting and gets crushed. The Captain shuts down Auto, and with the help of other robots and humans, EVE gets the plant to the holodector, initiating a hyperjump straight to Earth.
As soon as they land, EVE takes WALL•E to his truck, repairs him, and recharges him. WALL•E wakes back up, but his memory is wiped clean and he reverts to his original programming and directive, oblivious to EVE, Hal, and his collection. EVE attempts to help him remember, but when all her efforts fail, she sadly holds his hand like he had wanted and gives him a "kiss". This reboots his memory and WALL•E is surprised upon waking up to see that they are holding hands. WALL•E and EVE help the Captain and Axiom passengers start a new life on Earth, and they spend the rest of their lives together.
Personality
Because WALL•E has been alone for 700 years he has developed "a little glitch", a personality. He has become very curious and he keeps anything interesting he can find. Although still obediently following his directive, WALL•E can get distracted, collecting the trash rather than compacting it. His most prized possession, Hello, Dolly!, teaches him how to hold hands, which he considers the way to say "I love you."
He has become very lonely, having nobody but Hal as company, and is beginning to wonder whether there is more to life than his directive. So when he meets EVE, he quickly falls in love with her. WALL•E is very protective of EVE. When she shuts down after getting the plant, WALL•E places her on top of his transport (thinking she is charged by solar energy just as he is) and protects her from the weather waiting for her to "recharge". At the repair center he mistakes that the equipment there as trying to hurt her and rushes to her aid.
WALL•E's friendly demeanor has an effect on the other robots and humans he meets. For instance, he causes M-O to act on his own, leaving his pre-set travel path to follow WALL•E trying to clean him, and he teaches TYP-E how to wave good-bye. He also breaks John and Mary out of the technology-induced reverie that consumed the lives of all the other passengers aboard the Axiom, wherein they learn how to enjoy the world and each other's company for the first time in their lives. Even the dirt on his chassis provided Captain B. McCrea the impetus necessary to become interested in the history of and subsequent return to Earth. Most importantly he is instrumental in EVE's growth and development, from rigidly following her programming to learning how to love him in return.
Technology
WALL•E was designed to be an environmentally-friendly garbage-processing robot. As such, he possesses many interesting devices to help him fulfill his directive.
Construction: He has twin, extending, hydraulic arm shovels with articulated fingers mounted on U-shaped tracks to his sides. His locomotion is achieved with treads sporting four independently-actuated sprockets for stability. The tracks on his treads can be removed by unclipping the hinge pins on a single joint. His front opens up his body cavity in which he gathers and compresses trash. His head contains his audio-visual sensors mounted on a long, articulated neck, enabling him to see in any direction. All his extremities - arms, treads, and head - retract back into his cube-shaped body for easier storage, referred to as "boxing" in the movie script. He reverts to this shape whenever sleeping (or hiding). A hook on his back served some unknown purpose (perhaps for self-storage aboard the transport). He now uses it to carry around his Igloo cooler full of interesting bits of trash he picks up. His hull is reinforced, mostly to give him the strength necessary to compact trash in his body cavity. As such, he is able to survive most environmental dangers, including long falls, extreme heat, the vacuum of space, and being trapped in a hydraulic actuator much larger than himself.
Regeneration Unit: He has a solar-powered regeneration unit as his power source. Super-high-efficiency solar panels unfold from the top of his chest and recharge the batteries contained adjacent to his control system. These batteries are capable of powering him for upwards of a day's hard work. A read-out on his chest gives his current charge level, and beeps an alarm when his power level has drained dangerously low. The panels can be removed to expose auxiliary battery leads that can be used to jump-start WALL•E, or for him to jump-start some other electric mechanism.
Control System: All of WALL•E's control electronics are contained within the cavity in the front of his chest. All of his systems are controlled through a central motherboard. WALL•E's eyes are camera lenses, indicating that visual recognition is his primary means of navigation. They can magnify and resolve images at a distance, even independently if necessary. In addition to visual, he appears to have audio and some rudimentary tactile sense, given that he can detect things that his hands or treads touch. He also contains an alert system, warning him when dust storms are approaching on Earth's surface. Speakers mounted to his chest allow him to communicate audibly. He possesses a recorder with external controls - stop, record, play - which he uses to record songs from the Hello, Dolly!. What function it originally served is unknown.
Trash Disposal: Two powerful hydraulic presses on his back operate his compactor function, compressing trash in his body cavity into neat cubes that can be easily stacked and carted away. His strong, dexterous arms enable him to create stacks of trash blocks hundreds of feet high with incredible precision. Between his eyes is a high-power laser, which he typically uses to cut large pieces of trash into manageable pieces. He has a fine degree of control over the device, as he is able to use it to carefully engrave his and Eve's names on a metal trash can.
Trivia
- The sound that is heard when WALL•E's power is regenerated is the same sound that is heard when an Apple computer is turned on.
- The sounds of WALL•E's treads were created by a hand-cranked electric generator when he moves around and an automobile self-starter for when he goes fast.
- WALL•E was painted yellow to resemble a Caterpillar Inc. tractor. As a result, the garbage-strewn Earth had to have most of its color drained away so as to make him stand out.
- WALL•E shares many traits (including appearance) with another personality-prone movie robot, Johnny-5, from the 1986 sci-fi comedy movie Short Ciruit. Director Andrew Stanton states this is merely coincidence, as WALL•E's appearance is based off of the character Lenny from Toy Story and his behavior is based off of Luxo Jr. Some of these similarities include:
- Binocular-like head with two large eyes mounted on a flexible, multiple degree of freedom neck and having actuated components around the eyes that mimic the behavior of eyebrows.
- On-board laser. The laser belonging to Johnny-5 is far more powerful, able to blow up a tank in a single shot.
- Powered by on-board, rechargeable battery. Johnny-5's battery could be charged from a wall socket or external generator.
- Twin caterpillar tread locomotion.
- Small arms with fine, three-fingered hands that belie amazing physical strength.
- Able to record and play back sounds from internal memory.
- Attains full sentience despite being designed to be a mindless, subservient drone.
- Absentmindedly chases something interesting, which leads to the subsequent adventure. Johnny-5 jumps out of a truck while chasing a butterfly.
- Almost suffers total memory loss due to critical damage and temporary power-down.
- Steps on an insect (Johnny-5 accidentally lands on a grasshopper and kills it) and instantly feel remorse for it.
- Repairs himself with components from other robots and/or spare parts.
- Manages to out-smart most antagonists while remaining child-like and naive.
