In the same year, the short story was republished in the eponymous Aldiss short-story collection Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time, along with the tie-in stories Supertoys When Winter Comes and Supertoys in Other Seasons. The collection also contained a number of stories not tied to the Supertoys theme. [2] The short story was later used as the basis for the first act of the feature film A.I. Artificial Intelligence directed by Steven Spielberg in 2001. Yes, my darling, yes, we've won this week's parenthood lottery! We can go ahead and conceive a child at once!" The events are described by an omniscient narrator who particularly accesses the minds of Monica, David, and Henry. The language used by the narrator mixes different styles that make the characters more realistic. The story is told through a mix of dialogue and narration, which helps convey the characters’ perspectives. For the future, we plan more models, male and female - some of them without the limitations of this first one, I promise you! - of more advanced design, true bio-electronic beings.

The text refers to super-toys directly, as Henry explains that these synthetic beings do not possess intelligence: “‘There have been mechanicals on the market with mini-computers for brains – plastic things without life, super-toys’”.These super-toys are actually robots. He went with her without protest into the house, his dark head bobbing at the level of her waist. At the age of three, he showed no fear of the ultrasonic dryer in the kitchen. But before his mother could reach for a pair of slippers, he wriggled away and was gone into the silence of the house. The events take place in an over-populated and technologically-advanced dystopian society. The social settingexplores topics such as social inequality, isolation, and loneliness, as well as the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. Henry Swinton caught the express home in high spirits, and occasionally said a word to the synthetic serving-man he was taking home with him. The serving-man answered politely and punctually, although his answers were not always entirely relevant by human standards.Amid all the triumphs of our civilization - yes, and amid the crushing problems of overpopulation too - it is sad to reflect how many millions of people suffer from increasing loneliness and isolation. Our serving-man will be a boon to them; he will always answer, and the most vapid conversation cannot bore him.

The general physical setting is the part of the world where people do not suffer from starvation. The city where the Swintons live is described as “full of crowding people, blowboats, and buildings”. The presence of high buildings and blowboats, which are a type of boat used in shallow waters or swamps, could suggest that the city is also flooded. The short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brain Aldiss was published in 1969. However, the advanced technology presented in the story – holograms, synthetic life-forms with human-like intelligence, animated toys, machines such as an ultrasonic dryer – suggest that the action takes place in afictional society in the future. At once, Henry was sur-rounded by the friendly illusion of gardens set in eternal summer. It was amazing what Whologram could do to create huge mirages in small spaces. Behind its roses and wisteria stood their house; the deception was complete: a Georgian mansion appeared to welcome him. However, while David has existed for three years and is a super-toy, he is clearly ‘intelligent’ in some way. Davidis different from both the new synthetic serving-man and from Teddy, who are shown to have limited intelligence and little independence of thought. David is aware of emotions such as love and craves them although he does not understand them. Our miniature dinosaurs are almost equally stupid. Today, we launch an intelligent synthetic life-form - a full-size serving-man.Monica dropped the pieces of paper and burst out crying. In their gay inaccurate colors, the letters fanned out and settled on the floor. The dystopian setting is indicated by the issues encountered in this society: reproduction is government-controlled, three quarters of the world population suffer from starvation and only a third is well-off, but suffers from obesity, while loneliness and isolation affect millions of people. The dystopian setting is also suggested through the fact that, to solve loneliness and isolation, companies such as Synthank create synthetic beings which can keep people company. They paused at last, gasping, and stood in the middle of the room to laugh at each other's happiness. When she had come down from the nursery, Monica had de-opaqued the windows, so that they now revealed the vista of garden beyond. Artificial sunlight was growing long and golden across the lawn - and David and Teddy were staring through the window at them.