Colossus: The Forbin Project

[Enraged_Ape]

I just watched this movie this weekend (it just came out on DVD) and wondered if anyone else had seen it. Even 35 years after it was made, this movie still packs a huge punch.

A hotshot scientist (portrayed quite realistically and well by Eric Braeden of "Combat" and "Young and the Restless" fame) creates a supercomputer named Colossus that is put in charge of every aspect of the U.S.'s defense. The computer is built into a mountain and made impermeable to any kind of attack. (Can't have terrorists and evildoers crippling something that we depend on so desperately.) Within hours, the computer starts communicating with a similar Soviet system named Guardian, and if you've ever seen "The Terminator" or read Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream", you pretty much know that a disaster is in the making.

Aside from some rather outdated technological aspects ("blinking light" panels and acres of dot-matrix printouts), this movie is still highly relevant, realistic, and chilling. It made me think about things I hadn't really thought about in a while, such as "Is mutually assured destruction such a great idea if a third party, know matter how unlikely, should take control of it?" and "Does being afraid of 'the evil doers' make you more vulnerable to other 'evil doers' you weren't aware of?"

If you get a chance to rent, borrow, Tivo, and/or buy it, by all means do.

[YankeyMCC]

1. "Seen" "I Have no mouth and I must scream"

I've read the story was it made into a film or TV show?

[Enraged_Ape]

2. Not that I know of, but there is a computer game for the PC..

that came out in the mid-90s. It was particularly noted for allowing the player to experience different endings based on the choices he/she made during the game. Uncle Harlan himself was the voice of AM, and I can't think of a better person to do it.

I still see it on e-Bay, and I think you can get it directly from Harlan's website.