Colossus: The Forbin Project
Chuck Kopsho
Clark were the stars of this movie. I thought the whole concept was very
good, having a U.S. and Soviet computer interacting with each other,
then becoming a single entity bent on death amd destruction.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Chuck Kopsho
Oceanside, California
Jack Bohn
> Does anyone here remember this sci-fi classic? Eric Braeden and Susan
>Clark were the stars of this movie. I thought the whole concept was very
>good, having a U.S. and Soviet computer interacting with each other,
>then becoming a single entity bent on death amd destruction.
Not death and destruction! They had to save the world! Of
course, there's that whole omelet and eggs thing...
--
-Jack
Alan Biddle
AI-capable computer was fatally flawed. I turns out that the Russians
actually built something like that a few years later, but without the
AI aspect, to respond to a sneak American attack. It was only to be
activated when they reached the Russian equivalent of DEFCON 2. If
you were going to build a doomsday machine, you would not turn on a
machine like that without running it for at least a few years with
close human supervision, and numerous kill switches.
--
Alan
David E. Powell
A similar concept was of course seen in "The Terminator." It didn't
work out too well there either ;)
Of course "Fail Safe" is probably the original "oops" book. Followed
by "Dr. Strangelove."
> --
> Alan
Shawn Wilson
> Does anyone here remember this sci-fi classic? Eric Braeden and Susan
> Clark were the stars of this movie. I thought the whole concept was very
> good, having a U.S. and Soviet computer interacting with each other,
> then becoming a single entity bent on death amd destruction.
Based on a trilogy of books I once owned- Colossus, The Fall of
Colossus, Colossus and the Crab, (the last two may be switched). The
movie was based on the first book, and the book was very education to
me as a teenager. It had SEX in it!
In the other two books aliens come to Earth and take over 'cause they
want to steal our air. (they had prevously been Phobos and Deimos.
Yes, the moons...) After defeating Colossus, the heroes have to
reactivate it...
berk
wrote:
I wonder if it's well known that both films were actually based on the
same book;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail-Safe_%281964_film%29
[quote]
The book so closely resembled the novel Red Alert by Peter George
(which was adapted by George and Stanley Kubrick into the mutually
assured destruction satire Dr. Strangelove the same year), that George
filed a plagiarism lawsuit. The case was settled out of court.
[/quote]
Huh. I twas my understanding that Fail-Safe was in the works 1st,
wasn't disputed at the time, and got beat to the box office starting
gate by Dr. Strangelove.
And while we ponder the Forbin Project, let us also remember 'the
Questor Tapes'.
berk
trag
> In the other two books aliens come to Earth and take over 'cause they
> want to steal our air. (they had prevously been Phobos and Deimos.
> Yes, the moons...) After defeating Colossus, the heroes have to
> reactivate it...
The way I remember it (of course, I could be remembering book n, while
you're remembering book m) was that the original Colossus had built a
child/successor machine which was much more whiz-bang because a super-
genius computer designed it from the ground up, as opposed to being an
accidental creation of humans. Colossus was deactivated because he
had moved into the new machine, but the Colossus complex was still
there.
Anyway, the aliens either took over or disabled the new shiny machine
and the humans figured out that their only hope (for reasons I no
longer recall) was to activate adn gain the assistance of the original
Colossus. The installation is well guarded against puny humans so
wackiness ensues.
Shawn Wilson
> > In the other two books aliens come to Earth and take over 'cause they
> > want to steal our air. (they had prevously been Phobos and Deimos.
> > Yes, the moons...) After defeating Colossus, the heroes have to
> > reactivate it...
>
> The way I remember it (of course, I could be remembering book n, while
> you're remembering book m) was that the original Colossus had built a
> child/successor machine which was much more whiz-bang because a super-
> genius computer designed it from the ground up, as opposed to being an
> accidental creation of humans. Colossus was deactivated because he
> had moved into the new machine, but the Colossus complex was still
> there.
Sounds familiar. It's been decades...
OM
<bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid> wrote:
>I thought you were joking, so I made a joke, too. I really didn't
>think there was anybody who didn't know the difference between
>Colossus: The Forbin Project and The Amazing Colossal Man.
>
>The Amazing Colossal Man terrorizes Las Vegas and the regions around
>it, actually. He was caught in a blast during a atomic bomb test in
>the Nevada desert and mutated into a giant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Colossal_Man
>Colossus: TFP is about a Defense Department mega-computer that teams up
>with its Soviet counterpart and, together, they over the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus:_The_Forbin_Project
OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[
EGK
<bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid> wrote:
>Colossus: TFP is about a Defense Department mega-computer that teams up
>with its Soviet counterpart and, together, they over the world.
Watching Colossus would be a good precursor to The Terminator franchise.
The Translucent Amoebae
i have often wondered if this is the =real= reason that AI is being
suppressed,
Is because they keep building these super computers in underground
vaults,
and moments after being activated; They turn on their programmers...!
What is it about being super intelligent that makes them want to
destroy or enslave humankind so badly...???
Edward McArdle
<5dfebff4-f18a-490f...@a32g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>, The
Translucent Amoebae <transa...@seanet.com> wrote:
Well, we all do, so it must be a Good Thing!
We all do, don't we...?
--
Edward McArdle
Micky DuPree
: In article
: <0a335bc6-c63b-45e8...@m33g2000pri.googlegroups.com>,
: Mark Lindamood <jazzyja...@gmail.com> wrote:
:: On Nov 23, 11:25�am, Professor Bubba <bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid>
:: wrote:
::: Colossus: TFP is a pretty good film, although that might not have
::: stopped MST3K.
::
:: Yes, all of those exciting text-scrolling scenes...
:
: I've got to admit that I liked them, but then again I though the star
: of Fail-Safe was that cool projection map.
_Colossus_ also had nerd sex.
-Micky
Mark Lindamood
wrote:
> Professor Bubba <bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid> writes:
>
> : In article
> : Mark Lindamood <jazzyjackki...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> :: On Nov 23, 11:25 am, Professor Bubba <bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid>
>
> :: wrote:
>
> ::: Colossus: TFP is a pretty good film, although that might not have
> ::: stopped MST3K.
> ::
> :: Yes, all of those exciting text-scrolling scenes...
> :
> : I've got to admit that I liked them, but then again I though the star
> : of Fail-Safe was that cool projection map.
>
> _Colossus_ also had nerd sex.
>
> -Micky
True dat. But it took a massive government project and a team of PhDs
for Forbin to get laid. Your tax dollars at work.
Michael Black
You mean the legendary scene where Forbin needs to talk to someone to
conspire, and the only way Colossus will let them be together is if
they are having sex? Being about 14 when I saw the movie on tv, that
scene was particularly memorable, I'm sure the element of them being
forced to be naked together was an added appeal.
Michael
Michael O'Connor
in remaking it, and I'm happy he did not pursue it. The track record
of remakes of late 60's early 70's sci-fi films (Andromeda Strain,
Planet of the Apes as two notable examples) has not been good.
EGK
The movie worked much better during the cold-war era. It was fairly
original for it's time but I'm sure it wasn't the first story of computers
taking over. The same basic idea was used and taken in a new direction by
movies like Wargames and the whole Terminator franchise.
Extravagan
On the other hand, the recent Star Trek reboot has done very well.
RichA
Price of the out of production DVD has gone nuts recently, but I
managed to get one off Ebay for $20.00.
Shawn Wilson
wrote:
> i have often wondered if this is the =real= reason that AI is being
> suppressed,
> Is because they keep building these super computers in underground
> vaults,
> and moments after being activated; They turn on their programmers...!
It's those pictures of naked woment they show. If they didn't do that
the programmers wouldn't get turned on...
Professor Bubba
Michael Black <et...@ncf.ca> wrote:
She was kind of naked on broadcast TV. In the film she's naked naked,
but the best bits are hidden behind furniture, liquor bottles, etc.
The original book (and there's at least one sequel, too) is set in the
future -- I mean like 500 years in the future -- and has little in
common with the film. The movie is much better.
Girl nerds can be a lot of fun and very, very enthusiastic, but they
tend to fall in love right away.
aemeijers
(snip)
> Girl nerds can be a lot of fun and very, very enthusiastic, but they
> tend to fall in love right away.
Nerds in general do that- they get so few chances for love and
companionship, that they tend to take it way too seriously when anyone
shows them any affection, or even kindness, at all. The other party
usually flees pretty quickly. Desperation and lack of experience are a
deadly combination.
--
aem sends...
Michael O'Connor
> The original book (and there's at least one sequel, too) is set in the
> future -- I mean like 500 years in the future -- and has little in
> common with the film. The movie is much better.
>
I read Colossus (and the second book; there is a third book but I
never read it) about 30 years ago and I remember it being set in the
present, or present for the era it was written.
The second Colossus book got very silly when the Martians contacted
Forbin and provided with a mathematical formula of some kind that
would destroy Colossus, but it was implied that with Colossus out of
the way the Martians would be able to take over Earth. I had no
interest in reading the third book.
Michael Black
We went through the books when this thread arose originally (I thought
it had faded out, but someone resurrected it).
From when I posted a month or whenever, I seem to recall that in checking
the books, one came out before the movie, and the second two came after.
Just like the Logan's Run books, the author decided to cash in on the
success of the movie. So instead of a whole scenario that required three
books, you have one book that told the story, and then two books that have
to build on that.
You're right, my memory of the books (also from thirty years ago, though
I've had them handy for a few years, meaning to reread them) also says
they were in the "present" or near future.
Michael
Professor Bubba
<0c70bf00-8883-4e3e...@g23g2000vbi.googlegroups.com>,
Michael O'Connor <mpoco...@aol.com> wrote:
> > The original book (and there's at least one sequel, too) is set in the
> > future -- I mean like 500 years in the future -- and has little in
> > common with the film. �The movie is much better.
> >
>
> I read Colossus (and the second book; there is a third book but I
> never read it) about 30 years ago and I remember it being set in the
> present, or present for the era it was written.
I have checked and you are right. I must have confused this book with
something similar. Like you, it's been about 30 (more like 35) years
since I read the first and second books. Also like you, I passed on
number three. There is a summary of it at Wikipedia, though.
Micky DuPree
: On Sat, 5 Dec 2009, Micky DuPree wrote:
:::: On Nov 23, 11:25=A0am, Professor Bubba <bu...@nowhere.edu.invalid>
:::: wrote:
::::: Colossus: TFP is a pretty good film, although that might not have
::::: stopped MST3K.
:: _Colossus_ also had nerd sex.
:
: You mean the legendary scene where Forbin needs to talk to someone to
: conspire, and the only way Colossus will let them be together is if
: they are having sex?
That's the one. At first it was just a ruse, but then they decided what
the hey. How many other serious movies out of Hollywood can you name
where nerds get laid?
-Micky
Micky DuPree
: Girl nerds can be a lot of fun and very, very enthusiastic, but they
: tend to fall in love right away.
My experience is that boy nerds are the bigger worry in that department.
I think it has something to do with the fact that they're often in
environments where the male:female ratio is noticeably larger than one
(e.g., technical schools, technical industries). This seems to turn
some gender stereotypes upside down, with males crushing harder and
pressuring for commitment more than females.
-Micky
RichA
Because of the extreme need to dumb-down everything for the current
teen and twenty-something audiences.
Dave The Rave
> The basic premise of turning over the entire nuclear arsenal to an
> AI-capable computer was fatally flawed. �I turns out that the Russians
> actually built something like that a few years later, but without the
> AI aspect, to respond to a sneak American attack. �It was only to be
> activated when they reached the Russian equivalent of DEFCON 2. �If
> you were going to build a doomsday machine, you would not turn on a
> machine like that without running it for at least a few years with
> close human supervision, and numerous kill switches. �
>
> --
> Alan
Wargames W. O. P. E. R.
Dave The Rave