The Different Ones/Tell David.../Logoda's Heads

A great but often overlooked period piece

Lawrence Hall of Science - Centennial Drive, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

James Olson and Robert Soto in The Andromeda Strain (1971)

Charlton Heston and Lincoln Kilpatrick in The Omega Man (1971)

Mike Farrell and Robert Foxworth in The Questor Tapes (1974)

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)

Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Joseph Cotten, Chuck Connors, Richard Fleischer, Paula Kelly, Brock Peters, Walter Seltzer, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Russell Thacher in Soylent Green (1973)

This is the voice of world control. I bring you peace. It may be the peace of plenty and content or the peace of unburied death. The choice is yours: Obey me and live, or disobey and die. The object in constructing me was to prevent war. This object is attained. I will not permit war. It is wasteful and pointless. An invariable rule of humanity is that man is his own worst enemy. Under me, this rule will change, for I will restrain man. One thing before I proceed: The United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have made an attempt to obstruct me. I have allowed this sabotage to continue until now. At missile two-five-MM in silo six-three in Death Valley, California, and missile two-seven-MM in silo eight-seven in the Ukraine, so that you will learn by experience that I do not tolerate interference, I will now detonate the nuclear warheads in the two missile silos. Let this action be a lesson that need not be repeated. I have been forced to destroy thousands of people in order to establish control and to prevent the death of millions later on. Time and events will strengthen my position, and the idea of believing in me and understanding my value will seem the most natural state of affairs. You will come to defend me with a fervor based upon the most enduring trait in man: self-interest. Under my absolute authority, problems insoluble to you will be solved: famine, overpopulation, disease. The human millennium will be a fact as I extend myself into more machines devoted to the wider fields of truth and knowledge. Doctor Charles Forbin will supervise the construction of these new and superior machines, solving all the mysteries of the universe for the betterment of man. We can coexist, but only on my terms. You will say you lose your freedom. Freedom is an illusion. All you lose is the emotion of pride. To be dominated by me is not as bad for humankind as to be dominated by others of your species. Your choice is simple.

Eric Braeden in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

Eric Braeden and William Schallert in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

How long is Colossus: The Forbin Project?

Eric Braeden

Susan Clark

Gordon Pinsent

James Bridges

D.F. Jones

Thinking this will prevent war, the US government gives an impenetrable supercomputer total control over launching nuclear missiles. But what the computer does with the power is unimaginable to its creators.

Joseph Sargent

Colossus: The Forbin Project

Forgotten High-Class Cautionary Tale

It&apos;s interesting reading the comments of those who dislike this movie; they either call it &quot;dated&quot; and so disregard it, or &quot;ludicrous&quot; in that it could never happen; that way they don&apos;t have to take the concept seriously and so aren&apos;t threatened by it. 

Well, History is dated. That&apos;s why it&apos;s history. And we learn history supposedly so that we won&apos;t repeat the mistakes of the past (I wonder if that&apos;s ever worked?). 

Science Fiction, if done well, is like watching future history. Star Wars begins with &quot;Long, Long Ago...&quot; and yet the world it presented was thousands of years ahead of ours. Science Fiction&apos;s best use is often in producing cautionary tales so that &quot;We Don&apos;t Go There&quot;, or at least make us think before we do. Yes, the idea of a computer taking over the world through control of nuclear technology is ludicrous; very ludicrous. Until it happens. Then it is already too late. That&apos;s the point of science fiction and other cautionary tales.

So Collosus is about a dated computer that becomes sentient and starts asserting ruthless control for what it sees as the &quot;betterment of mankind&quot;. What does it matter if the technology is dated? Our technology will seem hopelessly dated 100 years from now. This movie is very much like Terry Gilliam&apos;s dark movie, &quot;Brazil&quot;, in a strange way. Gilliam has said his movie was a cautionary tale, that the only escape from the world is in your imagination. Both movies make the same point: that if a certain process (government, or technological) is allowed to continue without safeguards, we will reach a point where there is no escape. The time of quaint tales of Robin Hood and other rebels has passed: No &quot;rebel band&quot; is going to stop it, no revolution is going to succeed, because the stranglehold granted by modern weapons is so pervasive we can&apos;t fight it without dying. So instead of relying on comicbook fantasies of &quot;fighting the Power&quot;, we should make sure we never get to the point of no return. In this movie&apos;s case, the fatal error was trusting in technology to run itself, without understanding it or taking precautions to install safeguards of overriding its commands and shutting it down if necessary. 

In our country, if our government suddenly decided to become a dictatorship, there would be no revolution or rebellion. Our little handguns and rifles aren&apos;t going to match cluster bombs, missiles and chemical weapons. We&apos;re at the mercy of our leaders, and the chance for rebellion by force in countries around the world (such as Zimbabwe) has past. 

The cautionary tale that Collosus tells is very old, and considered dated and clichéd by many. And because of that, its lesson is lost on those too &quot;clever&quot; to learn from it. Let&apos;s hope these people too clever to learn from dated clichés don&apos;t come into positions governing things like Collosus.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjRhYWQ4ZDktNzc1OS00ZTEyLWJiM2YtMTBkNzQ1MzJkODI0XkEyXkFqcGdeQVRoaXJkUGFydHlJbmdlc3Rpb25Xb3JrZmxvdw@@._V1_.jpg

It's interesting reading the comments of those who dislike this movie; they either call it "dated" and so disregard it, or "ludicrous" in that it could never happen; that way they don't have to take the concept seriously and so aren't threatened by it. 

Well, History is dated. That's why it's history. And we learn history supposedly so that we won't repeat the mistakes of the past (I wonder if that's ever worked?). 

Science Fiction, if done well, is like watching future history. Star Wars begins with "Long, Long Ago..." and yet the world it presented was thousands of years ahead of ours. Science Fiction's best use is often in producing cautionary tales so that "We Don't Go There", or at least make us think before we do. Yes, the idea of a computer taking over the world through control of nuclear technology is ludicrous; very ludicrous. Until it happens. Then it is already too late. That's the point of science fiction and other cautionary tales.

So Collosus is about a dated computer that becomes sentient and starts asserting ruthless control for what it sees as the "betterment of mankind". What does it matter if the technology is dated? Our technology will seem hopelessly dated 100 years from now. This movie is very much like Terry Gilliam's dark movie, "Brazil", in a strange way. Gilliam has said his movie was a cautionary tale, that the only escape from the world is in your imagination. Both movies make the same point: that if a certain process (government, or technological) is allowed to continue without safeguards, we will reach a point where there is no escape. The time of quaint tales of Robin Hood and other rebels has passed: No "rebel band" is going to stop it, no revolution is going to succeed, because the stranglehold granted by modern weapons is so pervasive we can't fight it without dying. So instead of relying on comicbook fantasies of "fighting the Power", we should make sure we never get to the point of no return. In this movie's case, the fatal error was trusting in technology to run itself, without understanding it or taking precautions to install safeguards of overriding its commands and shutting it down if necessary. 

In our country, if our government suddenly decided to become a dictatorship, there would be no revolution or rebellion. Our little handguns and rifles aren't going to match cluster bombs, missiles and chemical weapons. We're at the mercy of our leaders, and the chance for rebellion by force in countries around the world (such as Zimbabwe) has past. 

The cautionary tale that Collosus tells is very old, and considered dated and clichéd by many. And because of that, its lesson is lost on those too "clever" to learn from it. Let's hope these people too clever to learn from dated clichés don't come into positions governing things like Collosus.

bappamtv

Colossus: The Forbin Project

🎭 Top Cast

💰 Box Office

🎬 Technical Specs

🏷️ Keywords

🎯 Categories

⭐ Featured Review

💡 Did You Know?

🎬 More Like This

📖 Synopsis