UNCUT - Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
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Also, this movie also inspired directors of some of the other great science fiction films that carried on this theme, such as a guy by the name of the James Cameron, you might’ve heard of him and I could mention a couple other directors, but Cameron points this film out a lot, so does Spielberg as inspiration for some movies they’ve made
Guys, this is one of my favorites. I grew up watching this one. I saw it in the theater, but I then saw it on television many times, and if you like this one, you really need to go through the box out of the original planet of the apes.
Since they never made films of the remaining two novels in the trilogy, and I don’t take you guys for avid readers, I hope you won’t mind me giving you spoilers for the rest of the story. It is facinating. Book 2: The Fall of Colossus - Years pass and the human race has been uplifted. The Colossus/Guardian synthesis system has built a superior system to inhabit, which also calls itself Colossus. Science, art, music, racial harmony - all blossom under Colossus’ rule. A new religion begins, The Sect, which worships Colossus as a God. As Colossus predicted, Forbin does indeed reconcile himself to Colossus’ rule. He marries Cleo Markham, who loathes the machine and is secretly a member of the anti-Colossus society The Fellowship. One afternoon she receives a radio transmission from outer space. Identifying Cleo as a member of the Fellowship, the transmission offers help to destroy Colossus. They are given essentially what we would now call a computer virus. Forbin slips the calculation to Edward Blake, now Director of Input, who enters it into Colossus. While Forbin converses with Colossus it begins to make verbal errors, then stops. Increasingly erratic, Colossus attempts to warn Forbin of a threat from outer space that it was preparing to meet, but breaks down before it can complete the message. Now free of Colossus' rule, Blake moves to seize power. Forbin tells him of Colossus' warning. Requesting any reports of unusual astronomical activity, they learn that two contacts have been detected leaving Martian orbit and are now heading toward the Earth. The novel ends with the two men hearing a radio transmission. "Forbin, we are coming. Do not restart Colossus." Book 3: Colossus and the Crab. The novel begins where Fall of Colossus leaves off, with Colossus immobilized and the Martians arriving on Earth. They explain to Forbin their purpose in immobilizing Colossus — their desire to take half of the Earth's oxygen, a process that will kill nearly a quarter of the human population. Whereas the goal in the first two installments was to deactivate Colossus, they are now desperate to reactivate it as Colossus appears to be the key to defeating the aliens and saving mankind. A gripping read and probably the best book in the series.
The last images show Forbin designing a machine to perhaps overcome Colossus. Offering a subtle message of hope. Sargent directed The Corbomite Manueuver.
No. Forbin was not designing a machine. The design was Colossus’ doing. A superior supercomputer to inhabit. It’s “child” in a way. A full merging of the Colossus/Guardian synthesis, also calling itself Colossus. As were the originals, this Colossus’ ultimate goal is to protect the human race…this time from an alien invasion it knew was coming. Read Book 2 of the trilogy, The Fall of Colossus and Book 3, Colossus and the Crab. They are pretty damn good.
The guy who played the president seems like he was cast partly because he looked like JFK. He was also pretty good in the role.
I'd heard of this but never seen it until recently after getting the Blu-ray. Great reaction. The premise is kind of hard to swallow: They create this project in secret, seemingly untested (they seem to just assume it will work), with no public input about whether it's a good idea or not, with one guy who seems to be the only one who really understands it to the point where he doubts it can be stopped every time they try, yet he has the hubris to switch it on. On the other hand, the underlying premise—a cautionary tale about unintended consequences—is pretty solid. Because of when it was made, the story depends on ideas about computers that would be obsolete in a few years, such as the idea of just a couple of monolithic, centralized computers somehow taking over the world. The computer network they're tied into on the map only shows three nodes in the US and a few others around the world. Stories like this probably led to the development of microcomputers/personal computers in the mid seventies, with the idea of taking computing power away from large institutions (like the ones depicted in stories like this) and putting it into the hands of ordinary people, Similar sentiments led a couple of decades later to the rise of the internet, again a decentralized effort, like the personal computer. And yet, in spite of all this, things have taken a turn where stories like this are still relevant.
A movie you should watch is WARGAMES (1983). It has almost the same premise as this one. I think you'd enjoy it.
I really love this movie but once again: I WAS WRONG!!! I truly thought the guys would not care for it, and maybe hate it. It is slow, relies on the cold war as a main element, and has a lot of techno babble. All things that can turn the guys off on a movie (can). I also think the acting is very subtle, subdued. The guys generally like theater style acting, a bit over the top (hence the love for brent spiner when not data), just not to far over. SO I was wrong. I am glad the guys liked it as it is a classic core movie in the time when Sci Fi was moving from mainly B-movies to more seriously thought of movies.
Not very available for streaming but I have my blu ray so LET'S DO THIS for this great film.
Of course, the perfect "be afraid of computers" films to watch as a companion piece to this one is: 'Demon Seed'.
it took me a while to find my DVD of C:TFP haven’t played it since 2005, but I synced it up with the reaction and finally got it started a little after one, and finish right around three in the morning, I would’ve made a post then, but my eyes were getting glassy I think so anyway, I couldn’t look in the mirror, It’s one of those movies that is psychologically effective over time. It’s good when you watch it but you see other things in it the next day. I was nine the first time I saw this on a Saturday night 1030 sci-fi movie on our local CBS affiliate It sounded like Alex was falling asleep
Colossus: The yawn of AI
The ending is great since if you can't even stop it once it starts it makes it more important NOT to even start at all....
The star of this plays bad guys in other classic films like the original Planet of the Apes films
Great film- under the radar and most don't know about it
They might have added the subtitle “The Forbin Project” to distinguish the film from the cheesy Italian sword-and-sandal movies that came out in the Sixties, like “Colossus and the Headhunters” and “Colossus and the Amazon Queen.”
I think the reason was the studio and the film makers had different ideas about the movie title. So it ended up with the studio getting their way with both being used.
One of my favorite flicks of the 70s, great choice.
William Schallert’s role in “Tribbles” was Nilz Baris, the Federation Undersecretary. His assistant Arne Darvin was the Klingon spy.
Thank you, gentlemen. This meant more to me than you know.
❤️
Also, if there are still any humans reading paperback books in the AI age, I recommend This Perfect Day by Ira Levin, a 1970s look at what happens after a machine like Colossus takes over.
I love how they take a bit of time away from the enslavement of mankind to show how to make a proper Martini, the 1970s had their priorities right.
It’s been a favourite of mine for time along with The Andromeda strain. Bought those in 2021 and now, I’m happy to watch it with you. I came across those movies in the early 80’s. My first watch was in french.
I love both movies. Yes, they are slow (measured pacing) and semi-documentary-like in feel. But that's what makes them immersive. Very good casting in both. Talented actors who aren't too high profile to be distracting by association with other roles.
I found out about this movie just a few weeks ago and got a copy, and I've been meaning to watch it, I didn't expect to get it watch it with yall, how fun!
This is one of my favorite older sci-fi movies. It was shown a lot on a local tv station when I was young, then just disappeared. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available on any streaming services anymore, leading to many conspiracy theories about who removed it and why. I did find an upload of it on Vimeo, but it's low quality and doesn't sync up with the Blu-ray. A few years ago I tweeted with Eric Braeden, the actor who played Dr. Forbin, and asked him about any possible sequel or follow-up to this movie. He implied that there were talks going on, but then nothing seemed to come of it. I've heard that the two book sequels are a bit strange and uninteresting, so maybe it wouldn't be feasible to film them. But I think it would be fascinating to show the Colossus world fifty years later.
The sequel novels go in a direction that is very.....surprising....and doesn't fit with the very grounded style of the first novel and this film adaption. I won't say what happens, but one aspect is out of left field completely.
The book that this movie was based on has two sequels The Fall Of Colossus, and Colusus and The Crab. I wish they had been made into movies too. Since you're left hanging at the end of this movie. The actress who played Mrs Cuningham in happy days was in this movie. Kind of weird seeing her play a serious role.
And there was Martin E. Brooks (sans moustache), who played Rudy Wells in The Bionic Woman.
Ouch...."Ore-e-on" is pronounced "Oh-rye-un"
Except in “Pirates of Orion”! 😜
Wow! I never thought I would see a reactor reacting to this movie. One of my all-time favorites!!