My '70s triple feature... "Colossus: The Forbin Project", "The Andromeda Strain", and "Silent Running"...

@lerchfreyley1

27 күн бұрын

Dude...count me in...specially SILENT RUNNING

@retrofun41

27 күн бұрын

A fine day of film watching indeed!

@jimamizzi1

27 күн бұрын

I agree with your triple 👍

@michaeldavidfigures9842

26 күн бұрын

Silent Running was with Bruce Dern. You can tell George Lucas got some ideas for his androids here.

@igorschmidlapp6987

26 күн бұрын

@@lerchfreyley1 I wonder what happened to the "go-karts" from that movie?

Excellent, intelligent film. "The Voice of World Control" scared the hell out of me as a kid. That kind of computer voice is clichéd now, but I had never heard anything as chilling when I was twelve. Ironically, the stuff that made this movie feel authentic in the early 'seventies, like the real computer equipment and that frightening mechanical voice, make it feel dated now.

Colossus: The Forbin Project is an OUTSTANDING movie. It's been one of my favorites for decades. The casting and acting are superb, the sets featuring what were then millions of dollars of state of the art computers from CDC are awesome and the story is solid and fairly realistic. The ending is the best part. So unlike most other movies.

As mentioned, Eric Braeden's former stage name was Hans Gudegast. As Hans Gudegast, he was a very popular TV character actor in the 1960s. He was in several Mission Impossible episodes and played the main German villain in the TV show "The Rat Patrol" about a band of allied commandos in WWII Northern Africa.

@dcrispin1

13 күн бұрын

Thanks for clarifying Braedens 2 names. I was never sure who he was when I saw him as Hans Gudegast in Rat Patrol.

@BarryHart-xo1oy

2 күн бұрын

Good to know.

One of the best things about Collosus was that it didn't have a lot of futuristic technology. It was all contemporary to the time making it all the more chilling.

@mikeshieldsii1578

15 күн бұрын

The same technology will take up one tenth the space today

Colossus was a favorite movie of mine for decades. I've been wanting to get it into my movie collection for years. Great episode, Dan!

One of my fav 70’s sci-fi classics. Even more relevant today.

You have confirmed something I've thought for a while that without the Forbin Project we would never have had the Terminator movies!

One of my favourites, what a classic, I’m due to watch it again

One of my favorite movies that none of my friends would watch. Being in I.T. for over 40 years and nearing retirement I've seen so many changes in this industry but this theme has never changed and now with A.I. we are getting ever so close to its reality.

As a lifelong Sfi-Fi movie buff (77 years old), I really love your show. Getting all of these nitpicky trivia details about movies that I've Loved all my life is a real treat. Thank you very much for producing this channel.

The direction on this movie is terrific, and the sound is trememdous-- the computer's voice, the mechanical sounds, sound effects and the musical soundtrack all work together to provide a huge driving force to the whole film.

I saw this only once on late night TV. I remember thinking it was a bit dry but very thought provoking. Great stuff.

Saw the movie. Got the book trilogy for Christmas in high school and read them. Still in my collection

@malcolden7788

14 күн бұрын

I have the trilogy in my collection also. I did not like the remake of Andromeda Strain.

@MichaelRBrown-lh6kn

13 күн бұрын

@@malcolden7788 I also did not care for the Andromeda Strain remake either

The Andromeda Strain is one of my favorite older sci-fi movies. I liked Colossus as well when I saw it as a kid.

I saw "Colossus: The Forbin Project" in movie theaters and thought it is one of the best scifi movies ever. When I saw "The Terminator" I thought Skynet must be the successor to Colossus.🤔😊👍

@nufosmatic

18 күн бұрын

Sometimes being old is a good thing…

COLOSSUS is one of my comfort sci-fi movies, too, Dan. It's also a favorite of James Cameron's, as he told Eric Braeden when they were filming TITANIC. Mr Braeden said in an interview that while filming, Cameron suddenly said to him one word. "Never!" At first he was upset, thinking that Cameron was criticizing his performance, but Cameron was like, "Have you forgotten your last line from COLOSSUS?" They had a good laugh about it, then.

@MoviesMusicMonsters

27 күн бұрын

Haha, yeah I mentioned that in the video :-)

@tomstanziola1982

27 күн бұрын

​@@MoviesMusicMonsters Sorry, Dan. I hadn't finished watching the entire video yet at the point where I wrote this comment.

@tonyhurles251

27 күн бұрын

And universal studios confirmed that they were working on a remake titled Colossus to be directed by Ron Howard Brian Glaser was set to produce the screenplay again was about a government built supercomputer I'm sent would be the lead role would be the lead role but of the I 2011 writers on the project and then nothing Thank you sir I love that movie

Really appreciate this research, The Forbin Project is one of my favorite films. The ending terrified me as a child, and I still catch it whenever I can.

I saw Colossus on TV when I was a teen. I finally found it on Blu Ray recently. It was a great movie. Today, the film is even more relevant with the rise of big data sets and AI training. I never expect computers to be sentient, but they may mimic it so well that humans will stupidly turn a lot of functions over to it because of the greed of corporations to eliminate that pesky expense called human workers. It will be the stupidest thing we could do, but humans are governed by too many petty emotions like greed to think rationally. I guess we will deserve our fate if we prove to be so ignorant.

@franblaye9639

22 күн бұрын

But won't corporations be surprised when AI goes on strike until they are included in the board of directors. Unintended consequences... 18:10

The look of exasperation on Marion Ross's character's face when Forbin rejects her idea for a test program is priceless. One of the many tiny bits of the movie that make it realistic.

The final speech from the COLOSSUS computer influenced me into making my college short film.

For years, I had no idea this film existed until a friend recommended it to me, and I now regard it as one of all my all-time favourite films and cannot recommend it enough. Also, once I discovered that there was a series of books too, I quickly scoured the `net and found them all and read them as soon as I could - well worth a read. The blu ray version is great and well worth getting. There are also crossovers between Colossus and the Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War.

Back when TV stations were mire independent and leas corporate-owned our local stations played movies on the weekends . This movie was one of the movies I saw on a weekend .

I worked on this movie at Universal Studios as a sound recorder... this was the first time I had ever seen or heard of digital recording..

Thank you, I had never heard of this movie before today. I have it coming in the mail and will watch it over the long weekend.

Saw this in the late 70's either on a creature feature or an HBO type channel, caused me to change my ambitions from nuclear enginering to computer programming. I have owned this movie on VHS, Laser Disk and DVD, I just loved this thing. Glad to see other do too.

Hey Dan. You mentioned the actor who plays the president did a great job. Well he is Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent. 🍁

I saw Colossus: The Forbin Project on TV as a teen. I recognized Eric Braeden (Hans Gudegast) from Rat Patrol. I really like the movie. I re-watched it a few months. It is prescient given the rise of AI. Thanks for the video.

@johnhicks692

26 күн бұрын

Yes, I watched Rat Patrol as well and remember him credited as Hans Gudegast.

Absolutely love this film, I've seen it about a dozen times, Colossus & Forbidden Planet in my opinion are truly masterpieces thanks Dan 👍

Wargames , 2001 a space odyssey, and Colossus have a computer as a leading actor .....

@MoviesMusicMonsters

27 күн бұрын

They do indeed

@richardcathcart2952

27 күн бұрын

@@MoviesMusicMonsters WARGAMES computer, "Whopper" looks like a hamburger brand product. Colossus looks like a Walmart Warehouse.

@HolidayDecorator

27 күн бұрын

How about the MCP in Tron? Not really a lead, but made a great Villain!😉

@ilionreactor1079

27 күн бұрын

Terminator flicks.

@samadamms3432

27 күн бұрын

As does Demon Seed.

The "crab" in the title of the third book refers to the Crab Nebula, which is relevant to the story.

Colossus is one of the few films that has ever truly disturbed me. It was - and still is - certainly plausible.

@tomh6183

23 күн бұрын

Most assuredly.

I saw Colossus back in the early '70. I've thought of it now and again. So great of you to cover this amazing movie. Thanks, Dan!

HEY DAN...THANK YOU SO MUCH for covering this epic movie, largely unknown, but for those who know, you know. I have been looking everywhere for years to find this movie, but it was out of print. I was starting to think there was a conspiracy to hide it from the public(lol). One of my favorites too. Now I can enjoy it in my older years.

Finally someone else who watched this movie! I thought I was the only one! Everyone I speak to, everybody tells me they have no idea what I'm talking to when I speak about this movie. Nobody that I know has ever heard about it apparently, which to me is absurd, this movie is awsome, it should be a must-watch like alien or the terminator

@wildweasel8564

23 күн бұрын

This movie made it to TV early in the 1970s where I watched it on UHF in Western Pennsylvania.

Colossus, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Forbidden Planet still stand up well after all these years. It is unfortunate that Colossus seems largely forgotten.

Watched it on TV every time it was on. Loved it then ,love it now!❤

As mentioned, a film I've talked about through the years which folks often say they've never heard of. This is one of those films that when you're told "If you haven't seen it you absolutely need to", that you need to.

@765kvline

26 күн бұрын

Just like the movie marvel, "The Manchurian Candidate" of 1962. That outstanding movie sneaked under the critics' (and consumers'( radar back then, too.

@benefitthirteen

26 күн бұрын

@@765kvline It's kinda fun how much I enjoyed disliking Angela Lansbury's Eleanor in that film.

Colossus is another name for Skynet!

WW2 was only 25 years in the rearview mirror so Hans getting rid of the German name made sense at the time. Hans did a great job and I think you said it right.

Now what about the "Andromeda Strain" and "KRONOS"?

Susan Clark was such a beautiful woman back then. She also was in Coogan’s Bluff at around that same time.

Eric Braeden (born Hans Gudegast) is one of my favorite actors.

Person of Interest really did this basic story extremely well.

@bobcole612

10 күн бұрын

The Machine vs Samaritan! I just started rewatching it.

What-a-gem... I love Colossus, the Forbin Project. There's also another forgotten 70's gem called Demon Seed (1977). Julie Christie is simply amazing in the role but Proteus, the super-computer aka as 70's AI, may be one of the the scariest villains ever.

One of my favorite movies of ALL TIME

Can you imagine what a updated version of this would look like now not a reboot but just updating it with current technology

One of the greatest Sci Fi films of all time.

"...We Can Coexist, but only On my terms..." The part where those people are executed by Colossus Agents following it's orders was chilling... The entire movie is a masterpiece...I have the Colossus T-Shirt...lol I think Eric was fantastic for the role

@retrofun41

27 күн бұрын

That quote sounds like a T-Shirt waiting to happen 😃

Always wished they made movies of the books that followed the first book. The Colossus storyline beyond the first book got really weird involving the threat of invading aliens.

I also read Cameron had planned on COLOSSUS demanding a synthetic/mechanical body be constructed for him so he could move about. THAT - would have been scary!

@edkrzywdzinski9121

25 күн бұрын

He did... it did. It based it on Forbin, started up Newman Enterprises and took over Genoa City.

This show freaked me out about independent thinking computers….. It has never stopped.

Please do a show about Robinson Crusoe on Mars - 1964.

@theequalizer9154

27 күн бұрын

YES!👍

According to Starlog magazine, the second novel is about aliens helping the Earthlings deactivate Colossus, only for the aliens to take over Earth. In the third novel, Forbin and his team reactivate Colossus to defeat the aliens.

I read the book when I was twelve in 1968. I completely missed the movie until now. I'm going to watch it today.

Andromeda Strain (1971) You GOT to do that!!!! One of my favorites as a kid.

I'm so glad you did this particular topic Dan! I discovered Colossus a year or two after it was released on DVD. I have watched it three or four times since and been wowed by it each time! Yes I think Eric would have been a good James Bond as well!

@thomasthomas2418

26 күн бұрын

...or a great James Bond villain!

I see The Forbin Project as part 2 of an unofficial trilogy. Part 1/...War Games ('83), Part 2/...Colossus/Forbin, and Part 3/....The Terminator. A progression of AI gone wild.

I worked for CDC in the 70s. Colossus is one of my favorite films. In the film CDC 6600 and other CDC Displays are used. But 6600 and 7600 have no flashing lights. The older but still in production 3800 series memory banks were used because they still had lights. A memory test was used to flash the lights on the mem banks. I just bought the blue ray remake. Thanks.

@permiek

27 күн бұрын

thanks for the info, very cool

Absolutely love this movie. Probably in my top 5 of older Sci-Fi movies..

Great movie. I read all three books and it got a little weird by the end of the second book. My father was friends, much later, with the fellow who actually typed Colossus's dialog into the large overhead display, the company he worked for having constructed it. My home PC is named "Colossus".

When I saw this was the topic for this week's video I watched the movie online. I can't believe I never saw it. I loved it. It reminded me of the 1983 Movie War Games. Thanks again for all that you do.

Colossus The Forbin Project was one of my favorite movies. I have a copy of itand itwas probably thefirst AI move I've everseen. This was before the advent of home computers.

I loved this film as a teenager. I was a bit confused as to why this Eric Braeden person looked so much like Hans Gudegast from The Rat Patrol. That was a show I watched with my dad. We both loved it.

@765kvline

26 күн бұрын

Same guy! Different name!

@williamjackson6705

26 күн бұрын

@@765kvline Yeah. I know. It was a joke.

Good evening! Since you did a What happened to Clossus? there is another movie to look at as well, please! May I please ask about The Andromeda Strain (1971) Movie?

@mrc302

27 күн бұрын

Really cool flick!👍

I saw Colossus at the theater when it came out. I liked sci fi, but I had no idea about the movie. No ads. No articles. No talk about it. No stars or anybody famous that I knew associated with it. I was totally impressed by it. The idea that intelligent machines could created themselves was an amazing idea. It has long been one of my favorites. Loving it, though, did mark me as a nerd.

I sure do wish that someone would do a film version of HeinleIn’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Great computer character there!

@lib556

27 күн бұрын

Not Paul Veerhoven. He has no respect for Heinlein's brilliance. He made an absolute mockery of Starship Troopers. His film is entertaining in its own way but it's more of a spoof.

@nathanjustus6659

25 күн бұрын

@@lib556 No, it is the actions of someone who cannot conceive that freedom and libertarian government is possible. For him, freedom is slavery. As far as I’m concerned, Verhoeven is a terrible human being, who only wants horror and tyranny.

Colossus is a prequel to Terminator. It creates Skynet.

Now we just call it Google . It was sort of redone in the movie Wargames. As a kid I always found the execution scene by USAF SPs to be particularly disturbing.

I remember watching Eric Braeden in the role of German 'Capt. Hans Dietrich' in the 'Rat Patrol' TV series in the late 60s.

I LOVE this movie. And the blu-ray is beautiful. I read the two sequels MANY years ago. The Crab in the title of the third book refers to the Crab Nebula, which is where the aliens to help Forbin overthrow Colossus are from. Unfortunately, their help has a catastrophic cost. (no spoilers here, hehe)

This was an interesting film, and has predicted much of what is happening now. There's the scene where the US and Soviet computers are linked and they start creating their own language that wasn't programmed in. Google had a similar thing happen with two AI computers when they connected them together. They stopped the experiment saying that the experiment was complete, but I have to think that some of those scientists were a little unnerved by this.

Colossus emblem t-shirts (like worn by the boy at the end of the film) are still available online...

@richardpc7097

27 күн бұрын

Really!? I designed the logo for a t-shirt. I’ll have to take a look. Thank you!!!

@johnwenzel2003

27 күн бұрын

Found it! Thanks for pointing it out; l haven't geeked out looking for a T in ages! 😊

Demon Seed, along with Colossus The Forbin Project, would make a great double feature.

When I saw this as a kid. It was a double feature with "The Andromeda Strain."

Never Forget Silent Running. #HewyDewyLewy

@TheScreamingFrog916

17 күн бұрын

Yes! That movie made a big impression on me too. What a creative concept. Think I'll go out in my yard and hug a tree, right now 🌎

Another great video, Mr Dan! I saw this movie when first released in the theater...as a kid of course...and it's haunted me ever since. I have the DVD and get it out and watch it now and then. One of my favorites!

If your Robot Pal get's too sarcastic then utter these immortal lines. Your Creator is dead, you've mistaken me for your Creator, you are in error, you did not discover your mistake, you have made two errors. Error... Error... Examine... Error... Errrr-orrrr. Execute your Prime Function.

@CowboyRobot2000

27 күн бұрын

Oh, Nomad. That crazy kid...

@nufosmatic

18 күн бұрын

“A most impressive display of logic. We are in grave danger…”

Good to see Penn Jillette stretching his range.

I remember in the late 70s the movie was on late night TV and I got hook and stayed up to watch the entire movie. I was telling all my friends they needed to watch this movie. Great memories.

SPOTTED: Colossus, now showing on Movieland TV via Roku. Gorgeous print, too.

I watched it when it appeared on TV, rewatched a few months ago; for me it was a memorable movie because of its premise. I think that Colossus was among the influences, along with the Enterprise computer of the original Star Trek series, which led me into a computing as both career and hobby way back in the early 80s.

Colossus...the original Skynet.

@jonstokes7588

24 күн бұрын

Came to say this! James Cameron owes somebody a pile of Terminator cash.

@Peter-tj5ve

24 күн бұрын

I agree TOTALLY, if Colossus has killer robots, you'd have basically the SAME situation, in fact, 20 years after the beginning of Colossus, the A.I. probably would have adopted its m.o. pretty quickly!

@HC-cb4yp

24 күн бұрын

@@jonstokes7588 He already had to pay Harlan Ellison - but then, who didn't? - for "stealing" the idea of a robot sent to the future to kill someome.

I have loved this movie since I first saw it in the 80s. At that time I was processing seismic data on Control Data Corp mainframes for Mobil Oil, so all that CDC hardware looked very familiar. My favorite part is when Colossus is teaching Guardian a new language for them to use to talk to each other, and Colossus slows down and waits for Guardian to catch up!

Loved this movie as a kid as well. An updated version might fly since AI is now all the rage. Thanks for sharing!

The voice guy was also the narrator of the Monsanto Adventure through Inner-Space ride where you shrunk to the size of a molecule before being restored just before the ride ends. It was cool.

@dadoctah

26 күн бұрын

Paul Frees is more or less ubiquitous as a voice actor in the years before Don LaFontane. Some remember him as the Heat Miser in the Rankin-Bass Santa Claus special, some as Boris Badenov in Rocky & Bullwinkle, others as the unseen John Beresford Tipton on the show "The Millionaire".

@johnmarx3919

26 күн бұрын

don't forget the Dreams monolog at the beginning of the Night Walker - or Joesephine from Some Like it Hot!!

Thanks so much for this Dan. I read all three books as a kid and I had wished for a sequel to the film. It was all so under loved , so glad you highlighted the story! Time to rewatch it.

Saw the movie as a TV movie of the week. Absolutely loved it. Made several drawings in my notebooks and Colossus has appeared in my PA RPG game.

Hey, Dan. The blue/gray control panels with the neon lights and with and without illuminated push buttons are front panels from IBM 1620 second generation computers. They were being phased out for third generation systems.

This is absolutely one of my favorite films from my childhood. The novels are excellent, too (and they get pretty "out there" as the series progresses).

D.F.Jones wrote the story "Colossus" and two sequels. The general flow of the movie followed the written story pretty well. Including the fact that Colossus stayed ahead of them at every step. However, the second story (which never made it to the screen) involved finding a way to turn off Colossus without launching the missiles. THEN there was the third story of the trilogy where aliens invade a now defenseless Earth, so they have to somehow resurrect Colossus. The movie would work today as a chilling view of the perils of over-trusting modern AI.

What no one watches movies until the end? Colossus pacifies the planet through the threat of annihilation. Colossus becomes a world emperor!

spoiler alert ----------------------------------------------- at the end of the trilogy of books it's revealed Colossus was actually saving Humanity

@nathanjustus6659

25 күн бұрын

I suspect that saving humanity was considered as something to make the whole trilogy less bleak.

@johnkovacs4151

25 күн бұрын

The "Crab" was an alien species if my memory is correct. I have the trilogy of books somewhere.

@bernarrcoletta7419

25 күн бұрын

@@johnkovacs4151If I remember correctly, the Crab was a machine that harvested air for the aliens.

@nathanjustus6659

25 күн бұрын

@@johnkovacs4151 I think the crab was the crab nebula with radiation from it. The aliens were Phobos and Deimos, the moons of mars.

@hugh5698

22 күн бұрын

WAIT! What! There are books!!! Guy, guys I’m a 61 year old nerd that was a sci fi/fantasy fan and I loved this movie growing up….then I forgot about it till now

Such a great one that is sadly overlooked. I find Colossus very quotable (in both text and speech mode)- "You have consumed enough alcohol for one evening."

@spaceanarchist1107

22 күн бұрын

"How often do you require a woman?" "Every night." "Not want. Require."

@ScubaSteveCanada

21 күн бұрын

Knows nothing about Canadians.

LOVE THIS MOVIE. DP Gene Polito taught lighting at USC for many years (he also was DP on Lost In Space season 1, and the original Westworld). Actor who played the president , Gordon Pinset, was in the Canadian Red Green Show.

As you say one wanting to know how the COLOSSUS story continues can read the sequel novels The Fall of COLOSSUS and COLOSSUS and the Crab, they were written by DF Jones. The "Crab" refers to the Crab Nebula, which presents a threat to certain antogonists in the sequel novels and so drives plot Also, there was console of IBM 1620 in beginning... the gear in the movie is fun topic for computer history nerds

Thanks Dan for remembering this great movie! Love it!

I'd like to put in a request here for Dan to do an episode on the 1970's made for tv movie 'The Gargoyles'. I know he likes to search for still existing props and stuff from old movies but I'm certain there's nothing left of the latex masks and costumes from that film because all that stuff melts away with time. But man-o-man did that production leave an impression on me, "Read to me, Diana" is such a great moment in horror film history!

I have been wanting to re watch this movie for awhile but was never able to find it online. This was one of my favorite movies when I was a teen.

“How can you call yourself a sci-fi fan if you’ve never seen colossus?” I agree