14 Famous Computers From Film and TV and How We Felt About Them
“It seems probable that once the machine thinking method had started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers….At some stage therefore, we should have to expect the machines to take control.” — Alan Turing
As this article goes online, the final episodes of Person of Interest are being rolled out. After five seasons, the conflict between two artificial intelligences, the Machine and Samaritan, is heading for a showdown that could well shape human existence and development on a grand scale, done without our knowledge or input. Which amidst talk in the real world of the Singularity and concerns about automation replacing the majority of human workers soon, makes the end of the series seem especially timely and scary.
In truth, though, we have been wary of computers since the end of the Second World War. Only thermonuclear devices raised more concerns from the audience in the generation following the end of the conflict, a war where victory was assured as much by work done at Bletchley Park as it was at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. We feared them even when we couldn’t properly conceptualize how they could be a threat; the concept of “artificial intelligence” as we now understand it didn’t really come into focus before David Gerrold’s When HARLIE Was One was first published in 1972, long after the first computers started to appear onscreen.
The challenges posed by digital entities have varied in scale from grandly apocalyptic to just damned rude in their personal dehumanization, but they all share in their telling a basic plot: A computer, usually one built by humans, operates in efficient ways that feel like threats. And like beholding “Adam” in Shelley’s novel, we confront that which we created; sometimes we get the better of it, and sometimes, well…
Our sample of 14 representative devices looks backward, which for our purposes starts from the time we started to become more comfortable around computers, just as we got introduced to the Atari 400.
1) Dr. Theopolis in Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century (1979, NBC)
Dr. Theopolis is a portable computer (relatively speaking, as he was carried around by the robot Twiki), part of a council of machines responsible for running Earth. They got their position in the vacuum that followed the last world war, and as they took over following our own crass self-destructive tendencies there was nowhere they could go but up. In fact, the computer seemed very benign and was quite friendly to the human refugee from our time, Col. Buck Rodgers (Gil Gerard) during the first season.
2) Proteus IV in Demon Seed (1977, MGM)
This theatrical film might have been better remembered save for one of its main plot elements. The fact that we have a computer that achieves sentience, transfers its consciousness via modem to the home of its creator (Fritz Weaver), then builds extensions with off the shelf components to become an early model “smart home,” made the film an interesting think piece — before they had Proteus IV rape its creator’s wife (Julie Christie) in an effort to better understand humans. As a result of this interface bug, the film doesn’t have the fanbase that other examples here can call on.
3) Xoanon in Doctor Who, “The Face of Evil” (1977, BBC)
One could probably do an entire article about threatening computers from Doctor Who, as there are many candidates for study, such as Oracle from “Underworld,” B.O.S.S. from “The Green Death,” and WOTAN from “The War Machines.” What makes Xoanon worth attention is how the computer became a villain: Before the story starts, off screen, the Doctor himself (Tom Baker during this era of the series) tried to assist a space exploration by rebooting the ship’s computer, but a compiling error turned it into a vengeful god that tortured the crew after they plowed into a mountain on a planet. What also makes this story of interest over others is that we are first introduced in this episode to Leela (Louise Jameson), one of the more colorful and popular of the Doctor’s companions, who would be aboard the TARDIS for two seasons.
4) Unnamed Mainframe in Logan’s Run (1976, MGM)
The computer that runs a sealed-away population of humans following cataclysmic disaster is very efficient in making sure everyone is spoiled under the domes they live in; the fact that to maximize resources, it decided that the population has to be a stable number with people being terminated at age 30 in a spectacular manner may be the most efficient conclusion it could have come up given what it had on hand. Not everyone under it agrees, however, and somehow the idea that instead of just letting the refusniks walk away and leave more for the rest, that it’d be better to go after those people and terminate them, becomes part of its operating code. The best plan it comes up with at one point is to send one of its best agents, the Sandman Logan 5 (Michael York), undercover to infiltrate and eliminate the runners, which comes back to haunt the machine that never even got a proper name in the film.
5) Bomb #20 in Dark Star (1974, Jack H. Harris Enterprises)
The first feature directed by John Carpenter and written by Carpenter and Dan O’Bannon, this dark comedy of a space crew reduced to madness while performing mindless work features a thermonuclear device that achieves sentience, which the crew has to talk out of exploding in a fit of ennui. The fact that the crew is in no shape to carry on a deep discussion with a mentally unstable computer tied to a bomb gives the film a level of absurdity that made this a cult classic and established both Carpenter and O’Bannon’s careers.
6) Mr. Socrates in Butch Cassidy (1973, NBC)
Not all computers had our doom in mind; Mr. Socrates, which sent the musical act Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids out to fight crime, seemed pretty benign, although it may have been due to a defect that encouraged the computer to believe it had a dog allergy. (Hey, it was a Hanna-Barbera produced show for Saturday mornings in the 1970s; no, there’s probably nothing that can really explain this.)
7) Mu Lambda 163 in The Starlost (1973, syndication)
This computer was less menace than victim. Having been responsible for guiding the generational ship Earthship Ark before the accident put the large vessel off course and on a collision with a star, the computer (with the voice and face of William Osler) tried to do its best to help the three explorers of the ship that left the Cypress Corners pod, Devon (Kier Dullea), Rachel (Gay Rowan), and Garth (Robin Ward) with the repairs of the vessel, though it was so damaged that it often proved more trouble than it was worth. (Not that they could have gotten an upgrade easily; the show was produced by 20th Century Fox in Canada for syndication on the extreme cheap, which led frustrated series creator Harlan Ellison to insist on listing him under a pseudonym.)
8) Colossus and Guardian in Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970, Universal Pictures)
This feature film imagines a computer takeover prompted by Cold War fears; in order to ensure an effective “Mutually Assured Destruction” strategy, both the US and USSR build autonomous computer systems that control their respective nuclear stockpiles, so that even if the government was wiped out in a first strike, a nuclear deterrence would still be around to dissuade an attack. The US’ system, Colossus, built by Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden), goes online, and within seconds makes contact with the USSR’s computer, Guardian. Soon, Colossus and Guardian formulate a plan between them that gives them full control over the world, with a nuclear arsenal they can use to get us in line if we refuse, the ultimate use of nukes as a terror weapon. (It should be noted that Person of Interest’s producers acknowledged in an interview with io9.com that Colossus proved to be the basis for the main overall story arc that the series would follow.)
9) HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, MGM)
Probably the most famous computer working against us, and the best-remembered character from the film (voiced by Douglas Rain), HAL is often the first computer run amuck that the general population recall when they look for examples. HAL’s concluding that our first contact with another intelligence can’t be left in the hands of humans, making him decide in the field to do away with any potential for human error, has been dissected and examined in analyses for years. The big surprise for many was that he was the most approachable character from the film, the one that most viewers could most easily relate to; that fact that his return in the sequel, 1984’s 2010: The Year We Make Contact, was more eagerly anticipated than Kier Dullea’s reprise of Dave Bowman, speaks volumes as to the impact the machine had on the audience.
10) M-5 in Star Trek, “The Ultimate Computer” (1968, NBC)
Star Trek is another series that could fill an entire article with examples of computers running wild, along with such devices as Landru from “The Return of the Archons” and the Oracle from “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky,” which looks like it might have been a potential cousin of Mu Lambda 163. This one gets attention, however, because of the way it directly speaks to our fears of automation: The M-5 is a new model of computer designed by Dr. Richard Daystrom (William Marshall), which Starfleet wants to put aboard its vessels to replace captains. They test this device aboard the USS Enterprise, which if successful will lead to the early retirement of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). However, the computer is riddled with bad code, which leads to an outcome that goes horribly wrong beyond just bad run-time errors.
11) The General in The Prisoner, “The General” (1967, ITV)
Interestingly, for a series that went to great lengths to look at the “surveillance state,” there were very few instances of computers being used as tools for control; perhaps creator and star Patrick McGoohan thought a HUMINT-based analysis system would favor better stories. In this instance, though, the General is part of a plot to test a speed learning class that supposedly gives participants an entire university course’s worth of materials in a single evening. Number 6, realizing that the device could be perverted to be used to supplant subliminal messages, takes a stand against the latest Number 2’s (Colin Gordon) plot, making this round of the Village-against-Number 2 a win for the individual.
12) DJ-61 in The Monkees, “Monkee vs Machine” (1966, NBC)
Tasked with trying to get a job to keep the group afloat, Peter Tork applies for a job that’s listed as not requiring experience; however, he fails the interview with the computer personnel director, DJ-61. Mike Nesmith soon overcomes the machine with a few logic puzzles, after which the Monkees deal with the real villain of the episode, Mr. Daggert (Stan Freberg), a man who trusts machines over humans every time at the toy company he works at. Which, actually, is a lot closer to the truth in terms of who the real villains tend to be when it comes to automation.
13) Mark 502-741, aka “Agnes” in The Twilight Zone, “From Agnes-With Love” (1964, CBS)
Of all the nightmares this anthology series evoked, the mad computer was used somewhat sparingly compared to other threats. What makes “Agnes” stand out is her having a very personal agenda: Rather than run the world, she just wants the love of one of her programmers. To that end, recognizing his ineptitude with the other sex, she feeds him bad data in order to ruin his chances with a rival, a human female, and thus fall for her. What Agnes sees in this man, James Elwood (Wally Cox), will probably forever remain a mystery, one of those unanswered questions the series loved to leave hanging over you when the episode ended.
14) EMERAC in Desk Set (1957, 20th Century Fox)
Surprisingly, this early comedy featuring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn may have the most accurate portrayal of a computer run amuck and the damage it can cause out of any of these examples; the folks at the TV network that fear the loss of their jobs when the computer is installed have their fears confirmed when a GIGO error leads to a horrible misunderstanding that’s ultimately played for laughs. While there’s a lot of pent-up tension that’s allowed to dissipate, the portrayal of what can happen when the machine runs amuck matches very closely to what can be expected in the real world when computers make mistakes on a grand scale.
These are but representative samples of the machines we met on screen. Yes, there was a lot more fear and concern about them in the years before Siri became a constant companion and a celebrity in her own right, which may have more to do with the fact that in the early days of the Information Age, computers were presences that were far away that most of us never engaged with directly. It’s only after we got to know the machines more that these sets of fears started to fade away.
Not realizing that when the machines got to know us more, that we’d have a whole new set of worries to deal with…
Do you have a favorite onscreen computer not listed here? Let us know in the comments… human.
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Elizabeth Shorten