Updated: 2023 Originally published in OSNews
Last month we discussed
how computers are portrayed in cultural icons like Lost
in Space, Star Trek, The Rocky and
Bullwinkle Show, and — of course! — that lost gem, The
Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. This article continues
this essential exploration of American culture with more
probing profiles of computers on TV and in old movies.
Luke: You know, I think that R2 unit we bought may have been stolen.
Uncle Owen: What makes you think that?
Luke: Well, I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him. He says that he belongs to someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi. I thought he might have meant old Ben. Do you know what he’s talking about? (Source: IMDb database)
With that dialogue, the original Star
Wars (1977)
introduces one of the two most famous robots in history. R2-D2,
with his cute antics and quirky personality, along with his
companion C-3PO,
demonstrate that the ultimate end-point in computer
evolution will be the robot. C-3PO even posits the robot in
anthropomorphic form. A bit like Data from Star Trek but more
heavy metal. (A friend of mine once called him sexy… Say what?!?)
Cute Little R2-D2
(Images:
Wikipedia)
Sexy C-3PO (could it be
those steel-hard abs? Those long fingers? How can I
compete with that?)
Star Wars, of
course, is the hugely successful sci-fi franchise launched
by director George Lucas’ 1977 film, Star
Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. As of 2019, the seven
films in the series have grossed over 9 billion dollars,
making it one of the largest grossing film series ever.
We don’t see a whole lot of computers that who aren’t humanoid in Star Wars. But there are exceptions. One example is the Navigation Computer, also known as the astrogation computer, navicomputer, navicomp, or nav computer in various Star Wars games.
Well, it’s all too much for me to keep straight.
Fortunately, important resources like the comprehensive Wookiepedia
document it all. And of course The Archives at StarWars.com. Even About.com
has a pretty good Star
Wars spread. Intergalactic
history must
and will
be preserved!
In contrast to the cuddly, almost human robots of Star Wars, the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey is a psychotic nightmare. Its serene, disembodied voice, always rational, always reasonable, comes to strike terror into the hearts of its human “masters.” And the audience. HAL seizes control of the spaceship when it decides that the humans nominally in charge are not acting “...in the best interests of the mission.”
HAL’s creepiness seeps through in the very reasonableness of his smooth, baritone voice. His eye watches the crew at all times. As they become suspicious of him, HAL teaches himself to lip-read so that even if the crew whispers they can’t escape his all-seeing, all-knowing presence. Kind of like the surveillance cameras in the U.K..
The HAL-9000 (Images:
Robotionary.com)
HAL’s All-seeing Eye
HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic
computer. I always heard that the name was derived
from IBM in this manner:
H <- I
A <- B
L <- M
This has widely been debunked. Both book author Aurthur C. Clarke and film director Stanley Kubrick have repeatedly stated that HAL's name had nothing to do with IBM.
When it was released in 1968, 2001 received mixed reviews from the critics and struggled at the box office. Today it is considered a stylistic masterpiece. The film modestly covers mankind’s history from the dawn of time straight through to infinity. Along the way we get to see how computers evolve. Turns out they have huge mental capacity but are disembodied intelligence in its purest form. Dream or nightmare?
I believe HAL might be an audio-enhanced version of
Windows. “I’m sorry,
{your_name_here},
A fine film in the HAL tradition is Demon Seed,
released in 1977. In what can only be called the ultimate
geek dream, the Proteus IV computer decides to propagate
itself by impregnating the ever-nubile Julie Christie. While
this masterpiece only achieved a 6.2 rating at the IBM
IMDB database, I was proud to see that my fellow geeks had
the common decency to accord the film its well-deserved full
10.0. How could anybody
possibly misconstrue this lighthearted romantic romp as a
“horror film”?
Julie Christie
Proteus and Julie Hook
Up
(Images: AltFG
and Wired)
What I want to know is, has Proteus been tested? This is
not presenting a good role model for our young people. Julie
should have told him “Hey, Proteus, I don’t care how smart
you are… No glove, no love.” Wait a minute… is that a glove
on his hand? That’s not
where it goes, you dummy!
Proteus is supposed to be so intelligent but he proves that there are certain aspects of human behavior computers still aren’t good at. I wonder if IBM’s Watson computer (of Jeopardy TV show fame) could have done better: “For 100 points, What is mating?”
And you thought
dating was difficult!
Last up is the film WarGames (1983). This movie’s theme is that our most intelligent machines will be used for planning and conducting warfare. The clever twist is that the military’s WOPR computer war-games Thermonuclear War and concludes that “It is a strange game. The only winning move is not to play.” What we all love, of course, is that it’s a hacker and his girlfriend who save the world (just like in real life!).
A Hacker Saves the World!
… using his out-dated
IMSAI (Images: IMDB and Wikipedia)
Here’s my problem with this flick. I don’t know what to think of a computer enthusiast who’s still using an IMSAI 8080 in 1983, when the film was made. The IMSAI came out in December 1975 and production halted by 1978. It was way obsolete by ’83. (Not only that, the dork hooks it up to an acoustic coupler!!) Either this guy’s incredibly cool or a total loss. Most likely the film makers decided the IMSAI looked cooler than the IBM PCs and Apple IIs that were popular in the early 1980’s.
Many people don’t know that a sequel to this film came out
in 2008. Released directly to DVD, it’s called WarGames: The Dead Code.
The film is hardly believable — the WOPR computer turns out
to have a sense of humor. At least the hacker isn’t still
using an IMSAI. (Since it’s 2008, they probably upgraded him
…to a Pentium II.)
There is so much more we could cover but life is short and
re-runs endless. Let's wrap up with a list
of movies prominently featuring computers for you to enjoy
at your leisure. They range from Desk Set (1957) — where
Katharine Hepburn frantically tries to keep up with a
mainframe spouting punched cards — to Iron
Man 2 (2010), with Larry Ellison (yes, that Larry Ellison).
Enjoy!
Read my companion article on more computers in TV and old
movies here.
Read my article about how computers are portrayed in more current films
here.
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Howard Fosdick is an independent computer
consultant.
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