Demon Seed (1977)

A chilling prescient and deceptively complex sci-fi thriller of a film

Directed by Donald Cammell
Produced by Herb Jaffe
Screenplay by Robert Jaffe, Roger O. Hirson
Based on novel, “Demon Seed” by Dean Koontz
Music by Jerry Fielding
Cinematography: Bill Butler
Edited by Francisco Mazzola
Production companies: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Herb Jaffe Productions
Distributed by United Artists (United States), Cinema International Corporation (International)
Running time: 94 minutes
Box office: $2 million

Cast

Julie Christie as Susan Harris
Fritz Weaver as Alex Harris
Gerrit Graham as Walter Gabler
Berry Kroeger as Petrosian
Lisa Lu as Soon Yen
Larry J. Blake as Cameron
John O'Leary as Royce
Alfred Dennis as Mokri
Davis Roberts as Warner
Patricia Wilson as Mrs. Trabert
E. Hampton Beagle as Night Operator
Michael Glass as Technician #1
Barbara O. Jones as Technician #2
Dana Laurita as Amy
Monica MacLean as Joan Kemp
Harold Oblong as Scientist
Georgie Paul as Housekeeper
Michelle Stacy as Marlene
Tiffany Potter as Baby
Felix Silla as Baby
Robert Vaughn as voice of Proteus IV

Film Clip

A human has created

a machine…

Now the machine

wants to create

a human!

*********

“A beautiful woman…

A master computer…

The most shocking act

Of creation ever imagined!!”

*********

A woman...

imprisoned

and

forcibly impregnated

by an

artificially intelligent computer!

“Fear for her!!!!”

Read on for more.....

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

An over-looked, underrated but very frightening Cold War sci-fi thriller containing a relevant warning about the danger of allowing our technology to rule us 

Directed by Joseph Sargent
Produced by Stanley Chase
Screenplay by James Bridges
Based on the novel “Colossus” by Dennis Feltham Jones
Music by Michel Colombier
Cinematography: Gene Polito
Edited by Folmar Blangsted
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Running time: 100 minutes

Cast

Eric Braeden as Dr. Charles Forbin
Susan Clark as Dr. Cleo Markham
Gordon Pinsent as the President
William Schallert as CIA Director Grauber
Leonid Rostoff as the Russian Chairman
Georg Stanford Brown as Dr. John F. Fisher
Willard Sage as Dr. Blake
Alex Rodine as Dr. Kuprin
Martin E. Brooks as Dr. Jefferson J. Johnson
Marion Ross as Angela Fields
Dolph Sweet as the Missile Commander
Byron Morrow as the Secretary of State
Paul Frees as the voice of Colossus/Guardian
Sid McCoy as the Secretary of Defense
James Hong as Dr. Chin

Who the Hell’s HAL 9000? 

Proteus IV – There’s the door! 

We’re not playing "WarGames” here! 

Skynet – Shmynet! 

Get ready for…… 

COLOSSUS!!! 

Official Trailer

Read on for more......

Sci-Fi Stories That Inspired Classic Sci-Fi Films: “Colossus” by DF. Jones (1966)

“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!”

Move over HAL!!! 

Get ready Terminator & Skynet!!!! 

For, here comes…….

COLOSSUS!!!!!!

Colossus: The Forbin Project is a 1970 American science fiction film from Universal Pictures, produced by Stanley Chase, directed by Joseph Sargent, that stars Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, and William Schallert.

The film is based upon the 1966 science fiction novel, Colossus by Dennis Feltham Jones. The story involves a supercomputer named Colossus that controls the United States' military defense system. After being given full control, Colossus becomes sentient and goes beyond its programming by linking with a similar Soviet system called Guardian.

Having control of both superpowers’ nuclear missile arsenal, Colossus is in a position to force peace upon the world on its own terms. Our every move and our very fate is in now in the hands of a machine. Colossus has purloined our cherished theory of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ and applied it as a way achieving that crazy Cold War theory’s implicit aim!

The growth of artificial intelligence and our concerns over its possible outcomes make this film both timely and relevant despite the passage of time and, in some viewers' minds, its feeling of being somewhat dated. The story is in fact quite prescient in terms of the way artificial intelligence and its purposes and uses have become a kind of Pandora's box that could unleash a whole raft of unforeseen consequences upon humanity.

Colossus was given the task of avoiding nuclear Armageddon and achieving world peace, freedom from hunger and disease. Fine! But in order to achieve that objective, what steps would need to be taken? What consequences could arise and for whom? What would be the end result? Failure to ask the right questions could result in a fate that is distinctly Orwellian.

The film adaptation of Jones’s story is very good, containing as it does a pleasing mix of intelligence, humour, satire and drama. The book version explores the makeup of the characters associated with the Project more thoroughly, as well as the contentious relationship between Forbin and the US President. The appearance and personality of the latter comes across quite differently to the film version's president who seems to be somewhat Kennedyesque.

I fully recommend reading DF Jones’ novel and viewing the film version. You might also like to read Jones’ The Fall Of Colossus, and Colossus And The Crab.

Colossus PDF read

Colossus by DF Jones (Borrow)

Movie Script

Full Film Link

CBC Radio Drama Download