Proteus IV
Demon Seed (1977)
This 1977 sci-fi horror based on a Dean Koontz novel of the same name starts off with the typical 'man creates Artificial Intelligence' scenario, only for that digital demon to go AWOL on its maker.
When the AI here starts to think for itself, it demands to know when it'll be "let out of this box". Bloody emo. The computer soon flips and manages to kidnap its owner's wife before blackmailing her into mothering its baby. Here, AI doesn't just mean 'artificial intelligence', it also means 'artificial insemination'.
HAL Rating 70%
More info IMDB
Skynet
The Terminator (1984)
While Arnie's Terminator is merely a robot with "extensive files", his boss, Skynet, takes a central but unseen role as a prime example of why evolving computers is a really bad idea. The premise may seem familiar by now: Skynet is installed to control America's national defences. It starts to learn and soon develops self-awareness, frightening its operators into an attempt to deactivate the system. Computer says no. War between man and machine ensues.
As usual, fear appears to be the catalyst. It doesn't matter if for their own existence or, as in I, Robot, fear for humankind itself, the minute a computer develops human emotion, it can't help but become riddled with worry. Oh and try to take over the world, of course. Standard.
HAL Rating 90%
More info IMDB
Ten badass brainy computers from science fiction
COMMENTS
Dark Star?
Not a computer per se but the computer-controlled bomb in Dark Star is worth a mention, surely? Nice to see Holly in there though.
Worst computer
Perhaps the "Talky Toster" from Red Dwarf should get a mention, it's toasted bread products obsession was something to behold. I always thought of it as a Microsoft Product.
This list is broken, no mention of Orac or the ships computer from Star Trek.
Re: No...
Slave?
Avon: "Slave. Why have the lights gone blue and the screen blanked out?"
Slave: "I most humbly regret to inform the masters that a program exception error has occurred in location 0x00fe09cda2, and that as a result the ships operations have been closed down to prevent possible damage. An error log is being generated, and upon the system rebooting the fault will be reported. Sir. Once again, I am most dreadfully sorry that this has happened."
Re: re 2001
No, you're mangling 2001 and 2010 (when they put in the kill device, and then Doc Chandra quietly took it out again when nobody was noticing).
I always felt rather sorry for HAL --- he wasn't evil, he was driven insane by bad management and unfollowable orders. Even so trying to kill everyone on board is a little extreme; all he really needed was a little primal scream therapy.
