How to Explain Your Unusual Tastes

Just FYI, I will be taking next week off. There will be no Out Of Context comic Thursday, or fresh comic the following Monday, but after that we'll be back to normal. Thanks! Now, on to the commentary.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead, for a 50 year old movie that you would have a hard time finding somewhere to watch, even if you wanted to.

The movie in question is Colossus: The Forbin Project. It’s slow and it’s weird, and it ends on a massive bummer, but I love it.

In Colossus: The Forbin Project, (and, yes, I am going to insist on repeating the entire title, “Colossus: The Forbin Project.”) the United States hands over control of its nuclear arsenal to a super computer called Colossus, created by a doctor named (rustles papers) Forbin. Of course, the computer immediately starts trying to take over the world. At first it looks like it’s going to succeed with little effort, but in the end …

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Last chance to avoid the spoilers!

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In the end, the computer succeeds and takes over the world, with little effort.

It’s not even ambiguous. The computer does everything but shout, “Checkmate, bitches!” If they made the movie now, I suspect it would.

There’s no note of hope at the end, just a bit of defiance when Forbin tells Colossus, which by then has changed its name to “World Control” that we will never stop resenting it. Not resisting mind you. Resenting. That’s it, the closest thing to a victory, unless you’re rooting for the computer, which, I kinda do.

Recently, I was talking to the real Rick, and mentioned that Missy had heard all about Colossus: The Forbin Project, and has no interest in seeing it. His actual response was, and I quote, “What?! Why not?! It’s a beautiful movie! Nothing at all happens!”

There’s a game I sometimes play with myself that can make a less-than-stellar movie more enjoyable, but it works better with an old movie. If there are actors who later became more famous for other roles, I like to pretend that this movie is a prequel, showing that those characters did in their earlier lives. In the case of Colossus: The Forbin Project, Doctor Forbin’s team of skilled scientists and technicians includes Marion Cunningham (The Mom from Happy Days), Katherine Papadopolis (The Mom from Webster), and David Lo Pan (The evil wizard from Big Trouble in Little China). I think you’ll agree, that’s one heck of a team!