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rip-off of 'Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)'

posted 9 years ago by TheTerminatorsky
8 replies | jump to latest

Give me a break with Harlan Ellison suing JC over his 'Outer Limits' episodes.
The Terminator is clearly ripped off from 'Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)' if anything.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064177/?ref_=tt_rec_tt

"Colossus begins to give its plans for the management of the world under its guidance. Forbin and the other scientists form a technological resistance to Colossus which must operate underground."

whomever wrote the book/script of the movie should sue JC. No time travel here, but still too similar.

[–] DrWhen 9 years ago

They would lose on prior art. The "AI Revolt" is a scifi subgenre.

[–] greg-233 9 years ago

I've read the novel Colossus but I haven't seen the film. The author of the novel, D.F. Jones, died three years before The Terminator came out.

[–] TheTerminatorsky 9 years ago

Too bad. Could've been a solid lawsuit.
If Ellison's claim was flimsy, but he won, imagine a total copy.
Reminds me of the 'Roots' book lawsuit which Alex Haley lost.

I have 'Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)' in my Vudu, so will watch it for similarities.

[–] ObscureAuteur 8 years ago

The Terminator is not a serious rip-off of Ellison, Colossus or anything. Some of these ideas are just out there, legitimate common property of SF writing, by the time of this movie. You can find computers with plans for dominating man way back in Philip K. Dick short stories in the 1950's just to name one source. No time travel in those, but that is just a matter of recipe design.

CB

Good Times, Noodle Salad

[–] persen1 8 years ago

Even the old Star Trek show had a couple of episodes, where it is about an intelligent computer, that is controlling people and have them do what it wants them to do:

Season 1: The Return of the Archons
Season 1: A Taste of Armageddon
Season 2: The Apple
Season 3: For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

A mix and match of these episodes and you pretty much have an intelligent computer, who takes control of an entire planet, kills those considered uncontrollable and then have the rest fall in line and do what ever it demands.
One could even claim that the idea for the Colossus movie, came from watching Star Trek.

[–] avortac4 (3752) 3 years ago

Doesn't EVERY show in existence have an episode where a 'computerized building has gone mad'?

MacGyver sure has one, so does X-Files.

I mean, these 'computers become self-aware and murder people' ideas are a dime a dozen, there's nothing unique about any of this. Heck, even Dilbert (the cartoon show) had this idea, and it's kind of wild and cringy how the computer is voiced by Jerry Seinfeld of all people.

I am sure you can find this idea all over the place, if you bother to look. Heck, the old 'Battlestar Galactica' from the seventies had A.I. threatening humanity, and then there's the witty, joke-craking 'K.I.T.T.' of the 'Knight Rider' .. and we don't even have to talk about 'The Matrix', which always seemed a bit of a rip-off of 'The Terminator (1984)' in my opinion.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] greg-233 8 years ago

Even in The Simpsons we're reminded that everything's been done before. Like when the Comic Book Guy is photocopying a screenplay and thinks Homer is watching him:

Comic Book Guy: Question: is your name Ridley Scott or James Cameron?

Homer: No, it's Homer.

Comic Book Guy: Well then, I would thank you to stop peering at my screenplay, Homer. And if I see a movie where computers threaten our personal liberties, I will know that you stole my idea.

Homer: I'm just waiting for my kid. (Thinking) Mental note: Steal his idea.