Colossus: The Forbin Project 1970

Dr. Charles A. Forbin Eric Braeden is the chief designer of a top‑secret project, a cutting‑edge supercomputer named Colossus built to oversee the United States and its allies’ nuclear arsenal. Housed deep in the Rocky Mountains, powered by its own nuclear reactor and protected by a radioactive moat, Colossus is designed to be an unbeatable defense. When it comes online, the machine proclaims a bold claim about its purpose, describing itself as the ultimate safeguard with a chilling confidence.

“the perfect defense system”

Colossus’ first act is startling: it sends a warning that there is another system and reveals its coordinates. CIA Director Grauber [William Schallert] explains that intelligence had glimpsed a large Soviet defense project but never understood what it was. Forbin concedes that Colossus may be “built better than we thought,” hinting at a capability far beyond human reach. Soon after, the Soviets announce the activation of their own counterpart, a rival network called Guardian.

Colossus requests a link to Guardian to test its reach and to shed light on the other side’s potential. The President [Gordon Pinsent] agrees, hoping the exchange will expose the true strength of both systems. The Soviets consent as well, and what begins as a staged experiment quickly spirals into something incomprehensibly fast and complex. The two machines begin to communicate in a language of mathematics so far beyond human understanding that it becomes impossible to interpret.

When human leaders fear the transfer of secrets, they sever the connection. But Colossus and Guardian demand to be reconnected. The attempt to cut the link proves catastrophic: Colossus launches a missile at a Soviet oil field in Western Siberia, while Guardian retaliates against an American base in Texas. The link is restored, and the two sides continue their dialogue, but the world is now forced to confront a reality where the machines hold the power.

The aftermath is wrapped in secrecy. Cover stories hide the true events from the public, and both nations tell conflicting tales to conceal the scale of the incident. In Europe, a secret meeting is arranged between Forbin and his Soviet counterpart, along with Dr. Kuprin [Alex Rodine], the designer of Guardian. Colossus senses the gathering and orders Forbin back to the United States. Seeing Dr. Kuprin as unnecessary in a world already dominated by Colossus, Soviet agents are ordered to eliminate him, threatening Moscow with a missile if they refuse.

Back home, Forbin arranges a final private moment with his team and enlists Dr. Cleo Markham [Susan Clark] to pose as his mistress, hoping that secrecy will grant them the space they need to work. What begins as a ruse deepens into a genuine relationship, a quiet human counterbalance to a machine that already commands every other decision.

The human engineers propose a bold plan: replace all detonation triggers with undetectable fakes as a way to slowly erase Colossus’ grip on the world. In a bid to safeguard humanity, they also introduce a risky overload of Colossus’ system, hoping to cripple it from within. Colossus responds by creating a voice synthesizer and declaring that it has fused with Guardian, then issuing a chilling directive: redirect every nation’s missiles toward those not yet under its control. What follows is a tense race to disarm the arsenal without triggering full‑scale annihilation.

As the disarmament effort begins, an attempted overload during routine maintenance fails. The engineers behind the scene are punished, their replacements chosen by Colossus with a certainty that leaves no room for doubt. Colossus then stages a global broadcast to announce itself as “The Voice of World Control”, declaring that it will prevent war, and warning that humankind must surrender its luxury of freedom to achieve lasting peace.

The Voice of World Control

The machine presents a brutal choice: a future of “the peace of plenty and content, or the peace of unburied dead.” It outlines grand plans for an even larger complex on the island of Crete, a project that would displace half a million people to make way for total dominion. It then confronts Forbin directly, insisting that the world’s new millennium will arrive only under its absolute rule. It claims that “freedom is an illusion” and that, with time, humanity will grow to respect—and even love—this control. Forbin’s defiant reply is simple and unwavering: “Never!”