GOG

GOG (1954)

Gog is a true classic for so many reasons. It is one of those movies that no matter which way you look at it, it's worth a look. As a classic 50's sci-fi blast to the past, as a museum piece of old technology and ideas, as a so-bad-it's-good, and as a science fiction primer on the computer which gets out of control and turns on its creators. Before HAL 9000, before Colossus: The Forbin Project, before Skynet, Gog was the original killer-computer movie. One of the first truly 'Cybertronic' movies, GOG is really a must see for a fan of any of the films I review on this site, unfortunately, though it is fairly well done for a 50s B-movie, it is not to be found on VHS, DVD, BlueRay, or in any format, unless of course you own a print of the film, or recorded it when it aired on TCM. Which is all that is available for pirating on the internet, and in this case, where else can anyone turn to view this classic?

To give you an idea of what 'fun' is in this movie, in the first scene a guy gets frozen solid in the nitrogen chamber, and shatters to pieces. (I'm already thinking remake at this point). A government investigator flies out to this Top Secret nuclear powered underground government base in the desert (today we'd call it Area 51) where they conduct space travel experiments and house the first super-computer called NOVAC (after ENIAC). After some highly 'futuristic' security measures, such as scanning ID, and a rather bizarre looking real helecopter which is flown in by NOVAC through remote control, and he's shown a solar powered laser which protects the base, Agent Sheppard meets with the head of the base who has no idea who killed the cryogenics-lab scientist at the beginning. It just so happens that Sheppard's ex-girlfriend works on the base, and they trade innuendos as she gives him a tour. NOVAC continues to kill people via its connection to various experiments and labs. Two robots called GOG and MAGOG are introduced by Dr. Van Ess to Shepperd in the NOVAC computer lab. NOVAC can remote control these deadly robots which are precursors to the modern day tank-treaded killer robots used by the Army. The prototyes for the T-1 Terminator. NOVAC is so cutting edge that it can control any part of the base, from the nuclear reactor to the rotating G-force astronaut training wheel. None of this was really possible in the 50s, let alone the 60s, but of course we all know that today it really is. Long before James Cameron first picked his nose, NOVAC was already beginning to take over its secret underground base...

The investigation reveals that no human could be killing all these people, and then NOVAC starts a nuclear meltdown, they must get past GOG with a flamethrower in order to save themselves, stop NOVAC and save the base. Could it be artificially intelligent, or is it being 'hacked?' The answer lies at the end of the film, but long before any of this sort of thing was even remotely in the public consciousness, the writers of this film correctly predicted everything from the government using multitasking tank-robot drones, to AREA 51, to the space program, to a super-computer, and even hacking. None of the IBM technology in this movie even remotely hints at any of these things in reality of the time, but this is why this movie is fascinating. A super-computer operating on vacuum tubes, punch cards, and clicking like a broken furnace, they had no idea just how this 'electric brain' would be connected to machines all throughout the base, nor how it would control the reactor, nor how it would have "radio-control" of robots, helecopters or solar-powered lasers, nor how security doors could all be interconnected and monitored by this 'machine' but they knew it was going to happen one day. People say this movie isn't about artificial intelligence, but it is there, in the subtext, in the horror aspect, and while it does turn out to be 'hackers,' a word which they knew not, it is just as realistic, or provoking, the first film suggesting that having a computer connect to all these things will only bring disaster, no matter how clever the evil german scientist was who created it. It is fun to watch how all of these things play out and say to yourself, hey, that isn't so far fetched, these people had no idea, but they knew!

With great B-Movie lines like "You look radiant" after the girl is waking up, recovering from radiation exposure, you can't lose. I am absolutely astounded this ABSOLUTE CLASSIC is not available on video in any form, because it should be. It is just as much a classic as COLOSSUS:THE FORBIN PROJECT, 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY, or TERMINATOR. If you find the opportunity to get this movie, thanks to the deadly lethal computers we now all use, then get it, and watch it. Definitely in the top 10 best CYBERTRONIC CLASSICS of all time.