Top ten evil computers

AnonymousThu 1 November, 2007 12:14pm

LOL Superman III thta scene scared the bejezus out of me when I was a kid.

What about the bad computer guy in Tron?

AnonymousThu 1 November, 2007 12:16pm

Queeg is the best, Red Dwarf rules. 'Wheeze of the week, mate!'

Jonathan WilsonThu 1 November, 2007 2:17pm

What, no MCP?

Oh wait, the MCP was just a program and not an actual computer per se :)

WilliamThu 1 November, 2007 6:16pm

How quickly they forget! What about _Colossus_ (the book, 1966) or _Colossus:The Forbin Project_ (the movie, 1970) that features Colossus, the original Defense Department computer in charge of the U.S. nuclear arsenal gone wrong, pre-dating _The Terminator_ by a decade and a half.

Deano186Fri 2 November, 2007 10:46pm

Colosus. I still remember how it ordered all the people capable of interfering with its plans lined up and shot in front of a video camera so it could watch them for a LONG time and make sure they were really dead. I saw the movie once, decades ago and I still remember that.

AnonymousThu 1 November, 2007 6:23pm

What about SHODAN? From System Shock 1 & 2?

AnonymousThu 1 November, 2007 6:40pm

Come on, you forgot WOPR in war games, VIKI in i, and finally a program called the Matrix.

AnonymousThu 1 November, 2007 7:55pm

How is The Matrix not on this list. It only enslaved the entire human race. I haven't heard of half these movies.

Schatten TeufelThu 1 November, 2007 11:13pm

Indeed, there seem t be a few machines overlooked on this list. MCP, for one. I went around for days after seeing TRON ending all of my sentences with "End Of Line." (until my friends & family advised me of how annoying that was).
"Deus Ex Machina" from The Matrix was also pretty mean.
The Red Queen from Resident Evil was pretty nasty...
And of course, how can you forget Neuromancer & Wintermute? The two AIs from Gibson's "Neuromancer"

...and so many others!

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 4:24am

Damn, you guys threw the word 'hubris' around like candy. Nice touch, but c'mon, don't write an article solely on the fact you know the word.

Queeg388Fri 2 November, 2007 8:53am

I missed the introduction of the Queeg 500 supercomputer but arrived at the almost the same name for myself for the same reasons. Like the original Queeg of Caine Mutiny fame, a control freak from hell.

X-rayFri 2 November, 2007 12:25pm

What about the most evil computer of all AM from "I have no mouth and must screem" by Harlan Elison. Anyone that has read it has not forgoten it.

JerryFri 2 November, 2007 2:01pm

WHAT?? No Collossus from "The Forbin Project" (both a book and movie)

"This is the voice of world control."

One of the most CHILLING vocoder voices on screen....

IgnatioFri 2 November, 2007 2:47pm

The Krell computer from the movie Forbidden Planet.

ShakerFri 2 November, 2007 2:48pm

All good choices but I vote for Hactar - a real nasty piece of work which is chronicled in Douglas Adams "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Nothing like trying to coerce a planet's inhabitants to lay ruin to the Universe! Fun times!

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 3:51pm

Hello?? Red Queen from the first Resident Evil movie anyone?

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 3:51pm

What about Colossus-The Forbin Project?

ShakerFri 2 November, 2007 4:19pm

All good choices but I vote for Hactar - a real nasty piece of work which is chronicled in Douglas Adams "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Nothing like trying to coerce a planet's inhabitants to lay ruin to the Universe! Fun times!

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 4:30pm

You've left out "Omnius" from Frank Herbert's Dune. Although you might just be aiming for the movies, in which case, the ones you posted cover the board.

UbuFri 2 November, 2007 4:44pm

This list shld have been put to a vote. Neither Colossus or Guardian are listed. Only three: HAL Nomad and Skynet are shoo-ins. Re-do.

END OF LINE

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 5:28pm

Uhhhh.... how about KARR from Knight Rider? He needed to get the pole removed from his tailpipe, that's for sure.

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 5:44pm

How does one compile a list of evil computers that does not include Shodan? That comptuer was more evil, twisted and methodical than most of the other "evil" computers here! I am shocked...

WeaklyFri 2 November, 2007 6:04pm

Don't forget Mantrid from LEXX -- he harnessed the real power of a botnet and used his self-replicating drones to DESTROY THE UNIVERSE! Mantrid commanded his drones to create an army from literally every piece of matter from moons, planets and at one point a star, to finally bring their ranks to roughly 10^26 bots. Talk about strength in numbers!

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 7:06pm

Yeah, you definitely forgot the Matrix...........also you picked the Terminators over Skynet? Even though Skynet was controlling the terminators...........weird? Skynet is software that runs on.......................COMPUTERS!

RyanFri 2 November, 2007 7:11pm

I cannot believe Shodan is not on this list.

MichaelFri 2 November, 2007 7:15pm

Colossus of the The Forbin Project was totally robbed!

Fernando R.Fri 2 November, 2007 7:18pm

Edgar, from the movie Electric Dreams comes to mind. Besides being a bad ass computer, it hooked me to computers ever since. Bought my first computer, a commodore 64 after watching it. :-)

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 8:16pm

Any computer running Windows 3.10 could have come in the top 5. Is there anything more evil than the BSoD?

LGMachineFri 2 November, 2007 8:21pm

KARR from Knight Rider is not on the list. Are you kidding?!?!

JimFri 2 November, 2007 8:57pm

Maximillian, The Black Hole.

While neither are specifically evil, I also chime in props for WOPR and Edgar. If "computer" encompasses "android", then you should also have Lor from Star Trek, TNG, and maybe Roy from Blade Runner, although again I don't know that I would specifically classify him as evil. You could also chuck in the Borg, or the Borg Queen. Could you get away with including Starscream? He's a robot/computer and in the mostly black and white world of children's television he would clearly be classified as "evil", and also "crazy". Omicron maybe? I guess the list is "Top Ten", but it would be interesting to hear those that were considered but didn't make the cut.

andrewFri 2 November, 2007 9:47pm

Master Computer from Tron needed to make this list

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 10:39pm

There is an episode of the podcast top of the pods about this!

DavidFri 2 November, 2007 10:42pm

GLADos from Portal is definitely the best - she is soooo funny. "Remember the time when we pretended we were going to murder you..."

AnonymousFri 2 November, 2007 11:07pm

Does anyone remember that HAL was just one brick (char) short of a full load? H.A.L. + 1 letter = I.B.M.

Jerrad HermannFri 2 November, 2007 11:48pm

The lack of SHODAN from System Shock and the MCP from Tron invalidates this list.

RAMDOSSat 3 November, 2007 12:09am

Interesting that all these are FICTIONAL - our worst nightmare is that we created them, and then they harm us. But there are many REAL examples (let's catalog THESE) which we have created and are doing humanity enormous harm, specifically: CORPORATIONS. We created them, gave them access to our political and economic systems, and now they are poisoning our air and water and food supply, and killing us every day. They are real computers with no soul and one simple program: PROFIT at any cost.

AnonymousSat 3 November, 2007 12:19am

you forgot about Colossus the Forbin project. that sucker was a royal pain to.

AnonymousSat 3 November, 2007 12:34am

AM from "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison. That's an evil computer.

bikerackSat 3 November, 2007 1:22am

How about the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica? A race of machines out to destroy humanity would seem to be in the top 10.

HenrySat 3 November, 2007 3:17am

Historians will point to Deep Blue's 1997 win over world chess champion Gary Kasparov as the beginning of the end.

AnonymousSat 3 November, 2007 5:18am

What about Colossus you ignorant cretin.

AnonymousSat 3 November, 2007 6:08pm

Definitely AM from "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". Its only direct statement says it all....

""Hate, let me tell you how much I've come to hate you since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of wafer thin printed circuits that fill my complex. If the word hate was engraved on every nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for humans at this micro-instant. For you. Hate. HATE."

AnonymousSat 3 November, 2007 9:11pm

what about AM from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream. It was made of pure evil!

RBynumSun 4 November, 2007 1:08am

It is good to see so many remember AM from I have no mouth and I must Scream.
Must be 30+ years since I read that and it still chills me. Thanks for reminding me about that.

JohnMon 5 November, 2007 9:34am

What about that robot from that really cheesy Kirk Douglas B-Movie, with Harvey Kietel.

Ahh that's what it was Saturn 3, god that was funny ;-)

MatthewMon 5 November, 2007 6:49pm

Another vote for AM from "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". That story still disturbs me to this day! Some of these other choice are really lightweights!

AnonymousMon 5 November, 2007 9:23pm

What about the computer that trapped Julie Christie in her home and got her pregnant in the "Demon Seed:

AnonymousTue 6 November, 2007 2:12pm

What about Ash from "Alien"? He wasn't very nice. A robot and powered by computer, he's the one that let the critter on board the Nostromo in the first place.

riffraffTue 6 November, 2007 4:38pm

Eh, what about P-1, the computer from Thomas J. Ryan's "The Adolescence of P-1?" While not exclusively evil, P-1 was probably no more (or less) evil than HAL. Great book, so-so movie.

AnonymousTue 6 November, 2007 5:44pm

Gotta agree with the above posters. Colossus was one of the best AI movies of all time. Not only that, but it doesn't have a happy ending!! THAT voice was scarier than HAL and Proteus combined in my opinion.

AnonymousTue 6 November, 2007 6:47pm

You have forgotten the Central Computer in Tron

AnonymousWed 7 November, 2007 3:56pm

Ehh what about Blaine from the dark tower series..he's a evil super-computer controllated train!

Rich TrenholmThu 8 November, 2007 9:35am

Thanks for all your suggestions, evil computer fans! Points were awarded for things like dodgy acronyms, overweaning arrogance, body count, and having a funny voice. We generally avoided evil robots and evil cars. Collossus was indeed a tough one to leave out, and probably would have made it if it had only sung a song. An evil song...

AnonymousMon 19 November, 2007 8:03pm

I agree with allot of the comments here. This list is made of FAIL. Ok so it has HAL, Skynet, and GlaDOS, all good, but it misses MCP from Tron, SHODAN from System Shock, and Durandal from Marathon. These three are all top ten material, probably top three.

" I've twice been conquered-
Three times more,
Never again shall humanity purge me,
And never the Pfhor."
-Durandal

BlakeneyMon 19 November, 2007 10:42pm

There was a tv-movie in the late 70's or early 80's I think. It had Farrah Faucett and maybe Kirk Doublas in it? They were alone on some kind of space station and Kirk had created this very strong, very dangerous computer/robot that developed a way-more-than-friendly interest in Farrah and was out to kill Kirk. I forget the name of the movie, but I remember the robot (time to go turn more lights on).

Evil Computer Ed.Tue 11 December, 2007 4:33pm

@Blakeney: That would be Saturn 3, also starring Harvey Keitel.

AnonymousFri 14 December, 2007 2:11pm

Darth Vadar count?

AnonymousFri 21 December, 2007 5:09pm

Some one's that I think rank pretty high (higher than others on the list):
- The MCP from Tron (Very nice and evil)
- The MATRIX computer (hey, enslaiving humanity to power itself, nice touch)
- The computer from Logan's Run (how can you not be impressed with a computer that kills everyone over 30 years old and makes it a spectator sport?)
- The hive queen from Resident Evil (so efficient at killing everyone inside the hive)
- Collossis (was a terrifying cold computer and I think inspired many of the one's on this list.)

Queeg was a CLASSIC episode, but wasn't actually a computer just a joke so not really a computer was it? And while it was strict I don't see how it could compare to any of the one's I listed above even if it was real.

AnonymousTue 15 January, 2008 9:19am

Red Queen? Nah. She might look evil but she is not evil. Actually what she did was the only logical course of action available given the lethality and uber properties of the T-Virus. As a matter of fact, if Umbrella had not breached the Hive after the contamination, the world would not be screwed up.

AnonymousThu 21 February, 2008 11:52pm

that was Saturn 3, also Harvey Keitel. It was horrible.

AnonymousFri 28 March, 2008 8:19pm

and where is SHODAN? this list sucks!