Gog

General Information:

Year Released: 1954 Director: Herbert L. Strock IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0047033

Movie poster from Gog.

Gog features a top-secret underground facility (akin to Andromeda Strain's Wildfire) that is controlled by a supercomputer. The computer has been sabotaged by the Russians, who have reprogrammed it to kill many of the facility's personnell.

The Promise of Science: Computers

Gog is one of the first science fiction films where the computer plays a central role. It is enormous, occupying a large space in an underground top-secret military base. Humans speak to it with punched paper, and it responds using a vast array of blinking lights. This computer, like nearly all science fiction film computers, is far more powerful than computers were at the time the film was made. Its function is to control the military base. In many science fiction films where the computer plays a central role, conflict is centered around a problem with the machine. Gog is no different. The supercomputer is sabotaged by the Russians, who alter its program, causing it to turn on its human makers. This film embodies the cold war paranoia that was so strong during this time. It also expresses common fears about giving too much responsibility or power to a machine.

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