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In reply to the discussion: Best Movie Villians of all time.. [View all]PJMcK
(21,859 posts)Although the HAL 9000 computer was sentient, it's grossly unfair to call it a villain because its acts of violence were the result of human mis-programming. It did what it had to in order to unify wildly conflicting programs. Real villains are terribly evil, power-hungry, dangerous and greedy. HAL was none of those things. True villains are represented by people like Osama bin Laden, Al Capone, Bernie Madoff and Donald Trump.
HAL was aware that the discovery of the Tycho Monolith on the Moon meant that there was extra-terrestrial life in the Universe. It was aware that this was top secret information that, when revealed, would cause worldwide disruption socially, philosophically and politically. Additionally, it was aware of the radio signal the Monolith sent in the direction of Jupiter, (Saturn in the novelization). It was aware that the scientists in suspended animation aboard Discovery were specialists in alien life and had trained to search for it. Discovery's two astronauts didn't know any of this and HAL was programmed to keep it hidden from them.
This programming error manifested itself by creating cognitive dissonance in HAL's mind such that it had to cover for its lies to the astronauts. In order to complete its greater mission, (going to Jupiter (Saturn) to discover the origin of the Monolith), it had to rid itself of the humans who would know of the computer's deception.
To isolate the astronauts from Earth, (HAL's "conscience" ), HAL created a false mechanical problem with the AE-35 unit that controlled the large dish antenna that served as the communications link to mission control. That way, HAL could be out of touch with Earth, kill the humans, create a cover story and still execute its primary programming of discovery.
The biggest problem with the film, which was resolved in the novel, was that when Poole was killed by HAL by hitting him with the space pod, Bowman goes after Poole in another pod without his helmet. No astronaut would ever leave their ship without their helmet! It's an unbelievable flaw in an otherwise brilliant film. Of course, Bowman's reentry to Discovery without his helmet is thrilling! In the novel, Bowman realizes HAL has opened an airlock to exhaust the oxygen and he retreats to an airtight emergency closet where he can don a space suit before disabling HAL.
Certainly you know this, Mike, and I apologize for going on about it. I've always felt that HAL was dealt a bad hand. If the space agency had simply told astronauts Poole and Bowman what their mission really was, none of the tragedy would have occurred. The concept of "need-to-know" became irrelevant the minute Discovery left Earth's orbit.
But then the story wouldn't be so dramatic!
A better evil computer can be found in the cult movie "Colossus: The Forbin Project." That's a 1970 film where an American super computer merges with a Soviet super computer to take over the world!