Colossus: The Forbin Project/Silent Running [43128]

The "Encore Edition" series of laserdiscs put out some goodies and in my estimation these two films are huge in the series. Colossus: The Forbin Project is a dry but creative and entertaining film from 1970. The US still dealing with the cold war is the backdrop as a massive "ultimate computer" named Colossus is built to keep peace but ends up laying the ground rules. The film may be an acquired taste (always hated that term) but if your into the man vs. machine concept, this battle of the wits might be for you. Dr. Forbin, who creates Colossus for the US government, designs a computer that gains its own creative thought that must be stopped. The film is heavy into late sixties early seventies technology along with politico speak that brings on some head freezing silent fear. Eric Braeden plays Forbin and carries the film. There is some initially contrived sexual tension designed to fool the computer which is fun in it's own right. The film has a nice thriller pace and develops into what the pinnacle of seventies sci-fi would rarely be.

The laserdisc transfer is pristine. The contrast is even throughout. No problems with brightly lit or dark (of which there are few) scenes. Basically your looking at a film that's right out of the can with not even a flicker. The sound is solid, keeping the period of origin in mind, and strikes a cool upbeat score.

Silent Running (1971) is considered a classic by many. Starring Bruce Dern as a sullen space botanist, it's an early entry into the seventies age of conflicts with ecology. In the year 2001 (which seemed like a million years from 1971 - I remember) and good old mother Earth is too polluted to inhabit. Fortunately we saved a few strips of Earth's forests enclosed in domes way out in space. "Noah" (Dern) maintains these forests and is damn passionate about them. When these forests are scheduled for destruction, Dern kicks into protective action against bureaucracy and three cocky space "partners". You also get to see the prototype for future R2Ds (of Star Wars fame) called drones in action. Smart machines, isolation and poignantly slow visuals keep Silent Running relevant.

Picturesque is the first word coming to mind describing what the laserdisc image displays. Scenes of nature roll off the disc like a naturists documentary. Colors pop. The exterior scenes of space are inky black. Flesh tones are usually stable but there's minor wobbling here and there. Overall a clean transfer. The unique melancholy soundtrack along with Joan Baezs' haunting vocals come across sounding full and open.

Discs are numbered one through four with each film being on a different disc. This "Encore Edition" sometimes fetches a higher price than other Encore Editions .Two very good sci-fi films that put you into a 1970s theatre.

Image released Silent Running on DVD and used the widescreen LaserDisc transfer, so it wasn't anamorphic. Universal later reissued it as a beautiful special edition anamorphic DVD with some good extras. Sadly, the LaserDisc is the only release, so far, of Colossus in widescreen. The DVD is pan and scan, which butchers this film since every inch of the frame was filled. It's one of the harder LaserDisc's to find at a decent price, which to me, means less than $20 bucks with shipping.

I think there was also a P&S LD version of Silent Running on it's own which I would definitely take a pass on. I hear you on the price. I basically knew this was the definitive LD containing these two films and a good while back got a near new copy. Of course I had to open the wallet. If you can get it for 20.00 or less(which is seriously less than what I payed) grab it , it is well worth it. I've seen the Silent Running dvd and still prefer the LD.

Or you can import eureka masters of cinema edition bluray from uk for $20($10 time to time). Eureka is brtish criterion equvelant by the way

I'd have remembered that!

The closest thing to a naturist documentary in that set is the laughably contrived sex scene in The Forbin Project. It's nearly as hilarious as Jenny Agutter's line in Logan's Run: "Let's take our clothes off before they freeze" - only to put them back on two minutes later.

Forbin and Silent Running are both fine films although we have to wait until Noah's obnoxious shipmates are killed off before SR really gets going.

Thanks for the enthusiastic review.

You don't remember the slow opening credit scans of zoomed flowers in Silent Running? , NOT Colossus. The floating forests looked very good from a distance as well.

The "astro-turf" and fake shrubbery on board the ship was a cheese fest and representitive of 1970s cut corner film making. Surprisingly many of the outer space and machinery scenes look realistic. Colossus works as well, but it's a bit of a slow burn like you say Silent Running is.

I do indeed - and the Joan Baez song that goes with it.

Perhaps it's down to different version of English, but a "naturist" is something quite different over here. Hence my (silly) comments.

That makes sense, words tell the story.