A WOPR

One flick that owes a direct debt to Colossus: The Forbin Project (and, like Colossus, to Dr. Strangelove and Fail-Safe) is the still-likeable WarGames, John Badham's 1983 favorite of human intelligence vs. supercomputer, the technological generation gap, and the constant jitters of the people in command.

Reported in 2005 as WarGames 2: The Deadly Key, then WarGames: The Dead Game, the sequel is now being called WarGames: The Dead Code and prepped for a 2007 direct-to-video release. Stuart Gillard (TMNT III) directs, with writing from Rob Kerchner (Bloodfist IV, V, VI, VII, The Unborn II, Caged Heat II) and Randall Badat.

The flick stars Matt Lanter (of Heroes and extensive TV work) and Nicolas Wright, both of whom have done work in the recent Fictionalized True Story Golf Drama subgenre: Lanter in 2004's Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius and Wright in 2005's The Greatest Game Ever Played. Also appearing are Colm Feore and the curiously named Maxim Roy.

A computer game spinoff was a natural for WarGames, arriving for the ColecoVision in 1984. Subsequent computer and PlayStation versions followed down the road, though the most successful version has been DEFCON, a recent PC hit with similar global thermonuclear gameplay.