computers in classic 80s movies -- yes, including WarGames :)

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.imsai.net/
http://www.imsai.net/movies/wargames.htm



...above site found from this IMDB thread:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087197/board/nest/47569700

Board: Electric Dreams (1984)
topic: Computer used in movie



-post by Duster408 (Thu Jul 6 2006 21:38:27 )
Does anyone know what the computer used in the movie was or is it a prop that didn't exist?



-post by NASCARTractor (Thu Aug 17 2006 15:57:29 )
The software looked like Commodore Basic v4 used on the Commodore PET but the system looks nothing like anything C= made. When he was setting it up the inside kind of looked like an old Apple. It could an Apple put into a prop housing running C= Basic v4. Sadly, my betamax died so I won't be able to watch the movie again until I fix it.



-post by Howard81 (Sun Aug 27 2006 04:41:07 )
the box the computer came in was from an IBM 5150 Personal Computer, but the computer is not!

It doesn't really seem like anything I have ever seen before, so I guess it was made for the film.



-post by John_Gehrken (Wed Sep 20 2006 08:32:50 )
I have a small collection of old computers and did some research into this, and it was a prop. They may have used bits and pieces of different existing computers but there was no "real" Edgar. Same thing with the software, it was all pre-made images and animations to make it look like someone was interacting with the machine.

It's been my experience that many "movie" computers of that era were just props. Even the famous IMSAI 8080 used in "WarGames", while being a real computer, was filled with junk boards to make the computer look heavily modified, and many of the accessories used in the movie were fakes (go to http://www.imsai.org / http://www.imsai.net for more info on this)

[Mr. Analog]

Some neat stuff there. Also; Robbie the Robot!