Latest Model: 1/72 F-4J

My most recent bit of scale modelling:



I've written this up on Britmodeller.com and also commented on a thread there reviewing this kit.

A bit more background: this is quite a famous Phantom, being the one in which Randall Cunningham and William Driscoll became the US Navy's only flying aces of the Vietnam War. Their 3rd, 4th and 5th MiG shootdowns occurred in the course of one flight, which wasn't even a combat air patrol; sent on a bombing mission, they engaged North Vietnamese aircraft seeking to intercept other attacking US aircraft, and shot down two before ending up in what has become a legendary dogfight with a MiG-17. (For a long time it was believed the MiG was flown by 'Colonel Tomb', a supposed NV ace, but it's now thought he was a propaganda construct, although the pilot Cunningham engaged was no doubt very skilled.)

You might expect 'Showtime 100' to have been preserved in a museum, but in fact it survived Cunningham and Driscoll's final victory by a matter of minutes, being shot down by a surface-to-air missile as they exited the combat area. Cunningham and Driscoll ejected and were rescued, although unfortunately Cunningham has since become rather more infamous for being caught as one of the most corrupt US congressmen ever.

Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

(Warning: cut-text discussion contains spoilers up to the end of S4 of Person of Interest)

This was a Christmas present to myself, so S and I sat down to watch it last night. I've long been aware of C:TFP but had never actually seen it; my interest was reignited by seeing a comment from Jonathan Nolan that it had been one of his inspirations for Person of Interest, which we've very much enjoyed.

As S noted, C:TFP suffers a bit if you see it now by having been so influential that it's been endlessly imitated, and the plot was probably far more original and striking (at least to non-sf-readers) when it was made. War Games and The Terminator are just two films that followed in its footsteps, with Skynet's apocalyptic future arguably being a vision of what would have happened if Colossus/Guardian had followed through on its threat to offer, as an alternative to "the peace of plenty", "the peace of the unburied dead."

Some of the plot points are indeed surprisingly modern. Colossus' exponential self-development can now be seen as an early depiction of the Singularity, and it's interesting to note that this starts before Colossus is put into communication with its Soviet counterpart Guardian. The visual depiction on a map board of Colossus' attempts to re-route its blocked link to Guardian also feels surprisingly modern given the film's age, although early experiments with ARPANET had just begun. And once Colossus/Guardian begins its constant surveillance of Dr Forbin, its point-of-view shots are clear inspiration for those of The Machine in PoI.

So, given the influence of C:TFP on PoI, are there any pointers going forward for the latter?

( SPOILERS for Seasons 3 and 4 of PoI )