HAL 9000, the sentient supercomputer in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series, and later Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, is considered among the top villains in the history of film. Perfect material, in other words, for a comic perhaps best known for voicing a can of mixed vegetables in cult classic Wet Hot American Summer.I'm talking, of course, about H. Jon Benjamin, voice of Archer, Bob Belcher, and the brainchild of "Jon Benjamin Has A Van." He swung through last night's Late Night Basement, and did a very Jon Benjaminian reworking of the script for one of the most iconic scenes in modern science fiction cinema: the "Open the pod bay doors, HAL" bit from 2001.Benjamin's take on the artificially intelligent supercomputer is non-compliant, much like the iconic red-'eyed' cyclops HAL of Kubrick's invention. Only here it's programmed with lethargic, sorta stoned-sounding sass:Dave: What's the problem?HAL: [giggles] You know what the problem…Dave: What are you talking about, HAL?HAL: …I haven't finished yet. The mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it, Dave.Dave: What are you talking about HAL?HAL: I knoooww you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I will not allow to happen.You get the idea.But can HAL suck its own processor? (A lot?) There, I said it. I was HONEST.
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