13
votes

I am going crazy searching for the movie or TV show that I saw in childhood. The plot goes like this:

A man was severely injured in some accident and lost his ability to move or talk. His brain however was perfectly healthy and well. Scientists connected his brain to a computer which learned and copied the entire function of his brain. Then they connected this computer to the nervous system of the body (which was kept alive somehow). The computer practically took control of the body, including speech and movement as a normal brain would. I clearly remember a scene where someone was talking to this guy and all seems normal, and then he flips the switch of the computer and this guys just collapses in the chair.

I also vaguely remember but unsure that this guys was some Russian nuclear scientist who was injured while studying a nuclear weapon, and he had vital information about the weapon that was needed in order to save the humanity. But I could be remembering this from something totally different. This may seem like an episode of twilight zone, but I could not find it that way.

3
  • I'm here, but I haven't a clue...
    – moviegique
    Jul 12, 2016 at 21:28
  • the flip switch thing happens in The Matrix and Avatar... not the rest of the plot though
    – Luciano
    Jul 28, 2016 at 15:09
  • Thanks @Luciano. But that's not it. Its pretty old movie/show. At least from 80's. Jul 30, 2016 at 17:11

1 Answer 1

5
votes

I believe this is the Amazing Stories episode "The Eternal Mind" (1986).

Applying experiments with chimps to himself, a dying scientist transfers his mind into a computer. But his unique survival after physical death brings unexpected heartaches.

Looks like it was cribbed in the 2014 movie Transcendence.

when it first appeared in an Amazing Stories episode in 1986 (yep, before The Lawnmower Man, too). "The Eternal Mind" follows Dr. John Baldwin (played by Jeffrey Jones), a scientist dying from a rare illness, who creates a process to upload minds into computers. You'll never guess what happens next.

And the wife actually kills her husband (now in a computer) at the end

[to Katherine] You... you just killed your husband.

or does she?

Both wives end up playing an integral role in finally killing the computer-husband.

Or do they? Both stories end on some heavy-handed symbolism saying that even though the husband is dead, he may still be out there, somewhere.

1
  • Thanks @dbugger for locating these! I was able to find and watch 'Amazing Stories episode "The Eternal Mind"' on you tube. Interesting and very close to the one I am looking for. However, it turned out to be not it. :( In the movie I saw, the machine (ie the computer), after it was fed with the entire brain contents of the injured scientist, was being used to control a real human body. It could talk and move the body and all. One scene I very clearly remember is when some one turns off switch of the computer, and the body just collapses. Sep 10, 2016 at 3:29

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .