There’s two ways you can get your hands on a movie-accurate replica of the nefarious artificial intelligence HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The first — provided you have no qualms with the destruction of property and your own reputation — is smashing open the display case of cinematic tchotchkes at Planet Hollywood. The second, and comparatively least felonious, option is shelling out an honest buck for a HAL 9000 of your own. This reproduction of everyone’s favorite wall-mounted A.I. unit comes programmed with 15 chillingly calm phrases and other goodies sure to make innocuous trips across the living room into a paranoid experience!
The HAL 9000 replica is currently on sale at ThinkGeek, every adult geek’s one stop shop for frivolous spending. If you’re of the sort that needs that extra little push to buy something as brilliant as a high-quality replica of HAL 9000 — logic dictates that there aren’t many of you out there — here’s all the dirty details courtesy of ThinkGeek themselves:
This replica is based on the actual studio blueprints, for exactly perfection (even down to the original studio files for the HAL 9000 label). The HAL 9000 Life-Size Replica features a custom-ground replica, with a sticker of the writing on the Nikkor lens (in case you want your HAL to be accurate down to the close-ups). But wait, there’s so much more. Of course the HAL 9000 Life-Size Replica has a red LED eye. And of course he talks (one of 15 movie quotes, randomly cycled through). But get this: HAL 9000 also responds to your voice. That’s right, say something to HAL longer than 1.2 seconds, and it’ll activate a sound clip. OR, point almost any IR remote at him and press a button for a sound clip.
Naturally, it’s a universal constant that something as awesome as this is bound to come with a snag likely to sway one’s purchasing decision. The HAL 9000 retails for — and we do hope you’re sitting down for this one — $499.99, before shipping and handling rates are applied. It’s going to set you back quite a lot, but, then again, can you really put a price on eloquent putdowns only an artificial intelligence can deliver?
(ThinkGeek via Laughing Squid, image via YouTube)
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