WarGames is a pretty great film, you guys. We watch it whenever it comes on (usually a lazy Sunday afternoon when the only other options are horse racing or a Big Bang Theory marathon where we've already seen every episode multiple times), and chuckle about its luddite naivety. That's not how computers work, silly eighties screenwriters! They're not magical boxes that will cause nuclear destruction to befall the globe unless a young Matthew Broderick can beat it at noughts and crosses! It would make way more sense if they were playing Zork, for a start. And also it's ridiculous to think that this sort of thing would ever happen, isn't it. Isn't it? Yes, it's ridiculous, but most of the near misses on this list are patently ridiculous. Doesn't mean they didn't happen. Doesn't mean it isn't also utterly horrifying. Which is why when we tell you a low-level Air Force officer once started playing a training program that simulated a Soviets nuclear attack on the US which the Pentagon somehow managed to mistake for an actual bunch of missiles that were headed for the country, it sounds ridiculous, but it's also totally true. WarGames really happened. Every missile solo was poised to send an atomic counter attack, before they double checked with the radar folk whether this was really happening or just some dork wanting to use NORAD's super-powered RAM for his video games.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
