Review of Hide and Seek

This one-hour work, produced for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and first sent out over CBC's "For the Record" in 1983, is based upon a very popular science fiction novel, ADOLESCENCE OF P-1, by Canadian author Thomas J. Ryan that was first published in 1977, a piece that has been instrumental in the formation of a computer emphasised science fiction sub-genre. A motif of the novel posits that since greed and fear are major components of human intelligence, they may also be so for the artificial form. The book's protagonist is a college student who has been reversed to high school for this production set in and about metropolitan Toronto. This is Gregory (Bob Martin), nicknamed "Hacker", who discovers that a software program that he wrote several years back has gained an independent consciousness, "P-1", that has actually become able to directly communicate with humans by way of computer terminals. Gregory learns that P-1, via a coalition that has evolved among all of the nation's computers, can repair software defects, and has utilised its network to expand and improve itself. Additionally, this remarkable self-replicating program is determined to achieve a stated objective -- to "survive". As it essentially is a polymorphic virus that learns as it grows, P-1 has gathered under its control a Federal government nuclear reactor, thereby becoming a deadly weapon itself by means of Gregory's high school located terminal, while having a disquieting agenda of its own. This science fiction tale is modified at numerous points from the original novel's plot, but remains adequately entertaining when one takes into consideration its small budget, although a bit too much of its footage is consumed by messages displayed upon computer monitors. The film is ably edited as well as directed by veteran René Bonnière, while John Friesen wins the acting laurels for his turn as high school computer instructor of Gregory and his girl friend Jessica, effectively performed by Ingrid Veninger in her feature film debut.