B-Movie Inspirations: Cyborg 2087 (1966)

One part Terminator and one part Terminator 2, this movie has a simple story with some very subtle and inspiring plot aspects that I found interesting enough to write about.

In 2087, a mysterious group of people using time travel technology they apparently broke into, sends what we later learn is a cyborg – Garth A7 (played by Michael Rennie of The Day the Earth Stood Still fame) – back in time to 1966. Their work is interrupted by armed guards who try to stop them, but Garth is sent back despite their efforts. Why they didn’t just shoot them, I am not sure, but thanks to their lack of aggression, Garth gets away in his time travel capsule.

We learn that Garth’s mission is to prevent Professor Sigmund Marx (ironic name) from revealing his new discovery – a discovery that will eventually lead to mind control devices used by a tyrannical government in Garth’s time. Free thought is illegal in his time, cyborgs are bred with no emotion and cybernetic enhancements in their body and the general population is controlled by these governments. Garth is pursued by two cyborg Tracers sent by the government to stop him.

With the help of Marx’s assistant Dr. Sharon Mason, and Dr. Zeller- medical doctor friend of hers – as well as the local authorities, Garth defeats the Tracers and convinces Professor Marx to keep his discovery secret. Then, with his future wiped out as a result, Garth ceases to exist; the people who helped him do not even remember him.

From an RPG plot stand point, I simply liked the idea of a technology leading a government outlawing free thinking. The movie itself has all the tropes of a Terminator-like movie but the subtle messages are very inspiring. I find the subject very poignant today, given the proliferation of social media and governments attempts to censor it. Just look at Twitter/X and how one person decided to make a market of free thinking and how many want to shut it down now.

To integrate this into a RPG, the role of Garth could be an NPC who recruits the players to help stop a certain technology being made. To modernize the story, perhaps a social media company is trying to invent an implant to feed data directly to the brain so people can access their social media right away. This could lead to influencing the mind and the players need to stop it. Of course, there are cyborgs chasing them and it turns into a cat and mouse game.

One key moment that bridged the second and third act that I found interesting was when Mason had information she had to convey to the Cyobrg but he was no where to be found (off hunting the final Tracer). At that moment, she remembered that Garth used the prototype “radio telepathy” device, along with his implants, to convey the truth about the future and convince her he was telling the truth. She then turned around it use that connection to find Garth and convey that information. This alone could be a key moment in the RPG one-shot. It is enough of a trope that either they players would figure it out right away or not at all. I would raise the stakes and perhaps the effect of the connection since it’s combining to technologies.

This has a lot of potential for a modern RPG plot. The movie itself is a great idea but poorly executed. The special effects of course were weak – it was 1966 after all. The only real production value is the time travel capsule – everything else is either on location in LA or some old western movie lot. It could have used some more budget and if done today, it would be compared to Terminator 2.