The Haven
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections: Outer Limits: Season Five: The Haven
Caleb Vance lives on the 52nd floor of the Haven, a high-tech marvel of an apartment building that is driven by a supercomputer named Argus and filled with machines and appliances that respond to the orders of the Haven's residents. The building's design almost completely eliminates the need for human contact, a desirable feature in an age in which all communication is mediated by one form of technology or another and a strong selling point for the residents of the Haven. But things begin to go wrong. It begins with a fritz in George, the Haven's holographic concierge, but soon grows more serious. Appliances stop working, cutting off the supply of food and water. The sensors on the doors cut out, trapping Caleb in his apartment. Desperate, he uses steak knives to break through the wall into the next apartment, where he encounters Alyssa, the neighbor he has never met. Together, they try to get out of the building. On their way, they meet Morgan, a lawyer who they rescue from an elevator in which she had been trapped, and Oren, a high-tech squatter who has hacked his way into the building. As the quartet descend, they must work together to dodge laser-shooting roving security balls, deal with maliciously malfunctioning elevators and try to make sense of George, who is saying some very cryptic things. Is he trying to give them advice? Or is he toying with them? Is this just a catastrophic breakdown or is there some perverse logic behind the misbehaving Haven?

Oren unfortunately plummets to his death in the elevator shaft, and the remnant members manage to reach the basement. They discover Argus to simply be George, who has all buildings' residents placed into similar circumstances so that they would band together and realize what it means to be human again in that interact with and rely on one another. Ultimately, Argus has the three members obliterate his system and Argus is soon erased from memory permanently.
By D. Stuart, The Outer Limits moderator on Tuesday, January 18, 2000 - 5:15 pm:

My nitpicks are as numerically proceeds:
1) There are numerous hotels by the name of the Haven, thus George stating an emergency occurring on the thirty-eighth floor of the Haven to an ambulance is not concise enough information for them.
2) The brunette man (Caleb) commands, "Open cabinet," but he did not specify which cabinet to open. However, the correct cabinet is automatically opened.

By ghel on Friday, February 11, 2000 - 10:56 am:

Psychologically speaking, people tend to be at least somewhat social animals. It seems highly unlikely that people would really become so isolationist that they did not even speak to their neighbor or help a dying woman. Even places notorious for unfriendly people (like NYC) have nightclubs and social gatherings.

When Vance chops into his neighbors room she mentions that he could not do that with the front wall because it contains a sheet of titanium. Even in the future, is titanium really that cheap?!? The most expensive apartments today aren't lined in steel or even aluminum sheeting. If it is a security device, why isn't the titanium between apartments too.

Doors don't have manual releases even on the inside leading out. Who designed this building? Is tech of the future really this dependable?

Vance is locked out of his cabinets because the computer doesn't respond. I guess the apartment really is secure. It's got unbreakable cabinet doors (ironically stronger than the walls between apartments.

For how the security is touted as so great, the security drone's shots don't even seem to stun the "intruders." Vance and co. act like the shots hurt but little else. Is this to irritate would be burglers? Sure, the computer wanted them alive, but Vance and Co. don't act like this type of intruder irritation is all that unusual, not even the guy who really was a squatter!

When the group meets the squatter, the woman who was in the elevator acts like she hasn't eaten for days. Aside from the unpleasant fact that there are no restrooms in the elevator and she is aparently still clean, did Vance and his neighbor really wait DAYS before attempting to get help? Was the lady in the elevator screaming for DAYS. If not, why are they so famished for food?

The power is obviously out to this building for a goodly amount of time. The computer tells someone on the phone that everything is under control but wouldn't someone double check eventually. Once again, is their tech really that dependable? This was a fairly new, sophisticated system. If police don't show, what about building engineers?

Ok, this is more than long enough.

By Tim McCree (Tim_m) on Saturday, December 30, 2023 - 5:30 am:

Another AI gone rogue story.

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