h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I disagree with the sentiment that computers never crash on TV.

(BBC Tomorrows World presenters would probably disagree also )

Anyway, a couple of instances in Sci-fi series spring to mind. In trek, any number of episodes seem to have been made on the basis that the 'Holodeck computer has malfunctioned', which is basically an excuse for the writers to re-use an old plot device, meaning that they couldn't come up with a new forehead-design for a new alien race this week...

Another is the scene in Babylon 5, where Garibaldi is reprograming the computer to lock earth central out of the system, so that the Clark regieme can't get in and lock out crew from the station's systems. After a reboot (nice to see microsoft still active in the 23rd century), the minor change that Garibaldi has put in merely serves to open and close doors around the station at random, and turns the generally silent, and cooperative computer into an argumentative uncooperative entity (quotes like "You want I should open this door? Perhaps I should forget about supplying oxygen to blue sector just so I can open this door for you, huh?" (not actually a quote, as I don't have the episode handy, but it's along those lines) that breaks the ice a little in that episode.

In the movie 'Pi' by Darren Aronofsky, the supercomputer Euclid crashes after coming up with a number everyone seems to be after for different reasons.

941432434315126593210548723904868285129134748760
276719592346023858295830472501652325259296925727655364363462727
184012012643147546329450127847264841075622347896267285928582953
47502772262646456217613984829519475412398501




...oops...