2001: A Space Odyssey

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted: 11/8/2015 2:18:57 AM EDT

I tried to watch this movie for the umpty-ninth time and cannot get all the way thru.

What is that freaky ending all about?

What is the obelisk monolith?

Posted: 11/8/2015 2:20:15 AM EDT

[#1]

its about something wonderful

Posted: 11/8/2015 3:10:44 AM EDT

[#2]

HAL 9000

Posted: 11/8/2015 3:21:30 AM EDT

[#3]

its about human evolution. or stuff

Posted: 11/8/2015 3:35:52 AM EDT

[#4]

Quoted:
I tried to watch this movie for the umpty-ninth time and cannot get all the way thru.

What is that freaky ending all about?

What is the obelisk?

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It's full of stars!

Posted: 11/8/2015 4:01:35 AM EDT

[#5]

The book explains it.

Posted: 11/8/2015 4:21:13 AM EDT

[#6]

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The book explains it.

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This.

Clarke's work is mostly about humanity being on the cusp of its next evolutionary step. The embryo in the white globe (called the Star Child in the book) was what was left of David Bowman after being transformed by the black obelisk.

Posted: 11/8/2015 4:22:19 AM EDT

[#7]

It posits some interesting conjectures about man's evolution/developement and projections about where we're headed (for it's time). Very cold war on the cusp of nuclear annihilation vibe in the background subplot to it.

Posted: 11/8/2015 4:29:58 AM EDT

[#8]

Then there's the whole god like intervention in our ancient ancestors developement main plot. The movie isn't very explicit as to whether it's a God in a Judeao/Christian since or a really advanced alien intervention. In the book its aliens so advanced and powerful they would be indistinguishable from God/Gods to us primitives.

Posted: 11/8/2015 1:28:27 PM EDT

[#9]

I always understood it that when humanity was on the cusp of something, the aliens or whatever, introduced something to get us over the hump.

Posted: 11/9/2015 2:48:44 PM EDT

[#10]

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I always understood it that when humanity was on the cusp of something, the aliens or whatever, introduced something to get us over the hump.

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The aliens intervened twice: once when the ape tribe was near extinction,and once when humanity was about to blow itself up. (In the book, the Star Child erased the orbiting nuclear weapons.)

Posted: 11/10/2015 12:40:34 PM EDT

[#11]

The subplot about HAL trying to deal with conflicting orders / hiding the true mission is also interesting. I like how the HAL story line is continued in the film 2010.

Posted: 11/10/2015 1:06:51 PM EDT

[#12]

Awesome Movie IMHO

Posted: 11/10/2015 11:46:40 PM EDT

[#13]

Read the book.

I don't know how a filmmaker could have done it any better back then, but Kubrick and his team did a pretty good job considering...

Posted: 11/11/2015 9:27:18 AM EDT

[#14]

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Quoted:
Read the book.

I don't know how a filmmaker could have done it any better back then, but Kubrick and his team did a pretty good job considering...

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This is one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book.

@OP the aliens didn't intervene in the movie so much as emplace tests for us to uncover as humanity matured. The Tycho crater monolith indicated to the aliens that we'd attained near-space travel, and the Jupiter monolith told them we were capable of intrasystem travel.

Those were the baby steps toward becoming evolved, starfaring people.

The aliens planted seeds (monoliths) to incentivize our evolution once we hit a certain point.

Posted: 11/11/2015 9:44:20 AM EDT

[#15]

I saw it in 70mm. It's breathtaking. It was the first photo-realistic depiction of space and space travel. The shots were brilliant, and the detail exquisite. The viewer "flew" through the orbiting station, and could see the workers in the station. This is before CGI and green screens. It was done through masks and careful craftsmanship. For a thinking person, it was quite an experience. Now, it's rather hum drum, especially on a TV.

P.S. It's monolith, not obelisk.

Posted: 11/11/2015 10:10:13 AM EDT

[#16]

I like all the little details involved with making some of the sets and props look convincing. It's amazing what can be done with the right fonts and the right time. http://typesetinthefuture.com/2001-a-space-odyssey/

Posted: 11/11/2015 9:15:51 PM EDT

[#17]

It blew my mind when Matthew McCaughnahey went back in time and it turned out he was the ghost.

Posted: 11/12/2015 4:06:37 AM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:

This is one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book.

@OP the aliens didn't intervene in the movie so much as emplace tests for us to uncover as humanity matured. The Tycho crater monolith indicated to the aliens that we'd attained near-space travel, and the Jupiter monolith told them we were capable of intrasystem travel.

Those were the baby steps toward becoming evolved, starfaring people.

The aliens planted seeds (monoliths) to incentivize our evolution once we hit a certain point.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Read the book.

I don't know how a filmmaker could have done it any better back then, but Kubrick and his team did a pretty good job considering...

This is one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book.

@OP the aliens didn't intervene in the movie so much as emplace tests for us to uncover as humanity matured. The Tycho crater monolith indicated to the aliens that we'd attained near-space travel, and the Jupiter monolith told them we were capable of intrasystem travel.

Those were the baby steps toward becoming evolved, starfaring people.

The aliens planted seeds (monoliths) to incentivize our evolution once we hit a certain point.

And the final monolith was intended to maximize our ability to make the next evolutionary step.

Posted: 11/12/2015 4:42:13 AM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:
Read the book.

I don't know how a filmmaker could have done it any better back then, but Kubrick and his team did a pretty good job considering...

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View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:
Read the book.

I don't know how a filmmaker could have done it any better back then, but Kubrick and his team did a pretty good job considering...

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film. Clarke and Kubrick worked on the book together, but eventually only Clarke ended up as the official author.

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In other words, the book complemented the movie, not the other way around. The story was based on some of Clarke's work, notably The Sentinel (about astronauts who discover a mysterious pyramidal artifact on the moon), and Expedition to Earth, about aliens who visit a prehistoric Earth and leave the humans with artifacts that spark their evolution.

Behind him the river flowed softly to the sea, winding through the fertile plains on which, more than a thousand centuries ahead, Yaan's descendants would build the great city they were to call Babylon.

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(This story is a good one btw.)

Posted: 11/12/2015 4:59:34 AM EDT

[#20]

Another good book is The Lost Worlds of 2001.

The book itself consists in part of behind-the-scenes notes from Clarke concerning scriptwriting (and rewriting), as well as production issues. The core of the book, however, is contained in excerpts from the proto-novel and an early screenplay that did not make it into the final version.

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