2001: A Space Odyssey

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)

What was that movie really about?


When i saw it a couple of years ago i didnt know what to think about it, but after i listened to this broadcast by Bill cooper, and i saw the movie again. it really gave me something to think about.
enjoy

the really strange thing about 2001 a space odyssey is that at the time no one new what any of the moons around jupiter looked like and a.c.clarke described all of them to a T infact he was at nasa when the first pictures of the moons came back from voyager and the head of nasa told him your not gona believe this.

now how did he know what they looked like I could see him gettin 1 or 2 close but not all of them down to the finest detail ?

reply to post by comppwizz


I remembered hearing that as well. Don't forget, he predicted the communications satellites long before we had reached space. Pretty brilliant guy and a fine author.

Yep dawn of mankind and our next stage in evolution. Pretty broad thinking!

S & F

Edit: I had to add that discussions like these are probably my most favorite part of ATS

reply to post by fixedworld

What was that movie really about?

As Arthur said to Stan, 'I didn't realize we were making the first $10m religious movie.'

Plot summary (contains spoilers):

Mysterious powers from outer space help some clever apes develop their potential by teaching them stuff using a big black slab as a chalkboard. Among the lessons are meat-eating, murder and war. This is the start of a very long-term project.

Project phase two begins when the apes' human descendants find another of those pesky slabs buried under a crater on the Moon. They unearth it and it sends an alarm off to Jupiter (Saturn in the book). The alarm wakes up another giant slab, this one in orbit round one of the moons of Jupiter (Saturn).

A spaceship is sent off to Jupiter (Saturn) on the trail of the second slab's alarm call. There are a few accidents along the way, ensuring that only one astronaut is left when the ship arrives at its destination. He finds the orbiting slab (slab no. 3) and putters out in his space-pod to have a look at it. This slab is a star-gate (it's actually called that in the book). The star-gate swallows the astronaut and his space-pod and slings them across the universe to an unspecified location. On arrival at this mysterious place (is it even 'in' the universe?) the astronaut ages rapidly, dies and is reborn as a 'star-child'. This completes the second project phase. What happens next is not hinted at.

In later books (and movies) Clarke did, of course, tell us what happens next, but those later works are a bit sad really, compared to the original book/movie combination. If you haven't read or watched them – don't.

*

reply to post by comppwizz

Clarke didn't describe the moons of Jupiter in the book version of 2001. He described the moons of Saturn, and he didn't actually do very well with the descriptions, which were based on what could be seen by telescopes on Earth.

The moons of Jupiter, as shown in the movie 2001, were the work of Stanley Kubrick, the director, and his opticals crew (probably). No doubt Stan took Arthur's advice, which would have been based (again) on what could be seen through telescopes on Earth. Jupiter is a lot nearer Earth than Saturn, so its moons are a tiny bit easier to see from here than Saturn's are. He was a clever man, Arthur, and he made the right guesses. Mind you, the pictures from Pioneer weren't really that detailed.

reply to post by Astyanax


They had some very special help: GE Valley Forge Space Technology Center

There is not a lot of public info available on Valley Forge:

Thanks, Chakotay. I'm afraid I have no time to watch videos, so could you please write a few lines containing the relevant information? Many thanks.

reply to post by Astyanax


Can you just spoil us with the later part after he became the Star-Child ; new powers, new abilities, new alien races, or a restart ?

You could U2U me if you dont want to spoil the public.

reply to post by the_0bserver85

To be honest, I don't remember. They were pretty bad books.

You can probably google a plot summary somewhere. There was 2010: Odyssey Two, then the next two were something like 2030 and 2065. Rubbish, all three. Clarke was very old and quite ill at the time he wrote them. I believe the latter two had some collaborator or other involved, too.

Got them all...
For those who interested in this movie:
Basically, story revolves around the evolution of human and a new primitive race on Jupiter. The monolith was built million of years ago....by a race has now become non-corporeal form of existence - become oneness with time and space - god like.....however you want to put it.

I thought the end with the monkeys bashing the big rocks coulf mean mans stuggle with the animal self and the painful emergence of intellingence and awarenss in mankind!

the "movie" continued with "2010, The year we make contact".

There were 3 or 4 books in the series also..
but if you havent seen 2010, you should watch it.

reply to post by fixedworld


I recommend this website...

www.collativelearning.com...

...for those who don't have thousands of hours to spend researching Stanley Kubrick's films. His analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey is compulsively readable, even if I don't always agree with his assertions. If you don't have time to read it, I'll give you a couple of things to look for next time you watch "2001":

1. Notice the background references to IBM
2. The frequent usage of music associated to fascist Germany
3. That the whole sequence on the moon base about misinformation and their cover-up of the Monolith

I think one of the most brilliant things Mr. Ager ever pointed out, incidentally, is that Kubrick DID shoot the moon landing -- and you can see the footage in the film "The Shining". The joke, of course, is that the the young boy, Danny, has the Apollo 11 knitted onto his sweater, and in one scene, Danny stands up very slowly, making it look like the Apollo 11 takeoff! Mr. Ager's sharp eyes are invaluable to the film fanatic and conspiracy theorist alike. I also recommend reading his analysis of "Eyes Wide Shut".

reply to post by fixedworld
From what I remember, after only reading 2061 (not 65) in high school, and seeing 2001 many times. The space men eventually build out to Jupiter and are mining on the moon Titan for a giant diamond. So now after reading the wiki, Lucifer is the new Sun that they created in 2010, the crew is stranded on Europa, the diamond is named mount Zeus, and eventually sinks to the core, and Africa has become a united continent. Interplanetary travel is common place, So it eventually becomes like 'blood diamonds in space'. They use the diamonds to make space elevators.

First post, glad to have finally made an account. I quite enjoyed the book, but Kubrik makes it magical.

reply to post by fixedworld


Ahh, I just rewatched 2001 recently. Unfortunately I dont have time for a one hour video clip at the moment, Ill have to save it and come back to it later and post my remarks!