2001: A Space Odyssey

(2001: A Space Odyssey)

At the dawn of humanity, apemen live a basic life, searching for food, fighting over water, and during the night, huddling against others in a cave, fearing darkness. This tribal life is upset when at the first light of dawn, a black monolith rises in the terrain. This encounter marks a degree in the evolution of Man who discovers the possibilities of the tool. The tool also becomes a weapon that allows them to avoid starvation, to conquer water, and to establish territory. The monolith provides basic lines of the civilization to apemen.

Now it is the year 2001. A four-million-year jump takes us to the era of space conquest. Doctor Heywood Floyd is onboard a small shuttle heading to space station five, a huge 3-kilometer diameter wheel whose rotation creates gravity. Floyd meets at the gigantic entrance to the station Soviets who question him about prohibiting access to the Clavius lunar base. Floyd remains very evasive; in fact, he must go to Clavius where he was ordered to avoid all contact with the exterior. The utmost secrecy has to be maintained because an extraordinary discovery has been made in the Tycho crater. An intense magnetic field has allowed the discovery of a black monolith buried in the lunar ground. The object consistently emits strong power waves directed toward Jupiter. This monolith constitutes irrefutable proof of alien life.

Some months later, the explorer vessel "Discovery" heads to Jupiter. On board are two astronauts, David Bowman and Frank Poole. Also onboard, in suspended animation, are three topographers. The latter will awaken on approach to Jupiter. The sixth member of the crew is a high perfected computer, HAL 9000, which controls the ship's functions. HAL 9000 is programmed with verbal and emotional reactions and converses regularly with the crew. HAL alone knows the real goal of the mission: it concerns not only reaching Jupiter, but also contacting the alien entity designated by the monolith. HAL is obliged to lie to the crew, which does not figure in any way into its programming.

HAL signals a failure of the radar antenna, the element AE35 is defective. After replacement of the piece, Bowman and Poole observe that the AE35 component is in perfect state. The two men discuss this in secret. Doubting the integrity of the computer, they decide to disconnect it. But HAL overheard their conversation and causes an accident when Poole emerges from the vessel to put the AE35 in place. Bowman leaves to help his companion. HAL neutralizes vital functions of the three men in hibernation and refuses Bowman access to the vessel. Finally Bowman succeeds, not without difficulty, to get in by the airlock. He is going to try to disconnect the computer, despite the computer's supplications...

Bowman is alone on board; authorities finally inform him of the mission. Beyond Jupiter, a black monolith in space comes along the "Discovery". Bowman goes to its encounter in a recognition capsule. He becomes the witness of incredible visions sending him to the deepest part of space. Suddenly, the capsule stops in the middle of a bedroom furnished in Louis XVI. A decoration whose earch origin is 200 years, a recreated decoration of all rooms. In the bedroom Bowman sees himself in his astronaut suit, but wrinkles betray a premature old age. Bowman is destined to live out his life in this room and transforms rapidly into an old man, agonizing, while the monolith stands for the last time before him. Bowman dies... a fetus fleets now in space...

DoctorSF's Words

Stanley Kubrick has gathered NASA scientists to reconstruct with meticulous care the most authentic environment possible; a centrifugal machine, whose cost reached 750 000 dollars, allowed Kubrick to create the fantastic scene of the circular hall where the cosmonaut is jogging.

Corrected by Arroxane