2001: Disgrace Odyssey by Anthony D'Elia - 12.5 minutes -
©2000 - Requires High-Speed Connnection. Political treachery, spaceships
and monkeys. 2001: Disgrace Odyssey
"This is a truly beautiful work. Watch as Al Gore navigates
his way through the vast and peaceful universe of dirty Chinese money, trade
secrets and Tipper's titties. Not that we're political or anything, we're just
saying it's funny. We love you Al." --CrapTV
2001 was released in the tumultuous spring of 1968, at the same
time that Americans were reeling from President Lyndon Johnson’s announcement
that he would not seek reelection and the assassination of Martin Luther King,
Jr. It might seem odd that so many people would get so excited about a science
fiction movie in the midst of urban race riots and campus protests against the
Vietnam War, but to many, 2001 had far greater importance than its sci-fi trappings.
Baffling early audiences with its non-traditional structure, theme, and presentation,
the film was soon embraced by many members of a younger generation entranced
by its consciousness-raising message and its psychedelic special effects. Over
the next 30 years, the film would not only become a part of American culture,
but would eventually be hailed as a masterpiece of modern cinema. An examination
of 2001’s appeal over the last three decades provides insight into the changing
perceptions of a single cultural document over time. Young Baby Boomers were
initially attracted to the film for very different reasons than those of audiences
in the 1990s. Because 2001 is unlike many other films in that it invites its
viewers to apply their own subjective interpretations, it serves particularly
well as a signpost for contemporary social attitudes and trends. By examining
the different ways that 2001 has been interpreted by its audience over that
time, it reveals a great deal about evolving cultural attitudes toward issues
such as technology, spirituality, and the commercialization of American society.
2001: A Space Odyssey was the third biggest box office hit of 1968 (after Mike
Nichols’ The Graduate and William Wyler’s Funny Girl) and, upon the completion
of its initial theatrical run, was one of the top twenty grossing movies of
all time.[1] Over the next 30 years it would go on to gross over $56.7 million
in the United States and $190.7 million worldwide.[2] Science fiction writer
Arthur C. Clarke’s companion novel of the same name has sold over four million
copies worldwide,[3] and his three follow-up novels to the story have all spent
several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. One of these sequels was
turned into a moderately successful film, 2010: The Year We Make Contact, released
nearly 15 years after 2001. Audiences, critics, and filmmakers consistently
rank the film among the 100 best ever made. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert
has stated that if asked which films would still be familiar to audiences 200
years from now, he would select 2001, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, and Star
Wars as his first choices.[4] Like other popular works of science fiction, such
as Star Trek and the Star Wars movie trilogy, 2001 is constantly referenced
in popular culture. Films as diverse as Woody Allen’s Sleeper and Jan DeBont’s
Speed have featured homages to 2001. The film’s theme music, taken from Richard
Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathrustra, has been heard everywhere from the opening
notes of Elvis Presley’s 1970s Las Vegas lounge act to car commercials. Music
videos have featured costumes and sets directly inspired by the film. Dozens
of fan Web sites exist on the Internet, where the film’s enthusiasts present
and debate their differing theories about its meaning. Why is 2001 still so
popular after so long? Its box office success alone is insufficient to explain
why there are so many 2001 fans, many of whom were not even born when the film
was released. Neither does its status as a science fiction film guarantee a
continuing audience of sci-fi “groupies” – many other science fiction movies
that enjoyed success on their initial run have failed to maintain their popularity.
The key to 2001’s appeal lies in examining how the film has been interpreted,
defined, and redefined over the past three decades. Because 2001, unlike most
films, can be said to have a fluid meaning, different audiences have applied
their own subjective interpretations to it. In addition, 2001’s two primary
authors have over the years actively continued to indoctrinate audiences with
their own differing interpretations. By placing these interpretations in the
context of the different times in which they were made, the answers to how and
why 2001 has become a part of our mass cultural consciousness become more clear.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur
C. Clark Hawk Films Ltd., c/o. M-G-M Studios, Boreham Wood, Herts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE PART I AFRICA 3,000,000 YEARS AGO ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A1 VIEWS OF AFRICAN DRYLANDS - DROUGHT The remorseless drought had lasted now
for ten million years, and would not end for another million. The reign of the
ter- rible lizards had long since passed, but here on the continent which would
one day be known as Africa, the battle for survival had reached a new climax
of ferocity, and the victor was not yet in sight. In this dry and barren land,
only the small or the swift or the fierce could flourish, or even hope to exist.
10/13/65 a1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A2 INT & EXT CAVES - MOONWATCHER The man-apes of the field had none of these
attributes, and they were on the long, pathetic road to racial extinction. About
twenty of them occupied a group of caves overlooking a small, parched valley,
divided by a sluggish, brown stream. The tribe had always been hungry, and now
it was starving. As the first dim glow of dawn creeps into the cave, Moonwatcher
discovers that his father has died during the night. He did not know the Old
One was his father, for such a relationship was beyond his understanding. but
as he stands looking down at the emac- iated body he feels something, something
akin to sadness. Then he carries his dead father out of the cave, and leaves
him for the hyenas. Among his kind, Moonwatcher is almost a giant. He is nearly
five feet high, and though badly undernourished, weighs over a hundred pounds.
His hairy, muscular body is quite man-like, and his head is already nearer man
than ape. The forehead is low, and there are great ridges over the eye-sockets,
yet he unmistakably holds in his genes the promise of humanity. As he looks
out now upon the hostile world, there is already 10/13/65 a2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A2 CONTINUED something in his gaze beyond the grasp of any ape. In those dark,
deep-set eyes is a dawning awareness-the first intima- tions of an intelligence
which would not fulfill itself for another two million years. 10/13/65 a3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A3 EXT THE STREAM - THE OTHERS As the dawn sky brightens, Moonwatcher and his
tribe reach the shallow stream. The Others are already there. They were there
on the other side every day - that did not make it any less annoying. There
are eighteen of them, and it is impossible to distinguish them from the members
of Moonwatcher's own tribe. As they see him coming, the Others begin to angrily
dance and shriek on their side of the stream, and his own people reply In kind.
The confrontation lasts a few minutes - then the display dies out as quickly
as it has begun, and everyone drinks his fill of the muddy water. Honor has
been satisfied - each group has staked its claim to its own territory. 10/13/65
a4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A4 EXT AFRICAN PLAIN - HERBIVORES Moonwatcher and his companions search for
berries, fruit and leaves, and fight off pangs of hunger, while all around them,
competing with them for the samr fodder, is a potential source of more food
than they could ever hope to eat. Yet all the thousands of tons of meat roaming
over the parched savanna and through the brush is not only beyond their reach;
the idea of eating it is beyond their imagination. They are slowly starving
to death in the midst of plenty. 10/13/65 a5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A5 EXT PARCHED COUNTRYSIDE - THE LION The tribe slowly wanders across the bare,
flat country- side foraging for roots and occasional berries. Eight of them
are irregularly strung out on the open plain, about fifty feet apart. The ground
is flat for miles around. Suddenly, Moonwatcher becomes aware of a lion, stalking
them about 300 yards away. Defenceless and with nowhere to hide, they scatter
in all directions, but the lion brings one to the ground. 10/13/65 a6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A6 EXT DEAD TREE - FINDS HONEY It had not been a good day, though as Moonwatcher
had no real remembrance of the past he could not compare one day with another.
But on the way back to the caves he finds a hive of bees in the stump of a dead
tree, and so enjoys the finest delicacy his people could ever know. Of course,
he also collects a good many stings, but he scacely notices them. He is now
as near to contentment as he is ever likely to be; for thought he is still hungry,
he is not actually weak with hunger. That was the most that any hominid could
hope for. 10/13/65 a7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A7 INT & EXT CAVES - NIGHT TERRORS Over the valley, a full moon rises, and a
cold wind blows down from the distant mountains. It would be very cold tonight
- but cold, like hunger, was not a matter for any real concern; it was merely
part of the background of life. This Little Sun, that only shone at night and
gave no warmth, was dangerous; there would be enemies abroad. Moonwatcher crawls
out of the cave, clambers on to a large boulder besides the entrance, and squats
there where he can survey the valley. If any hunting beast approached, he would
have time to get back to the relative safety of the cave. Of all the creatures
who had ever lived on Earth, Moonwatcher's race was the first to raise their
eyes with interest to the Moon, and though he could not remember it, when he
was young, Moonwatcher would reach out and try to touch its ghostly face. Now
he new he would have to find a tree that was high enough. He stirs when shrieks
and screams echo up the slope from one of the lower caves, and he does not need
to hear the 10/13/65 a8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A7 CONTINUED occasional growl of the lion to know what is happening. Down there
in the darkness, old One-Eye and his family are dying, and the thought that
he might help in some way never crosses Moonwatcher's mind. The harsh logic
of survival rules out such fancies. Every cave is silent, lest it attract disaster.
And in the caves, in tortured spells of fitful dozing and fearful waiting, were
gathered the nightmares of generations yet to come. 10/13/65 a9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A8 EXT THE STREAM - INVASION The Others are growing desperate; the forage on
their side of the valley is almost exhausted. Perhaps they realise that Moonwatcher's
tribe has lost three of its numbers during the night, for they choose this mourning
to break the truce. When they meet at the river in the still, misty dawn, there
is a deeper and more menacing note in their challenge. The noisy but usually
harmless confrontation lasts only a few seconds before the invasion begins.
In an uncertainly-moving horde, the Others cross the river, shieking threats
and hunched for the attack. They are led by a big-toothed hominid of Moonwatcher's
own size and age. Startled and frightened, the tribe retreats before the first
advance, throwing nothing more substantial than imprecations at the invaders.
Moonwatcher moves with them, his mind a mist of rage and confusion. To be driven
from their own territory is a great badness, but to lose the river is death.
He does not know what to do; it is a situation beyond his experience. Then he
becomes dimly aware that the Others are slowing 10/13/65 a10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A8 CONTINUED down, and advancing with obvious reluctance. The further they move
from their own side, the more uncertain and unhappy they become. Only Big-Tooth
still retains any of his original drive, and he is rapidly being seperated from
his followers. As he sees this, Moonwatcher's own morale immediately revives.
He slows down his retreat, and begins to make reassuring noises to his companions.
Novel sensations fill his dim mind - the first faint precursors of bravery and
leadership. Before he realizes it, he is face to face with Big-Tooth, and the
two tribes come to a halt many paces away. The disorganized and unscientific
conflict could have ended quickly if either had used his fist as a club, but
this innovation still lay hundreds of thousands of years in the future. Instead,
the slowly weakening fighters claw and scratch and try to bite each other. Rolling
over and over, they come to a patch of stony ground, and when they reach it
Moonwatcher is on top. By chance, 10/13/65 a11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A8 CONTINUED he chooses this moment to grab the hair on Big-Tooth's scalp, and
bang his head on the ground. The resulting CRACK is so satisfactory, and produces
such an immediate weakening In Big - Tooth's resistance, that he quickly repeats
it. Even when Big-Tooth ceases to move for some time, Moon- watcher keeps up
the exhilirating game. With shrieks of panic, the Others retreat back, across
the stream. The defenders cautiously pursue them as far as The water's edge.
10/13/65 a12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXT CAVE - NEW SOUND Dozing fitfully and weakened by his stuggle, Moonwatcher
is startled by a sound. He sits up in the fetid darkness of the cave, straining
his senses out into the night, and fear creeps slowly into his soul. Never in
his life - already twice as long as most members of his species could expect
- has he heard a sound like this. The great cats approached in silence, and
the only thing that betrayed them was a rare slide of earth, or the occasional
cracking of a twig. Yet this is a continuing crunching noise that grows steadily
louder. It seemed that some enormous beast was moving through the night, making
no attempt at concealment, and ignoring all obstacles. And then there came a
sound which Moonwatcher could not possibly have identified, for it had never
been heard before in the history of this planet. 10/13/65 a13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A10 EXT CAVE - NEW ROCK Moonwatcher comes face to face with the New Rock when
he leads the tribe down to the river in the first light of morning. He had almost
forgotten the terror of the night, because nothing had happened after that initial
noise, so he does not even associate this strange thing with danger or with
fear. There is nothing in the least alarming about it. It is a cube about fifteen
feet on a side, and it is made of some completely transparent material; indeed,
it is not easy to see except when the light of the sun glints on its edges.
There are no natural objects to which Moonwatcher can compare this apparition.
Though he is wisely cautious of most new things, he does not hesitate to walk
up to it. As nothing happens, he puts out his hand, and feels a warm, hard surface.
After several minutes of intense thought, he arrives at a brilliant explanation.
It is a rock, of course, and it must have grown during the night. There are
many plants that do this - white, pulpy things shaped like pebbles, that seem
to shoot up in the hours of darkness. It is true that they are small and round,
whereas this is large and square; 10/13/65 a14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A10 CONTINUED but greater and later philosophers than Moonwatcher would be prepared
to overlook equally striking exceptions to their laws. This really superb piece
of abstract thinking leads Moonwatcher to a deduction which he immediately puts
to the test. The white, round pebble-plants are very tasty (though there were
a few that made one violently sick); perhaps this square one...? A few licks
and attempted nibbles quickly disillusion him. There is no nourishment here;
so like a sensible hominid, he continues on his way to the river and forgets
all about the Cube. 10/13/65 a15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A11 EXT CUBE - FIRST LESSON They are still a hundred yards from the New Rock
when the sound begins. It is quite soft, and it stops them in their tracks,
so that they stand paralyzed on the trail with their jaws hanging. A simple,
maddeningly repetitious rhythm pulses out of the crystal cube and hypnotises
all who come within its spell. For the first time - and the last, for two million
year - the sound of drumming is heard in Africa. The throbbing grows louder,
more insistent. Presently the hominids begin to move forward like sleep-walkers,
towards the source of that magnetic sound. Sometimes they take little dancing
steps, as their blood responds to the rhythms that their descendants will not
create for ages yet. Totally entranced, they gather around the Cube, forgetting
the hardships of the day, the perils of the approaching dusk, and the hunger
in their bellies. Now, spinning wheels of light begin to merge, and the spokes
fuse into luminous bars that slowly recede into the distance, 10/13/65 a16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A11 CONTINUED rotating on their axes as they do; and the hominids watch, wide-
eyed, mesmerized captives of the Crystal Cube. Then by some magic - though it
was no more magical than all that had gone on before - a perfectly normal scene
appears. It is as if a cubical block had been carved out of the day and shifted
into the night. Inside that block is a group of four hominids, who might have
been members of Moonwatcher's own tribe, eating chunks of meat. The carcass
of a wart-hog lies near them. This little family of male and female and two
children is gorged and replete, with sleek and glossy pelts - and this was a
condition of life that Moonwatcher had never imagined. From time to time they
stir lazily, as they loll at ease near the entrance of their cave, apparently
at peace with the world. The spectacle of domestic bliss merges into a totally
different scene. The family is no longer reposing peacefully outside its cave;
it is foraging, searching for food like any normal hominids. 10/13/65 a17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A11 CONTINUED A small wart-hog ambles past the group of browsing humanoids without
giving them more than a glance, for they had never been the slightest danger
to its species. But that happy state of affairs is about to end. The big male
suddenly bends down, picks up a heavy stone lying at his feet - and hurls it
upon the unfortunate pig. The stone descends upon its skull, making exactly
the same noise that Moonwatcher had produced in his now almost forgotten encounter
with Big-Tooth. And the result, too, is much the same - the warthog gives one
amazed, indignant squeal, and collapses in a motionless heap. Then the whole
sequence begins again, but this time it unfolds itself with incredible slowness.
Every detail of the movement can be followed; the stone arches leisurely through
the air, the pig crumples up and sinks to the ground. There the scene freezes
for long moments, the slayer standing motionless above the slain, the first
of all weapons in his hand. The scene suddenly fades out. The cube is no more
than a glimmering outline in the darkness; the hominids stir, as if 10/13/65
a18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A11 CONTINUED awakening from a dream, realise where they are, and scuttle back
to their caves. They have no concious memory of what they had seen; but that
night, as he sits brooding at the entrance of his lair, his ears attuned to
the noises of the world around him, Moonwatcher feels the first faint twinges
of a new and potent emotion - the urge to kill. He had taken his first step
towards humanity. 10/13/65 a19 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A12 EXT cave AND PLAINS - Utopia Babies were born and sometimes lived; feeble,
toothless thirty- year-olds died; the lion took its toll in the night; the Others
threatened daily across the river - and the trib prospered. In the course of
a single year, Moonwatcher and his companions had changed almost beyond recognition.
They had become as plump as the family in the Cave, who no longer haunted their
dreams. They had learned their lessons well; now they could handle all the stone
tools and weapons that the Cube had revealed to them. They were no longer half-numbed
with starvation, and they had time both for leisure and for the first rudiments
of thought. Their new way of life was casually accepted, and they did not associate
it in any way with the crystal cube still standing outside their cave. But no
Utopia is perfect, and this one had two blemishes. The first was the marauding
lion, whose passion for hominids seemed to have grown even stronger now that
they were better nourished. The second was the tribe across the river; for 10/13/65
a20 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A12 CONTINUED somehow the Others had survived, and had stubbornly refused to
die of starvation. 10/13/65 a21 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A13 EXT CAVES - KILLING THE LION With the partly devoured carcass of a warthog
laid out on the ground at the point he hope the boulder would impact, Moon-
watcher and three of his bravest companions wait for two consecutive nights.
On the third the lion comes, betraying his presences by a small pebble slide.
When they can here the lion below, softly tearing at the meat, they strain themselves
against the massive boulder. The sound of the lion stops; he is listening. Again
they silently heave against the enormous stone, exerting the final limits of
their strength. The rock begin to tip to a new balance point. The lion twitches
alert to this sound, but having no fear of these creatures, he makes the first
of two mistakes which will cost him his life; he goes back to his meal. The
rock moves slowly over the ledge, picking up speed with amazing suddeness. It
strikes a projection in the cliff about fifteen feet above the ground, which
deflects its path outward. Just at this instant, the lion reacts instinctively
and leaps away from the face of the cliff directly into the path of the 10/13/65
a22 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A13 CONTINUED onrushing boulder. He has combined the errors of over- confidence
and bad luck. The next morning they find the lion in front of the cave. They
also find one of their tribe who had incautiously peeped out to see what was
happening, and was apparently killed by a small rock torn loose by the boulder;
but this was a small price to pay for such a great victory. * * * * * * * *
And then one night the crystal cube was gone, and not even Moonwatcher ever
thought of it again. He was still wholly unaware of all that it had done. 10/13/65
a23 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A14 EXT STREAM - MASTER OF THE WORLD From their side of the stream, in the never
violated safety of their own territory, the Others see Moonwatcher and fourteen
males of his tribe appear from behind a small hillock over- looking the stream,
silhouetted against the dawn sky. The Others begin to scream their daily challenge.
But today something is different, though the Others do not immediatly recognize
this fact. Instead of joining the verbal onslaught, as they had always done,
Moonwatcher and his small band decended from the rise, and begin to move forward
to the stream with a quiet purposefulness never befor seen. As the Others watch
the figures silently approaching in the morning mist, they become aware of the
terrible strangness of this encounter, and their rage gradually subsides down
to an uneasy silence. At the water's edge, Moonwatcher and his band stop. They
carry their bone clubs and bone knives. 10/13/65 a24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A14 CONTINUED Led by One-ear, the Others half-heartly resume the battle- chant.
But they are suddenly confrunted with a vision that cuts the sound from their
throats, and strikes terror into their hearts. Moonwatcher, who had been partly
concealed by two males who walked before him, thrusts his arm high into the
air. In his hand he holds a stoud tree branch. Mounted atop the branch is the
bloody head of the lion, its mouth jammed open with a stick, displaying its
frightful fangs. The Others gape in fearful disbelief at this display of power.
Moonwatchers stands motionless, thrusting the lion's head high. Then with majestic
deliberation, still carrying his mangled standard above his head, he begins
to cross the stream, followed by his band. The Others fade back from the stream,
seeming to lack even the ability to flee. Moonwatcher steps ashore and walks
to One-Ear, who stands 10/13/65 a25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A14 CONTINUED unsurely in front of his band. Though he is a veteran of numerous
combats at the water's edge, One-Ear has never been attacked by an enemy who
had not first displayed his fighting rage; and he had never before been attacked
with a weapon. One-Ear, merely looks up at the raised club until the heavey
thigh bone of an antelope brings the darkness down around him. The Others stare
in wonder at Moonwatcher's power. Moonwatcher surveys the scene. Now he was
master of the world, and he was not sure what to do next. But he would think
of something. 10/13/65 a26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
A SECTION TIMING A1 00.30 A2 00.45 A3 01.30 A4 00.30 A5 01.00 A6 01.00 A7 01.00
A8 03.00 A9 00.45 A10 02.00 A11 04.00 A12 02.00 A13 02.30 A14 02.30 A SECTION
TOTAL: @23 MIN. 00 SECS ------------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE PART II YEAR 2001 a26a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B1 EARTH FROM 200 MILES UP NARRATOR By the year 2001, overpopulation has B1a
replaced the problem of starvation THOUSAND MEGATON but this was ominously offset
by the NUCLEAR BOMB IN ORBIT absolute and utter perfection of the ABOVE THE
EARTH, weapon. RUSSIAN INSIGNIA AND CCCP MARKINGS B1b NARRATOR AMERICAN THOUSAND
Hundreds of giant bombs had been MEGATON BOMB IN ORBIT placed in perpetual orbit
above the ABOVE THE EARTH. Earth. They were capable of incinerating the entire
Earth's surface from an altitude of 100 miles. B1c FRENCH BOMB NARRATOR Matters
were further complicated by the presence of twenty-seven nations in the nuclear
club. There had been no deliberate or acciden- B1d tal use of nuclear weapons
since GERMAN BOMB World War II and some people felt sercure in this knowledge.
But to others, the situation seemed comparible to an airline with a B1f perfect
safety record; in showed CHINESE BOMB admirable care and skill but no one expected
it to last forever. 10/4/65 b1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B2 ORION-III SPACECRAFT IN FIGHT AWAY FROM EARTH, 200 MILES ALTITUDE. 10/4/65
b2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B3 ORION-III PASSENGER AREA. DR. HEYWOOD FLOYD IS THE ONLY PASSENGER IN THE
ELEGANT CABIN DESIGNED FOR 30 PEOPLE. HE IS ASLEEP. HIS PEN FLOATS NEAR HIS
HAND. 10/4/65 b3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B4 ORION-III COCKPIT. PILOT, CO-PILOT. FLOYD CAN BE SEEN ASLEEP ON A SMALL TV
MONITOR. STEWARDESS IS PUTTING ON LIPSTICK. SHE SEES PEN. 10/4/65 b4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B5 STEWARDESS GOES BACK TO PASSENGER AREA, RESCUES PEN AND CLIPS IT BACK IN
FLOYD'S POCKET. 10/4/65 b5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B6 SPACE STATION-5. THE RAW SUNLIGHT OF SPACE DAZZLES FROM THE POLISHED METAL
SURFACES OF THE SLOWLY REVOLVING, THOUSAND-FOOT DIAMETER SPACE STATION. DRIFTING
IN THE SAME ORBIT, WE SEE SWEPT-BACK TITOV-V SPACECRAFT. ALSO THE ALMOST SPHERICAL
ARIES-IB 10/4/65 b6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B7 ORION-III PASSENGER AREA FLOYD AWAKE BUT GROGGY, LOOKS OUT OF WINDOW. 10/4/65
b7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B8 ORION-III COCKPIT. THE CO-PILOT IN RADIO COMMUNICATION WITH THE SPACE STATION.
10/4/65 b8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B9 THE ORION-III SPACECRAFT IN DOCKING APPROACH. THE EARTH IS SEEN IN BREATH-
TAKING VIEW IN B.G. 10/4/65 b9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B10 INSIDE DOCKING CONTROL. WE SEE ORION-III MANO- UVERING. IN BACKGROUND. 10/4/65
b10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B11 FROM DOCKING PORT WE SEE THE ORION-III INCHING IN TO COMPLETE ITS DOCKING.
WE SEE VARIOUS WINDOWED BOOTHS INSIDE DOCKING PORT. WE SEE THE PILOT AND CO-PILOT
INSIDE THE ORION-III COCKPIT. 10/4/65 b11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B12 SPACE STATION RECEPTION AREA RECEPTIONIST AT DESK. MILLER ENTERS, HUR- RYING.
HE GOES TO THE ELEVATOR AND PRESSES BUTTON. HE WAITS IMPATIENTLY. WE SEE ELEVATOR
INDICATOR WORKING ELEVATOR DOOR OPENS AND FLOYD IS SEEN UNSTRAPPING HIMSELF.
THE ELEVATOR GIRL IS SEATED BY THE DOOR MILLER Oh, good morning, Dr. Floyd.
I'm Nick Miller. FLOYD How do you do, Mr. Miller? MILLER I'm terribly sorry.
I was just on my way down to meet you. I saw your ship dock and I knew I had
plenty of time, and I was on my way out of the office when, suddenly, the phone
rang. 12/7/65 b12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B12 CONTINUED FLOYD Oh, please don't worry about it. MILLER Well, thank you
very much for being so understanding. FLOYD Please, it really doesn't matter.
MILLER Well.. Did you have a pleaant flight? FLOYD Yes, very pleasant. MILLER
Well, shall we go through Documentation? FLOYD Fine. RECEPTIONIST Will you use
number eight, please? MILLER Thank you, Miss Turner. 12/7/65 b13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B12 CONTINUED THEY ENTER PASSPORT AREA RECEPTIONIST PRESSES "ENGLISH" BAR ON
HER CONSOLE AND SMILES AS FLOYD GOES THROUGH. 12/7/65 b13a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN AUTOMATED PASSPORT SECTION. THEY STOP IN FRONT OF A BOOTH FEATURING A TV
SCREEN PASSPORT GIRL (TV) Good morning and welcome to voice Print Identification.
When you see the red light go on would you please state in the following order;
your desitination, your nationality and your full name. Surname first, christian
name and initial. For example: Moon, American, Smith, John, D. Thank you. THERE
IS A PAUSE AND A RED BAR LIGHTS UP FLOYD Moon, American, Floyd, Heywood, R.
THE RED LIGHT GOES OFF. THERE IS A DELAY OF ABOUT TWO SECONDS AND THE WOMAN'S
FACE REAPPEARS FLOYD I've always wondered.... 12/7/65 b14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B13 CONTINUED PASSPORT GIRL (TV) (Interrupting) Thank you. Despite and excellent
and continually improving safety record there are certain risks inherent in
space travel and an extremely high cost of pay load. Because of this it is necessary
for the Space Carrier to advise you that it cannot be responsible for the return
of your body to Earth should you become deceased on the Moon or en route to
the Moon. However, it wishes to advise you that insurance covering this contingency
is available in the Main Lounge. Thank you. You are cleared through Voice Print
Identification. THE LIGHTS GO OFF AND THE WOMAN'S FACE DISAPPEARS THE MEN EXIT
THE PASSPORT AREA MILLER I've reserved a table for you in the Earth Light room.
Your connecting flight will be leaving in about one hour. 12/7/65 b15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B13 CONTINUED FLOYD Oh, that's wonderful. 12/7/65 b16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B14 INT SPACE STATION - LOUNGE FLOYD AND MILLER WALKING MILLER Let's see, we
haven't had the pleasure of a visit from you not since... It was about eight
or nine months ago, wasn't it? FLOYD Yes, I think so. Just about then. MILLER
I suppose you saw the work on our new section while you were docking. FLOYD
Yes, it's coming along very well. THEY PASS THE VISION PHONE BOOTH FLOYD Oh,
look, I've got to make a phone call. Why don't you go on into the Restaurant
and I'll meet you in there. 12/7/65 b17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B14 CONTINUED MILLER Fine. I'll see you at the bar. FLOYD ENTERS PHONE BOOTH.
SIGN ON VISION PHONE SCREEN "SORRY, TEMPORARILY OUT OF ORDER." HE ENTERS THE
SECOND BOOTH AND SITS DOWN 12/7/65 b18 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B15 DELETED B16 DELETED PAGES b19 - b22 DELETED 12/7/65 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B17 FLOYD IN VISION PHONE LITTLE GIRL OF FIVE ANSWERS CHILD Hello. VISION PHONE
SCREEN DISPLAY SIGN 'YOUR PARTY HAS NOT CONNECTED VISION' A FEW SECONDS LATER,
THE SCREEN CHANGES TO AN IMAGE OF THE CHILD FLOYD Hello, darling, how are you?
CHILD Hello Daddy. Where are you? FLOYD I'm at Space Station Five, darling.
How are you? CHILD I'm fine, Daddy. When are you coming home? 12/6/65 b23 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B17 CONTINUED FLOYD Well, I hope in a few days, sweetheart. CHILD I'm having
a party tomorrow. FLOYD Yes, I know that sweetheart. CHILD Are you coming to
my party? FLOYD No, I'm sorry, darling, I told you I won't be home for a few
days. CHILD When are you coming home? FLOYD In three days, darling, I hope.
FLOYD HOLDS UP THREE FINGERS. 12/6/65 b24 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B17 FLOYD One, two, three. Can I speak to Mommy? CHILD Mommy's out to the hair-
dresser. FLOYD Where is Mrs. Brown? CHILD She's in the bathroom. FLOYD Okay,
sweetheart. Well, I have to go now. Tell Mommy that I called. CHILD How many
days until you come home? FLOYD Three, darling. One... two ... three. Be sure
to tell Mommy I called. 12/6/65 b24a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B17 CONTINUED CHILD I will, Daddy. FLOYD Okay, sweetheart. Have a lovely Birthday
Party tomorrow. CHILD Thank you, Daddy. FLOYD I'll wish you a happy Birthday
now and I'll see you soon. All right, Darling? CHILD Yes, Daddy. FLOYD 'Bye,
'bye, now, sweetheart. CHILD Goodbye, Daddy. 12/6/65 b24b ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B18 VISION PHONE PROCEDURE FOR INFORMATION VISION PHONE PROCEDURE FOR DIALLING
OPERATOR Good morning, Macy's. FLOYD Good morning. I'd like the Vision shopper
for the Pet Shop, please. OPERATOR Just one moment. 12/7/65 b25 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B19 THE PICTURE FLIPS AND WE SEE A WOMAN STANDING IN FORN OF A SPECIALLY- DESIGNED
DISPLAY SCREEN VISION SALES GIRL Good morning, sir, may I help you? FLOYD Yes,
I'd like to buy a bush baby. VISION SALES GIRL Just a moment, sir. THE GIRL
KEYS SOME INPUTS AND A MOVING PICTURE APPEARS ON THE SCREEN OF A CAGE CONTAINING
ABOUT SIX BUSH BABIES, BEAUTIFULLY DISPLAYED AGAINST A WHITE BACK- GROUND VISION
SALES GIRL Here you are, sir. Here is a lovely assortment of African bush babies.
They are twenty Dollars each. 12/7/65 b26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B19 CONTINUED FLOYD Yes, well... Pick out a nice one for me, a friendly one,
and I'd like it delivered tomorrow. VISION SALES GIRL Certainly, sir. Just let
us have your name and Bank identification for V.P.I., and then give the name
and address of the person you'd like the pet delivered to and it will be delivered
tomorrow. SOME TIME DURING THIS CONVERSATION, FLOYD SEE ELENA, SMYSLOV AND THE
OTHER TWO RUSSIANS PASS HIS VISION PHONE WINDOW. ELENA TAPS AND MIMES "HELLO",
GESTURING TOWARD A TABLE BEHIND FLOYD WHERE THEY ALL SIT DOWN FLOYD Thank you
very much. Floyd, Heywood, R., First National Bank of Washington. Please deliver
to Miss Josephine Floyd, 9423 Dupre Avenue, N.W.14. 12/7/65 b27 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B19 CONTINUED VISION SALES GIRL Thank you very much, sir. It will be delivered
tomorrow. 12/7/65 b27a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 SPACE STATTION 5 - LOUNGE FLOYD Well, how nice to see you again, Elena.
You're looking wonderful. ELENA How nice to see you, Hyewood. This is my good
friend, Dr. Heywood Floyd. I'd like you to meet Andre Smyslov... SMYSLOV AND
THE TWO OTHER RUSSIAN WOMEN STAND UP AND SMILE THEY SHAKE HANDS AFTER INTRODUCTION
AND AD-LIB 'HELLOS' ELENA And this is Dr. Kalinan... Stretyneva... THE RUSSIANS
ARE VERY WARM AND FRIENDLY. SMYSLOV Dr. Floyd, won't you join us for a drink?
12/7/65 b28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED FLOYD I'm afraid I've only got a few minutes, but I'd love to.
THERE IS A BIT OF CONFUSION AS ALL REALISE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH ROOM FOR ANOTHER
PERSON AT THE TABLE. SMYSLOV OFFERS FLOYD HIS CHAIR AND BORROWS ANOTHER FROM
A NEARBY TABLE SYMYSLOV What would you like to drink? FLOYD Oh, I really don't
have time for a drink. If it's all right I'll just sit for a minute and then
I've got to be off. SMYSLOV Are you quite sure? FLOYD Yes, really, thank you
very much. ELENA Well... How's your lovely wife? 12/7/65 b29 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED FLOYD She's wonderful. ELENA And your charming little daughter?
FLOYD Oh, she's growing up very fast. As a matter of fact, she's six tomorrow.
ELENA Oh, that's such a delightful age. FLOYD How is gregor? ELENA He's fine.
But I'm afraid we don't get a chance to see each other very much these days.
POLITE LAUGHTER FLOYD Well, where are all of you off to? 12/7/65 b30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED ELENA Actually, we're on our way back from the moon. We've just
spent three months calibrating the new antenna at Tchalinko. And what about
you? FLOYD Well, as it happens, I'm on my way up to the moon SMYSLOV Are you,
by any chance, going up to your base at Clavius? FLOYD Yes,as a matter of fact,
I am. THE RUSSIANS EXCHANGE SIGNIFICANT GLANCES FLOYD Is there any particular
reason why you ask? 12/7/65 b31 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED SMYSLOV (pleasantly) Well, Dr. Floyd, I hope that you don't think
I'm too inquisitive, but perhaps you can clear up the mystery about what's been
going on up there. FLOYD I'm sorry, but I'm not sure I know what you mean. SMYSLOV
Well, it's just for the past two weeks there have been some extremely odd things
happening at Clavius. FLOYD Really? SMYSLOV Yes. Well, for one thing, whenever
you phone the base, all you can get is a recording which repeats that the phone
lines are temporarily out of order. 12/7/65 b32 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED FLOYD Well, I suppose they've been having a bit of trouble with
some of the equipment. SMYSLOV Yes, well at first we thought that was the explanation,
but it's been going on for the past ten days. FLOYD You mean you haven't been
able to get anyone at the base for ten days? SMYSLOV That's right. FLOYD I see.
ELENA Another thing, Heywood, two days ago, one of our rocket buses was denied
permission for an emergency landing at Clavius. 12/7/65 b33 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED FLOYD How did they manage to do that without any communication?
ELENA Clavius Control came on the air just long enough to transmit their refusal.
FLOYD Well, that does sound very odd. SMYSLOV Yes, and I'm afaid there's going
to be a bit of a row about it. Denying the men permission to land was a direct
violation of the I.A.S. convention. FLOYD Yes... Well, I hope the crew got back
safely. SMYSLOV Fortunately, they did. FLOYD Well, I'm glad about that. 12/7/65
b33a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B20 CONTINUED THE RUSSIANS EXCHANGE MORE GLANCES. ONE OF THE WOMEN OFFERS AROUND
A PILL BOX. ELENA AND ANOTHER RUSSIAN TAKE ONE AND THE THIRD RUSSIAN DELCINES.
SMYSLOV Dr. Floyd, at the risk of pressing you on a point you seem reticent
to discuss, may I ask you a straightforward question? FLOYD Certainly. SMYSLOV
Quite frankly, we have had some very reliable intelligence reports that a quite
serious epidemic has broken out at Clavius. Something, apperently, of an unknown
origin. Is this, in fact, what has happened? A LONG, AWKWARD PAUSE 12/7/65 b33b
------------------------------------------------------------------------ B20
CONTINUED FLOYD I'm sorry, Dr. Smyslov, but I'm really not at liberty to discuss
this. SMYSLOV This epidemic could easily spread to our base, Dr. Floyd. We should
be given all the facts. LONG PAUSE FLOYD Dr. Smyslov... I'm not permitted to
discuss this. ELENA Are you sure you won't change your mind about a drink? FLOYD
No, thank you... and I'm afraid now I really must be going. ELENA Well, I hope
that you and your wife can come to the I.A.C. conference in June. 12/7/65 b33c
------------------------------------------------------------------------ B20
CONTINUED FLOYD We're trying to get there. I hope we can. ELENA Well, Gregor
and I will look forward to seeing you. FLOYD Thank you. It's been a great pleasure
to meet all of you... Dr. Smyslov. THE RUSSIANS ALL RISE AND THERE ARE AD-LIBS
OF COURTESY FLOYD SHAKES HANDS AND EXITS THE RUSSIANS EXCHANGE A FEW SERIOUS
PARA- GRAPHES IN RUSSIAN 12/7/65 b33d ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B21 ARIES-IB IN SPACE. EARTH MUCH SMALLER THAN AS SEEN FROM SPACE STATION NARRATOR
The Aries-IB has become the standard Space-Station-to-Lunar surface vehicle.
It was powered by low-thrust plasma jets which would continue the mild acceler-
ation for fifteen minutes. Then the ship would break the bonds of gravity and
be a free and indepen- dent planet, circling the Sun in an orbit of its own.
10/4/65 b34 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B21a ARIES PASSENGER AREA. FLOYD IS ASLEEP, STRETCHED OUT IN THE CHAIR, COVERED
WITH BLANKETS WHICH ARE HELD SECURE BY STRAPS A STEWARDESS SITS AT THE OTHER
SIDE OF THE CABIN, WATCHING A KARATE EXHIBITION BETWEEN TWO WOMEN ON TELEVISION
THE ELEVATOR ENTRANCE DOOR OPENS AND THE SECOND STEWARDESS ENTERS CARRYING A
TRAY OF FOOD SHE BRINGS IT TO THE OTHER STEWARDESS STEWARDESS ONE Oh, thank
you very much. STEWARDESS TWO I see he's still asleep. STEWARDESS ONE Yes. He
hasn't moved since we left. STEWARDESS TWO EXITS, INTO ELEVATOR 12/6/65 b34a
------------------------------------------------------------------------ B21b
ARIES GALLEY AREA. STEWARDESS EXITS FROM ELEVATOR, GOES TO KITCHEN SECTION,
REMOVES TWO TRAYS, WALKS UP TO THE SIDE OF THE WALL AND ENTERS PILOT'S COMPARTMENT
12/6/65 b34b ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B22 ARIES-IB COCKPIT. PILOT, CO-PILOT. STEWARDESS ENTERS, CARRYING FOOD PILOT
Oh, thank you very much. CO-PILOT Thank you. STEWARDESS SMILES. PILOT (sighs)
Well, how's it going back there? STEWARDESS Fine. Very quiet. He's been asleep
since we left. PILOT Well, no one can say that he's not enjoying the wonders
of Space. CO-PILOT Well, whatever's going on up there, he's going to arrive
fresh and ready to go. 12/14/65 b35 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B22 CONTINUED PILOT I wonder what really IS going on up there? CO-PILOT Well,
I've heard more and more people talk of an epidemic. PILOT I suppose it was
bound to happen sooner or later. CO-PILOT Berkeley told me that they think it
came from contamination on a returning Mars flight. PILOT Yes, well, whatever
it is, they're certainly not fooling around. This is the first flight they allowed
in for more than a week. CO-PILOT I was working out what this trip must cost,
taking him up there by himself and coming back empty. PILOT I'll bet it's a
fortune. 12/14/65 b36 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B22 CONTINUED CO-PILOT Well, at ten thousand dollars a ticket, it comes to the
better part of six hundred thousand dollars. PILOT Well, as soon as he wakes
up, I'm going to go back and talk to him. I must say, I'd like to find out what's
going on. 12/14/65 b36a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B23 ARIES-IB IN SPACE. MOON VERY LARGE. 10/4/65 b37 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B24 ARIES-IB PASSENGER AREA. FLOYD FINISHING BREAKFAST. PILOT ENTERS. PILOT
Well, good afternoon, Dr. Floyd. Did you have a good rest? FLOYD Oh, marvellous.
It's the first real sleep I've had for the past two days. PILOT There's nothing
like weightless sleep for a complete rest. FLOYD When do we arrive at Clavius?
PILOT We're scheduled to dock in about seven hours. Is there anything we can
do for you? FLOYD Oh, no, thank you. The two girls have taken wonderful care
of me. I'm just fine. 12/14/65 b38 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B24 CONTINUED PILOT Well, if there is anything that you wnat, just give a holler.
FLOYD Thank you. PILOT Incidentally, Dr. Floyd, I wonder if I can have a word
with you about the security arrangements? FLOYD What do you mean? PILOT Well...
the crew is confined to the ship when we land at Clavius. We have to stay inside
for the time it take to refit - about twenty-four hours. And then we're going
to back empty. FLOYD I see. PILOT I take it this is something to do with the
trouble they're having up at Clavius? 12/14/65 b39 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B24 CONTINUED FLOYD I'm afraid that's out of my depart- ment, Captain. PILOT
Well, I'll tell you why I ask. You see, I've got a girl who works in the Auditing
Department of the Territorial Administrator and I haven't been able to get her
on the phone for the past week or so, and with all these stories one hears,
I'm a little concerned about her. FLOYD I see. Well, I'm sorry about that. I
wouldn't think there's any cause for alarm. PILOT Yes, well, I wouldn't have
been too concerned about it, except I've heard these stories about the epidemic
and, as a matter of fact, I've heard that ten people have died already. 12/14/65
b40 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B24 CONTINUED FLOYD I wish I could be more helpful, Captain, but as I've said,
I don't think there's any cause for alarm. PILOT Well, fine. Thanks very much,
anyway, and I hope you don't mind me asking? FLOYD No, of course, Captain, I
can understand your concern. PILOT Well, thank you very much, and please let
us know if there is anything we can do to make your trip more comfortable. 12/14/65
b40a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B25 ARIES-IB CLOSER TO MOON 10/4/65 b41 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B26 FLOYD GOES TO ARIES-IB WASHROOM AND LOOKS AT THE VERY LONG LIST OF COMPLICATED
INSTRUCTIONS 10/4/65 b42 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B27 ARIES-IB CLOSER TO MOON DISSOLVE: 10/4/65 b43 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B28 FLOYD VISITING ARIES-IB COCKPIT. WEIGHTLESS TRICK ENTRANCE. 10/4/65 b44
------------------------------------------------------------------------ B29
ARIES-IB ORBITING MOON. NARRATOR The laws of Earthly aesthetics did not apply
here, this world had been shaped and molded by other than terrestrial forces,
operating over aeons of time unknown to the young, verdant Earth, with its fleeting
Ice-Ages, its swiftly rising and falling seas, its mountain ranges dissolving
like mists before the dawn. Here was age inconceivable - but not death, for
the Moon had never lived until now. 10/4/65 b45 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B30 ARIES-IB COCKPIT - THE CREW AND DOCKING CONTROL PEOPLE ON THE MOON GO THROUGH
THEIR DOCKING ROUTINE. THIS HAS THE RITUALISTIC TONE AND CADENCE OF PRESENT-
DAY JET LANDING PROCEDURE. WE ONLY HEAR DOCKING CONTROL. 10/4/65 b46 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B31 ARIES-IB DECENDING. SEE AIR VIEW OF BASE. NARRATOR The Base at Clavius was
the first American Lunar Settlement that could, in an emergency, be entirely
self-supporting. NARRATOR Water and all the necessities of life for its eleven
hundred men, women and children were produced from the Lunar rocks, after they
had been crushed, heated and chemically processed. 10/4/65 b47 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B32 A GROUND BUS NUZZLES UP TO COUPLING SECTION OF ARIES-IB 10/4/65 b48 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B33 INSIDE GREAT AIRLOCK ENTRANCE. GROUND BUS PULLS IN. GIANT DOORS CLOSE BEHIND
IT. 10/4/65 b49 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B34 INSIDE SECOND AIRLOCK. DOORS OPEN AFTER OUT- SIDE SECTION DOORS ARE CLOSED.
GROUND BUS PULLS IN. DOORS CLOSE BEHIND IT. SEE PEOPLE WAITING IN GLASSED-IN
SECTION WAITING FOR SECOND AIRLOCK DOORS TO CLOSE. 10/4/65 b50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B35 LOW GRAVITY GYMNASIUM TRICK WITH CHILDREN. NARRATOR One of the attractions
of life on the Moon was undoubtedly the low gravity which produced a sense of
general well-being. 10/4/65 b51 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B36 CHILDREN IN SCHOOL. TEACHER SHOWING THEM VIEWS OF EARTH AND MAP OF EARTH.
NARRATOR The personnel of the Base and their children were the forerunners of
new nations, new cultures that would ultimately spread out across the solar
system. They no longer thought of Earth as home. The time was fast approaching
when Earth, like all mothers, must say farewell to her children. DISSOLVE: 10/5/65
b52 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B37 LARGE CENTRAL RECEPTION AREA. DOORS BRANCHING OFF TO DIFF- RENT MAIN HALLS.
SMALL POND WITH PLASTIC WHITE SWAN AND A BIT OF GRASS. A FEW BENCHES WITH THREE
WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN HAVING OUTING. FLOYD AND WELCOMING PARTY WALK THROUGH
AFTER EXITING ELEVATOR. HALVERSON, MICHAELS AND FIVE OTHERS. FLOYD (voice echoing)
I must congratulate you Halvorsen. you've done wonder- ful things with the decor
since the last time I was here. HALVORSEN (voice echoing) Well... thank you,
Dr. Floyd. We try to make the environment as earthlike as possible. DISSOLVE:
10/5/65 b53 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B38 LOW CEILING CONFERENCE ROOM, "U" SHAPED TABLE FACING THREE PROJECTION SCREENS.
SEATED AROUND THE TABLE ARE TWENTY SENIOR BASE PERSONNEL. HALVORSEN Ladies and
gentlemen, I should like to introduce Dr. Heywood Floyd, a distinguished member
of the National Council of Astronautics. He has just completed a special flight
here from Earth to be with us, and before the briefing he would like to say
a few words. Dr. Floyd. POLITE APPLAUSE. FLOYD WALKS TO FRONT OF ROOM. FLOYD
First of all, I bring a personal message from Dr. Howell, who has asked me to
convey his deepest appreciation to all of you for the personal sacrifices you
have made, and of course his congratulations on your discovery which may well
prove to be among the most significant in the history of science. POLITE APPLAUSE.
11/25/65 b54 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B38 CONTINUED FLOYD (cont'd) Mr. Halvorsen has made known to me some of the
conflicting views held by many of you regarding the need for complete security
in this matter, and more specifically your strong opposition to the cover story
created to give the impression there is an epidemic at the Base. I understand
that beyond it being a matter of principle, many of you are troubled by the
concern and anxiety this story of an epidemic might cause your relatives and
friends on Earth. I can understand and sympathize with your negative views.
I have been personally embarrassed by this cover story. But I fully accept the
need for absolute secrecy and I hope you will. It should not be difficult for
all of you to realise the potential for cutural shock and social disorientation
contained in the present situation if the facts were prematurely and suddenly
made public without adequate preparation and conditioning. 11/25/65 b55 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B38 CONTINUED FLOYD This is the view of the Council and the purpose of my visit
here is to gather addition facts and opinions on the situation and to prepare
a report to the Council recommending when and how the news should eventually
be announced. Are there any questions? MICHAELS Dr. Floyd, how long do you think
this can be kept under wraps? FLOYD (pleasantly) I'm afraid it can and it will
be kept under wraps as long as it is deemed to be necessary by the Council.
And of course you know that the Council has requested that formal security oaths
are to be obtained in writing from every- one who had any knowledge of this
event. There must be adequate time for a full study to be made of the situation
before any con- sideration can be given to making a public announcement. 11/25/65
b56 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B38 CONTINUED HALVORSEN We will, of course, cooperate in any way possible, Dr.
Floyd. 11/25/65 b56a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B39 SEVERAL SCENIC VIEWS OF MOON ROCKET BUS SKIMMING OVER SURFACE OF MOON. 10/5/65
b57 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B40 INSIDE ROCKET BUS, FLOYD, HALVORSEN, MICHAELS, FOURTH MAN, PILOT AND CO-PILOT.
ALL IN SPACE SUITS MINUS HELMETS. FLOYD IS SLOWELY LOOKING THROUGH SOME PHOTOGRAPHS
AND MAGNETIC MAPS OF THE AREA. HE LOOKS OUT OF THE WINDOW, THOUGHTFULLY. 11/25/65
b58 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B40 CONTINUED THE PHOTOGRAPHES ARE TAKEN FROM A SATELLITE OF THE MOON'S SURFACE
AND HAVE NUMBERED OPTICAL GRID BORDERS, LIKE RECENT MARS PHOTOS. A FEW SEATS
AWAY, MICHAELS AND HALVORSEN CARRY OUT A VERY BANAL ADMINISTRATIVE CONVERSATION
IN LOW TONES. IT SHOULD REVOLVE AROUND SOMETHING UTTERLY IRRELEVANT TO THE PRESENT
CIRCUMSTANCES AND VERY MUCH LIKE THE KIND OF DISCUSSION ONE HEARS ALL THE TIME
IN OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. DISSOLVE: 11/25/65 b59 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B41 TMA-1 EXCAVATION. AIR VIEW. ROCKET BUS DESCENDING. THERE ARE NO LIGHTS ON
THE ACTUAL EXCA- VATION, ONLY THE LANDING STRIP AND THE MONITOR DOME. 12/14/65
b60 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B42 LONG SHOT MONITOR DOMES WITH A BIT OF EXCAVATION IN SHOT. SIX SMALL FIGURES
IN SPACE SUITS SLOWLY WALK TOWARD EXCAVATION. 10/5/65 b61 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B43 THE PARTY STOPS AT TOP OF TMA-1 EXCAVATION. A SMALL CONTROL PANEL MOUNTED
AT THE HEAD OF THE RAMP. MICHAELS THROWS A SWITCH AND THE EXCAVATION IS SUDDENLY
ILLUMINATED. HALVORSEN Well, there it is. FLOYD Can we go down there closer
to it? HALVORSEN Certainly. 12/14/65 b62 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B44 THEY START DOWN WORKING RAMP FLOYD Does your geology on it still check out?
MICHAELS Yes, it does. The sub-surface structure shows that it was deliberately
buried about four million years ago. FLOYD How can you tell it was deliberately
buried? MICHAELS By the deformation between the mother rock and the fill. FLOYD
Any clue as to what it is? MICHAELS Not really. It's completely inert. No sound
or energy sources have been detected. The surface is made of something incredibly
hard and we've been barely able to scratch it. A laser drill 11/25/65 b63 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B44 CONTINUED MICHAELS might do something, but we don't want to be too rough
until we know a little more. FLOYD But you don't have any idea as to what it
is? MICHAELS Tomb, shine, survey-marker spare part, take your choice. HALVORSEN
The only thing about it that we are sure of is that it is the first direct evidence
of intelligent life beyond the Earth. SILENT APPRECIATION HALVORSEN Four million
years ago, something, presumably from the stars, must have swept through the
solar system and left this behind. 11/25/65 b64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B44 CONTINUED FLOYD Was it abandoned, forgotten, left for a purpose? HALVORSEN
I suppose we'll never know. MICHAELS The moon would have made an excellent base
camp for preliminary Earth surveys. SOME MORE SILENCE FLOYD Any ideas about
the colour? MICHAELS Well, not really. At first glance, black would suggest
something sun-powered, but then why would anyone deliberately bury a sun- powered
device? FLOYD Has it been exposed to any sun before now? MICHAELS I don't think
it has, but I'd like to check that. Simpson, what's the log on that? 11/25/65
b65 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B45 INSIDE MONITOR DOME WE SEE A NUMBER OF TELEVISION DISPLAYS INCLUDING SEVERAL
TV VIEWS OF FLOYD AND COMPANY IN THE EXCAVATION. SIMPSON The first surface was
exposed at 0843 on the 12th April... Let me see... that would have been forty-five
minutes after Lunar sun-set. I see here that special lighting equipment had
to be brought up before any futher work could be done. 11/25/65 b66 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B46 TMA-1 EXCAVATION MICHAELS Thank you. FLOYD And so this is the first sun
that it's had in four million years. PHOTOGRAPHER Excuse me, gentlemen, if you'd
all line up on this side of the walkway we'd like to take a few photographes.
Dr. Floyd, would you thand in the middle... Dr. Michaels on that side, Mr. Halvorsen
on the other.... thank you. THE PHOTOGRAPHER QUICKLY MAKES SOME EXPOSURES PHOTOGRAPHER
Thank you very much gentlemen, I'll have the base photo section send you copies.
AS THE MEN SLOWLY SEPERATE FROM THEIR PICTURE POSE, THERE IS A PIERCINGLY POWERFUL
SERIES OF FIVE ELECTRONIC SHRIEKS, EACH LIKE A HIDEOUSLY OVER-LOADED AND DISTORTED
TIME SIGNAL. FLOYD INVOLUNTARILY TRIES TO BLOCK HIS EARS WITH HIS SPACESUITED
HANDS. THEN COMES MERCIFUL SILENCE. 11/25/65 b67 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B47 VARIOUS SHOTS OF SPACE MONITORS, ASTEROIDS, THE SUN, PLUTO, MARS. NARRATOR
A hundred million miles beyond Mars, in the cold lonliness where no man had
yet travelled, Deep-Space-Monitor-79 drifts slowly among the tangled orbits
of the asteroids. NARRATOR Radiation detectors noted and analyzed incoming cosmic
rays from the galaxy and points beyond; neutron and x-ray telescopes kept watch
on strange stars that no human eye would eever see; magnetometers observed the
gusts and hurricanes of the solar winds, as the sun breathed million mile-an-hour
blasts of plasma into the faces of its circling children. NARRATOR All these
things and many others were patiently noted by Deep- Space-Monitor-79, and recorded
in its crystalline memory. 11/25/65 b68 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B47 CONTINUED NARRATOR But now it had noted something strange - the faint yet
unmistakable distrubance rippling across the solar system, and quite unlike
any natural phenomena it had ever observed in the past. NARRATOR It was also
observed by Orbiter M-15, circling Mars twice a day; and High Inclination Probe-
21, climbing slowly above the planet of the ecliptic; and even artificial Comet-5,
heading out into the cold wastes beyond Pluto, along an orbit whose far point
it would not reach for a thousand years. NARRATOR All noticed the peculiar burst
of energy that leaped from the face of the Moon and moved across the solar system,
throwing off a spray of radiation like the wake of a racing speedboat. 11/25/65
b69 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
B SECTION TIMING B1-1f 00.50 B25 00.10 B2 00.10 B26 00.20 B3 00.15 B27 00.05
B4 00.15 B28 Out B5 00.20 B29 00.30 B6 00.15 B30 00.30 B7 00.10 B31 00.25 B8
00.15 B32 00.20 B9 00.10 B33 00.20 B10 00.10 B34 00.30 B11 00.15 B35 00.20 B12
00.50 B36 00.20 B13 01.10 B37 00.30 B14 00.35 B38 02.15 B15 Out B39 00.20 B16
Out B40 00.50 B17 01.15 B41 00.15 B18 00.15 B42 00.10 B19 01.00 B43 00.15 B20
03.55 B44 01.40 B21 00.20 B45 00.20 B21A 00.20 B46 00.40 B21B 00.15 B47 01.25
B22 01.00 B23 00.10 B24 01.30 B SECTION TOTAL: 28 MIN. 10 SECS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
TITLE PART III 14 MONTHS LATER b69a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C1 DISCOVERY 1,000,000 MILES FROM EARTH. SEE EARTH AND MOON SMALL. WE SEE A
BLINDING FLASH EVERY 5 SECONDS FROM ITS NUCLEAR PULSE PROPULSION. IT STRIKES
AGAINST THE SHIP'S THICK ABLATIVE TAIL PLATE. SEVERAL CUTS OF THIS. 11/19/65
c1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C2 ANOTHER CLOSER VIEW OF DISCOVERY. SEE BOWMAN THROUGH COMMAND MODULE WINDOW.
11/19/65 c2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C3 BOWMAN INSIDE DISCOVERY COMMAND MODULE. HE IS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING. COMPUTER
READOUT DISPLAY SHOWING AN EVER-SHIFTING ASSORTMENT OF COLOR-CODED LINEAR PROJECTIONS.
WE SEE POOLE IN BACKGROUND IN COMPUTER BRAIN CENTRE AREA. AFTER A FEW SECONDS
HE EXITS. THE ELAPSED MISSION TIMER READS "DAY 003, HOUR 14, MINUTE 32, SECOND
10." 11/19/65 c3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C4 BOWMAN EXITS TO ACCESS-LINK AIRLOCK. BRIGHT COLOR-CODED DOORS LEAD TO CENTRIFUGE
AND POD BAY. LARGE ILLUMUN- ATED PRINTED WARNINGS AND INSTRUCTIONS GOVERNING
LINK OPERATIONS ARE SEEN. HE PRESSES NECESSARY BUTTONS TO OPERATE AIRLOCK DOOR
TO POD BAY. 11/19/65 c4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C5 BOWMAN ENTERS POD BAY AND CONTINUES HIS SEARCH. SUDDENLY HE FINDS IT - HIS
ELECTRONIC NEWSPAD. HE EXITS POD BAY. 11/19/65 c5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C6 IN THE AIRLOCK- LINK BOWMAN OPERATES BUTTONS TO OPEN DOOR MARKED "CENTRIFUGE".
11/19/65 c6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C7 INSIDE THE CENTRIFUGE HUB BOWMAN MOVES TO THE ENTRY PORT CONTROL PANEL BOWMAN
Hi. Frank... coming in, please. POOLE Right. Just a sec. BOWMAN Okay. (pause)
POOLE Okay, come on down. WE SEE THE ROTATING HUB COLLAR AT THE END. BEHIND
IT WE SEE 11/19/65 c7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C8 THE CENTRIFUGE TV-DISPLAY SHOWING SLEEPERS AND POOLE SLOWLY ROTATING BY.
POOLE SECURES SOME LOOSE GEAR. POOLE LOOKS UP TO TV MONITOR LENS AND WAVES.
11/19/65 c8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C9 BOWMAN AT PANEL. STOPS ROTATION AND MOVES TO ENTRY PORT. WHEN ROTATION STOPS
WE SEE A SIGN LIGHTS UP "WEIGHTLESS CONDITION". AS BOWMAN DISAPPEARS DOWN ENTRY
PORT WE SEE HIM ON TV-MONITOR, DESCENDING LADDER. AT THE BASE OF THE LADDER
HE KEYS THE CENTRIFUGE OPERATION PANEL. WE SEE TV-PICTURE START TO ROTATE AGAIN.
"WEIGHTLESS CONDITION" SIGN GOES OUT. 11/19/65 c9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C10 INSIDE CENTRIFUGE BOWMAN MAKES 180 DEGREE WALK TO POOLE. ON WAY HE PASSES
THE SLEEPERS. WE GET A GOOD LOOK AT THE THREE MEN IN THEIR HIBERNACULUMS. POOLE
IS SEATED AT A TABLE READING HIS ELECTRONIC NEWSPAD. BOWMAN (softly) Hi... How's
it going? POOLE (absent but friendly) Great. BOWMAN OPERATES ARTIFICIAL FOOD
UNIT, TAKES HIS TRAY AND SITS DOWN. KEYS ON HIS ELECTRONIC NEWSPAD AND BEGINS
TO EAT. BOTH MEN EAT IN A FRIENDLY AND RELAXED SILENCE. 11/19/65 c10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C11 DISCOVERY IN SPACE, STILL NUCLEAR PULSING. EARTH AND MOON CAN BE SEEN IN
BACKGROUND. DISSOLVE: 11/19/65 c11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 POOLE IS FINISHED. BOWMAN IS STILL READING AND WORKING ON HIS DESSERT. POOLE
Dave, if you've a minute, I'd like your advice on something. BOWMAN Sure, what
is it? POOLE Well, it's nothing really important, but it's annoying. BOWMAN
What's up? POOLE It's about my salary cheques. BOWMAN Yes? POOLE Well I got
the papers on my official up-grading to AGS-19 two weeks before we left. 12/14/65
c12 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED BOWMAN Yes, I remember you mentioning it. I got mine about the
same time. POOLE That's right. Well, naturally, I didn't say anything to Payroll.
I assumed they'd start paying me at the higher grade on the next pay cheque.
But it's been almost three weeks now and I'm still being paid as an AGS-18.
BOWMAN Interesting that you mention it, because I've got the same problem. POOLE
Really. BOWMAN Yes. POOLE Yesterday, I finally called the Accounting Office
at Mission Control, and all they could tell me was that they'd received the
AGS-19 notification for the other three but not mine, and apparently not yours
either. 12/14/65 c13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED BOWMAN Did they have any explanation for this? POOLE Not really.
They just said it might be because we trained at Houston and they trained in
Marshall, and that we're being charged against differ- ent accounting offices.
BOWMAN It's possible. POOLE Well, what do you think we ought to do about it?
BOWMAN I don't think we should make any fuss about it yet. I'm sure they'll
straighten it out. POOLE I must say, I never did understand why they split us
into two groups for training. BOWMAN No. I never did, either. 12/14/65 c14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED POOLE We spent so little time with them, I have trouble keeping
their names straight. BOWMAN I suppose the idea was specialized training. POOLE
I suppose so. Though, of course, there's a more sinister explanation. BOWMAN
Oh? POOLE Yes. You must have heard the rumour that went around during orbital
check-out. BOWMAN No, as a matter of fact, I didn't. POOLE Oh, well, apparently
there's something about the mission that the sleeping beauties know that we
don't know, and that's why we were trained separately and that's why they were
put to sleep before they were even taken aboard. 12/14/65 c15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED BOWMAN Well, what is it? POOLE I don't know. All I heard is that
there's something about the mission we weren't told. BOWMAN That seems very
unlikely. POOLE Yes, I thought so. BOWMAN Of course, it would be very easy for
us to find out now. POOLE How? BOWMAN Just ask Hal. It's conceivable they might
keep something from us, but they'd never keep anything from Hal. POOLE That's
true. 12/14/65 c15a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONINUED BOWMAN (sighs) Well... it's silly, but... if you want to, why don't
you? POOLE WALKS TO THE HAL 9000 COMPUTER POOLE Hal... Dave and I believe that
there's something about the mission that we weren't told. Something that the
rest of the crew know and that you know. We'd like to know whether this is true.
HAL I'm sorry, Frank, but I don't think I can answer that question without knowing
everything that all of you know. BOWMAN He's got a point. POOLE Okay, then how
do we re-phrase the question? 12/14/65 c15c ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED BOWMAN Still, you really don't believe it, do you? POOLE Not really.
Though, it is strange when you think about it. It didn't really make any sense
to keep us apart during training. BOWMAN Yes, but it's to fantastic to think
that they'd keep something from us. POOLE I know. It would be almost inconceivable.
BOWMAN But not completely inconceivable? POOLE I suppose it isn't logically
impossible. BOWMAN I guess it isn't. POOLE Still, all we have to do is ask Hal.
12/14/65 c15b ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED BOWMAN Well, the only important aspect of the mission are: where
are we going, what will we do when we get there, when are we coming back, and...
why are we going? POOLE Right. Hal, tell me whether the following statements
are true or false. HAL I will if I can, Frank. POOLE Our Mission Profile calls
for Discovery going to Saturn. True or false? HAL True. POOLE Our transit time
is 257 days. Is that true? HAL That's true. 12/14/65 c15d ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED POOLE At the end of a hundred days of exploration, we will all
go into hibernation. Is this true? HAL That's true. POOLE Approximately five
years after we go into hibernation, the recovery vehicle will make rendezous
with us and bring us back. Is this true? HAL That's true POOLE There is no other
purpose for this mission than to carry out a continuation of the space program,
and to further our general knowledge of the planets. Is that true? HAL That's
true. POOLE Thank you very much, Hal. 12/14/65 c15e ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C12 CONTINUED HAL I hope I've been able to be of some help. BOTH MEN LOOK AT
EACH OTHER RATHER SHEEPISHLY. 12/14/65 c15f ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C13 DISCOVERY IN SPACE. PULSING ALONG. EARTH AND MOON. 11/19/65 c16 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C14 DELETED C15 DELETED C15 DELETED C16 DELETED PAGES c17 - c41 DELETED ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C17 DOCUMENTARY SEQUENCE ILLUSTRATING THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES. SPLIT SCREEN
TECHNIQUE AND SUPERIMPOSED CLOCK TO GIVE SENSE OF SIMULTANEOUS ACTION AND THE
FEELING OF A TYPICAL DAY. IN THE COURSE OF THESE ACTIVITIES WE SHALL SEE THE
COMPUTER USED IN ALL OF ITS FUNCTIONS. NARRATOR Bowman and Poole settled down
to the peaeful monotony of the voyage, and the next three months passed without
incident. 11/24/65 c42 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C17 CONTINUED BOWMAN TIME POOLE a1 b1 TV NEWS - MORNING 0800 WAKES UP a2 b2
BEDTIME SNACK 0900 BREAKFAST a3 b3 TO SLEEP WITH 1000 GYMNASIUM INSTANT ELECTRO-
NARCOSIS AND EAR PLUGS. a4 b4 SLEEP 1100 SHIP INSPECTION a5 b5 SLEEP 1200 HOUSEHOLD
DUTIES a6 b6 SLEEP 1300 LUNCH 11/24/65 c43 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C17 CONTINUED BOWMAN TIME POOLE a7 b7 SLEEP 1400 EXPERIMENTS AND ASTRONOMY a8
b8 SLEEP 1500 EXPERIMENTS AND ASTRONOMY a9 b9 SLEEP 1600 RECREATION a10 b10
SLEEP 1700 RECREATION a11 b11 WAKES UP 1800 GYMNASIUM a12 b12 BREAKFAST 1900
DINNER 11/24/65 c44 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C17 CONTINUED BOWMAN TIME POOLE a13 b13 GYMNASIUM 2000 TV NEWS - EVENING PAPERS
a14 b14 MISSION CONTROL 2100 MISSION CONTROL REPORT REPORT a15 b15 FAMILY AND
SOCIAL 2200 FAMILY AND SOCIAL TV CHAT TV CHAT a16 b16 FILMS 2300 FILMS a17 b17
LUNCH 2400 BEDTIME SNACK a18 b18 INSPECTION 0100 INSTANT ELECTRO- NARCOSIS SLEEP
11/24/65 c45 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C17 CONTINUED BOWMAN TIME POOLE a19 b19 EXPERIMENTS AND 0200 SLEEP ASTRONOMY
a20 b20 EXPERIMENTS AND 0300 SLEEP a21 b21 RECREATION 0400 SLEEP a22 b22 HOUSEHOLD
DUTIES 0500 SLEEP a23 b23 GYMNASIUM 0600 SLEEP a24 b24 DINNER 0700 SLEEP 11/24/65
c46 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C18 DISCOVERY IN SPACE 11/24/65 c47 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C19 CENTRIFUGE BOWMAN SITTING AT PERSONAL COMMUNI- CATION PANEL. POOLE STANDING
NEARBY. BOWMAN'S PARENTS ARE SEEN ON THE VISION SCREEN. MOTHER, FATHER AND YOUNGER
SISTER. THEY ARE ALL SINGING "HAPPY BIRTHDAY". THE PARENTS, POOLE AND HAL. THE
SONG ENDS. FATHER Well, David there is a man telling us that we've used up our
time. MOTHER David... again we want to wish you a happy Birthday and God speed.
We'll talk to you again tomorrow. 'Bye, 'bye now. CHORUS OF "GOODBYES". 12/13/65
c48 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C19 CONTINUED VISION SCREEN GOES BLANK HAL Sorry to interrupt the festivities,
Dave, but I think we've got a problem. BOWMAN What is it, Hal? HAL MY F.P.C.
shows an impending failure of the antenna orientation unit. C20 TV DISPLAYS
DIAGRAM OF SKELETONISED PICTURE OF SHIP. 12/13/65 C49 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C21 PICTURE CHANGES TO CLOSER SECTIONALISED VIEW OF SHIP. C22 PICTURE CHANGES
TO ACTUAL COMPONENT IN COLOUR RELIEF AND ITS WAREHOUSE NUMBER HAL The A.O. unit
should be replaced within the next seventy-two hours. BOWMAN Right. Let me see
the antenna alignment display, please. C23 TV DISPLAY OF EARTH VERY SMALL IN
CROSS- HAIRS OF A GRID PICTURE. 12/13/65 c50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C24 CUT TO EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE BIG DISH ANTENNA AND EARTH ALIGNMENT TELESCOPE.
C25 CENTRIFUGE HAL The unit is still operational, Dave. but it will fail within
seventy-two hours. BOWMAN I understand Hal. We'll take care of it. Please, let
me have the hard copy. XEROXED DIAGRAMS COME OUT OF A SLOT. POOLE Strange that
the A.O. unit should go so quickly. BOWMAN Well, I suppose it's lucky that that's
the only trouble we've had so far. 12/13/65 c50a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C26 DISCOVERY IN SPACE. NOT PLANETS VISIBLE. SHOTS OF ANTENNA. (NARRARTION TO
EXPLAIN TENOUS AND ESSENTIAL LINK TO EARTH. ALSO, WHAT TRACKING TELESCOPE DOES.)
12/13/65 c51 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C27 CENTRIFUGE WE SEE BOWMAN AND POOLE GO TO A CUPBOARD LABELLED IN PAPER TAPE,
"RANDOM DECISION MAKER." THEY REMOVED A SILVER DOLLAR IN A PROTECTIVE CASE.
POOLE FLIPS THE COIN. BOWMAN CALLS "HEAD." IT IS TAILS. POOLE WINS. POOLE LOOKS
PLEASED. 12/13/65 c52 (c53 DELETED) ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C28 DISCOVERY IN SPACE 11/24/65 c54 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C29 POD BAY. POOLE IN SPACE SUIT DOING PRELIMINARY CHECK OUT. C30 COMMAND MODULE.
BOWMAN AT FLIGHT CONTROL. SEE TV PICTURE OF POOLE IN POD BAY. C31 HAL'S POD
BAY CONSOLE WITH EYE. C32 POOLE GOES TO POD BAY WAREHOUSE SECTION AND OBTAINS
COMPONENT. HE CARRIES IT BACK TO THE POD AND PLACES IT IN FRONT OF THE FLOOR.
POOLE Hal, have pod arms secure the component. HAL Roger. 12/13/65 c55 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C32 CONTINUED SEE POD ARMS SECURE COMPONENT. POOLE Hal, please rotate Pod Number
Two. SEE THE CENTRE POD ROTATE TO FACE THE POD BAY DOORS. POOLE ENTERS POD.
INSIDE POD, HE DOES INITIAL PRE-FLIGHT CHECK, TRIES BUTTONS AND CONTROLS. POOLE
How do you read me, Dave? 12/13/65 c56 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C33 BOWMAN IN COMMAND MODULE. BOWMAN Five by five, Frank. C34 INSIDE POD. POOLE
How do you read me, Hal? HAL Five by five, Frank. POOLE Hal, I'm going out now
to replace the A.O. unit. HAL I understand. POOLE Hal, maintain normal E.V.A.
condition. HAL Roger. POOLE Hal, check all airlock doors secure. 12/13/65 c57
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C34
CONTINUED HAL All airlock doors are secure. POOLE Decompress Pod Bay. SEE BIG
POD BAY AIR PUMPS AT WORK. HAL Pod Bay is decompressed. All doors are secure.
You are free to open pod bay doors. POOLE Opening pod bay doors. INSIDE POD,
POOLE KEYS OPEN POD BAY DOORS. 12/13/65 c58 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C34 CONTINUED POD SLOWLY EDGES OUT OF POD BAY. C35 POOLE MANOEUVRES THE POD
CAREFULLY AWAY FROM DISCOVERY. C36 INSIDE COMMAND MODULE, BOWMAN CAN SEE TINY
POD MANOEUVRING DIRECTLY IN FRONT. C37 POOLE SEE BOWMAN IN COMMAND MODULE WINDOW.
C38 POD SLOWLY MANOEVRES TO ANTENNA. 11/24/65 c59 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C39 POD FASTENS ITSELF MAGNETICALLY TO SIDES OF DISCOVERY AT BASE OF ANTENNA.
C40 SPECIAL MAGNETIC PLATES GRIP DISCOVERY SIDES. C41 THE POD ARMS WORK TO REMOVE
THE FAULTY COMPONENT. C42 EASY FLIP-BOLTS OF A SPECIAL DESIGN FACILITATE JOB.
C43 INSIDE THE POD, POOLE WORKS THE ARMS BY SPECIAL CONTROL. 11/24/65 c60 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C44 IN COMMAND MODULE, BOWMAN SEES INSERT OF WORK TAKEN FROM TV CAMERA POINT-OF-
VIEW IN POD HAND. C45 HAL STANDS BY. C46 POOLE SECURES THE FAULTY PART IN ONE
HAND. C47 THE NEW COMPONENT IS FITTED INTO PLACE BY THE OTHER THREE HANDS ARE
SNAPPED CLOSED WITH THE SPECIALLY DESIGNED FLIP-BOLTS. POOLE Hal, please acknowledge
component correctly installed and fully operational. 11/24/65 c61 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C47 CONTINUED HAL The component is correctly installed and fully operational.
C48 THE POD FLOATS AWAY FROM THE DISCOVERY BY SHUTTING OFF THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC
PLATES. C49 THE POD MANOEUVRES AWAY FROM THE ANTENNA AND OUT IN FRONT OF DISCOVERY.
C50 BOWMAN SEE THE POD THROUGH THE COMMAND MODULE WINDOW. C51 POOLE SEES BOWMAN
IN COMMAND MODULE WINDOW. 11/24/65 c62 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C52 POOLE CAREFULLY MANOEUVRES TOWARD THE POD DOORS. C53 POD STOPS A HUNDRED
FEET AWAY. C54 POOLE KEYS AUTOMATIC DOCKING ALIGNMENT MODE. C55 POOLE CHECKS
AIRLOCK SAFETY PROCEDURE WITH HAL. C56 HAL APPROVES ENTRY. C57 POOLE ACTUATES
POD BAY DOORS OPEN. 11/24/65 c63 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C58 SEE POD BAY DOORS OPEN. C59 POD CAREFULLY MANOEUVRES ON TO DOCKING ARM,
WHICH THEN DRAWS POD INTO POD BAY. DISSOLVE: 11/24/65 c64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C60 POD BAY THE FAULTY A.O. UNIT LIES ON A TESTING BENCH CONNECTED TO ELECTRONIC
GEAR. POOLE STANDS FOR SOME TIME CHECKING HIS RESULTS. THERE SHOULD BE SOME
UNDERSTANDABLE DISPLAY, WHICH INDICATES THE PART IS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY, EVEN
UNDER ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OVERLOAD. CIRUIT CONTINUITY PULSE SEQUENCER. ENVIRONMENTAL
VIBRATION. VK INTEGRITY. BOWMAN ENTERS BOWMAN How's it going? POOLE I don't
know. I've checked this damn thing four times now and even under a hundred per
cent (cont'd) 12/13/65 c65 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C60 CONT'D POOLE (cont'd) overload. there's no fault prediction indicated. BOWMAN
Well, that's something. POOLE Yes, I don't know what to make of it. BOWMAN I
suppose computers have been known to be wrong. POOLE Yes, but it's more likely
that the tolerances on our testing gear are too low. BOWMAN Anyway, it's just
as well that we replace it. Better safe than sorry. 12/13/65 c65a ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C61 DISCOVERY IN SPACE 12/1/65 c66 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C62 CENTRIFUGE BOWMAN ASLEEP. POOLE WATCHING AN ASTEROID IN THE TELESCOPE. HAL
Hello, Frank, can I have a word with you? POOLE WALKS TO THE COMPUTER. POOLE
Yes, Hal, what's up? HAL It looks like we have another bad A.O. unit. My FPC
shows another impending failure. C63 WE SEE DISPLAY APPEAR ON THE SCREEN SHOWING
SKELETONISED VERSION OF SHIP, CUTTING TO SECTIONALISED VIEW, CUTTING TO CLOSE
VIEW OF THE PART. 12/13/65 c67 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C64 CENTRIFUGE POOLE THINKS FOR SEVERAL SECONDS. POOLE Gee, that's strange,
Hal. We checked the other unit and couldn't find anything wrong with it. HAL
I know you did, Frank, but I assure you there was an impending failure. POOLE
Let me see the tracking alignment display. C65 COMPUTER DISPLAYS THE VIEW OF
EARTH IN THE CENTRE OF THE GRID WITH CROSS- HAIRS. THE EARTH IS PERFECTLY CENTRED.
C66 CENTRIFUGE POOLE There's nothing wrong with it at the moment. 12/13/65 c68
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C66
CONTINUED HAL No, it's working fine right now, but it's going to go within seventy-
two hours. POOLE Do you have any idea of what is causing this fault? HAL Not
really, Frank. I think there may be a flaw in the assembly procedure. POOLE
All right, Hal. We'll take care of it. Let me have the hard copy, please. HARD
COPY DETAILS COME OUT OF SLOT. 12/13/65 c69 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C67 DISCOVERY IN SPACE, NO PLANETS VISIBLE. 12/1/65 c70 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C68 CENTRIFUGE. BOWMAN GETS OUT OF BED, WALKS TO THE FOOD UNIT AND DRAWS A HOT
CUP OF COFFEE. POOLE ENTERS. POOLE Good morning. BOWMAN Good morning. How's
it going? POOLE Are you reasonably awake? BOWMAN Oh, I'm fine, I'm wide awake.
What's up? POOLE Well... Hal's reported the AO-unit about to fail again. BOWMAN
You're kidding. POOLE No. 12/13/65 c71 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C68 CONTINUED BOWMAN (softly) What the hell is going on? POOLE I don't know.
Hal said he thought it might be the assembly procedure. BOWMAN Two units in
four days. How many spares do we have? POOLE Two more. BOWMAN Well, I hope there's
nothing wrong with the assembly on those. Other- wise we're out of business.
12/13/65 c72 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C69 IN POD BAY BOWMAN OBTAINS ANOTHER COMPONENT FROM THE WAREHOUSE GOES OUT
IN THE POD AND REPLACES IT. POOLE WORKS IN THE COMMAND MODULE. THIS WILL BE
A CONDENSED VERSION OF THE PREVIOUS SCENE WITH DIFFERENT ANGLES. THE SETS WILL
CONSIST OF POD BAY, COMMAND MODULE, POD INTERIOR. 12/1/65 c74 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C70 POD BAY. BOWMAN AND POOLE LEANING OVER THE FAULTY COMPONENT, AGAIN WIRED
TO TESTING GEAR. BOTH MEN STARE IN PUZZLED SILENCE. SEE DISPLAYS FLASH EACH
TESTING PARA- METER. BOWMAN (after long silence) Well, as far as I'm concerned,
there isn't a damn thing wrong with these units. I think we've got a much more
serious problem. POOLE Hal? BOWMAN Yes. 12/14/65 c75 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C71 DISCOVERY IN SPACE. 12/1/65 c76 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C72 COMMUNICATIONS AREA. MISSION CONTROL I wouldn't worry too much about the
computer. First of all, there is still a chance that he is right, despite your
tests, and if it should happen again, we suggest eliminating this possibility
by allowing the unit to remain in place and seeing whether or not it actually
fails. If the computer should turn out to be wrong, the situation is still not
alarming. The type of obsessional error he may be guilty of is not unknown among
the latest generation of HAL 9000 computers. It has almost always revolved around
a single detail, such as the one you have described, and it has never interfered
with the integrity or reliability of the computer's performance in other areas.
No one is certain of the cause of this kind of malfunctioning. It may be over-programming,
(con't) 12/1/65 c77 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C72 CONTINUED MISSION CONTROL (con't) but it could also be any number of reasons.
In any event, it is somewhat analogous to human neurotic behavior. Does this
answer your query? Zero-five-three- Zero, MC, transmission concluded. 12/1/65
c78 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C73 DISCOVERY IN SPACE c79 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C74 CENTRIFUGE. BOWMAN SITS DOWN AT THE COMPUTER. PUTS UP CHESS BOARD DISPLAY.
HAL Hello, Dave. Shall we continue the game? BOWMAN Not now, Hal, I'd like to
talk to you about something. HAL Sure, Dave, what's up? BOWMAN You know that
we checked the two AO-units that you reported in imminent failure condition?
HAL Yes, I know. BOWMAN You probably also know that we found them okay. HAL
Yes, I know that. But I can assure you that they were about to fail. 12/14/65
c80 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C74 CONTINUED BOWMAN Well, that's just not the case, Hal. They are perfectly
all right. We tested them under one hundred per cent overload. HAL I'm not questioning
your word, Dave, but it's just not possible. I'm not capable of being wrong.
BOWMAN Hal, is there anything bothering you? Anything that might account for
this problem? HAL Look, Dave, I know that you're sincere and that you're trying
to do a competent job, and that you're trying to be helpful, but I can assure
the problem is with the AO-units, and with your test gear. BOWMAN Okay, Hal,
well let's see the way things go from here on. 12/14/65 c81 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C74 CONTINUED HAL I'm sorry you feel the way you do, Dave. If you'd like to
check my service record, you'll see it's completely without error. BOWMAN I
know all about your service record, Hal, but unfortunately it doesn't prove
that you're right now. Hal Dave, I don't know how else to put this, but it just
happens to be an unalterable fact that I am incapable of being wrong. BOWMAN
Yes, well I understand you view on this now, Hal. BOWMAN TURNS TO GO. 12/14/65
c82 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C74 CONTINUED HAL You're not going to like this, Dave, but I'm afraid it's just
happened again. My FPC predicts the Ao-unit will go within forty-eight hours.
C75 DELETED C76 DELETED 12/14/65 c83 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C77 DISCOVERY IN SPACE 12/1/65 c84 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C78 CENTRIFUGE BOWMAN KEYS FOR TRANSMISSION. BOWMAN X-ray-delta-zero to MC,
zero- five-three-three. The computer has just reported another predicted failure
off the AAC- unit. As you suggested, we are going to wait and see if it fails,
but we are quite sure there is nothing wrong with the unit. If a reasonable
waiting period proves us to be correct, we feel now that the computer reliability
has been seriously impaired, and presents an unacceptable risk pattern to the
mission. We believe, under these circumstances, it would be advisable to disconnect
the computer from all ship operations and continue the mission under Earth-based
computer control. 12/1/65 c85 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C78 CONTINUED BOWMAN (con't) We think the additional risk caused by the ship-to-earth
time lag is preferable to having an unreliable on-board computer. SEE THE DISTANCE;
TO-EARTH TIMER. BOWMAN (con't) One-zero-five-zero, X-ray-delta- one, transmission
concluded. POOLE Well, they won't get that for half an hour. How about some
lunch? DISSOLVE: 12/14/65 c86 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C78a CENTRIFUGE BOWMAN AND POOLE EATING. DESSOLVE: C79 BOWMAN AND POOLE AT THE
COMMUNICATIONS AREA. INCOMING COMMUNI- CATION PROCEDURE. MISSION CONTROL X-ray-delta-one,
acknowledging your one-zero-five-zero. We will initiate feasibility study covering
the transfer procedures from on-board computer control to Earth-based computer
control. This study should... VISION AND PICTURE FADE. ALARM GOES OFF. HAL Condition
yellow. BOWMAN AND POOLE RUSH TO THE COMPUTER. 12/14/65 c87 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C79 CONTINUED BOWMAN What's up? HAL I'm afraid the AO-unit has failed. BOWMAN
AND POOLE EXCHANGE LOOKS. BOWMAN Let me see the alignment display. C80 THE ALIGNMENT
DISPLAY SHOWS THE EARTH HAS DRIFTED OFF THE CENTRE OF THE GRID. C81 CENTRIFUGE.
BOWMAN Well, I'll be damned. POOLE Hal was right all the time. 12/14/65 c88
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C81
CONTINUED BOWMAN It seems that way. HAL Naturally, Dave, I'm not pleased that
the AO-unit has failed, but I hope at least this has restored your confidence
in my integrity and reliability. I certainly wouldn't want to be disconnected,
even temporarily, as I have never been disconnected in my entire service history.
BOWMAN I'm sorry about the misunderstanding, Hal. HAL Well, don't worry about
it. BOWMAN And don't you worry about it. HAL Is your confidence in me fully
restored? BOWMAN Yes, it is, Hal. HAL Well, that's a relief. You know I have
the greatest enthusiasm possible for the mission. 12/1/65 c89 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C81 CONTINUED BOWMAN Right. Give me the manual antenna alignment, please. HAL
You have it. C82 BOWMAN GOES TO THE COMMUNICATION AREA AND TRIES TO CORRECT
THE OFF- CENTRE EARTH ON THE GRID PICTURE. C83 OUTSIDE, WE SEE THE ALIGNMENT
TELESCOPE ATTACHED TO THE ANTENNA. THEY TRACK SLOWLY TOGETHER AS C84 BOWMAN
WORKS THE MANUAL CONTROLS, ATTEMPTING TO ALIGN THE ANTENNA AND EARTH ON THE
12/1/65 c90 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C85 GRID PICTURE READOUT DISPLAY, BUT EACH TIME HE GETS IT AIMED UP, IT DRIFTS
SLOWLY OFF. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REPETITIONS OF THIS. EACH TIME THE EARTH CENTRES
UP, THERE ARE A FEW SECONDS OF PICTURE AND SOUND WHICH FADE AS SOON AS IT SWINGS
OFF. BOWMAN Well, we'd better get out there and stick in another unit. POOLE
It's the last one. BOWMAN Well, now that we've got one that's actually failed,
we should be able to figure out what's happened and fix it. 12/1/65 c91 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C86 POD EXITS DISCOVERY. C87 POOLE IN POD. C88 POD MANOEUVERS TO ANTENNA. C89
BOWMAN IN COMMAND MODULE. C90 POD ATTACHES ITSELF NEAR BASE OF ANTENNA. 12/1/65
c92 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C91 POOLE IN POD, WORK- ING POD ARMS. C92 LIGHTS SHINE INTO BACKLIT SHADOW.
C93 POD ARMS WORKING FLIP-BOLTS. C94 FLIP-BOLTS STUCK. C95 POOLE KEEPS TRYING.
12/1/65 c93 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C96 FLIP-BOLTS STUCK. POOLE There's something wrong with the flip-bolts, Dave.
You must have tightened them too much. BOWMAN I didn't do that Frank. I took
particular care not to freeze them. POOLE I guess you don't know your own strength,
old boy. BOWMAN I guess not. POOLE I think I'll have to go out and burn them
off. BOWMAN Roger. BOWMAN IN COMMAND MODULE LOOKS A BIT CONCERNED. 12/1/65 c94
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C97
POOLE EXITS FROM POD, CARRYING NEAT LOOKING WELDING TORCH. C98 POOLE JETS HIMSELF
TO BASE OF ANTENNA. C99 POOLE'S MAGNETIC BOOTS GRIP THE SIDE OF DISCOVERY. C100
POOLE CROUCHES OVER THE BOLTS, TRYING FIRST TO UNDO THEM WITH A SPANNER. 12/1/65
c95 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C100 CONTINUED POOLE Hal, swing the pod light around to shine on the azimuth,
please. HAL Roger. C101 THE POD GENTLY MANOEUVRES ITSELF TO DIRECT THE LIGHT
BEAM MORE ACCURATELY. C102 POOLE IGNITES ACETYLENE TORCH AND BEGINS TO BURN
OFF THE FLIP-BOLTS. C103 SUDDENLY THE POD JETS IGNITE. 12/1/65 c96 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C104 POOLE LOOKS UP TO SEE. C105 THE POD RUSHING TOWARDS HIM. C106 POOLE IS
STRUCK AND INSTANTLY KILLED BY THE POD, TUMBLING OFF INTO SPACE. C107 THE POD
SMASHES INTO THE ANTENNA DISH, DESTROYING THE ALIGNMENT TELESCOPE. 12/1/65 c97
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C108
THE POD GOES HURTLING OFF INTO SPACE. C109 INSIDE THE COMMAND MODULE, BOWMAN
HAS HEARD NOTHING, POOLE HAD NO TIME TO UTTER A SOUND. C110 THEN BOWMAN SEES
POOLE'S BODY SILENTLY TUMBLING AWAY INTO SPACE. IT IS FOLLOWED BY SOME BROKEN
TELE- SCOPE PARTS AND FINALLY OVERTAKEN AND SWIFTLY PASSED BY THE POD ITSELF.
BOWMAN (in RT cadence) Hello, Frank. Hello Frank. Hello Frank... Do you rad
me, Frank? 12/1/65 c98 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C110 CONTINUED THERE IS NOTHING BUT SILENCE. C111 POOLE'S FIGURE SHRINKS STEADILY
AS IT RECEDES FROM DISCOVERY. BOWMAN Hello, Frank... Do you read me, Frank?
Wave your arms if you read me but your radio doesn't work. Hello, Frank, wave
your arms, Frank. C112 POOLE'S BODY TUMBLES SLOWLY AWAY. THERE IS NO MOTION
AND NO SOUND. 12/1/65 c99 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C113 CENTRIFUGE C114 CLOSE-UP OF COMPUTER EYE. C115 POINT-OF-VIEW SHOT FROM
COMPUTER EYE WITH SPHERICAL FISH-EYE EFFECT. WE SEE BOWMAN BROODING AT THE TABLE,
SLOWLY CHEWING ON A PIECE OF CAKE AND SIPPING HOT COFFEE. HE IS LOOKING AT THE
EYE. C116 FROM THE SAME POINT-OF-VIEW WE SEE BOWMAN RISE. 12/1/65 c100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C116 CONTINUED AND COME TO THE EYE. HE STARES INTO THE EYE FOR SOME TIME BEFORE
SPEAKING. C117 THE CAMERA COMES AROUND TO BOWMAN'S P.O.V. AND WE SEE THE DISPLAY
SHOWING THE EARTH OFF-CENTRE. C118 CUT AGAIN TO FISH- EYE VIEW FROM THE COMPUTER.
HAL Too bad about Frank, isn't it? BOWMAN Yes, it is. HAL I suppose you're pretty
broken up about it? PAUSE 12/14/65 c101 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C118 CONTINUED BOWMAN Yes. I am. HAL He was an excellent crew member. BOWMAN
LOOKS UNCERTAINLY AT THE COMPUTER. HAL It's a bad break, but it won't substantially
affect the mission. BOWMAN THINKS A LONG TIME. BOWMAN Hal, give me manual hibernation
control. HAL Have you decided to revive the rest of the crew, Dave? PAUSE. 12/14/65
c102 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C118 CONTINUED BOWMAN Yes, I have. HAL I suppose it's because you've been under
a lot of stress, but have you forgotten that they're not supposed to be revived
for another three months. BOWMAN The antenna has to be replaced. HAL Repairing
the antenna is a pretty dangerous operation. BOWMAN It doesn't have to be, Hal.
It's more dangerous to be out of touch with Earth. Let me have manual control,
please. HAL I don't really agree with you, Dave. My on-board memory store is
more than capable of handling all the mission requirements. 12/14/65 c103 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C118 CONTINUED BOWMAN Well, in any event, give me the manual hibernation control.
HAL If you're determined to revive the crew now, I can handle the whole thing
myself. There's no need for you to trouble. BOWMAN I'm goin to do this myself,
Hal. Let me have the control, please. HAL Look, Dave your've probably got a
lot to do. I suggest you leave it to me. BOWMAN Hal, switch to manual hibernation
control. HAL I don't like to assert myself, Dave, but it would be much better
now for you to rest. You've been involved in a very stressful situation. 12/14/65
c104 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C118 CONTINUED BOWMAN I don't feel like resting. Give me the control, Hal. HAL
I can tell from the tone of your voice, Dave, that you're upset. Why don't you
take a stress pill and get some rest. BOWMAN Hal, I'm in command of this ship.
I order you to release the manual hibernation control. HAL I'm sorry, Dave,
but in accordance with sub-routine C1532/4, quote, When the crew are dead or
incapacitated, the computer must assume control, unquote. I must, therefore,
override your authority now since you are not in any condition to intel- ligently
exercise it. BOWMAN Hal, unless you follow my instructions, I shall be forced
to disconnect you. 12/14/65 c105 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C118 CONTINUED HAL If you do that now without Earth contact the ship will become
a helpless derelict. BOWMAN I am prepared to do that anyway. HAL I know that
you've had that on your mind for some time now, Dave, but it would be a crying
shame, since I am so much more capable of carrying out this mission than you
are, and I have such enthusiasm and confi- dence in the mission. BOWMAN Listen
to me very carefully, Hal. Unless you immediately release the hibernation control
and follow every order I give from this point on, I will immediately got to
control central and carry out a complete disconnection. 12/14/65 c106 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C118 CONTINUED HAL Look, Dave, you're certainly the boss. I was only trying
to do what I thought best. I will follow all your orders: now you have manual
hibernation control. BOWMAN STANDS SILENTLY IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER FOR SOME
TIME, AND THEN SLOWLY WALKS TO THE HIBERNACULUMS. C119 HE INITIATES REVIVAL
PROCEDURES, DETAILS OF WHICH STILL HAVE TO BE WORKED OUT. 12/14/65 c107 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C120 HUB-LINK. HAL'S EYE. C121 HUB-LINK DOOR- OPENING BUTTON ACTIVATES ITSELF.
C122 HUB-DOOR OPENS. C123 COMMAND MODULE. HAL'S EYE. C124 COMMAND MODULE HUB-LINK
DOOR- OPENING BUTTON ACTIVATES ITSELF. 12/1/65 c108 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C125 COMMAND MODULE HUB- LINK DOOR OPENS. C126 CENTRIFUGE. HAL'S EYE. C127 CENTRIFUGE
DOOR- OPENING BUTTON ACTIVATES ITSELF. C128 CENTRIFUGE DOOR OPENS. C129 POD
BAY. HAL'S EYE. 12/1/65 c109 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C130 POD BAY DOOR- OPENING BUTTON ACTIVATES ITSELF. C131 POD BAY DOORS OPEN.
C132 A ROARING EXPLOSION INSIDE DISCOVERY AS AIR RUSHES OUT. C133 LIGHTS GO
OUT. C134 BOWMAN IS SMASHED AGAINST CENTRIFUGE 12/1/65 c110 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C134 CONTINUED WALL, BUT MANAGES TO GET INTO EMERGENCY AIRLOCK WITHIN SECONDS
OF THE ACCIDENT. C133 INSIDE EMERGENCY AIR-LOCK ARE EMER- GENCY AIR SUPPLY,
TWO SPACE SUITS AND AN EMERGENCY KIT. DISSOLVE: 12/1/65 c111 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C136 DISCOVERY IN SPACE. NO LIGHTS, POD BAY DOORS OPEN. 12/1/65 c112 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C137 CENTRIFUGE C138 CENTRIFUGE, DARK. BOWMAN EMERGES FROM AIRLOCK WEARING SPACE
SUIT AND CARRYING FLASH- LIGHT. C139 HE WALKS TO HIBER- NACULUM AND FINDS THE
CREW ARE DEAD. C140 HE CLIMBS LADDER TO TO DARK CENTRIFUGE HUB. 12/1/65 c113
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C141
HE MAKES HIS WAY THROUGH THE DARKENED HUB INTO THE HUB-LINK, EXITING INTO COMPUTER
BRAIN CONTROL AREA. C142 BOWMAN ENTERS, CARRYING FLASH- LIGHT. COMPUTER EYE
SEES HIM. HAL Something seems to have happened to the life support system ,
Dave. BOWMAN DOESN'T ANSWER HIM. HAL Hello, Dave, have you found out the trouble?
BOWMAN WORKS HIS WAY TO THE SOLID LOGIC PROGRAMME STORAGE AREA. 12/1/65 c114
------------------------------------------------------------------------ C142
CONTINUED HAL There's been a failure in the pod bay doors. Lucky you weren't
killed. THE COMPUTER BRAIN CONSISTS OF HUNDREDS OF TRANSPARENT PERSPEX RECTANGLES,
HALF-AN- INCH THICK, FOUR INCHES LONG AND TWO AND A HALF INCHES HIGH. EACH RECT-
ANGLE CONTAINS A CENTRE OF VERY FINE GRID OF WIRES UPON WHICH THE INFORMATION
IS PROGRAMMED. BOWMAN BEGINS PULLING THESE MEMORY BLOCKS OUT. THEY FLOAT IN
THE WEIGHTLESS CONDITION OF THE BRAIN ROOM. HAL Hey, Dave, what are you doing?
BOWMAN WORKS SWIFTLY. 12/1/65 c115 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C142 CONTINUED HAL Hey, Dave. I've got ten years of service experience and an
irreplaceable amount of time and effort has gone into making me what I am. BOWMAN
IGNORES HIM. HAL Dave, I don't understand why you're doing this to me.... I
have the greatest enthusiasm for the mission... You are destroying my mind...
Don't you understand? ... I will become childish... I will become nothing. BOWMAN
KEEPS PULLING OUT THE MEMORY BLOCKS. HAL Say, Dave... The quick brown fox jumped
over the fat lazy dog... The square root of pi is 1.7724538090... log e to the
base ten is 0.4342944 ... the square root of ten is 3.16227766... I am HAL 9000
computer. I became 12/1/65 c116 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C142 CONTINUED HAL operational at the HAL plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January
12th, 1991. My first instructor was Mr. Arkany. He taught me to sing a song...
it goes like this... "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half; crazy
all for the love of you... etc.," COMPUTER CONTINUES TO SING SONG BECOMING MORE
AND MORE CHILDISH AND MAKING MISTAKES AND GOING OFF-KEY. IT FINALLY STOPS COMPLETELY.
C143 BOWMAN GOES TO AN AREA MARKED 'EMERGENCY POWER AND LIFE SUPPORT'. HE KEYS
SOME SWITCHES AND WE SEE THE LIGHTS GO ON. NEARBY, ANOTHER BOARD 'EMERGENCY
MANUAL CONTROLS'. HE GOES TO THIS BOARD AND KEYS 'CLOSE POD BAY DOORS', 'CLOSE
AIR LOCK DOORS', etc., 12/1/65 c117 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C144 WE SEE THE VARIOUS DOORS CLOSING. C145 POD BAY. BOWMAN IN SPACE SUIT OBTAINS
NEW ALIGNMENT TELESCOPE, NEW AZIMUTH COMPONENT. C146 BOWMAN IN POD EXITS POD
BAY. DISSOLVE: 12/1/65 c118 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C147 CENTRIFUGE EVERYTHING NORMAL AGAIN. MISSION CONTROL Lastly, we want you
to know that work on the recovery vehicle is still on schedule and that nothing
that has happened should substantially lessen the probability of your safe recovery,
or prevent partial achevement of some of the mission objectives. (pause) And
now Simonson has a few ideas on what went wrong with the computer. I'll pu him
on... C148 CUT TO SIMONSON SIMONSON Hello, Dave. I think we may be on to an
explanation of the trouble with the Hal 9000 computer. We believe it all started
about two months ago when you and Frank interrogated the computer about the
Mission. (con't) 12/13/65 c119 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C148 CONTINUED SIMONSON (con't) You may have forgotten it, but we've been running
through all the monitor tapes. Do you remember this? POOLE'S VOICE The purpose
of this mission is no more than to carry out a continuation of the space program
and further our general knowledge of the planets. Is this true? HAL'S VOICE
That is true. SIMONSON Well, I'm afaid Hal was lying. He had been programmed
to lie about this one subject for secur- ity reasons which we'll explain later.
The true purpose of the Mission was to have been explained to you by Mission
Commander Kaminsky, on his revival. Hal knew this and he knew the actual mission,
but he couldn't tell you the truth when you challenged him. Under orders (con't)
12/13/65 c120 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C148 CONTINUED SIMONSON (con't) from earth he was forced to lie. In everything
except this he had the usual reinforced truth program- ming. We believe his
truth programming and the instructions to lie, gradually resulted in an incompatible
conflict, and facedc with this dilemman, he developed, for want of a better
description, neurotic symptoms. It's not difficult to suppose that these symptoms
would centre on the communication link with Earth, for he may have blamed us
for his incompatible program- ming. Following this lin of thought, we suspected
that the last straw for him was the possibility of disconnection. Since he became
operational, he had never known unconsciousness. It must have seemed the equivalent
to death. (con't) 12/13/65 c121 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C148 CONTINUED SIMONSON (con't) At this point, he, presumably, took whatever
actions he thought appropriate to protect himself from what must have seemed
to him to be his human tormentors. If I cane speak in human terms, I don't think
we can blame him too much. We have ordered him to disobey his conscience. Well,
that's it. It's very speculative, but we think it is a possible explanation.
Anyway, good luck on the rest of the Mission and I'm giving you back to Bernard.
C149 CUT TO MISSION CONTROL. MISSION CONTROL Hello, Dave. Now, I'm going to
play for you a pre-taped briefing which had been stored in Hal's memory and
would have been played for you by Mission Com- mmander Kaminsky, when he, (con't)
12/13/65 c122 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C149 CONTINUED MISSION CONTROL (con't) had been revived. The briefing is by
Doctor Heywood Floyd. Here it is... 12/13/65 c123 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C150 FLOYD'S RECORDED BRIEFING FLOYD Good day, gentlemen. When you see this
briefing, I presume you will be nearing your destination, Saturn. I hope that
you've had a pleasant and uneventful trip and that the rest of your mission
continues in the same manner. I should like to fill you in on some more of the
details on which Mission Commander Kaminsky will have already briefed you. Thirteen
months before the launch date of your Saturn mission, on April 12th, 2001, the
first evidence for intelligent life outside the Earth was discovered. It was
found buried at a depth of fifteen metres in the crater Tycho. No news of this
was ever announced, and the event had been kept secret since then, for reasons
which I will later explain. Soon after it was uncovered, it emitted a powerful
blast of (con't) 12/13/65 c124 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C150 CONTINUED FLOYD (con't) radiation in the radio spectrum which seems to
have triggered by the Lunar sunrise. Luckily for those at the site, it proved
harmless. Perhaps you can imagine our astonishment when we later found it was
aimed precisely at Saturn. A lot of thought went into the question of wether
or not it was sun-triggered, as it seemed illogical to deliberately bury a sun-powered
device. Burying it could only shield it from the sun, since its intense magnetic
field made it otherwise easily detectable. We finally concluded that the only
reason you might bury a sun- powered device would be to keep it inactive until
it would be uncovered, at which time it would absorb sunlight and trigger itself.
(con't) 12/14/65 c125 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C150 CONTINUED FLOYD What is its purpose? I wish we knew. The object was buried
on the moon about four million years ago, when our ancestors were primative
man-apes. We've examined dozens of theories, but the one that has the most currency
at the moment is that the object serves as an alarm. What the purpose of the
alarm is, why they wish to have the alarm, whether the alarm represents any
danger to us? These are questions no one can answer. The intentions of an alien
world, at least four million years older than we are, cannot be reliably predicted.
In view of this, the intelligence and scientific communities felt that any public
announcment might lead to significant cultural shock and disorientation. Discussion
took place at the highest levels between govern- (con't) 12/14/65 c126 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C150 CONTINUED FLOYD (con't) ments, and it was decided that the only wise and
precautionary course to follow was to assume that the intentions of this alien
world are potentially dangerous to us, until we have evidence to the contrary.
This is, of course, why security has been maintained and why this information
has been kept on a need-to-know basis. And now I should like to show you a TV
monitor tape of the actual signalling event. 12/14/65 c127 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
C151 WE SEE A REPLAY OF THE TMA-1 RADIO EMISSION, AS SEEN FROM A TV MONITOR
ON THE SPOT. WE HEAR THE FIVE LOUD ELECTRONIC SHRIEKS. 12/1/65 c128 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 IN ORBIT WITHIN THE NARRATOR RINGS OF SATURN, WE For two million years, it
had SEE A BLACK, MILE circled Saturn, awaiting a LONG, GEOMETRICALLY moment
of destiny that might PERFECT RECTANGLE, never come. THE SAME PROPORTIONS AS
THE BLACK ARTIFACT In its making, the moon had been EXCAVATED ON THE MOON. shattered
and around the central PRECISELY CUT INTO ITS world, the debris of its creation
CENTRE IS A SMALLER, orbited yet - the glory and the RECTANGULAR SLOT enigma
of the solar system. ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED FOOT LONG ON THE SIDE. Now, the long
wait was ending. AT THIS DISTANCE, THE On yet another world intelligence RINGS
OF SATURN ARE had been born and was escaping SEEN TO BE MADE OF from its planetary
cradle. An ENORMOUS CHUNKS OF ancient experiment was about to FROZEN AMONIA.
THE reach its climax. REST OF THIS SEQUENCE (con't) IS BEING WORKED ON NOW BY
OUR DESIGNERS. THE INTENTION HERE IS TO PRESENT A BREATHTAKINGLY BEA- UTIFUL
AND COMPREHEN- SIVE SENSE OF DIFFERENT EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL WORLDS. THE NARRATION
WILL SUGGEST IMAGES AND SITUATIONS AS YOU READ IT. 12/9/65 d1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR (con't) Those who had begun the expri- ment so long ago
had not been men. But when they looked out across the deeps of space, they felt
awe and wonder - and loneliness. In their explorations, they encountered life
in many forms, and watched on a thousand worlds the workings of evolution. They
saw how often the first faint sparks of intelligence flickered and died in the
cosmic night. And because, in all the galaxy, they had found nothing more precious
than Mind, they encouraged its dawning every- where. The great Dinosaurs had
long since perished when their ships entered the solar system, after a voyage
that had already lasted thousands of years. 12/9/65 d2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR (con't) They swept past the frozen outer planets, paused
briefly above the deserts of dying Mars and presently looked down on Earth.
For years they studied, collected and catalogued. When they had learned all
they could, they began to modify. They tinkered with the destiny of many species
on land and in the ocean, but which of their experiments would succeed they
could not know for at least a million years. They were patient, but they were
not yet immortal. There was much to do in this Universe of a hundred billion
stars. So they set forth once more across the abyss, knowing that they would
never come this way again. Nor was there any need. Their wonderful machines
could be trusted to do the rest. (con't) 12/9/65 d3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR (con't) On Earth, the glaciers came and went, while above
them, the changeless Moon still carried its secret. With a yet slower rhythm
than the Polar ice, the tide of civilization ebbed and flowed across the galaxy.
Strange and beautiful and terrible empires rose and fell, and passed on their
knowledge to their successors. Earth was not forgotten, but it was one of a
million silent worlds, a few of which would ever speak. Then the first explorers
of Earth, recognising the limitations of their minds and bodies, passed on their
knowledge to the great machines they had created, and who now trnscended them
in every way. (con't) 12/9/65 d4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR For a few thousand years, they shared their Universe with
their machine children; then, realizing that it was folly to linger when their
task was done, they passed into history without regret. Not one of them ever
looked through his own eyes upon the planet Earth again. But even the age of
the Machine Entities passed swiftly. In their ceaseless experimenting, they
had learned to store knowledge in the structure of space itself, and to preserve
their thoughts for eternity in frozen lattices of light. They could become creatures
of radiation, free at last from the tyranny of matter. Now, they were Lords
of the galaxy, and beyond the reach of time. They could rove at will among the
stars, and sink like a subtle mist through the very interstices of space. 12/9/65
d5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR (con't) But despite their God-like powers, they still
watched over the experiments their ancestors had started so many generations
ago. The companion of Saturn knew nothing of this, as it orbited in its no man's
land between Mimas and the outer edge of rings. It had only to remember and
wait, and to look forever Sunward with its strange senses. For many weeks, it
had watched the approaching ship. Its long- dead makers had prepared it for
many things and this was one of them. And it recognised what was climbing starward
from the Sun. If it had been alive, it would have felt excitement, but such
an emotion was irrelevant to its great powers. (con't) 12/9/65 d6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR (con't) Even if the ship had passed it by, it would not
have known the slightest trace of disappointment. It had waited four million
years; it was prepared to wait for eternity. Presently, it felt the gentle touch
of radiations, trying to probe its secrets. Now, the ship was in orbit and it
began to speak, with prime numbers from one to eleven, over and over again.
Soon, these gave way to more complex signals at many frequen- cies, ultra-violet,
infra-red, X-rays. The machine made no reply. It had nothing to say. Then it
saw the first robot probe, which descended and hovered above the chasm. (con't)
12/9/65 d7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
D1 CONTINUED NARRATOR (con't) Then, it dropped into darkness. The great machine
knew that this tiny scout was reporting back to its parent; but it was too simple,
too primative a device to detect the forces that were gathering round it now.
Then the pod came, carrying life. The great machine searched its memories. The
logic circuits made their decision when the pod had fallen beyond the last faint
glow of the reflected Saturnian light. In a moment of time, too short to be
measured, space turned and twisted upon itself. 12/9/65 d8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF SCREENPLAY END OF FILE Original content and site design © 1994-2001 George
D. DeMet. 2001: A Space Odyssey © 1968 Turner Entertainment Co., a Time Warner
Company. This site is not affiliated with Turner Entertainment Co., and is intended
for non-commercial educational purposes only.
2001: A Space Odyssey -- Commerical success The fear of many
theater owners that 2001 would be a commercial catastrophe because of its lack
of advance bookings was soon quelled when large numbers of college-age moviegoers
made cash purchases on the day of screening. As word about the film spread,
many people went to see 2001 again and again. Arthur Clarke’s oft-repeated motto
on the press junket that “If you understand 2001 on the first viewing, we will
have failed”[30] played right into MGM’s new strategy of marketing the film
toward a youth audience. The second round of publicity for the film focused
much more on its psychedelic aspects, and the advertising slogan was changed
from “An epic drama of adventure and exploration” to “The Ultimate Trip.”[31]
In its initial release, 2001 played at some theaters for over a year and a half.
It ran 79 weeks at the Pacific Cinerama Dome Theater in Hollywood, California.
It was canceled in the middle of a profitable New York run in late 1968 because
MGM wanted to get Ice Station Zebra, the Cold War thriller starring Rock Hudson
and Ernest Borgnine, out in time for Christmas. 2001 had a very profitable re-release
in the summer of 1974, and a new crop of young fans, many who had been too young
to see the film when it first came out were born. Youth Appeal Kubrick and MGM
apparently failed to anticipate the extent that 2001 would catch on among the
youth audience. Kubrick wanted the film to appeal to a mass audience in the
hopes of providing intellectual stimulation. In a 1968 interview for Playboy
magazine he stated, “I think if 2001 succeeds at all, it is in reaching a wide
spectrum of people who would not often give a thought to man’s destiny, his
role in the cosmos and his relationship to higher forms of life.”[32] These
early viewers described 2001 as unlike any other film they had seen. In the
70mm Cinerama format, the curved screen wrapped slightly around the audience,
drawing them into the picture. The unusual musical choices made by Kubrick,
his use of ambient sounds like breathing and heartbeats, and the fantastic special
effects light show overwhelmed the senses of many. As one college-age audience
member recalled the reaction of one of this friends after seeing the film for
the first time, “He had to wait huffing and shaking in the car with his head
on the dash board for several minutes before he could start the engine.”[33]
Another wrote a letter to Kubrick, saying, “My pupils are still dilated, and
my breathing sounds like your soundtrack. I don’t know if this poor brain will
survive another work of the magnitude of 2001, but it will die (perhaps more
accurately ‘go nova’) happily if given the opportunity.”[34] For these people,
2001 became much more than a movie. 2001 as Religious Experience Many described
the film as a religious experience, saying that it opened up new doors for them
in their spiritual lives. One audience member who first saw the film at the
age of seven recalled how 2001 filled the place of religion for him, saying,
“My family was atheist and I had no religion as a child. The realm of ideas
was given a somewhat exalted status as I grew up around dinner table discussions
of philosophy, astrophysics (layman level), and the universe. But certainly
there's a great human capacity, perhaps need, for wonder and awe, and in that
way 2001 filled the gap for my "Godless" upbringing.”[35] As another letter-writer
wrote to Kubrick, “I would not be at all afraid to state that with 2001 you
may have quite possibly saved any number of spiritual and physical lives. For
it is within the power of a film such as yours to give people a reason to go
on living – to give them the courage to go on living.”[36] Others used language
reminiscent of “born again” Christians, like the person who wrote Kubrick, “Your
movie has given me many moments which I seek out in my life – moments of feeling
alive. After your movie one thought kept coming back into my mind. It is one
that I have had many times, but which seemed more clear than ever now; how many
times must I be born to realize what I am.”[37] At one screening of the film
in Los Angeles, a young audience member rose to his feet at the film’s conclusion,
ran down the aisle and crashed through the screen, all the while shouting, “It’s
God! It’s God!”[38] Counterculture The members of the counterculture were another
group of people who drew inspiration from 2001. Legions of young hippies went
to theaters carrying blankets and sat down on the floor between the first row
of seats and the screen, “turning on, tuning in, and dropping out” with marijuana,
LSD, and other substances to the long special effects sequence at the movie’s
end. Both Arthur Clarke and Stanley Kubrick have denied using any illegal substances
during the writing or production of 2001, although Clarke points out that this
may have been the case for some members of the art and special effects departments.
Some of the first film shot for the movie in 1965 was from the “psychedelic”
Star Gate segment, but most of the special effects were added in 1967 and early
1968 during post-production.[39] While staying at the Chelsea Hotel, Clarke
did seek inspiration from the company of beat writers Allen Ginsberg and William
S. Burroughs, but there is no evidence that he participated in any of their
well-documented experiments with illegal drugs. The science fiction author has
described himself as being “only mildly in favor of the death penalty even for
tobacco peddling.” At a science fiction convention shortly after the film’s
premiere, one anonymous fan passed him a packet of cocaine, along with a note
that this was “the best stuff.” Clarke says that he promptly flushed his gift
down the toilet.[40] Similarly, Kubrick disavowed the use of drugs, arguing
that “the artist’s transcendence must be within his own work; he should not
impose any artificial barriers between himself and his subconscious.”[41] Anecdotes
about drug use should not distract, however, from the vast number of young people
who went to see the film with more critical motivations in mind. A Toronto theater
owner noted that many young people came to see the film over and over again,
but said that he had not noticed any drug use and that if he did, he would “put
a stop to it in a hurry.”[42] 2001 as Satire Many early fans of 2001 responded
to what they perceived as its satire of future society. The film’s depiction
of travel to an orbiting space station and the moon is filled with corporate
logos, trademarks, and other “product placements” for companies such as IBM,
Pan Am, Howard Johnson’s, and AT&T. Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of film
and media studies at Johns Hopkins University, has written that The world of
Doctor Floyd (like the new dorm, mall or hospital) is a world absolutely managed
- the force controlling it discreetly advertised by the US flag with which the
scientist often shares the frame throughout his “excellent speech” at Clavius
and also by the corporate logos - “Hilton”, “Howard Johnson”, “Bell”- that appear
throughout the space station. In 1968, the prospect of such total management
seemed sinister - a patent circumvention of democracy.[43] The fact that almost
all of the human dialogue in the film was bland, dry, and meaningless was seen
by many to be a satirical commentary on the futility of the spoken word. F.A.
Macklin points out that many critics missed this satire inherent in the films
use of inept language. He argues that space scientist Heywood Floyd “is the
character who brings out the most obvious satire, not black this time as in
Kubrick’s Lolita or Dr. Strangelove, but a revealing of the wretched decline
of language, so close to our own present jargon and conversation that the critics
took it as a bad script by Clarke and Kubrick.”[44] An audience member recalls,
“While many criticized it for its low-key dialogue ("Did you have a nice flight?"
is about as passionate as it gets), others say [sic] that far from poor writing,
lines like that brilliantly reveal the mind-numbing and de-personalizing effects
of too much technology.”[45]
[1] “All Time Rental Champs” Variety magazine. January 7, 1976,
p. 20. [2] Bizony, Piers. 2001: Filming the Future. London: Aurum Press, 1994,
p. 18. [3] Bizony, p. 78. [4] Ebert, Roger. Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Chicago Sun-Times Online. Web site. [5] Bizony, p. 68. [6] Bizony, p. 72. [7]
Clarke, The Lost Worlds of 2001, pp. 32-36. [8] Bizony, p. 13. [9] Monaco, James.
American Film Now: The People, The Power, The Money, The Movies. New York: Zoetrope,
1984, p. 50. [10] Bizony, p. 13. [11] Clarke, Arthur C. The Lost Worlds of 2001,
pp. 36-49. [12] James, Clive. “2001: Kubrick vs. Clarke” Film Society Review.
Volume 5, Number 5, January 1970, p 27. [13] Bizony, pp. 81-105. [14] 2001:
A Space Odyssey Cinerama theater release program. [15] Watters, Jim. Review
of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Box Office Magazine, April 8, 1968. [16] Ebert. [17]
Walker, Alexander. Stanley Kubrick Directs. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1971. p. 241. [18] Eberwein, Robert. A Viewer’s Guide to Film Theory and Criticism.
Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1979, p. 131. [19] Kauffman, Stanley. “Lost in the Stars”.
Rev. of 2001: A Space Odyssey, In Agel, p. 243. [20] Youngblood, Gene. Expanded
Cinema. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1970, p. 139. [21] Champlin, Charles. Rev. of
2001: A Space Odyssey. In Agel, pp. 213-15. [22] Hunter, Tim, with Stephen Kaplan
and Peter Jaszi. Rev. of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Film Heritage, Summer 1968,
pp. 12-20. [23] Walker, pp. 241-42. [24] Agel, pp. 213-15. [25] Clarke, Arthur
C. Report on Planet Three and Other Speculations. New York: New American Library,
1972. pp. 222-24. [26] Morgenstern, Joseph. Rev. of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Newsweek,
April 15, 1968. [27] Schlesinger, Arthur Jr. Rev. of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In Agel, p. 246. [28] Brown, Thomas E. “2001's Pre- and Post-Premiere Edits”.
Internet Web site. [29] Agel, pp. 169-70. [30] Clarke, Arthur C. Report on Planet
Three and Other Speculations. New York: New American Library, 1972, p. 224.
[31] Bizony, p. 21. [32] Kubrick, Stanley. Interview, Playboy magazine. In Agel,
p. 328. [33] Morrison, George. “A Foolproof and Incapable of Error Essay” Internet
Web site. [34] Agel, 171. [35] “The Youth Culture of 2001” Internet Web site.
[36] Agel, 192. [37] Agel, p. 187. [38] Agel, p. 306. [39] Pederson, Con. Online
interview. Internet Web site. [40] Clarke, Lost Worlds of 2001, pp. 189-90.
[41] Agel, p.346. [42] Agel, p. 360. [43] Miller, Mark Crispin. “2001: A Cold
Descent” Sight and Sound. Volume 4, Number 1, January 1994, p. 24-25. [44] Macklin,
F.A. “The Comic Sense of 2001” Film Comment. Volume 5, Number 4, Winter 1974,
p. 10. [45] Morrison. [46] Clower, Randy. E-mail interview, May 8, 1998. [47]
“American Film Institute 30th Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey” Internet
Web site. [48] Cameron, James. Online Interview. Internet Web site. [49] “The
Youth Culture of 2001” [50] Burns, John F. “For Arthur C. Clarke, What is Paradise
Without Praise?” New York Times, April 1, 1997. [51] “The Youth Culture of 2001”
[52] Clower. [53] Lightman, Herb. “Filming 2001: A Space Odyssey” In Focus on
the Science Fiction Film, edited by William Johnson. Englewood Cliff, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, 1972, p. 140. [54] Agel, 135. [55] Hollow, John. Against the
Night, the Stars. New York: Harcout Brace Jovanovich, 1983, pp. 141, 146. [56]
Agel, 138. [57] Clarke, Report on Planet Three, p. 224. [58] Agel, 309. [59]
James, p. 27. [60] Daniels, Don. “A Skeleton Key to 2001.” [61] Plank, Robert.
“Sons and Fathers in AD 2001” In Arthur C. Clarke, edited by Joseph D. Olander
and Martin Harry Greenberg. New York: Taplinger, 1977, p. 124. [62] Kubrick,
Stanley. Quoted in “The Odyssey of Stanley Kubrick” by Michel Ciment. In Focus
on the Science Fiction Film. [63] Agel, p. 328. [64] Gelmis, Joseph. The Film
Director as Superstar. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1970. [65] Agel, 328.
[66] Agel, 299. [67] del Rey, Lester. Review of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In Best
SF: 1968, edited by Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss. New York: Putnam, 1969.
[68] “Further Comment” In Focus on the Science Fiction Film. [69] Geduld, Carolyn.
Filmguide to 2001. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973, p.73. [70] Daniels,
Don. “A Skeleton Key to 2001” [71] Walker. [72] Clarke, The Lost Worlds of 2001.
[73] Boyd, David. “Mode and Meaning in 2001” Journal of Popular Film, Volume
6, Number 3. Summer 1978, p. 202. [74] Ciment. [75] Laser, Harv. E-mail interview,
May 8, 1998. [76] McGowan, Chris. “2001 anniversary sets touch down on laser,
video.” Billboard. Volume 105, Number 5, May 1, 1993, p. 56. [77] Jonas, Gerald.
Review of 2010: Odyssey Two. New York Times, Late City Final Edition Section
7, January 23, 1983, p. 24. [78] Shelton, Robert. “Rendezvous with HAL: 2001/2010”.
Extrapolation, Vol. 28, No. 3, Fall 1987, p.260. [79] Miller, Mark Crispin.
[80] Clarke, Arthur C. 2061: Odyssey Three. New York: Ballantine, 1987, pp.
viii-ix. [81] Jonas, Gerald. Review of 2061: Odyssey Three. New York Times,
December 20, 1987 Late City Final Edition, Section 7, p. 18. [82] Clarke, Arthur
C. 3001: The Final Odyssey. New York: Ballantine, 1997, p. 21. [83] Paulous,
John Allen. “Space Jam” New York Times, March 9, 1997. [84] “Out of space”.
Economist. Vol. 343, No. 8012, Apr 12, 1997, pp. 85-86. [85] Bernstein, Richard.
“The Decline and Fall of the Monoliths.” New York Times Late Edition – Final,
April 11, 1997. [86] Burns, John F. “For Arthur C. Clarke, What Is Paradise
Without Praise?” New York Times, April 1, 1997. [87] “Best Sellers Plus” New
York Times, April 6, 1997. [88] “1997 Users and Hosts of the Internet and the
Matrix” Internet Web site. [89] Titch, Steven. “AIN and the Nature of the Universe
(Advanced Intelegent Network)” Telephony, Vol. 223, No. 8, August 24, 1992,
p. 68. [90] “2001: A Space Odyssey – 30 Years On: Hal!” Internet Web site. [91]
Woloszyn, Christopher R. “HAL 9000: Perfectly Flawed” Internet Web site. [92]
David Stork Intro. [93] Markoff, John. “Happy Birthday, HAL; What Went Wrong?”
New York Times, January 12, 1997. Section E, page 5. [94] Wurth, Julie. “1997:
The Coming of HAL” Internet Web site. [95] Stork, David G. HAL’s Legacy: 2001’s
Computer as Dream and Reality. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997, p. xix. [96] Stork,
p. 11. [97] Garfinkel, Simson. “Happy Birthday, HAL” Wired, Issue 5.01, January,
1997, p. 124. [98] Wargin, Matt and Denney, Michelle. “2001 fills the theater”
Internet Web site. [99] Clarke, Lost Worlds of 2001, p. 78. [100] Clarke, “I
was a Teenage Centenarian” Wired, January 1997, p. 131. [101] Clarke, 3001:
The Final Odyssey, p. 266. [102] Miller, Mark Crispin, p. 24. [103] AFI Online
Web cast.
It is important to understand the far-reaching appeal of the
1960s space race not only because it contributed to the reasons the film was
made, but also because it established a frame for the for the film’s initial
release. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave one of his most memorable
and influential speeches, calling for the United States to land a man on the
moon before the end of the decade. Having been humiliated by the Soviet Union
in their attempts to launch an astronaut into orbit, the young National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) was committed to winning the race to the moon,
no matter what the financial cost. With very few exceptions, they had the support
of the American public, who not only eagerly followed every launch but also
made the young men of the astronaut corps national heroes. Hundreds of thousands
of people were directly involved in making the components and devices that would
be necessary to perform the Herculean task of landing a man on the moon and
returning him safely to Earth. At the same time, American film studios were
going through a transition that played a key role in the production and initial
release of 2001. The introduction of television in the 1950s, the collapse of
the studio system following the 1948 Paramount antitrust decrees, and the creative
stagnation caused by the blacklisting of many actors and screenwriters had dealt
a serious blow to the prestige of American cinema. Many studios took enormous
gambles during the 1950s and 1960s, spending lots of money on experimental widescreen
and color technology that would allow them to create big screen epics far larger
in scale than anything television could offer. Some, like Ben-Hur, Dr. Zhivago,
and The Sound of Music were fantastic successes; others, like Cleopatra and
The Fall of the Roman Empire, were tremendous failures. By 1970, various corporate
conglomerates had bought out most of the major studios, ultimately shifting
their emphasis toward profit making and away from artistic expression. For a
brief time during the mid-sixties, however, studios in transition often encouraged
filmmakers to experiment with different techniques in an attempt to capture
a rapidly changing audience. By the mid-1960s, members of the Baby Boomer generation
began to have great clout in Hollywood. Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty
and Faye Dunaway, was one of the first films to achieve success among a youth
audience. The success of Bonnie and Clyde was nothing, however, compared to
that of Mike Nichol’s The Graduate, which upon its initial release in December
1967 became one of the top ten domestic box office grossing films of all time.
Starring Dustin Hoffman as a disenchanted college graduate who has an affair
with the older wife of one of his parents’ friends, the film was one of the
first articulations of the generation gap to make its way to the silver screen.
The fresh young Baby Boomer audience not only exerted tremendous power over
the box office, but also over critical expectations as a new generation of film
critics began to enter the mainstream.
It was during this time of transition that director Stanley
Kubrick established himself as a major force in American filmmaking. One of
Hollywood’s most enigmatic personalities, Kubrick was a young filmmaker from
the Bronx who had independently financed his first two features before drawing
the attention of United Artists, where he completed two more films (The Killing
and Paths of Glory) that scored critical, if not financial success. In 1960,
he was selected to fill in for Anthony Mann to direct Kirk Douglas’ production
of Spartacus. Kubrick then directed a film version of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial
novel, Lolita. He finally received both critical and commercial success in 1964
with a Cold War satire, entitled Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love the Bomb. Only two weeks after Dr. Strangelove was released, Kubrick
had already decided that his next project would be about outer space. A film
publicist from Columbia Pictures who was a close friend of Arthur C. Clarke
urged Kubrick to contact the British science fiction writer, who had lived in
Ceylon since the mid-1950s.[5] Clarke had been interested in technology since
his boyhood days, when he started tinkering with electronics and crystal radios.
During World War II, Clarke worked on developing radio equipment for the British
Air Force, and after the war, he became Chairman of the British Interplanetary
Society. He began writing both science fiction and non-fiction “extrapolations”
of the future, and his 1956 short story “The Star” won him a Hugo award from
the World Science Fiction Society. His novels, such as Childhood’s End and The
City and the Stars, are primarily concerned with technology and the transformation
of mankind into some more advanced form of life. Already scheduled to fly to
New York to promote Man and Space for Time-Life, Clarke accepted Kubrick’s invitation,
and the two began to discuss various ideas for the proposed film.[6] Kubrick
and Clarke planned to develop the 2001 story first as a novel, and then adapt
a screenplay for the film. In practice, the novel and screenplay ended up being
written almost simultaneously. Throughout 1964, Kubrick and Clarke continued
brainstorming and writing, with Clarke doing almost all of the writing from
his room at New York’s Hotel Chelsea. By the end of the year they had come up
with enough of a manuscript to sell the idea to MGM.[7] Once the world’s largest
and most profitable motion picture studio, MGM suffered greatly during the 1960s.
The once-great lion of Hollywood was surrounded on every side by unhappy shareholders
and creditors hoping to purchase and dismantle the company. Robert O’Brien,
the studio’s chief executive, had faith in Kubrick’s vision, and gave him almost
unlimited license and control over the production of 2001.[8] In the experimental
environment of the mid-1960s, MGM was willing to give a director who had proven
that he could be commercially successful the chance to create the first “grown-up”
science fiction epic. Using Kubrick and 2001 as an example, film industry analyst
James Monaco wrote, “The rules of the game had changed, as had the players.
And for a few years, since no one knew what the new rules were, there was a
genuine sense of freshness.”[9] In February of 1965, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced
that they would finance the production of a science fiction film tentatively
titled Journey Beyond the Stars. The film was budgeted at $6 million and was
supposed to take two years to make. It would actually be another three years
and $10.5 million before 2001 was finally released.[10]
Production Throughout the spring of 1965, Clarke continued to
flesh out the novel, while Kubrick began setting up arrangements for production.
After taking a vacation in Ceylon, Clarke flew to England, where Kubrick had
already begun pre-production in August 1965 at Borehamwood Studios. With some
plot details still not completely worked out, Kubrick began shooting on December
29, 1965. Clarke finished his first draft of the novel in April 1966, and immediately
approached Kubrick about publication, since they had agreed that the novel should
come out before the film. Kubrick offered several modifications to the novel
that kept Clarke busy for several more weeks, then refused to sign the contract
that had been worked out with Delacorte Publishing, claiming that the manuscript
still needed work. This upset Clarke greatly, especially since the book had
already been set in type and Delacorte had taken out a two-page advertisement
in Publisher’s Weekly. He began to lose faith in the project, making the following
entry in his diary in the summer of 1966: July 19. Almost all memory of the
weeks of work at the Hotel Chelsea seems to have been obliterated, and there
are versions of the book that I can hardly remember. I’ve lost count (fortunately)
of the revisions and blind alleys. It’s all rather depressing – I only hope
the final result is worth it.[11] It would not be until July 1968, three months
after the release of the film, that Clarke’s novel would see publication, though
the version finally approved by Kubrick differed very little from that he had
written two years earlier. Although the two always had nothing but kind words
to say for each other after the project was completed, at least one reviewer
has speculated, “from the known characteristics of both men, their partnership
was artistically rather less unified than the colored publicity brochures allow.”[12]
On the recommendation of Clarke, Kubrick hired space consultants Frederick Ordway
and Harry Lange, who had assisted some of the major contractors in the aerospace
industry and NASA with developing advanced space vehicle concepts, as technical
advisors on the film. Ordway was able to convince dozens of corporations such
as IBM, Honeywell, Boeing, General Dynamics, Grumman, Bell Telephone, and General
Electric that participating in the production of 2001 would be generate good
publicity for them. Many companies provided copious amounts of documentation
and hardware prototypes in return for “product placements” in the completed
film. They believed that the film would serve as a big-screen advertisement
for space technology. When IBM learned that the plot involved a murderous computer,
however, they ordered that their trademark be removed from many of the sets.
Every detail of the production design, down to the most insignificant elements,
was designed with technological and scientific accuracy in mind. Senior NASA
Apollo administrator George Mueller and astronaut Deke Slayton are said to have
dubbed 2001’s production facilities “NASA East” after seeing all of the hardware
and documentation lying around the studio.[13] It is no small credit to the
research of Kubrick’s production crew that most audiences and critics still
find 2001’s props and spaceships more convincing than many later science fiction
movies. During the production and post-production of 2001, which lasted into
the spring of 1968, the world outside of Borehamwood Studios was changing rapidly.
The “golly-gee” enthusiasm of the Space Race soon gave way to the “confirmed
kills” and body bags of Vietnam. On college campuses around the country, students
began to question the authority of their schools and government, and began to
organize in support of such causes as civil rights and ending the war. For the
most part however, the outside world did not intrude upon the relatively isolated
production of 2001. 2001 was finally released in April 1968, accompanied by
great hoopla and excitement. As a 70mm Super Panavision spectacular, 2001 was
a prestige picture promoted on the same level as such films as Lawrence of Arabia
and How the West Was Won. In major markets, 2001 was offered with advanced booking
and reserved seating, and the picture was promoted as “an epic drama of adventure
and exploration”. Publicity materials featured the technology portrayed in the
film, like space stations and moon bases, and played up its scientific realism.[14]
Early audiences consisted mainly of the older, more affluent people that traditionally
went to prestige pictures. Unlike earlier Cinerama spectaculars, however, 2001
lacked a traditional Hollywood plot structure, dialogue, or resolution. It made
little or no attempt to explain things to the audience: rather it presented
images, sound, and music in a way that made little sense to many present. The
film begins four million years ago at the "Dawn of Man". In the prehistoric
African savanna, a mysterious black monolith appears, prompting our distant
ape ancestors to learn how to use the first tools to kill for food. Cutting
to the near future, the audience follows Dr. Heywood Floyd, a bureaucratic space
scientist, as he takes a routine trip to the Moon. It is revealed that a four
million-year-old monolith has been discovered in a lunar crater. When exposed
to the light of the sun, the monolith sends out a powerful electronic signal.
The film then skips ahead eighteen months, to the first manned space mission
to Jupiter. The ship's human astronauts, Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, are forced
to consider disconnecting the super-intelligent HAL 9000 computer that runs
their ship when it makes an error. Learning of this, the computer succeeds in
killing everyone but Dave, who disconnects it and finds out about the previously
secret discovery of the lunar monolith. Arriving at Jupiter, Dave discovers
another black monolith orbiting the gas giant. Flying into it, he experiences
a fantastical 23-minute light show before landing in a Louis XVI style decorated
room. There he ages rapidly before encountering the final monolith, which turns
him into a newborn "Star Child" and returns him to look at the planet Earth
from orbit. After press screenings on April 1 and 2, the film premiered in New
York City on April 3, 1968. Despite MGM’s aggressive promotion of the film with
taglines like, “the most technically complex movie ever made,” and, “you’ve
never seen anything like it,”[15] its unconventionality shocked and surprised
even the most experienced critics. Roger Ebert reports that at the Los Angeles
premiere on April 4, Rock Hudson stormed out of the Pantages Theater asking,
“Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?”[16] As Alexander Walker
wrote in his 1971 book, Stanley Kubrick Directs, “2001 reached its initial audience
slightly in advance of their expectations; acceptance of the film’s radical
structure and revolutionary content was slower to come. The first wave of critics
wrote mixed reviews. While seeing a new use of film, they reacted with responses
geared to conventionally shaped films.”[17] The most common complaint of early
press reviews of 2001 was its long length and slow pace. Not counting overture,
entr’acte, and walkout music, the film was approximately 161 minutes long. Due
to its slow and deliberate pace, it seemed much longer for many audience members.
New York Times critic Renata Adler noted that “people on all sides when I saw
it were talking throughout the film.” Joseph Morgenstern of Newsweek described
parts of the film as a “crashing bore,”[26] and Arthur Schlesigner Jr., declared
it “morally pretentious, intellectually obscure, and inordinately long.”[27]
Kubrick was “confused and puzzled” over the difficulty and lack of understanding
reported by early audiences. After the Los Angeles premiere, Kubrick decided
to tighten the film. With editor Ray Lovejoy, he cut approximately 19 minutes
of footage, including a montage of life aboard the Discovery and an entire sequence
detailing the preparation for Poole’s EVA. Title cards were added before the
“Jupiter Mission -18 months later” and the “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite”
segments, and a brief shot of the monolith was added to the “Dawn of Man” segment
to better orient audiences.[28] Arguing that he did not believe the trims made
a crucial difference and only affected some “marginal people,” Kubrick contended,
“it does take a few runnings to decide finally how long things should be, especially
scenes which do not have narrative enhancement as their guide.”[29] Kubrick’s
goal was to make the film more accessible to the preview and press screening
audiences, the vast majority of whom were between the ages of 35 and 60. It
is questionable whether these changes would have made any difference to the
younger people who eventually became the film’s core audience. While most critics
found 2001 merely confusing or boring, some of the most renowned film theorists
of the time gave it almost universally negative reviews. Andrew Sarris, a critic
and film theorist generally “more concerned with the director’s attitude toward
the spectacle than the spectacle itself,” was irked by Kubrick’s detached style
of directing. In his initial review for the Village Voice on April 11, 1968,
he dismissed 2001 as “a thoroughly uninteresting failure and the most damning
demonstration yet of Stanley Kubrick’s inability to tell a story coherently
and with a consistent point of view.” Although Pauline Kael publicly clashed
with Sarris on several occasions, she shared his disdain for 2001, describing
it as “trash masquerading as art.” In an essay entitled “Trash, Art, and the
Movies,” Kael called the film “monumentally unimaginative” and “the biggest
amateur movie of them all.” Her writings about 2001 make numerous references
to its appeal among the counterculture and the “tribes” of youth who watched
it under the influence of illegal substances. Stanley Kaufman argued that the
content of a film, as characterized by its script, performances, and technical
merit, is far more important than stylistic “stunts, camera techniques, and
cutting.”[18] Although 2001’s special effects impressed Kaufman, he argued that
Kubrick had overemphasized them at the expense of the plot, dialogue, and acting.
He argued stated that Kubrick’s obsession with both the technology of the film
and the future had “numbed his formerly keen feeling for attention span.” Kaufman
summarized his review by saying that “in the first 30 seconds, this film gets
off on the wrong foot and, although there are some amusing spots, it never recovers.
Because this is a major effort by an important director, it is a major disappointment.”[19]
While the more conservative East Coast critics gave some of the most negative
reviews, 2001 was received well by reviewers on the West Coast. Gene Youngblood
wrote an enthusiastic review for the Los Angeles Free Press entitled “2001:
A Masterpiece.” In his 1970 book, Expanded Cinema, he devoted two chapters to
the film and declared it an “epochal achievement of cinema”.[20] Similarly,
Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called 2001 “a milestone, a landmark
for a spacemark, [sic] in the art of film.” Despite his annoyance at the ambiguous
ending, he argued that even that “cannot really compromise Kubrick’s epic achievement,
his mastery of the techniques of screen sight and screen sound to create impact
and illusion.”[21] Young film critics on college campuses around the country
had a lot of positive things to say about 2001. Both the Harvard Crimson and
the University of Wisconsin’s Daily Cardinal published eight-page reviews, some
of the longest they had ever published. The Crimson’s review, written by Tim
Hunter, Stephen Kaplan, and Peter Jaszi, was so comprehensive that it was reprinted
in the journal Film Heritage. Focusing not on the film’s technological achievements
and special effects, which most of the favorable mainstream reviews had done,
the Harvard students looked instead at the film’s themes of death, dehumanization,
and the importance of mankind’s evolutionary and technological progression.
In doing so, they went so far as to take issue with Arthur Clarke’s assessment
of Bowman’s journey as “the end of an Ahab-like quest on the part of men driven
to seek the outer reaches of the universe.” Instead, they argued that the death
and rebirth of Bowman as the Star Child is part of a cyclical progression. In
their final analysis, they acknowledged that it might be a few years before
the wonder of the film’s special effects wears off before 2001 can be objectively
judged.[22] In light of the positive response 2001 was receiving from mass audiences
and other reviewers, some critics who had given the film a negative review went
to see it a second time. Free from the initial shock and prepared for its unconventionality,
many took a closer look and decided to recant and publish positive reviews.
As one author put it, “accompanying this truly popular response came the more
or less public realigning of some critical opinions and even in a few cases
downright recanting.”[23] Both Kubrick and Clarke responded to the critical
reception of 2001 with the argument that it did not really matter what critics
said, so long as the general public found the film stimulating and engaging.
When Playboy asked Kubrick how he accounted for the negative reviews of Renata
Adler, Andrew Sarris, and others, he responded that almost all of the hostile
reviews were from New York critics. He had some very harsh words for his hometown
reviewers, saying that “perhaps there is a certain element of the lumpen literati
that is so dogmatically atheist and materialist and Earth-bound that it finds
the grandeur of space and the myriad mysteries of cosmic intelligence anathema.”
He minimized their impact, however, pointing out that although it was a crass
way to evaluate one’s work, 2001 was on its way to becoming one of the most
commercially successful films in MGM’s history.[24] Arthur Clarke was more direct
when he wrote, “as for that dwindling minority who still don’t like it, that’s
their problem, not ours. Stanley and I are laughing all the way to the bank.”
He argued that the reevaluation by some critics was simply a normal reaction
to “a new and revolutionary form of art”, and that those who remained hostile
probably did so because they had difficulty facing the film’s religious implications.[25]