2001: A Space Odyssey.Info

The Story With the Blue Danube playing once again, we find ourselves on the Aries spacecraft on its way to the Moon. We follow a flight attendant as she walks (with her special "grip shoes") around the ship. She first comes upon a sleeping Heywood Floyd, then she visits the other attendant, who is watching television. The first flight attendant gives the second one a food tray. Here we see that food must be sucked through a straw in this zero-g environment. The first attendant goes to retrieve more food trays for the pilots. To get to the cockpit, she must perform the amusing task of walking "up" a carousel-like walkway to invert herself, at least from the perspective of the prior part of the ship, not to mention, the audience. She serves meals to the cockpit crew. Later on, we find Floyd awake and "eating" a meal. A pilot appears and he and Floyd have a short conversation. Floyd needs to use the restroom and we see him carefully reading the long list of ...

The Story "Here we are, Sir, main level D" proclaims the pillbox hat - clad flight attendant. We hear the first words of the film. The lone passenger of the Orion spaceflight has arrived at the space station. The next sequence has him going through voice print identification. From this, we learn more about him. His name is Heywood R. Floyd and he is an American heading for the Moon. We can determine that he is a man of some importance as he was greeted by a security guard assigned especially to him. The fact that he was the only passenger on a commercial spacecraft also clues us in that he is a man of significance. As the two men walk through the station, you can see the curved floor serving as a reminder that they are in a space station orbiting the Earth. Floyd stops to make a telephone call. His little girl answers. It is amusing how the telephone is a futuristic video phone and the Earth is seen spinning (due to the station doing the actual spinning). Yet, with this futur...

The Story We're back at the water hole. Again, we are seeing a previous scene played out. This time the scene starts out after the confrontation between the two groups has already begun. Our group is now armed with bone-club weaponry. The second group is completely oblivious as to why the first group is carrying the bones. Unlike the earlier encounter, the first group doesn't just run away upon the sight of the second group. Realizing they are being challenged, the leader of the second group crosses the water, yet before he can assert his will, he is greeted with a thud as a bone strikes him squarely across the back of the neck. He is down almost immediately. One by one, man-apes from the first group come up to the lying body and strike it. They are assuring themselves that the destructive power they have discovered is truly real. Upon this realization, one joyfully flings his club high into the air. The camera follows it... Where the bone was, we now see an orbiting man-made s...

The Story For the third time, there is a sunrise. This time, we aren't viewing the celestial bodies. Instead, the focus is on the awakening man-apes in the caves. Something has obviously gotten their attention. They are stirred up - growling and staring at something. We hear a choir of voices chanting. Finally, it is revealed. Sitting in front of the caves is a rectangular block. Sharp-edged and jet-black, this "monolith" just seems so weird and out of place. It contrasts the natural landscape around it. The man-apes have never seen anything remotely like it. Their curiosity finally overcomes their initial fear and they approach it slowly. They surround it and eventually one of them dares to touch it. The choir voices raise and eventually, all the man-apes in the group have surrounded the monolith and are reaching out and touching it. It's smooth stone or metal (you can't tell) must feel as alien to them as its appearance does. Just as the chorus peaks, we witness...

The Story After a spectacular opening act, everything briefly goes dark and silent. We are greeted with a sunrise and an aptly named title “The Dawn of Man”. This is the first of three titles in the film. The titles also announce each part of the film. We see barren landscapes. The only sounds are winds, adding to the whole feel of desolation. It’s all very eerie and you suddenly realize why. The images aren’t moving. The utter stillness even further adds to the whole tone of lifelessness. From the title, we can gather that we are witnessing Africa , roughly 4 million years ago. In fact, 4 million years will be mentioned specifically in the film later. It is a time where a species evolved from apes, but are no longer quite apes. After viewing dry riverbeds and dry bones, we finally see the man-apes gathered in a group, furiously digging in the hope of finding food. The imagery leading up to this scene is meant to set up just how harsh a landscape this is. The dry riverbed,...

The Story The trailers for the upcoming movies have finished. The curtain closes. There is an air of anticipation resonating from the audience. There is hardly a sound. Then, the curtain rises again, you expectantly wait for the screen to begin revealing incredible imagery. Instead, the screen remains blank. You first hear a hum and soon, the hum becomes a mysterious blend of instruments - sounding somewhat classical, but with an electronic edge. Members of the audience begin to murmur as some aren't sure if the music is part of the film or not. Some even wonder if something is wrong with the projector as nothing is shown on the screen. This is the very unique way 2001: A Space Odyssey begins, at least in a theater. The music is an excerpt from Ligeti's Atmosphere's . Kubrick chose to open this film way for several reasons: It falls in with tradition as an MGM film. MGM films have overtures, typically an oil or watercolor painting shown on the screen with a montage of the f...

There's just something special about the number 3. Kubrick certainly seemed to think so. His films seem to all have 3 parts and are often centered around 3 characters. He particularly seemed to like 3-way conversations that involved tension and conflict. Here's a few examples from some of his films. Lolita : Love triangle of Humbert, Quilty, and Lolita Dr. Stangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb : 3 simultaneous situations - the war room, the Air Force base, and the airplane. A Clockwork Orange : Continual tension between Alex, Georgie, and Dim Barry Lyndon : Family tension between Barry, Lord Bullington, and Lady Lyndon The Shining : Another family dynamic of father, mother, and son Full Metal Jacket : Tensions between Joker, Pyle, and Hartman Eyes Wide Shut : Another 3 member family, this time with a daughter instead of a son. Now, when it comes to 2001, Kubrick really seemed to show his obsession with the number 3. Here's the one's I've fou...