2001: A Space Odyssey.Info

In case you haven't noticed, there is a prevalent picture throughout this site.  There's a bit of a story behind it. First of all - NO! This is not a screenshot from the film.  I have to make that clear here because there are those who think this is from the film.  Believe it or not, some individuals copied the image off my website and put it on their own 2001 site or page with other screenshots from the film.  Whenever I've seen this, I've made attempts to inform the webmaster that it's okay to use the image, but it's a 3D rendering and not from the film. By the way, there's another, older version of this image that's from the old site.   Both images were created primarily in software known as Lightwave 3D.  Lightwave is something I've used since its inception in the early 1990's.   The opening alignment of the three heavenly bodies that's so striking in the film inspired me to create my own version.  It took several hours in Light...

The Story and Meanings Note: I decided to not use my previous format of re-telling the story and then go into the meanings. This part of the film is elusive enough where you have to get into the meanings right away because the story is the meaning. Humankind, represented by David Bowman, has overcome obstacles for 4 million years. The final obstacle was to demonstrate inventiveness and the will to survive against his own tools. We have come to the final chapter of the story. We have now reached Jupiter where lies the ultimate destination of the 4 million year odyssey. The third and final title reads: "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite". We hear the hum of Ligeti's Requiem and we know from past experience, that another monolith has been discovered. There it is, floating amongst the moons of Jupiter. Unlike its predecessors, this monolith is on its side, at least in respect to our viewing angle (in space, there is no up or down). There is a shot of the Discovery approaching...

The Story A fuming David Bowman marches from the emergency airlock to the main airlock, up the ladder and to the central computer room. Dave is now clad in full EVA gear with the front control box, air tank, and helmet. The helmet, which he obviously got from the emergency airlock is green - meaning he is in a color mismatched space suit. All we hear is breathing and the hiss of air flowing - not footsteps. This would indicate that the air has been removed from Discovery and we are only hearing what Dave hears. As Dave moves through the airlock, Hal demands "Just what do you think you're doing Dave?" Dave ignores Hal as he continues. Considering what he has just been through, his intentions are obvious, he is going to disconnect Hal. His strong breathing and silence indicates he is focused and is not going to listen to Hal try to talk him out of it. Hal continues and tries to reassure Dave that whatever the problem was, it is gone now and everything will be as it was...

The Story The sound of breathing and the view in space indicates a second EVA. When we see Bowman in the Discovery's command seat, we realize it is Frank Poole that is performing this one. Poole, we know, is out to replace the second AE-35 unit with the original, allegedly defective one. The yellow spacesuited Poole pushes himself out of the pod and floats toward the antenna complex just as Bowman had done earlier. At the point where Poole appears to be halfway between the pod and the antenna, the pod suddenly rotates one hundred and eighty degrees. The arms stretch outward and it begins to move forward. Here, we clearly see for the first time, that there is a red eye of Hal on the front of the pod. The breathing stops abruptly and Poole and the pod are seen spinning off in different directions. Poole frantically tries to re-attach his severed air hose. Seconds later, Poole is no longer moving as he had failed to fix his air supply. Bowman has rushed to the pod bay. He asks Hal if ...

The Story The background hum of Discovery resonates as the screen goes to black leaving a cliffhanger for the audience to ponder. They'll have time too as the film goes to intermission. As mentioned in The Film Begins , Stanley Kubrick maintained the general format of a typical MGM movie. Here, he gave us the intermission. Usually, intermission comes a bit past the midway point of the film where all the characters and plot lines are firmly set. This is the case here. Now the audience gets a breather and can take a bathroom break or take the opportunity to get more popcorn. There is also opportunity to digest the events that led up to this point and think about where this is going. For first-time viewers of 2001, very few will make the connections of how the Cold War and concern for security and secrecy are contributing to the drama at hand. However, many may think about what Hal is really up to and how Frank and Dave, having such limited capabilities against such a seemingly omnisc...

The Story In the pod bay, Dave is examining the retrieved AE-35 unit with an electronic circuit tester. Frank and Hal watch. Dave appears to be completely absorbed in his examination. Frank is hunched over and appears to be watching Dave but he noticeably moves his eyes and stares at Hal. The testing goes on and all we hear is the sound of the testing equipment against the hum that is always present on board the Discovery. There is a noticeable sigh and then Dave finally breaks the silence with "Well Hal, I'm damned if I can find anything wrong with it." Hal responds "Yes...It's puzzling...I don't think I've seen anything quite like this before." Hal then suggests putting the unit back to let it fail and diagnose it after that. He then mentions that they could afford to be out of communication for the short while. In the centrifuge, Frank and Dave are watching a transmission from Mission Control. They agree with Hal's suggestion of putting the or...

The Story "During the past few weeks, I've wondered if you might be having some second thoughts about the mission." Hal informs this to Dave Bowman. Hal goes on to point out there are some "extremely odd things about this mission". Hal gives specific references to rumors about something being dug up on the Moon, the tight security during training, how the other astronauts (Hunter, Kimble, and Kaminski) were trained separately, and how they were placed aboard Discovery already in hibernation. Dave appears thoughtful during all this and concludes that Hal had opened the conversation in order to work on the crew psychology report. Hal admits that was what he was doing. Before he can say much more, he reports to Dave that he detects a fault in the AE-35 unit. The conversation is forgotten as a faulty AE-35 unit is serious. From the computer displays, we can see it has something to do with the antenna complex that allows communication with Earth. Since the complex is...

The Story The Gayane Ballet Suite resumes as the film focuses on Frank Poole. Frank is lying on a table with protective shades, apparently trying to get a tan. Hal announces that a transmission from his parents has been received. Frank's mother and father appear on the video screen. They briefly talk about finances and other personal stuff. They wish him a happy birthday and quickly sign off. Frank barely stirs through the whole message. He can't respond since, as mentioned before, transmissions take minutes to cross the gulf of space to reach the Discovery and of course, any reply would take just as long. We next see the end of a chess game between Frank and Hal. After an exchange of moves, Hal points out to Frank that his next move will lead to a checkmate. Frank resigns the game. We now focus upon Dave Bowman. He is drawing sketches of the three men in hibernation when Hal calls him. Hal wants to look at his drawings. Upon reviewing them, he wants to ask Dave a personal que...

The Story After being un-nerved by the loud blast of TMA-1, we are treated to the gentle-sounding Gayane Ballet Suite . We are greeted with the title "Jupiter Mission 18 Months Later". We see a large spaceship with a spherical front, a long, spine-like middle, and 6 large exhausts in the rear. There is an antenna complex on top about halfway between the front and the back. There are three round openings in the front and a long slit of windows above them. After a good look at the exterior, we are shown the living area of the interior. It consists of a cylindrical room with a walkway going all the way around. We see a lone man jogging completely around the cylinder. The room is a sort of centrifuge - continuously rotating, thus, creating a simulated gravity along the walkway. This is the same principle the space station used. There are two men. The first one is the one jogging and shadowboxing around the centrifuge. The second comes out of the center hub carefully "down...

The Story The desolate, barren landscape of the Lunar surface provides the background for the next segment of Floyd's journey. Ligeti's Lux Aeterna provides a haunting score. The silent flying vehicle over the jagged, dry surface is on it's way to a major discovery. Something very significant has been discovered in this inhospitable place. The music adds to the mystery. The vehicle is a moon shuttle - designed to go from one place to another on the Moon quickly. As the vehicle moves, we see a gibbous Earth in the background. Unlike the previous two vehicles (Orion, and Aries), no name is given for the shuttle. We do see the pilots using similar controls and displays as in the other two vehicles. There are three scientists inside - Floyd, Halvorsen, and Michaels from the earlier conference. Their first order of business is to eat and then to mutually congratulate each other on how well they've handled the particular circumstances. Michaels then shows Floyd some phot...

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...