2001: A Space Odyssey.Info

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...