Unseen aliens observe early humans struggling desperately to survive in a brutal world, and realize they are on the verge of becoming intelligent beings, they just need a little help. The following content is mainly based off of arthur c. All right, now that i ve explained the monolith and what its purpose serves i can explain the ending in detail. A space odyssey in rare video clip a rare 1980 clip of stanley kubrick talking on the phone about the ending of 2001 has surfaced by way of a reddit thread. Still, some others say its just daves fever dream as he runs out of oxygen on the planet. The book goes hand in hand with the 2001 space odyssey movie. Aug 12, 2017 the following content is mainly based off of arthur c. A space odyssey was everything a great science fiction novel should be.
A space odyssey spoilers i just finished watching 2001. In the movie bowman dons a spacesuit, disconnects hal, establishes contact with earth and learns that learns that his mission is to explore iapetus to contact the society that buried the monolith on the moon. The one main difference is that they replaced jupiter with saturn for. At right, title page is signed by astronaut thomas d. Hal kills the crew in suspended animation by venting the ship to space. Heres where youll find analysis about the book as a whole.
Clarke and stanley kubrick teamed up on the mindblowing 1968 film 2001. Stanley kubricks epic film reimagined what cinematic science fiction could be, but it also went into esoteric areas, most notably with an ending that the director famously refused to discuss. Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnu. Clarke 19172008 based on clarkes 1950 short story the sentinel. Just finished reading the book, 2001 space odyssey. The one based on the book goes like this the black monolith you saw in the beginning of the film, and the one found buried on the moon, were placed there by a supremely advanced alien race as a way to nudge along the evolution of humanity. Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moons surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has. It contains the answers to all the questions it advances. A space odyssey for the first time, and although the ending sequence was really cool, i didnt quite understand what was going on. Fifty years ago this spring, stanley kubricks confounding scifi masterpiece, 2001. A video has surfaced which appears to feature stanley kubrick himself explaining the end of 1968s 2001. In the surrealistic ending of the film, the pod has come to rest in a decorated, lightgreen and glaciallywhite cosmic bedroom or ornate hotel suitebed chamber. A space odyssey is one of my favorite films and my favorite scifi of all time, i ve committed far too many hours of my life watching it and i m now here to share my thoughts on what the. A space odyssey ending explained by stanley kubrick.
Clarke collaborated with stanley kubrick to produce the novel version of 2001. A space odyssey was the name of an oversized comic book adaptation of the 1968 film of the same name and a 10issue monthly series expanding on the ideas presented in the film and the eponymous arthur c. The manapes of the world, who lived by gathering berries and nuts, were facing a lack of food. The strangeness is particularly evident in the beginning and the. A space odyssey was a film aboutwell, what is about. In 1969, kubrick told joseph gelmis you begin with an artifact left on earth four million years ago by extraterrestrial explorers who observed the behavior of the manapes of the time and decided to influence their evolutionary progression. A space odyssey, which turns 50 this week, is closer to home than we think, writes nicholas barber. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on earth presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well. Jones who brought the book with him on the sts98 mission. In fact it was a lifechanging film for me as, at age 11 1972 when i saw it in the theatre i recently found out it was reissu.
It was developed concurrently with stanley kubricks film version and published after the release of the film. However, bensons book shows that the journey of 2001. You can read all of this in the novel, as well as a short story by arthur c. He developed the screenplay in collaboration with british science fiction author sir arthur c. The end of 2001 has david bowman as space baby starchild whooshing through hyperawesomewhateverspace back to earth. There are many people who think 2001 is about the afterlife, or how nothing really matters. The 2001 book and movie were written at the same time by clarke and kubrick respectively. A space odyssey so what happens at the end of 2001. While many think its one of the greatest films ever made and was the first of what would prove to be many bigbudget hollywood science fiction films, the films slow build and heady subject matter make this best for inquisitive tweens and older. A space odyssey in orbit national air and space museum. The end result of the space odyssey is not a greater and more infallible machine, but a greater, more fully.
A space odyssey is the 1969 classic stanley kubrick adaptation of the arthur c. The book and the 1968 movie are icons of the modern age. Hal kills poole by using the eva pod to cut his spacesuit air line while outside of the ship. A space odyssey is the sort of movie that frequently gets called difficult. Clarkes novel explicitly identifies the monolith as a. Did stanley kubrick finally explain the films ending. Were now 18 years past 2001, weve never been to jupiter, and the enigmatic ending of the movie still haunts the generations who watch it. After dave and his crew head from the moon to jupiter to investigate some mysterious monoliths, their computer system, hal, takes over the ship.
Regarded as acclaimed director stanley kubricks most experimental film, large portions of the movie dont make any sense, and could, arguably, be done without. A space odyssey 1968, plus mistakes, quotes, trivia and more. It took many years to figure out the meaning of the ending alone. New video and audio uploaded to youtube appears to offer kubrick explaining the ending as. It entails the nature between man and the unknown while giving life to the universe around the main cast of characters. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by. David decides to take one of the extravehicular space pods to get a closer look. His last communication mentions an endless amount of stars.
Although kubricks movie is a masterpiece for several reasons, i was never able to understand what exactly was happening, especially towards the end, without reading the clarke novel. A space odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel by british writer arthur c. Stanley kubrick is an enigmatic director who put a lot of layers into all his work. A space odyssey is more than just an epic adventure across the solar system. A giant monolith appeared on earth one day and began to experiment with many of them, probing and developing their minds. The day i started to read this book i found it so engrossing that i finished it the same day.
After the first encounter with the monolith, we see the leader of the apes have a quick flashback to the monolith after which he picks up a bone and uses it to smash other bones. Among those in whom the monolith took an interest was moonwatcher, the only manape who walked fully upright. A space odyssey, as compared to those you answered on for first men on the moon, given the year of production of the film 1964, the book upon which the film was based 1901 and the existence of space travel however limited in the early 1960s. The dawn of man in a sere african landscape, a group of apelike hominids and some tapirs compete for the meagre green plants. Clarkes novel 2001 a space odyssey, his short story the sentinel, and kubricks famous film, 2001. A space odyssey may not be entirely clear the first 23 times you read it. A space odyssey explores technological advancement. The same is true, i believe, of stanley kubricks parable 2001. A space odyssey film community note includes chapterbychapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you.
A space odyssey has finally been explained by the 1968 scifi movies director, stanley. A space odyssey and indepth analyses of hal and david bowman. Soon, of course, 2001 became a box office hit and earned its status as a classic. In a newly unearthed interview, the ending of 2001. A space odysseys ending is famous among strange film endings, and when you consider that the competition includes magnolia, mulholland drive, and rockadoodle, thats sayin something. Bowman survives by escaping to an airlock and donning a spacesuit. Now comes a special trade paperback edition, with a new introduction by the author which sheds light on the powerful synergy between the book and the. A space odyssey symbolically describes the story of mankinds life. The hal 9000 computer puts forward the troubles that can crop up when man builds machines, the inner workings of which he does not fully comprehend and therefore cannot fully control. This book also shows a realistic interpretation of how ai and man react to each other. It seems to explain the ending of the film more clearly. While one group of apes is drinking at a waterhole, another group approaches. Sparknotes is here for you with everything you need to ace or teach.
A space odyssey film community note includes chapterbychapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and. This theme is a successful literary bridging of secular evolutionary theory with religious ideology, making the book appealing to both sides of the evolutionary debate. Clarke and kubrick worked on the book together, but eventually only clarke ended up as the official author. A space odyssey quiz that tests what you know about important details and events in the book. A space odyssey may 02, 2016 a masterpiece in its own right, 2001 is a sharp, cinematic film that drags itself out and fails to stay engaging for the duration. Movie endings dont get any more iconic or enigmatic than the final 15 minutes of stanley kubricks 2001. Kubrick may have set out to make a sciencefiction film, but 2001. After discovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the lunar surface, mankind sets off on a quest to find its origins with help from intelligent supercomputer h. The ending is largely symbolic, and reading the book helps with its interpretation. Today, were analyzing the themes and motifs, and talk about what actually happened.
The book ultimately came out a couple months after the movies april. A space odyssey s ending is famous among strange film endings, and when you consider that the competition includes magnolia, mulholland drive, and rockadoodle, thats sayin something. To be sure, our space shuttle atlantis did not have the capabilities the 1968 film predicted for spaceships of the future. I decided to pass that information along to you with this explanation and analysis of the book. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. Which is, ultimately, never true of a film that costs that much money laid out by a major studio mgm, in this case, though ill concede that if by difficult one means the ending is a deliberately obscurantist explosion of borderline nonsense, then i can see why youd think that. Kubrick liked to work from books, and since a suitable one did not yet exist. Jul 05, 2018 movie endings dont get any more iconic or enigmatic than the final 15 minutes of stanley kubricks 2001. When my sts98 crew launched into orbit on february 7, 2001the first human space launch of the millenniumi marked the milestone by carrying with me two personal mementos of the landmark stanly kubrick science fiction film, 2001. Bowman ends up in a room somewhere in one universe or another, and we have no idea where. The perfect collaboration between book and film originally posted at fantasy literature arthur c. A space odyssey now celebrating its 50th anniversary was not an easy one. Apr 03, 2018 michael bensons 500page book explores, in remarkable detail, the conception, creation and aftermath of 2001.
As we see in the beginning of the movie a bunch of apes the early men come across the monolith and they have no idea what it is. With keir dullea, gary lockwood, william sylvester, daniel richter. The apemen use their tools to kill animals and eat meat, ending their. A space odyssey continues to cause confusion and debate.
After you have read the story of lazarus in the bible, you dont need anyone to explain it to you. A space odyssey has fascinated audiences for years. To richard strauss tone poem thus spake zarathustra, the title sequence shows the sun rising behind the earth, which is behind the moon. A space odyssey began as an idea by director stanley kubrick 19281999 to create the proverbial good science fiction movie. So then he is reincarnated in advanced spirit and new. What is the best rational explanation to the ending of 2001. Clarkes 2001 to stanley kubricks 2001, even though kubricks movie broke more ground than clarkes novel. A space odyssey is as mysterious, stunning and current as ever. So whats up with the title is that clarke is saying, that old greek dude went on a long voyage and had adventures way back when, and so heres a story about the future of 2001, when some other dude is going to go on an awesome voyage also. The monolith is somekind of step to a higher evolution level made by aliens. Clarkes novel 2001 a space odyssey, his short story the sentinel, and.
Clarkes reputation as one of the bestknown and most influential science fiction writers ever. A space odyssey, had its premieres across the country. The odyssey is a long greek poem by homer about a dude named odysseus who goes on a long voyage. In lost interview, stanley kubrick explains the ending of. The earth people say, this ending sucks, and they shoot nuclear missiles at himor maybe theyre shooting missiles at each other. A space odyssey audiobook by arthur c clarke youtube. A space odyssey from ultimately becoming one of the most revered films of the 20th century.
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