I guess that’s one interpretation. I always thought it meant he blew up the nuclear weapons orbiting the earth (but not the earth itself) so as to usher in a new era where mankind wasn’t always on the brink of destroying itself.
Ah, ah! Read those paragraphs again! What is described at the end of the book is that Starchild detects that orbital weapons platforms have been activated, and has them blow themselves up. Earth is left intact and Starchild “would think of something…”
Wait, is the book the “original” story? I thought they were written concurrently.
Clarke and Kubrick wrote the outline of the book first, then Clarke finished it - clearly before Kubrick decided to abandon Saturn. Clarke was rather annoyed that the book had to wait until the movie was completed - he wasn’t quite as rich as he would become after the movie came out.
Yes in the book the starchild idly detonates the bombs, because he wanted a cleaner sky. And the lines about wondering what to do next exactly paralleled Moonwatcher’s final thoughts in the first part. BTW, in 2010 the consequences of this are recounted. Kubrick decided not to show it because it would be too much like the end of Dr. Strangelove.
As for the trip through the Stargate - remember that the aliens, who were advanced enough for interstellar travel when man was young, had advanced another couple of million years by the time Bowman found the monolith. While Clarke had chickened out by the time he wrote 3001, in 2001 it was very clear that this was an actual ftl trip to the stars. Clarke describes Bowman seeing various switching points, some of which can be related to things you see on the “trip”. The Louis Quinze room is clearly a habitat like that in a zoo while the aliens study him (Ligetti’s voices) and then transform him to be something like them. I suspect he is being trained like Moonwatcher was - the old Bowman points to the monolith with what I’d consider realization before the transformation. The whole process takes about 9 years, since he emerges from the monolith again in the middle of the 2010 story.
The brilliance of Kubrick leaving 2001 a bit open-ended is demonstrated by the sequels. Even in 2010, the best of them, the aliens transforming Europa is a bit prosaic compared to what has gone before. Bowman, the master of the world, sits around, deals with his dying mother, warns Floyd, and makes it up to HAL.
Sure neither Bowman nor we understand what we’re seeing. How could we? Next time you’re on a subway, underground, look out the window and imagine you’re looking through the eyes of a cave dweller. Lights rush by, so does another train, so do pillars and walls, and sometimes you’ll see a lot station with people in funny clothes. Pure fantasy, right?
I think the time is right for a really well-written sequel. (NOT a remake)
Yeah, the ones we’ve already seen were okay, and I know we won’t have Kubrick to direct, but just consider what Peter Jackson did with The Lord of The Rings after Ralph Bakshi’s version.
I would be interested in what y’all would think a good story line wsould be considering how far we have come not only with cinematogrophay, but with space travel in general?
Thanks
Q
Are you comparing Kubrick to Bakshi? :eek: His version of LOTR was crap from the beginning. Remaking a badly done adaptation is a lot different from remaking a classic.
The real issue is deciding what the aliens want. We know they have a goal of fostering intelligence, and the 2010 plot works to that. But do they have another goal of bringing intelligent species to the next level, the way they did Bowman? Perhaps his task would be shepherding humanity to become mature enough for the transformation, which they sure aren’t in 2001, but are getting to in 3001. Interesting plot, but it sounds like crappy film.
I thoroughly enjoyed the sequel 2010 as well and consider it an example of how sequels should be made, taking the original concept and moving it in a different direction. They didn’t try to make a cookie-cutter copy of the original but made an interesting, exciting and moving ‘action’ movie instead. Unlike a lot of science-fiction films it had a human side with characters you actually cared about, both artificial and human.
One of the most underrated movies ever in my opinion.
You have got to be kidding me!
You really didn’t understand my post???
Hmm, that may be true.
Well, whatever the inspiration, the result is strangely primitive; until Moonwatcher throws the bone into the air and the camera pans up to follow it.
See, that’s where I leave the Clarke bandwagon again. It reminds me of Contact, where the entirely respectable idea of inter-relations with an alien civilization is intermingled with spiritual fantasy, at least spiritual fantasy as it appears to us now.
I have no beef with the idea that a highly-highly-advanced civilization could “terraform” our Solar System into a multi-sun world, would plan it for our benefit, and trigger it at a beneficial time. I have considerable beef with the idea that paranormal contact with the dead or thru time travel really exists and someone can travel across space and time with impunity to warn their dead mother of coming events.
Often cited as the longest flash-forward in cinematic history. 
Not really, since you asked about a sequel, then gave as an example a remake. But the part you quoted was actually a joke.
Huh? Bowman wasn’t dead, and he never traveled through time. And his mother wasn’t dead - she was terminal, and Bowman pulled the plug.
He warned Floyd, but he still wasn’t dead.
And that wasn’t filmed in front of the slides - it was filmed in the parking lot with a hand held camera. Kubrick threw the bone in the air and filmed it. I think it was done right after the shooting on the apes wrapped, or at least I think that’s what Dan Richter said in his memoir.
Never mind the details. 
The plot requires events we might characterize as paranormal – space travel without regard to time or space, and time travel itself. A long ways from extrapolating Pan Am to run a space station since they are already an airline.
Bumped.
Just saw these foot-tall 2001: A Space Odyssey astronaut figures for sale - need one for your shelf?:
http://www.historicaviation.com/2001-A-Space-Odyssey-1_6-Astronaut-Figure/productinfo/700959/
http://www.historicaviation.com/2001-A-Space-Odyssey-1_6-Astronaut-Figure/productinfo/700958/
Wow – a Zombie thread from a film that was, when this thread was new, not only a zombie, but the year it was set in was also a zombie. It’s hard to get zombie than that.
I don’t need models of guys in space suits. I have a model of the Orion Space Shuttle up in my living room right now
I bought band assembled the Aurora model when the movie first came out
I just noticed that, if you want your own, you can download a copy of a paper model here:
BTW, for the record, I still LOVE this movie.
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVwvpSiJX_dcAGjlXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMDgyYjJiBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=2001+Orion+Shuttle&fr=yfp-t-201#id=153&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fantastic-plastic.com%2FPanAMSpaceClipperBoxArt1.jpg&action=click
Now that’s worth reviving the thread for. Too rich for my blood, but awesome.
I had a model of the moon bus. Long gone, alas, but I still have the program from the roadshow version.
ETA: That Orion is an imposter! NASA logo, not PanAm!
(1st image, not second. And here is the moon bus)
Heh… I still have my Moon Bus model, but the Space Clipper has gone to the great plastic graveyard.
I do have the paper model cut-out pieces for Discovery, but am not skilled enough to cut them and glue them properly.