# Alien vs 2001, a space odyssey **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161 "2014-10-13T02:41:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/1 "2014-10-13T02:41:20Z")
Which do you prefer between these two movies and why? How are they similar and how are they different in your view? I am particularly interested in the styles and moods of those movies, since they have been so influential. I have additional questions but I would like to keep the OP focused on this particular question, lest following questions bias the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/2 "2014-10-13T02:45:54Z")
They both take place in space, that would be the only similar thing about them that I have noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/3 "2014-10-13T03:00:09Z")
I do not understand the attraction of 2001. It was pointless and boring, IMHO. I have tried, really, but I just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/4 "2014-10-13T03:15:30Z")
_Alien_ was a really good movie. _2001_ was a classic for the ages. _2001_ wins. And kudos on the title of the poll. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/5 "2014-10-13T03:19:24Z")
_2001_ seems to have the main theme of what it means to be human (while also musing on how we might have gotten that way), while _Alien_ is pretty much a straight-up horror flick in an unusual setting, and for me a lot closer in tone to _The Thing from Another World_ than Kubrick’s film. I don’t really want to talk about preferring one over the other, since the main themes are really so different, but if you put a gun to my head, I’ll have to choose _2001_ as the more significant achievement. I suppose where they most closely coincide is in how they put across the notion of the vast emptiness, time scale and deep loneliness of long-distance space travel. One could say as well that in very different ways they managed to propose truly alien extraterrestrial life forms, although of course we only actually see them in one of the two films. Kubrick and Clarke, in my view, made a positive virtue of not even attempting to show the aliens but in still having it make sense in terms of the plot, as the effects of the day almost certainly wouldn’t have been up to it. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/6 "2014-10-13T03:20:49Z")
I think the monoliths would win in a fight. Kinda hard to beat something that can build its own sun. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/7 "2014-10-13T03:33:26Z")
What I wanted to add without coloring the waters of the discussion: The Alien and 2001 wiki as well as this documentary ( [Alien (1979) Behind The Scenes [1/2] - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TNjpb8O5LY) ) say that Alien was based on 2001 and Dark Star (which itself as a spoof of 2001) in addition to Giger, Fross and Cobb’s aesthetics. 2001 seems to have been strongly inspired by the 1957 Soviet movie Roads to the stars ( [Road to the Stars (1956-1957)(restored color). - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXt30Ing3Kk) ). I see that The Sentinel was published in 1951. What else influenced 2001’s style? It succeeds in being both minimalistic and striking. Was it influenced by a particular school of design/architecture/painting? ---
**Author:** ![MG1692](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MG1692](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MG1692)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/8 "2014-10-13T04:09:48Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What else influenced 2001’s style? It succeeds in being both minimalistic and striking. > > Was it influenced by a particular school of design/architecture/painting? It was definitely influenced by the New Wave movement in science fiction [New Wave (science fiction) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wave_science_fiction) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/9 "2014-10-13T04:27:09Z")
Alien is a classic horror movie in space. Very well done, with an esthetic that was at the time unusual for space movies, but most of the same result could have been (and in other films has been) achieved in a non-space setting, especially someplace similarly claustrophobic and limited, like a submarine, or a cave. 2001 is pretentious and rather long and boring in may spots, but it is also a thoughtful essay on a couple of topics that still bear thinking about, such as what makes us human, and unforeseen consequences of putting our lives in the hands of AI. It also had an esthetic that was unusual for its time in space movies; my impression on seeing it in 1968 was that they were trying to show real possibilities that could be extrapolated from the way things already were. It didn’t require FTL travel or sub-space radio or anything except a suspension of disbelief about the possibility of the obelisk and what it represented - a mystery which, I’m glad to say, the movie didn’t try to neatly resolve for us. So 2001 is a more important movie, but not a more entertaining one. Minus a couple of points for the moronic light show at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/10 "2014-10-13T04:29:28Z")
Isn’t this like comparing Beethoven to P Diddy? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/11 "2014-10-13T06:10:34Z")
I personally believe that 2001 is the best movie ever made… And I’ve never seen Alien… I can’t! I’m just not strong enough to watch that movie! BUT…I am a huge fan of Alien! I admire it in just about all the ways one can admire a movie without ever actually seeing it. I’ve got the art books, and the comic-book adaptation. (I can’t read the novelization, any more than I can see the book.) I consider it a masterpiece of the horror genre, and a good strong entry in the sci-fi genre. (I buy all the crossover comic books, too, like Judge Dredd vs. Alien, etc. I’m a fan of the movie…I’ll just never actually watch it.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/12 "2014-10-13T06:37:56Z")
Sorry, to me, they are apples and oranges. One is mystical speculative fiction, and the other is horror/action. They cannot be directly compared. But if I had to, I would pick _Alien_, as I find it more effective at achieving its intended goal. Personally, I found \*2001 \*to be pretensions and overblown. But that’s just me, and I would not argue with someone who had the opposite view. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/13 "2014-10-13T07:54:09Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I personally believe that 2001 is the best movie ever made… > > And I’ve never seen Alien… I can’t! I’m just not strong enough to watch that movie! > > BUT…I am a huge fan of Alien! I admire it in just about all the ways one can admire a movie without ever actually seeing it. I’ve got the art books, and the comic-book adaptation. (I can’t read the novelization, any more than I can see the book.) I consider it a masterpiece of the horror genre, and a good strong entry in the sci-fi genre. > > (I buy all the crossover comic books, too, like Judge Dredd vs. Alien, etc. I’m a fan of the movie…I’ll just never actually watch it.) A huge fan of everything Alien-related but won’t watch the movie, eh? May I suggest playing Alien: Isolation? Here’s a relevant thread: [Alien: Isolation (we're not like that other alien game) - The Game Room - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733746) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/14 "2014-10-13T08:04:19Z")
1. If all copies of Alien were to be destroyed… well, too bad, but there are other horror movies out there that are just as good. If 2001 were to be destroyed then we’d lose something unique. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/15 "2014-10-13T08:16:32Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > 1. If all copies of Alien were to be destroyed… well, too bad, but there are other horror movies out there that are just as good. If 2001 were to be destroyed then we’d lose something unique. What would we lose? What is unique about it? ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/16 "2014-10-13T08:22:53Z")
I love both but 2001 has music by **Ligeti** (and uses it very effectively). So, my vote goes to 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/17 "2014-10-13T09:15:25Z")
My vote goes for Alien. Both are ground-breaking, but both suffer from really slow pacing. Alien is able to use this to build up tension. 2001, on the other hand, is exceptionally boring ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/18 "2014-10-13T10:52:35Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What would we lose? What is unique about it? I could certainly name a bunch of things: the memorable AI; the generally accurate depiction of space; the trippiness at the end; the fantastic cinematography–but honestly it would be missing the point. It’s a piece of art that’s more than the sum of its parts. There’s no other movie like it and for me that’s reason enough. I like Alien, but it’s replaceable. If I want horror I can get it elsewhere. If I want HR Giger I can get it elsewhere. As sci-fi it’s not that great. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/19 "2014-10-13T10:58:23Z")
_2001_ is a movie I want to like. A lot. But I just can’t make the leap. _Alien_ succeeds at being both visually unique and incredibly effective as entertainment. If _Star Wars_ made space overtly a canvas for our collective dreams, _Alien_ showed us space as a home for our nightmares. I just don’t think _2001_ ever successfully tapped into popular consciousness as deeply. _Alien_ wins. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161/20 "2014-10-13T20:18:41Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > A huge fan of everything Alien-related but won’t watch the movie, eh? > > May I suggest playing Alien: Isolation? > Here’s a relevant thread: [Alien: Isolation (we're not like that other alien game) - The Game Room - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=733746) I just looked in on the thread, and watched some of the video linked there. Impressive, to be sure… But I felt that even the game would be too intense for me. (Damn strange, eh, for a total horror-wimp to have such admiration for a horror movie?) There are a handful of board games that deal with the Alien or Aliens. Pretty good, and, once it’s down to the boardgame level, the horror is muted. (Also…I’m too clumsy, physically, to play video games!) I have a couple of the Alien role-playing-game sets…but have never played any of them. In the neologism, I’m a passifan! Someone published a 2001 board game, which was vaguely amusing, but far too heavily “railroaded.” Too many events were forced to happen, denying the players the “free will” that makes gaming fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alien-vs-2001-a-space-odyssey/701161.md?page=2)