Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey

Does anyone else enjoy Sci-Fi?. I have always been a fan of Arthur C Clarke's essays and always enjoyed reading the interpretations and opinions of the classic 2001. In the film adaptation with Kubrick, he intentionally left the symbolism open-ended and nebulous so as to give the viewer the option to read into it whatever he/she wished.Whenever I see the film on the tube, my interest in the subject peaks up again and I recall the Philosophy of SciFi class I took as an undergrad that was pretty much devoted to this flick and it's symbolism.It really takes a reading of his essays and the philosophical underpinnings in 'The Sentinel'( the work the movie was based on) to pick up on the imagery and themes:- Primate Evolves.
- Primate develops tool use.
- Tool use assists in rapid evolutionary adaptation.
- The tools eventually become so complex and powerfully that the evolvee loses the ability to control them and becomes a redundant piece of the puzzle.
- Man ends up out of his element and in over his head.
- Man evolves into shop keeper for the tools; his life gets boring.
- Roles are reversed and the tool has no need for man.
- Man is required to rely on his primordial instincts rather than the intellect that propelled him to his current state to overcome the tool.The Obelisk represents a symbol for an Intelligence keeping tabs on the evolutionary development of species and also acts as a catalyst to such change. In the book, the outside intelligence offers up a series of tests to coax man along the path of change.At the end of the flick, the shattered glass represents man shedding the vessel of the body - the glass breaks but the wine remains intact. Sentience no longer needs the vessel of the body and can 'evolve' into another form of conscious experience - the 'Star Child' is born.Pretty fanciful stuff, but there is a lot of food for thought in his works. I always get a kick out of watching the flick. It's one of those rare films where you an let your imagination run wild.Anyway's, just killing a few moments and thought I would add a coffee house post for discussion if anyone is so inclined. The one thing I always found appealing with SciFi is you can break free of facts and figures and just stimulate the imagination.

Wow, you're an old timer I wasn't even born yet.What did folks think of the movie when it came out? I would think unless you were really into SciFi or had an active imagination, you would probably hate it and be bored to death. The first time I saw it when I was 13, the movie made no sense whatsoever. I kept asking myself - What is that baby doing in space?

Tom Hanks was supposed to have worked on getting a project together but it fell through I think. 3001 sure has the ingredients for a popular film - genetically engineered dinosaurs, Cyborg, and all sorts of techy stuff. You think people would go nuts for it.

The music was inspiring. Most people know Also Sprach Zarathustra only as 'That theme song from 2001'.

I can imagine the surprise at the effects. With the technology available at the time I wonder how they made some of the special effects with the color and lighting. In 1967, I don't think there were any graphics capable computers around that were accessible to Hollywood.Also, the lack of dialogue for a good part of the movie probably was something new that people hadn't seen before. The only thing close to this is the 1989 movie 'The Bear', where they filmed the movie mostly from the bear cub's perspective.

Actually, the screenplay for 2001 was based on 'The Sentinel' and a few other of Clarke's earlier works. They were put together for a screenplay adaptation. The Book 2001 was written alongside the screenplay for publication. Essentially it contains the same ideas as in the earlier novels with additions and alterations.2001 strung together all the major themes in the earlier works - man's relation to technology, ET intervention in the rate of man's evolution, and the idea of the 'Hive Group'/Universal Consciousness.Clarke's ideas kind of fit into some of the ideas present in exogensis. A popular theme in a few works is that the evolution of our species was influenced by outside 'natural' intelligent forces that have or had an interest in the going's on here. Other works were also heavy on the idea of a universal hive conscioussness that transcends personal identity.Ned...If you want to part with some, I will buy.Edited by Grizz, : No reason given.

I was never big on Asimov. Wht was it about?My two favorite SciFi novels are Heinlein's 'Stranger in a Strange Land' and Clarke's Childhood's End - very thought provoking and they play into a lot of contemporary issues on religion, science, and technology.

Yeah, Today's SCFi is all about sensationalism and it lacks the scope and complexity of earlier works. Moden SciFi kind of appeals to those who like watching things blow up or people get their heads lopped off.Edited by Adminnemooseus, : Fix quote box. Pseudo-code was messing with the function of the real code. Hand to change "[/rant]" to "[endrant]".