They're here!

[GordonD]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55056570?fbclid=IwAR1ROjYn76k9Pld2-T5Gz6w7g9TJCLeKUMibXHuYGLVPUPmEzHUF7REzARg

[Mike]

Quote

There was speculation that the monolith was installed by an artist

 

Yes.  A urine extraction artist

[Pete in Lincs]

Maybe they've come to pick up the great orange leader?

[spruecutter96]

I look at "monolith" and I want to club my enemy to death with an animal-bone and then (probably) eat his flesh. Then, I want to throw the bone into the air, so that one of my ancestors can have it smash-cut into a space-station, floating above the planet. All-in-all, it's been a very odd Tuesday! 

 

Chris. 

 

PS: I've read that the book had a more intellectual / symbolic version of the opening scene. In the novel, the space-station is actually an atomic-missile carrier, waiting for a command to rain death down on our planet. Perhaps this is making the point that mankind might not be nearly as evolved as we like to think - we just have more sophisticated ways of killing our fellow men?

[RobL]

 

Yes, very 2001.

 

I read the first two books some 25 or so years ago, and have seen the two films.  The 2nd film creeps me out, because of the scene with Dave and his ma...

 

Really would love to see the 3rd and 4th books made into films, but no-one seems interested in doing so.

 

Strangely the book was written concurrently with the film and was published after the film was released!  Apparently the film is actually based on earlier short stories by Clarke.

Edited November 25, 2020 by RobL

[Graham Boak]

The scene on the moon is based on the short story The Sentinel.  The ending (although different) is very similar to the "feel" of the ending to his novel "Childhood's End".  Readers of the latter will not share the difficulty some people had in understanding just what is going on at the very end. 

 

Frankly the second book and certainly the later ones are very poor work indeed.  Nothing to match the quality of his earlier work.  Not that the 2001 book was exactly his best, the very "down to earth" style missing the magic of both the film and his classic writings.  Still, it kept him in comfort for his later years.

[Bejay53]

14 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

 

 

Chris. 

 

PS: I've read that the book had a more intellectual / symbolic version of the opening scene. In the novel, the space-station is actually an atomic-missile carrier, waiting for a command to rain death down on our planet. Perhaps this is making the point that mankind might not be nearly as evolved as we like to think - we just have more sophisticated ways of killing our fellow men?

There are series of reviews of the movie on YouTube, “How Stanley Kubrick made 2001...”. Multiple parts.The bone transforms into a satellite. If you look closely, I believe it has a DDR flag on it. There is also a Chinese and US one. Yes, they are armed satellites. 
The large “wheel” is a manned space dock/transfer station.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Bejay53

[Ben Brown]

I saw on another forum that redditors have already located the monolith by following the helicopter’s flight path on one of those flight tracking sites. It’s been there since at least 2015. I’ll post a link if I can find it again.

 

Ben

[spruecutter96]

Am I right in thinking that The Star-Child at the movie's end was a transformed Dave Bowman? I would welcome an explanation as to why he changes, if it's true. 

 

Chris. 

[Mr T]

In the books the Star Child is Bowman and is transformed into a non material entity to do the work of the beings whose ancestors  originally placed the monolith on the moon. The closing lines of the book echo one of the opening chapters in saying, after he (it) disposes of some nuclear missiles sent against him, 'he was not sure what he would do, but would think of something' 

[Pete in Lincs]

That's pretty much what I understood. 'Jupiter is mine',* I would have liked to know where that went. 

 

* I think that's the correct quote.

[Pilgrim_UK]

Isn't it Europa?

[GordonD]

On 11/28/2020 at 7:36 PM, Pilgrim_UK said:

Isn't it Europa?

Yes, because life is evolving there after Jupiter is transformed into a mini-sun. The message reads ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE. The film adds the instruction USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE because the US and USSR are on the brink of war, which isn't in the book.

[Pete in Lincs]

Erm....