2001: A Space Odyssey

and chase the ship’s lost communications antenna system. or possibly like the “Godfather. discretion prevailed. 1968. But don’t call me. 2001 A Space Odyssey Arthur C. and although President Kennedy had announced the United States’ intention of putting a man on the Moon before the end of the decade. in fact. or volcanos spurting sulfur a hundred kilometers into space? Science ction could now be made far more convincing by science fact. but was unable to check its slow spin and bring it back to Discovery. Stanley has invented the wild idea of slightly fag robots who create a Victorian environment to put our heroes at their ease. because Kubrick was promptly informed that Clarke was not interested in developing other people’s ideas. in 1956. as always. John Fowles put it very well when he said: “Writing a novel is like swimming through the sea. but it also makes me feel a contemporary of the Wright brothers. you infected me with both the writing bug and the space bug. which of course had to receive his blessing before it could be published. The novel you are about to read has sometimes been criticized for explaining too much. The Lost Worlds of 2001. coral reefs. He was planning a special promotion of the movie in the year 2001. though some avant-garde directors have tried to dispense with the latter item. Clarke and Polaris Productions. for by a curious coincidence there are approximately a hundred billion stars in our local universe. cheerful smiling faces. and discussions with the artists. at the early dawn of the space age. When I was a boy. eventually comes to their attention. here are some extracts from the journal I must have hastily written in the smaller hours of the morning: May 28. partly because he was so busy at the studio that he never had time to focus his attention on the many versions of the manuscript. whereas in the novel the spaceship Discovery ew on to Saturn. Dave.” July 11. In April 1964 I left Ceylon. One of my deepest regrets now is that we shall not be able to welcome the year 2001 together. So for every man who has ever lived.) Stanley was still basking in the success of his last movie. Men have been slow to face this prospect. Australia. nal version of the novel. Stanley thinks this is cute… June 2. for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. without permission in writing from the publisher. I often remarked to Stanley that the lm would be still on its rst run when men were actually walking on the Moon. and by what manner of creatures. To give the avor of that hectic time. the two bear much the same relationship as an acorn and an oak tree. Now history and ction have become inextricably intertwined. and some of it came from “Encounter in the Dawn” (a. And I have compounded the felony by writing 2010 (also made into an excellent movie by Peter Hyams). and I’ve sometimes wondered what did win (probably an epic of angst in Tunbridge Wells). LLC. (From Report on Planet Three: “Son of Dr. who at Christmas. This the novel. (They should put up a plaque to mark the spot. and the result of months of brainstorming with Stanley—followed by lonely (well. “What I want is a theme of mythic grandeur. Moreover. more important. Joined Stanley to discuss plot development. we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out onto the Sea of Tranquility. so were the comfortable trains whispering quietly through the spotless subway stations. the Milky Way. when we were aiming to make a movie? It’s true that novelizations (ugh) are all too often produced afterward. And although our original working title was How the Solar System Was Won. often far more brilliant and glorious than the small. David Bowman has to make an EVA in one of Discovery’s space pods. a little cash. distant worlds about which absolutely nothing was known when Stanley and I started our collaboration suddenly became real places. the movie has become part of popular culture: I doubt if even in his wildest dreams Stanley imagined that one day a hundred million Americans would know exactly who (what?) was speaking when a Super Bowl commercial announced in a silken yet sinister voice “It was a bug. told me that they had been tempted to radio back the discovery of a large black monolith. who cooked me a fine steak.) This point having been settled. Why the change from Saturn to Jupiter? Well.k. How many of those potential heavens and hells are now inhabited. which of course had to receive his blessing before it could be published. and was looking for an even more ambitious theme. where alien intelligences may treat us like a godlike father. You are deservedly the best known science ction writer in the world. with feedback in both directions. monsoons and sunken treasure ships. Clarke 16 April 1999 Contents Foreword Part One: Primeval Night 1 The Road to Extinction 2 The New Rock 3 Academy 4 The Leopard 5 Encounter in the dawn 6 Ascent of Man Part Two: TMA-1 7 Special Flight 8 Orbital Rendezvous 9 Moon Shuttle 10 Clavius Base 11 Anomaly 12 Journey by Earthlight 13 The Slow Dawn 14 The Listeners Part Three: Between Planets 15 Discovery 16 Hal 17 Cruise Mode 18 Through the Asteroids 19 Transit of Jupiter 20 The World of the Gods Part Four: Abyss 21 Birthday Party 22 Excursion 23 Diagnosis 24 Broken Circuit 25 First Man to Saturn 26 Dialogue with Hal 27 “Need to Know” 28 In Vacuum 29 Alone 30 The Secret Part Five: The Moons of Saturn 31 Survival 32 Concerning E. indeed? Here is one possible answer to that very reasonable question. I remember nothing whatsoever about it and have even forgotten the author’s name. let me once again point wearily to Chapter 16 for the correct origin of the name. he was able to check its spin by bursts from the nitrogen-jet thrusters on his Bowman. The satellite was brought back into Discovery’s cargo bay. It needed a lot more material to make the movie. Whoever he was. Not a bad title—and the time may now be ripe for it. in an earlier draft of the novel. though I am not sure if “enjoyed” is the right word. from which we would later derive the script. G. Most important—and how lucky this was we could never have guessed at the time—Stanley decided to rendezvous with Jupiter. we decided to create Something Entirely New. and I won’t call you. 1984. Clarke being interviewed in the lunar-module assembly room at Grumman Aircraft. There is also another profound distinction between the two books. the various sequels make the situation even more complicated. July 12. 2001 is often said to be based on “The Sentinel. and argument was still raging about the nature of the lunar surface…. But every one of those stars is a sun. I’m sorry that work on my lm prevents me from joining in this great honour to you tonight. “Expedition to Earth” and published in the collection of that name) and four other short stories.C. which contains not only the full movie but also a vast amount of archival material relating its production. remarking. after one of the most remarkable and successful Shuttle missions ever flown. This proved extremely di cult to obtain. PART ONE PRIMEVAL NIGHT. Since the dawn of time.’s 33 Ambassador 34 The Orbiting Ice 35 The Eye of Japetus 36 Big Brother 37 Experiment 38 The Sentinel 39 Into the Eye 40 Exit Part Six: Through the Star Gate 41 Grand Central 42 The Alien Sky 43 Inferno 44 Reception 45 Recapitulation 46 Transformation 47 Star-Child Foreword to the Millennial Edition It is now thirty. I decide that he is a latent mathematical genius. It also shows a youthful Arthur C. I had already given Stanley a list of my shorter pieces. roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth. A few nights ago I dreamed that we were talking together (he was looking exactly the same as in 1964!) and he asked: “Well. November 28. Piel’s beer. Because a screenplay has to specify everything in excruciating detail. No trilogy should have more than four volumes. writing a lm script is like thrashing through treacle.” I need hardly say that this sort of tribute gives me a warm glow of satisfaction. If it had done so. Took two chapters to Stanley. the movie would by now have been badly dated. Which it did—by several months—in the spring of 1968. before you make a movie. Their first words back to Earth were “Houston. we remained in friendly touch—as is demonstrated by the generous message which he sent to the BBC when I appeared on This Is Your Life: August 22. I doubt if many people believed it would actually happen. he was able to check its spin by bursts from the nitrogen-jet thrusters on his backpack.” In either case. John Fowles put it very well when he said: “Writing a novel is tedious to read as to write. including information storage and retrieval systems.000. so presumably he was not one of the s.” So I had ample energy for moonlighting with Stanley. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means. however. except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. using Jupiter’s gravitational eld to boost it on its way. I am con dent that when this program. But you can get used to anything in time. Though NASA was spending the entire budget of our movie (over $10. July 26. so I promise that 3001 is indeed the Final Odyssey! Foreword Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts. Strangelove”) My work on Man and Space progressed very smoothly because whenever one of Time/Life’s zealous researchers asked me. as it was then called. world-size heaven—or hell. I am very sad that I will be unable to share the occasion with him. Both were safely returned to Earth for repair and relaunch. Stanley—who becomes an instant expert in any subject that concerns him—had already devoured several libraries of science fact and science ction. involving Brian Aldiss’s beautiful short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” which Stanley worked on for some time under the title “AI. which I wrote in 1971 when everything was still fresh in my mind: “In the spring of ’64… the lunar landing still seemed psychologically a dream of the far future. however. but neglected to tell me how difficult either undertaking can be. for that matter. after my humdrum existence among elephants. I hope he never knows that I sabotaged his career. we let our imaginations soar freely by writing a complete novel. But the barriers of distance are crumbling. Now. and a dozen competing brands of oral carcinogens. Thus I rewrote some sections after seeing the movie rushes—a rather expensive method of literary creation. 1964. When NASA administrator Tom Paine sent me the report of the mission. in this Universe there shines a star. But most of it was wholly new. (The episode is found in Chapter 26 of The Lost Worlds of 2001. Just about the time Joe was doing all this.ve years since Stanley Kubrick began his quest for the proverbial “good science ction movie. I was trying to complete the nal. or our masters. space exploration seemed to be marking time. as my entry for a BBC short story competition. we’ve had a problem. But it was enough to let Stanley set up the deal with MGM and Cinerama for what was originally trumpeted as Journey Beyond the Stars. The sequence ends with a fascinating comparison between the movie and the later realities of Apollo. (And. which in February 1984 had been launched into useless orbits by misfiring rockets. most notably the sagas of the communications satellites Westar VI and Palapa B-2. But please remember: this is only a work of fiction. He had also acquired rights to a property with the intriguing title Shadow on the Sun. and before you have a script. our genuine knowledge of our neighbors in space was still virtually zero: we could not even be sure that the rst probe to touch down on the Moon would not instantly sink into a sea of dust. If you want the de nitive version. Precisely this “perturbation maneuver” was used by the Voyager spacecraft eleven years later.) Throughout 1965 Stanley was involved in the incredibly complex post-production activities—made even more di cult by the fact that the lm would be shot in England while he was still in New York. 28. and thus destroying some of the movie’s mystery. the New York Post.) This is more or less the way it worked out. emotionally. While Stanley was making the movie. Inc. Cover art to the electronic edition copyright © 2012 by RosettaBooks. Averaging one or two thousand words a day. we have no way of guessing. what shall we do next?” There might have been a next. “Joe Levine doesn’t do this for his writers. But the brilliant success of the Voyager missions changed my mind. December 10.000) every day. you have to have a script. though toward the end novel and screenplay were being written simultaneously.f. It has now been anthologized so often* that I need only say that it’s a mood piece about the discovery of an alien artifact on the Moon—a kind of burglar alarm. “We’ve got a best seller here. But whether future generations will ever have the opportunity to know of this depends on the answer to your favorite question: Is there intelligent life on Earth? Yours. The Apollo 13 mission.T. book and movie tend to be confused with each other—and with reality. (Another variant: How the Solar System Was Won.” but that is a gross oversimpli cation. This is where most of the novel was written. does have an uncanny connection with 2001. The rst two-man Gemini ight (Grissom and Young) would not take place for another year. which few other authors can have enjoyed. of the new one.” And if anyone still believes the legend that HAL was derived from IBM by displacing one letter. hopefully. (See the Afterword of Rama Il for the curious series of events which caused a change of policy with Cradle a couple of decades later. as some astronomers had confidently predicted. He wanted to make a movie about man’s place in the universe—a project likely to give a heart attack to any studio head of the old school—or.) He caught up with it. you have to have a story. Now. the phrase he used was “Sorry to interrupt the festivities.” October 17. but we have a problem. “The Sentinel” was written in an explosion of energy at Christmas 1948. “What is your authority for this statement?” I would x her with a basilisk stare and answer. I received a copy of his beautiful book Entering Space: An Astronaut’s Odyssey with a covering letter which read: “Dear Arthur. Intellectually. The crew of Apollo 8. LLC. I refer you to the superb Voyager-Criterion video disc. let me quote from the (mostly) non ctional account of our enterprise. and the journal of this often painful process is found in The Lost Worlds of 2001. he wrote on the cover: “Just as you always said it would be. Though we met only a few times during the three decades after completing 2001. but spent almost all the time arguing about Cantor’s Trans nite Groups….C. and under no circumstances would he travel by air. it made a more straightforward story line —and. the advertisements (often charmingly adorned by amateur artists) for such outlandish products as Levy’s bread. some still hope that it may never become reality. (Rock Hudson stormed out of the premiere complaining “Can someone tell me what the hell this is all about?”) But I am quite unrepentant: the printed text has to give much more detail than can be shown on the screen. But why write a novel. I cannot resist quoting from my reminiscences of this time: It was strange. it wasn’t even placed. 2061 and 3001. those still remote goals of the next generation. ISBN e-Pub edition: 9780795330704 To Stanley IN MEMORIAM Little more than two weeks after writing the words in the foreword that follows. A.” and already 1964 seems to belong to another age. are asking: “Why have such meetings not occurred already. that would not be made obsolete by the events of the next few years. it is almost as tedious to read as to write. Stanley says. and Shuttle ights—some of which do not look anything like as convincing as Stanley’s previsions. since the Voyager missions showed Saturn’s rings to be far more implausible than anyone had ever dreamed. they too will wish to honour you as one of the most far-seeing and important heralds of their existence. Suggested to Stanley that “they” might be machines who regard organic life as a hideous disease. and technicians who made it possible. And many—perhaps most—of those alien suns have planets circling them. All rights reserved. Dr. it is not surprising that the novel di ers from the movie in several respects. at 222 West 23rd Street. you’ll nd their work only at art theaters. Stanley and I had a credibility problem. will be far stranger. in this case. The strange cries. Arthur. I am in no position to criticize: Stanley learned not to y the hard way—while getting his pilot’s license. one day we shall meet our equals. regulars. so I can have them as a Christmas present for Stanley. Slowly tinkering with the nal pages. New York. and our rst encounter was in Trader Vic’s on April 23. Stanley’s (36th) birthday. and after a while (about fifteen minutes) the glamour faded. The truth. 2001 was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history. These are glimpses of the lm being shot. “You’re looking at him. which will travel forever out into the Universe. And I haven’t quite nished. the Apollo 13 command module was named Odyssey. 2010: Odyssey Two was about the real Jovian satellite system. To give some sense of perspective. we knew it was inevitable. you may well ask. his own private. So almost certainly there is enough land in the sky to give every member of the human species. he suggested that before we embarked on the drudgery of the script.” And there are many other resonances. Commuting—even if only for three stations on the IRT—was an exotic novelty. Who would ever have imagined satellites entirely covered with ice oes. with fantastic surface conditions. stopping at the most exciting point— because we hadn’t the faintest idea what would happen next. waiting to be set off by mankind’s arrival. astronaut Joe Allen left the space shuttle Discovery (no. When the computer HAL reported the “failure” of the AE 35 Unit. scientists. back to the first ape-man. nearby star we call the Sun. as the real year 2001 approaches. Unlike Bowman. the Apollo astronauts had already seen the lm when they left for the moon. You have done more than anyone to give us a vision of mankind reaching out from cradle earth to our future in the stars. became the rst men ever to set eyes upon the lunar far side. 1994 Dear Arthur. But the portents were clear. the very nearest is a million times farther away than Mars or Venus. the special-e ects department couldn’t produce a Saturn that Stanley found convincing. I received the shocking and completely unexpected news that Stanley Kubrick had died at the age of seventy. Only a handful of men—and one woman—had gone into space. It is therefore hardly surprising that. surrounded by the hardware which a few years later was resting on the surface of the Moon. Stanley had excellent reasons for reversing this process. So I’d like to go back to the beginning and recall how the whole thing started. Dreamed I was a robot being rebuilt.” Well. we wanted to create something realistic and plausible.” But for numerous reasons that fell through. For more than a decade after publication of the novel (July 1968) I indignantly denied that any sequel was possible or that I had the slightest intention of writing one. Skylab. and the crew had just concluded a TV broadcast with the movie’s famous Zarathustra theme when an oxygen tank exploded. and unfailingly courteous manners of the Manhattanites as they went about their mysterious affairs were a continual source of fascination. This entry records my hope that the novel was now essentially complete. Now this is an interesting number.” Perhaps because Stanley realized that I had low tolerance for boredom. and two days later Westar was also rescued. to make certain that the movie appeared before the book. Alas. Phoned Isaac Asimov to discuss the biochemistry of turning vegetarians into carnivores. As he was fond of telling me. So in writing our story line. Increasing numbers. He swore he wasn’t dragging his feet. I’m not making this up!) and used his maneuvering unit to rendezvous with Palapa. Stanley calls after screening H. since we ourselves are about to venture into space?” Why not. Went to the Village and found a card with the inscription: “How can you have a Happy Birthday when the whole world may blow up at any minute?”* Sept. In November. Clarke Copyright 2001 A Space Odyssey Copyright © 1968 by Arthur C. Strangelove. Stanley was aiming at something more than a straightforward tale of exploration. fairly lonely) hours in Room 1008 of the famous Hotel Chelsea. even in my own mind. I too was cured for life by the traumatic experience. I have never been behind a steering wheel since the day I (barely) passed my driving test in Sydney. Considering its complex and agonizing gestation. —Arthur C. we could not really believe it….” Well. Electronic edition published 2012 by RosettaBooks. and went to New York to complete my editorial work on the Time/Life book Man and Space. Wells’s Things to Come and says he’ll never see another movie I recommend. and we had decided that one—“The Sentinel”—contained a basic idea on which we could build. being back in New York after several years of living in the tropical paradise of Ceylon. among the stars.” By brilliant improvisation—using the lunar module as a “lifeboat”—the astronauts were brought safely home aboard Odyssey. all we had was merely a rough draft of the rst two thirds.a. Now have everything—except the plot. December 24. For similar reasons