|
2010: The Year We Make Contact
(1984)
In Peter Hyam's sequel to Kubrick's classic:
- in this sequel, the film's opening prologue described the 2001 mission report on the circumstances
of the failed mission to Jupiter by the USS
Discovery One in the previous film; it was discovered that
the mission commander David Bowman (Keir Dullea) had no other option
but to disconnect the logic circuits of the malfunctioning HAL-9000
computer (voice of Douglas Rain); he also discovered the existence
of a mysterious Monolith (2 kilometers long) situated between Jupiter
and its moon Io, similar to the one found on the moon, although
it was larger (2 kilometers long)
- Bowman's last transmission after leaving Discovery on
a shuttle was: "My God, it's full of stars!"; Bowman
was presumed dead, and at the time, there seemed to be no explanation
for HAL's malfunctioning, or the meaning of Bowman's transmission
- in a joint mission to Jupiter between the US and
the Soviets to determine exactly what happened to the Discovery,
it was found that the abandoned Discovery was floating in
space
(orbiting around Io) near Jupiter, as well as a giant alien Monolith;
HAL 9000's creator Dr. Chandra (Bob Balaban) reactivated HAL onboard
the Discovery
- there was a short scene in which project director
Dr. Heywood Floyd (Roy Scheider) and Dr. Walter Kurnow (John Lithgow)
discussed ball park hot dogs: ("...Yankee Stadium. September.
The hot dogs have been broiling since opening day in April. Now
that's a hot dog")
- in a scene on Earth, the ghost
of USS Discovery mission commander David Bowman (now an
incorporeal being that existed inside the Monolith) visited his
former, now-widowed wife Betty Fernandez (Mary Jo Deschanel) -
who was remarried; he appeared on her TV screen to check on her
and say good-bye for one last time - while predicting that "something
wonderful" would soon happen: ("I
remember Dave Bowman and everything about him...All Dave Bowman
really was is still a part of me...Something's gonna happen and
I wanted to say goodbye...something wonderful");
he also paid a visit to his terminally-ill mother in a nursing
home before her death
- Dr. Chandra learned that the real reason for the
sentient computer HAL-9000's malfunctioning and its deliberate
murder of the astronauts onboard (HAL deliberately shut off their
life support systems!) was because the NSC had actually ordered
HAL to conceal from the Discovery's crew the fact that their
mission was not about Jupiter, but was about the mysterious Monolith
situated near Jupiter; HAL was unable to properly handle or process
the information programmed internally ("He was instructed
to lie...he became paranoid"), and literally had a 'mental
breakdown' (in the previous film)
- in a tearful scene, Dr. Chandra told HAL the truth
about the current mission's immediate departure from Jupiter to
escape an imploding Jupiter in the midst of a strange conversion
(due to rapidly-multiplying Monoliths and a nuclear fusion reaction)
- and their intention to sacrifice HAL on the sabotaged spaceship Discovery
One
|
|
|
While the Monoliths Multiplied and Engulfed Jupiter,
A Countdown Was in Progress to Detach from Discovery and Return
to Earth
|
- it was recognized that the single Monolith suddenly
disappeared while a growing black spot appeared on the Jovian surface
- the
multiplying Monoliths, creating the black spot, engulfed Jupiter
(like a virus) and HAL kept insisting that the countdown to the "ignition" of
the blast should be terminated (but was overruled)
- due to Dr. Chandra's calm explanation of the fate
of Discovery's mission - its destruction - HAL agreed that
he must sacrifice himself for the human beings on board Leonov to
complete their mission; HAL
quietly and in a dignified manner accepted his fate - and gave
his thanks to Dr. Chandra: ("I understand now, Dr. Chandra...Thank
you for telling me the truth"), and Chandra responded with
a farewell: ("You deserve it...Thank you, HAL")
- there was a fond, final exchange between an ethereal
David and a doomed HAL (HAL: "I'm afraid." David: "Don't
be. We'll be together")
- the planet imploded with a massive explosion
due to nuclear fusion and was transformed into a small star, while
the Discovery
One was
destroyed in the incinerating blast; the launch craft the Leonov successfully
separated from Discovery and was boosted away toward Earth
although it barely survived the explosive vibrations from Jupiter's
implosion
- in its final moments, HAL was able to transmit Dave's
final "something wonderful"
message to Earth on the Discovery's AE35 antenna, that was repeatedly
broadcast: ("ALL
THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE USE THEM
TOGETHER USE THEM IN PEACE")
- project director
Dr. Heywood R. Floyd delivered a final transcendent speech and transmission
(a letter) to his son Christopher (Taliesin Jaffe) while returning
to Earth from Jupiter on the Leonov escape launch, about the
miraculous appearance of a second star in the sky (the remains of Jupiter)
- he saw it as a sign of his realized dream to restore long-lasting
interplanetary friendship and peace between the Soviets and the US:
("My dear
Christopher. This is the last time I'll be able to speak to you for
a long while. I'm trying to put into words what has happened. Maybe
that's for historians to do sometime later. They will record that the
next day, the President of the United States looked out of the White
House window and the Premier of the Soviet Union looked out of
the Kremlin window and saw the new distant sun in the sky. They
read the message, and perhaps they learned something because they
finally recalled their ships and their planes. I'm going to sleep
now. And I will dream of you and your mother. I will sleep knowing
that you are both safe, that the fear is over. We have seen the
process of life take place. Maybe this is the way it happened on
Earth millions of years ago. Maybe it's something completely different.
I still don't know really what the Monolith is. I think it's many
things. An embassy for an intelligence beyond ours, a shape of
some kind for something that has no shape. Your children will be
born in a world of two suns. They will never know a sky without
them. You can tell them that you remember when there was a pitch
black sky with no bright star, and people feared the night. You
can tell them when we were alone, when we couldn't point to the
light and say to ourselves: 'There is life out there.' Someday
the children of the new sun will meet the children of the old.
I think they will be our friends. You can tell your children of
the day when everyone looked up and realized that we were only
tenants of this world. We have been given a new lease -- and a
warning -- from the landlord")
- the final evocative shots in the film were of locations
around the Earth with two suns (Washington DC, Russia, Egypt, Paris,
London, the Coast) and of a Monolith in a primordial, humid jungle
(with transformative signs of plant life emerging) on Jupiter's
seemingly-barren and icy moon Europa, as Richard Strauss' Thus
Spake Zarasthustra played - it was a sign of new intelligent
life developing on Europa, that would be gradually transformed from
an icy wasteland to a humid jungle covered with plant life
The Existence of a New Star
("A World With Two Suns")
|
The Monolith in the Jungle of a Transformed Europa
|
|
As Spacecraft USS Discovery Approached Jupiter's Two Major
Inner Moons - Europa and Io - HAL-9000 Computer Malfunctioned
Bowman: "My God, it's full of stars"
Bowman's Former Wife Betty Fernandez
Ghost of Astronaut David Bowman Saying Goodbye
Bowman: "Something Wonderful"
The Monolith Near Jupiter
Dr. Chandra's Decision That HAL Would Be Sacrificed on
the Discovery
HAL's Final Moments
The Leonov Separating and Moving Away from Discovery Just Before Jupiter
Imploded
HAL's Final Transmission - Displayed Above Jupiter's
Remaining Star
|