2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
An astronaut sent on a mission to explore a strange obelisk must contend with an artificial intelligence that has a breakdown.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Dr. David Bowman - Keir Dullea
Dr. Frank Poole - Gary Lockwood
Dr. Heywood Floyd - William Sylvester
Dr. Andrei Smyslov - Leonard Rossiter
Dr. Ralph Halvorsen - Robert Beatty
Dr. Roy Michaels - Sean Sullivan
Voice of HAL 9000 - Douglas Rain
Mission Controller - Frank Miller
Lunar Shuttle Stewardess - Edwina Carroll
Aries 1B Lunar Shuttle Captain - Edward Bishop
Space Station Employee 1 - Maggie London
Space Station Employee 2 - Chela Mattison
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
At the dawn of man, a tribe of Man Apes led by Moonwatcher are living near a group of tapirs in the African Savannah. A leopard drops from a cliff and attacks and kills one of the Man Apes. As the tribe is at the watering hole, they are confronted by another tribe of Man Apes and are forced to run away. Moonwatcher wakes up and discovers a Monolith in the center of his camp. The rest of the tribe wakes up and starts hooting around the Monolith. Moonwatcher walks up to the Monolith carefully touches it before becoming comfortable with it and massaging it. The rest of the tribe then also starts to touch the Monolith. Time passes and as Moonwatcher is picking around a tapir skeleton, he stops to think before picking up a bone. He starts to tap the bone on the ground before using it as a tool and destroys other parts of the skeleton. Moonwatcher and his tribe learn to use the bone weapons to kill tapirs. They return to the watering hole and Moonwatcher confronts the leader of the other Man Apes and hits him with a bone tool. Moonwatcher and his tribe retake the watering hole and he throws his bone tool into the air in celebration.
A Pan American shuttle is flying Dr. Heywood Floyd to a space station. During the flight Stewardess 2 grabs a floating pen and puts it back into a sleeping Dr. Floyd's shirt pocket. Astronaut 1 and Astronaut 2 land the shuttle in the docking bay. Dr. Floyd takes an elevator to the main hub along with Space Station Employee 1 who tells Dr. Floyd when he arrives at his desired level. He then checks in with Space Station Employee 2 who remarks he hasn't been to the station in some time. Dr. Floyd meets with Miller who greets him and tells him when his flight to the moon leaves. Dr. Floyd tells Miller he needs to make a phone call and calls home. His Squirt|daughter answers the phone and he asks her to take a message for him and tell her mom that he called, after he promises to bring her something for her birthday that he is missing. As Dr. Floyd is walking to his meeting, he sees Elena, who introduces him to Dr. Andrei Smyslov. Dr. Floyd asks how Dr. Gregov is doing. Elena tells him they are all on their way home after a three month mission. Dr. Floyd tells them he is on his way to Clavius and Dr. Smyslov starts questioning him about rumors he heard about a plague outbreak on Clavius, which has stopped communicating. Dr. Floyd tells him he cannot discuss matters and then leaves for his meeting. Dr. Floyd takes a lunar shuttle and is brought food by a Lunar Shuttle Stewardess, who when she sees him asleep brings the tray to a fellow Stewardess (2001)|Stewardess. The Lunar Shuttle Stewardess then brings two trays of food to Aries 1B Lunar Shuttle Captain and Astronaut 1. The Aries 1B Lunar Shuttle Captain comes to meet Dr. Floyd. The lunar shuttle lands on at the Clavius Base on the moon. Dr. Floyd holds a meeting with Dr. Ralph Halvorsen, Dr. Roy Michaels and a group of other lunar personnel. Dr. Floyd tells them a message from Dr. Howell and congratulates them on their discovery. He mentions some of their opposition to the story that their is an epidemic on the base and how close relatives might react, but tells them about the absolute need for secrecy of their discovery. He tells them the purpose of his trip is to gather information and come up with a plan with the council on how and when the news should be given to the public. Dr. Michaels asks how long the cover story will have to be maintained, but Dr. Floyd tells him, he can't give him a solid date. Dr. Floyd, Dr. Halvorsen and Dr. Michaels take a shuttle to the excavation site where a Monolith was found. On their trip, Dr. Michaels shows Dr. Floyd a satellite image of where the Monolith was found and explains how they originally thought it was a magnetic rock, but the evidence proved otherwise. Dr. Halvorsen tells Dr. Floyd the Monolith appears to have been deliberately buried four million years ago. They land at the excavation site and stare at the Monolith. Dr. Floyd walks down to the Monolith and touches it and as a group photograph is about to be taken, a loud ringing occurs.
During the Jupiter Mission eighteen months later.