"2001" is a story of evolution. Sometime in the distant past, someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on Earth (presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well). Evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moon's surface, where yet another monolith is found, one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. Now a race begins between computers (HAL) and human (Bowman) to reach the monolith placers. The winner will achieve the next step in evolution, whatever that may be.
Written by Larry Cousins
The animal used in the "Dawn of Man" sequence, the one that looks like a black pig with a trunk, is a tapir.
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Goofs
Continuity:
When the spaceship is docking at the station, the ship and the station are rotating at the same speed as can be seen in the scenes from the ship's point of view. But in the exterior, zoomed out shot of both of them, they are clearly rotating at radically-different speeds.
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No opening credits for actors, writers, producer, director, etc. are shown,
with the story beginning right after the title. Although by the 1990s it
had become quite common for major films to not have opening credits, it was
still unusual in 1968.
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