Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest.
"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 phrase "See you next Wednesday" is heard for the first time during the scene in which Poole receives birthday greetings from his parents. The phrase would become a trademark of director John Landis who would use it in many of his movies.
See more »
Goofs
Continuity:
In the Pan Am lunar shuttle, we see the Clavius Moon Base approach through the viewing window of the pilot's cockpit in a view like an airplane approach. In the next shot, we see the exterior of the craft, and the cockpit is shown pointing straight up towards the black sky as it lands on the landing gear beneath the craft. It would be impossible for the pilots to view the Clavius approach from the cockpit if landing with reverse thrust engines. All they would see is the sky straight above, and it would be relatively still from their point of view.
See more »
The traditional "roaring lion" logo for MGM was not used in this film.
Instead, the newly designed corporate logo for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was
used, along with the letters "MGM", all in white against a blue background.
See more »
"The Blue Danube"
(1866) ("An der schönen, blauen Donau, op. 314 (The Blue Danube)") Music by Johann Strauß (as Johann Strauss) Performed by Berliner Philharmoniker (as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) Conductor Herbert von Karajan Courtesy Deutsche Grammophon
See more »