2001: A Space Odyssey
Overview
A black monolith appears before a tribe of hominids in prehistoric Africa — and millions of years later, another one is sending a signal toward Jupiter. The story is divided into four parts. In the second part, Dr. Heywood Floyd (William Sylvester) travels to the moon to investigate a second monolith, which emits a high-pitched signal directed toward Jupiter. In the third part, the crew of the spaceship Discovery One travels to Jupiter: Dr. David Bowman (Keir Dullea), Dr. Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), and three other astronauts in suspended animation, with the ship controlled by HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain), a sentient computer with a calm, soothing voice. HAL malfunctions and kills the crew, Bowman disables HAL, and he travels to Jupiter alone. The story ends with the Star Child looking at the Earth — a profound meditation on human evolution, technology, and the nature of consciousness.
