Millenniums and Monoliths
            A look at Arthur C. Clarke's classic
               four part science fiction saga

                     by Richard Hewison

(Inspiration for this SynTax article came to me after watching the
first two movies on video for the umpteenth time over Xmas and
re-reading "2063: Odyssey Three" and then diving immediately into
"3001: The Final Odyssey").

"2001: A Space Odyssey" began life as a short story called "The
Sentinel", written by Arthur C. Clarke in 1948 as an entry to a
BBC sponsored writing competition. It didn't win, but was
eventually published in 1951. In the original story, an expedition
discovers a pyramid-like structure on the moon.  Twenty years
later they finally penetrate the interior and accidentally destroy
the mechanisms within. They can only speculate as to its purpose,
but they assume it was planted on the moon as a sentinel; to warn

the builders when mankind had progressed beyond the confines of
the earth.

Fourteen years later, film maker Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C.
Clarke collaborated with the intention of making the ultimate
science fiction movie. They decided to base the plot on the ideas
explored in that original short story. However, this time Clarke
planned on expanding the story into a full blown novel which was
to be called "Journey Beyond the Stars". Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
(MGM) announced the forthcoming movie in February 1965, and
filming began on December 29th of the same year at Shepperton
studios, London. Two and a half years later, "2001: A Space
Odyssey" was released in the United States. It ultimately cost
$10.5 million; some $4.5 million over budget.

The film was both loved and loathed by the audience. Some felt it
was too long and boring. Others thought it was the most amazing
spectacle they had ever seen, even if they didn't fully understand
it! Kubrick fought long and hard to avoid over-explaining the
meaning of the movie, yet within MGM there was a feeling that he
should have narrated over certain scenes; especially the opening
`Dawn of Mankind' sequence.  Little were they to know that a
proper explanation of events shown in the film wouldn't be
forthcoming until the fourth novel was eventually published in
1996, almost thirty years later!

Arthur C. Clarke never intended on writing a sequel, but the
Voyager space probes gave him the impetus he needed and he began
putting pen to paper in 1981. "2010: Odyssey Two" was then made
into a film by director Peter Hyams (who had directed "Capricorn
One" in the mid-70s about a faked manned mission to Mars). "2010:
The year we made contact" was released in 1984. By this time, the
original movie was considered a science fiction classic. The
second film did fairly well at the box office but wasn't held with
the same high regard. (This is a great shame as I thoroughly
enjoyed the second film. The effects were good, the cast was
excellent - Helen Mirren, Roy Scheider, John Lithgow and Bob
Balaban, and the story was well told and tense in all the right
places).

The sequel took Dr. Heywood Floyd from the first story and placed
him onboard a joint USSR and USA mission to return to the
Discovery, abandoned and languishing in orbit around Jupiter. As
they journey out into space, the USA and USSR move to the brink of
nuclear war. Meanwhile, the Russian spacecraft discovers what
could be primitive life on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. As they
reach the Discovery and re-activate the infamous HAL computer,
Dr. Floyd is visited by (the ghost? of) one of the original
Discovery astronauts, Dave Bowman, who warns him that they must
leave immediately because "... something wonderful" is about to
happen. The end of the story culminates in the detonation of
Jupiter and its resulting transformation into a new sun,
therefore giving the life forms on Europa a chance to develop.
This reminder of a higher and infinitely more powerful
intelligence in the universe halts the otherwise inevitable war on
Earth between the two super powers and robs the earth of
nightfall. Instead, a dusky twilight serves as a reminder of the
historical events that turned Jupiter into the new sun, now named
"Lucifer". The intelligence used the Discovery and HAL for one

more task before it was consumed by the explosion; a message was
transmitted back to earth, warning mankind to leave Europa alone.

Arthur C. Clarke then waited for the launch of the Galileo probe
in 1986, which would specifically investigate the moons of Jupiter
over a period of many months by then of the 80s.  Unfortunately,
the tragic Challenger space shuttle explosion in January `86 put
that particular mission on hold for a few years more. As Arthur C.
Clarke puts it in his note at the start of the third book, he
"... decided not to wait ...".

"2061: Odyssey Three" was published in 1988. To date, no film has
ever been made of this third chapter in Arthur C.  Clarke's
`Odyssey' saga. The story concentrates on a very old Heywood Floyd
and a ship which accidentally crashes onto the surface of Europa.
Dr. Floyd now lives permanently in space and is going on one last
mission - a rendezvous with the returning Halley's comet. The ship
he is on is diverted after completing its mission so it can
attempt a rescue on Europa.  The crashed ship also happens to have
Dr. Floyd's son on board. The stranded ship discovers sea based
life forms on the planet and a massive mountain which just happens
to be made of diamond; the largest diamond ever encountered. Just
the news of its existence sends shock waves through the financial
markets back on earth. Another discovery on the planet reveals an
equally enormous monolith, lain on one side as if acting as a
giant wall for the new life forms to take shelter behind against
the inhospitable (but gradually improving) Europan climate.
Everything eventually concludes quite happily, and you even get
another guest appearance from Dave Bowman and HAL near the end.
The book finishes with a tantalisingly short chapter entitled
"3001", describing the sudden and unexpected extinguishing of the
second sun, Lucifer.

Arthur C. Clarke's novels are always scientifically accurate, or
at least contain very plausible scientific theories (as you would
expect from the man who invented the geo-stationary satellite!).
You can also expect intelligent characters and interesting if not
exactly action packed scenarios. I suspect that the third book
hasn't been filmed because it doesn't answer many of the questions
left dangling from the first two books and whilst it does have a
few dilemmas, they are very much secondary to the plot and are
solved in a quick and almost anti-climatic fashion.

The fourth novel in the saga appeared in 1996. "3001: The Final
Odyssey" is obviously based a whole millennium after the setting
for the original story that started the saga off.  Despite this,
Arthur C. Clarke is still able to re-introduce a character from
the previous novels. This time, he resurrects the other Discovery
astronaut who was left for dead in space after HAL cut him loose
near Jupiter. In true Buck Rogers style, Frank Poole was
miraculously frozen and preserved in space and was found a
thousand years later and resuscitated.  The first half of the book
deals with his adjusting to life at the start of the fourth
millennium. He learns a lot about what happened immediately after
HAL sabotaged the mission, and the subsequent mission back to
Jupiter and the creation of the new sun. He also learns about
Europa. Frank Poole eventually decides to risk going down to the
surface of Europa to discover if Dave Bowman and HAL really are
down there after all.

It would be giving the plot away to explain exactly what happens
in the last quarter of the novel, but quite a few of the answers
to questions left over from the first two novels are finally
answered here ... and about time too! I would guess that if a
third movie is ever filmed, they are likely to merge the ideas and
situations from the latter two novels in the saga and create a
single story `inspired by ...' the novels rather than being direct
translations of the printed word as the first two films were. I
enjoyed reading the last two books even if they are a little laid
back in the pace department. They have certainly peaked my
interest to seek out another well known Arthur C. Clarke saga,
"Rendezvous with Rama" and "Rama II".







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