WEBVTT - Matinee Science Playlist, Part 1: ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:05.520 My welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:14.040 Stuff Works dot com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:16.320 Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.119 Joe McCormick and Robert. Do you remember just about seventeen 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.480 years ago how disappointing it was that the year two 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.000 thousand one was not like the year two thousand one 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.240 in the movie two thousand one Space Odyssey. Well, certainly 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:32.960 it did not resemble the night film two thousand one 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.040 of Space Odyssey. It did not resemble that that vision 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.920 of the future, not exactly. We were not uh, we 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.040 were not traveling. We did not have a moon base. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.600 I want my milk carton of corn to suck to 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.640 a straw well that can be arranged if that's if 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.800 that's the definite uh, you know, futuristic experience you're looking for. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.200 But yeah, this is this is a classic science fiction film, 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.680 perhaps the classic science fiction film. I mean, you can 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.960 you can certainly make a case for other pivotal works 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.880 of sci fi cinema, But Stanley Kubrick and Arthously Clark's 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.319 two thousand and one is a film that has stood 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:15.680 the test of time inspired just countless other sci fi 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:20.800 visions and uh and yeah, that definitely gave us this 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.759 this sort of benchmark to look for in the future. 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.080 So the reason we're talking about two thousand one of 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:30.080 Space Odyssey is because this year that movie is actually 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.000 fifty years old. It's hard to believe it half a 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.000 century old. It was released in April of nineteen sixty eight, 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.080 and so because of the fiftieth anniversary, because the movie 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.600 is so endlessly fascinating to talk about, we thought we 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.760 would devote today to a discussion of two thousand one, 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:51.000 the film itself, it's ideas, and its legacy. Robert, how 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.080 old were you when you first saw two thousand one? Oh? 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:55.800 You know, I saw it when I was pretty young, 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.160 so I don't have a very um concrete memory of it. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:01.760 I think my dad he either he had had a 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:04.760 VHS copy of it playing or it was on TV. 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.320 I'm not sure, but i'd say, oh, maybe I was 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.440 eight or something. I'm not sure, but I remember it 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:15.280 being a very interesting film to watch because it was 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.960 it has this dreamlike quality to it that is there 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.920 no matter what level of of awareness you're approaching it 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:26.640 with as a viewer, you know, whether you understand the 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:32.520 more complicated, uh, science, fictional or philosophical aspects of its message. 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.320 There's still this this hypnotic quality to the film that 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.960 draws you in. I have a weird question about it. 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.400 I wonder if a kid for whom the plot pretty 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:47.440 much goes over their head actually understands the movie better 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:50.800 than an adult who can grasp more of the content 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.359 of the plot. Do you think about that? I mean, 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:57.200 because the movie is in many ways it's almost like 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.720 a more like a painting or like a you know, 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.720 a work of art that is radically open to interpretation, 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.400 where the stuff that the characters do, I'm not so 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.680 sure that it matters as much as more than kind 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:15.080 of like visual themes established and the questions raised by 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.040 you know, the spectacle before your eyes. Yeah, yeah, the 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.560 spectacle is is a huge part of it. I I 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.440 actually was tempted. I thought, well, should I let my 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.040 six year old see at least part of two thousand 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:29.720 and one and just see what his take is on it? 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:33.280 And I did not quite get around to performing any 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.600 a test of that sort um, but I have a 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.840 feeling he would be drawn in by the visuals for sure. 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.120 Just thinking about the visuals alone, it's hard to believe 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:46.280 this movie is half a century old, Like we were 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.880 saying a minute ago, it still feels so weird and 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:54.040 so fresh and so intellectually adventurous. Apparently, you know. When 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.240 it premiered. One of the things about the movie is 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.960 that it's mostly silent. There are only actually very limb 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.040 They did parts of it where characters are speaking to 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.680 each other, and according to the stories about the premier, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.360 the first audience, it's just hating. Not everybody. There were 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.880 some people who saw, Okay, this is revolutionary, something very 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:15.400 different and new and original is happening here. But a 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.920 lot of the Hollywood hot shots who were in attendance 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.640 just hated it. There were tons of people walking out 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.520 of the theater. Allegedly, Rock Hudson walked out saying out loud, 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:28.200 will someone tell me what the hell this is about? Yeah, 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.960 it's interesting because it is a film in which a 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:34.360 lot of stuff does not happen, a lot happens. It's 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:37.560 a film that that that kind of sums up the 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:43.240 ascent of humanity and where humanity might go beyond beyond 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:47.279 our planet. But at the same time, every time something 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.760 seems to be happening, but we kind of get a cut, 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.520 you know, the scenes where characters are having pivotal discussions 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.880 about what's happening. It's becomes just sort of a staple 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.560 of so many other films. Like most films are missing 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:02.320 the murder that occurs to in the film is not 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.599 actually seen, so it when you're watching two thousand one 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.200 of Space Odyssey, there is almost this sense that someone 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.719 is messing with you by removing these key bits of 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.560 information that should tell you what you're supposed to think about. Well, 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.680 I can understand people hating it at first because it is, 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.880 in a way an intentionally challenging film. It's it goes 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:28.720 against narrative conventions in a very deliberate way. Another thing 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.560 about it is just I'm not usually a person to 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.360 call out special effects first as a thing to love 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:36.919 about the movie, but the visual effects in this movie 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:42.479 are just unparalleled in so many ways. They look astonishingly realistic. 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.240 For for you know, a time in the nineteen sixties 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.200 when we hadn't even been to the moon yet when 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:48.960 this movie was made, we had not been to the 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.760 moon or space. Photography was very limited, so it's amazing 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.520 they could get something looking as accurate to the experience 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.920 of outer space as as they did. But then at 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:03.760 the same time it's so derealized, it's so unreal, and 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.280 uh it has almost kind of a Dario Argento kind 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.080 of quality, though of course it predates Argento, but I mean, 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.800 like the you know, the strange lights and the way 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.840 the colors color our moods. It's so good. Yeah, I'm 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:19.680 glad Argento did not direct it. By the way, it 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.440 would have been a very different film. Yeah, then the Monk, 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.360 the the the the Dawn of Man sequence might have 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.599 been similar. But uh, yeah, the special effects in this 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:33.360 film are just so breathtaking. I feel like, if anyone 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:34.880 out there is wondering, what is it like to watch 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.080 two thousand and one A Space Obessey with Robert Lamb, 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.960 it's like, every five minutes may sang aloud, why can't 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.360 we make why don't we make movies that look like this? Now? 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.800 You know, why can't why can't why don't spaceships look 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.279 like this anymore? In films? And basically they don't look 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.560 this good in anything else. For instance, nineteen seventy two 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.720 Silent Running, another one of my favorite sci fi films, 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.919 was directed by Douglas Trumbull. Who worked on two thousand 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.480 one worked on the effects, and Silent Running looks fabulous, 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.800 but it's not as pressed pristine as two thousand and one. 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:08.800 And obviously you can point to a lot of different 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:11.920 reasons for that. But then there's you know, you can 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:13.679 you can say, well, these other films were not directed 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:15.560 by Kubrick. They maybe they did not have the budget, 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.840 they didn't have the right key artistic people in place. Uh, 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:23.920 this kind of perfect storm of creativity and intent. But 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:25.560 but but you end up with this film that you 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.760 just looks so unlike anything else. And every single frame 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.040 of this film I feel like you could you could 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.840 print out and you could put on the wall and 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.760 and no one would question the choice. It's also, somehow 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.720 a movie that many people I think have tried to 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.560 copy and been unable to. It's a movie the style 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:48.120 of which is uncopyable. Uh My, I've talked about this 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.760 a good bit with with my friend Dave. He he 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.960 often points out that you have the sequel to the 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:58.800 film two thousand intent, which which did not did not direct, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.880 came out in the eights. Oh, who was the guy 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.520 who directed two thousand ten? Oh, he's the same amount 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.560 gentleman and directed Outland as alcohol Peter Hyams, and not 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.960 just Outland. He made Time Cop. The guy who made 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.320 two thousand ten made Time Cop. Well, it's interesting just 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.160 if you just look at the trailers um between the 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.200 two and you see just this stark difference because on one, 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.040 on one hand, you have the again that the pristine 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:31.000 white um, you know, almost hermetically sealed edible, uh, seeming 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.160 like you feel like you could just bite into the 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.439 white chocolate goodness of the spaceships in two thousand and 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:38.520 one of Space Odyssey, and then by two thousand and 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:43.480 ten everything is industrial and grimy, and not just the 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:45.600 says the order of the day it was, but but 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.240 not only the sets but also the character interactions, because 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:53.640 suddenly it's not this this very subdued performance, limited uh interaction, 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.560 limited discussions between characters. No, you have Roy Scheider run 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:01.800 and center, mayor not Mayor of Amity from Jaws, Chief 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.280 of Police, Chief Brody. Yeah, Chief Brody is just right 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:08.080 up front getting into you know, loud discussions with all 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:12.720 available characters. We're gonna need a bigger spacecraft before we 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.960 keep going. Let's let's actually just listen to an excerpt 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.880 from the original theatrical trailer for two thousand and one, 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:24.520 millions of years ago, before the human race existed, an 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:32.880 adventure began, an adventure that ultimately leads man to confront 0:09:33.000 --> 0:09:45.760 his own destiny in anticy of exploration. Sounds great even 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.560 without those impressive visuals. I feel like you still get 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.880 you still hear that, and you just sucked in. Oh yeah, 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:52.880 the music is a big part of the movie. In fact, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.280 they're their segments of the movie where the screen is 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.440 black and it's just music, and I think that's a 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.400 very important part of the experience. It's as well. Uh so, 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.720 if you've never seen the movie and you don't want 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.679 it spoiled, I don't know if that really makes sense 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:08.600 with this movie, you might want to pause this and 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:10.600 go watch it. Now. We're about to talk about what 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:12.240 happens in the plot. But I would say this is 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.600 not a movie that is that is really going to 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.440 be spoiled by you knowing what happens in advance. That's 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.640 not really the point. Yeah, because again, at leaves so 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.400 much for interpretation and it's so visual. I would urge 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.480 you definitely, if you have the ability, you get the 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:28.920 blu ray on this one, because this is a film 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.560 where the higher definition available the better. So the movie 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.360 is basically broken into four parts. Would you say that's fair? 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.079 Would you say three or four? Um? I would say 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.520 it's broken into four parts, kind of three separate movies 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:44.640 that are and it will feel like that. You're like, Oh, 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.240 I guess we're done with this section. Now, Uh, let's 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:50.080 follow this character. So the first section you get a 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.440 title card it says the Dawn of Man, and you've 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.280 got this group of early hominids. I think it's suggested, 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.160 well not, I think it is definitely suggested that these 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.000 are our ancestors. That you go back some number of 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.240 millions of years and they are these sort of desert 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:09.199 savannah dwelling ape like creatures, and they are hanging around 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.600 eating plants, hiding from a leopard that attacks them, and 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.640 fighting with another band of apelike creatures over access to 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.320 a puddle of water. And then one day they wake 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:23.360 up and find this great black rectangle, this rectangular box 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.000 that's known in the in the stories the monolith, this 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.679 slab of matter that is unlike anything in their natural habitat. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.040 It's not only unlike anything they've seen, it embodies interesting 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:39.240 mathematical characteristics, like the dimension ratios are one, four and nine, 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.280 so it's nine units high, four units wide, and one 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.960 unit deep. Of course, one four and nine are the 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.920 squares of the first three integers one, two, and three. 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:51.400 And so, after first being frightened by the monolith and 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.160 they kind of scream at it and do territorial displays, 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.080 one of them gets the courage to go up and 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.640 touch it, and then they all begin to touch it, 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.160 and the encounter some how triggers something in human evolution, 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.840 and the mechanism is not explained, But something happens to 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.840 these ape like creatures, right they they this amazing sequence. 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:12.960 They be one of them, in particular, I believe this 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:16.240 is Moon gazer Uh as he's referred to in the book, 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.240 picks up the bone of one of these taper creatures 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.600 that they're living among and realizes that he can wield 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.360 it as a tool and wield it as a weapon. Right, 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.439 Grabbing the femur of one of these tapers gives you leverage, 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.800 and that extra leverage makes all the difference in the 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.000 world for these creatures, who now suddenly have the ability 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.480 to kill the tapers and eat the meat and to 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:40.560 fight off the predators right exactly, to fight off the leopard, 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.840 to defend, to win in territorial disputes with the other 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.120 with the other ape like creatures over the water puddle, 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.640 and so in victory, then one of the ape like 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:50.720 creatures throws this bone up in the air, and then 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.920 we get one of the most fantastic cuts in all 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.160 of movie history, where the bone immediately cuts to a 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.360 spacecraft above the Earth. It's like a five million year 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.679 smash cut. It's also the reason that in Mystery Science 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.800 Theater three thousand, the satellite of Love looks like a bone. 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.839 Oh really, yeah, they have They said that explicitly, Joel 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.000 Joel Hodgson says that explicitly. But it's shaped like a 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.520 cartoon bone. It's like the two little lobes on each side, 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.160 or like a dog chew toy bone. And then of 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.640 course after this we're in the age of space exploration, 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:22.880 which is where the rest of the movie takes place. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.160 So you've got this middle section that is not given 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:29.000 a title card, so it doesn't let you know explicitly 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:30.960 this is a different part of the story. But a 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:34.240 character named Heywood Floyd is flying around in space travels 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.200 to a space station and then to the Moon to 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.360 investigate an anomaly that's been discovered on the surface of 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:42.840 the Moon, where researchers on a moon base have discovered 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:46.600 an underground object generating a strong magnetic field. So they 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.320 dig it up and it's another monolith, right. I should 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:51.520 also add that it's only in this sequence that we 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.560 get any dialogue. We go and what feels like an 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.800 astounding amount of time in the film without any characters 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.480 speaking to anyone, no narrow ration, nothing, and it's beautiful. 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.959 It's just hypnotic. Uh, the scenes of the of the 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.439 Taurus space station rotating there with the classical music playing 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.400 behind it. Absolutely and that that the whole thing about 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.160 space stations in the sequence is a really interesting and 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.360 deliberate filmmaking choice on Kubrick's part. I think um because 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.360 very often what you want to show in in sci 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.040 fi of the time. You know, if you had the 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.320 sci fi of the fifties, sixties, Flash Gordon type stuff, 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:33.400 you you would have wanted to show spaceships as an exciting, 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:38.000 fast moving, powerful thing. But instead spacecraft in this movie 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:41.000 are are presented as a thing as a kind of 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:46.560 like slow moving, very careful behemoth technology. Yeah, and uh, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.640 and I also love how the station itself that we 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:51.560 see is unfinished. Yeah. So there's not this sense of 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.640 this pristine sense of all right, humans have done it, 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.560 They're in space now, they've got it all worked out. No, 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:01.640 there's the sense that even though this this technological world 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:05.000 is so advanced compared to what we had then and 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.120 also what we have now in many respects, yet um 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.840 it is still on finish. It is still work in progress. 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.200 We will definitely come back and talk more about the 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.280 about the technological reality of the space travel sequence later. 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.320 But um, so what happens in the plus so they 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.800 find this monolith on the Moon. It emits a powerful 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.080 radio signal when sunlight touches it, and it seems to 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.680 indicate that there's something else for them to find an 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.640 orbit around Jupiter. You know, I thought we rewatching it 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:34.000 for this episode. This was the first time I realized 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.640 that without that sequence, Um, the Ark of the Covenant 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:40.080 in Raiders at the Lost Ark would have been very different, 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.960 because clearly that's where Steven Spielberg got the inspiration for 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.520 the way the arc is presented. You mean the opening 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:48.880 scene at the end of the movie. Yes, yeah, don't 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.360 look at it, yes, exactly. You know, that scene I 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.720 think takes a page from two thousand one in multiple ways. 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.080 There's the sort of staging of the scene which is 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.520 clearly aesthetically derived from two thousand one. But I think 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:02.360 also the mystery of the scene, how it's not really 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:05.440 fully explained, how Indie no is not to look at it, 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:09.000 you know. Yeah, yeah, I agree, interesting bit of Hollywood 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.680 gossip trivia. But during the filming of Raiders, uh, the 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.000 Arc and the Monolith we're actually dating. Not many people 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:20.160 know that it should have known better than to trust 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.000 an ARC and ar ARC will break your heart every time. 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.040 So then we go to the next sequence, the third 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.160 sequence of the movie, which is a crude mission to 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.560 Jupiter in a spacecraft called Discovery one. So you've got 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.120 several crew members who were in hibernation, and then you've 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.960 got two astronauts named David Bowman and Frank Poole who 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.720 are awake, and the Discovery One, we find out, is 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:44.320 controlled by an onboard artificial intelligence called HOW nine thousand. 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.240 It's always been fun to point out, especially years ago 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.920 when I was wrestling with the sluggish IBM for eight six, 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:52.640 that of course, How as an acronym is just one 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:56.960 letter removed from IBM H A L. I actually never 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.800 put that together before. I don't know if that was intentional, 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:04.000 like assume it was. But How advertises the fact that he, 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.040 you know, he's an artificial intelligence. He has conversations with people. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.600 He sort of presents himself as in many ways a person. 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:13.679 He straight up says that he has consciousness, kind of 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:16.879 off handedly, but uh. And he also advertises that he 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.320 is perfect and that he is incapable of error. And 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.600 of course, when Hal begins to appear to malfunction, Bowman 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.040 and Pool are really troubled by this, so they secretly 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:29.040 decide to take How offline and complete the mission under 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:33.600 human control without the artificially intelligent computer. How becomes aware 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.119 of their plans and tries to kill them. Uh. He 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.040 believes that if he's deactivated, it'll put the mission in jeopardy, 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:42.120 So How kills Frank Pool during a spacewalk and then 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:44.920 tries to kill David Bowman. But Bowman manages to get 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.920 inside the ship and deactivate the computer. And as he's 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:52.440 doing this, there's this long, strange sequence where Hal begs 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:57.879 for his life and I forgot how how unnerving that 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.080 whole sequence is, while where the com pewter is begging 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.439 not to be killed, while the while the astronaut is 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.280 taking out its memory. Yeah, yeah, just the what are 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:08.840 you doing day? We tend to I feel like I 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.439 tend to remember just a little bit of it, but 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.440 it does. It goes on for a while as he's 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:17.359 slowly removing he well, first as he's gaining access to 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.280 the chamber, and then slowly removing each of those cards. 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.160 And then in the final sequence of the movie, Bowman 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.000 reaches the destination on Jupiter and discovers another monolith there 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.159 in orbit around Jupiter, and this monolith, unlike the others, 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:32.560 which were just solid objects, appears to be some kind 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:37.119 of doorway or gateway, which begins this surreal sequence that 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.080 ends the movie, where Bowman is apparently taken across vast 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:44.199 distances and shown incomprehensible sights. We it's it's hard to 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.359 know exactly how literally to take the things that he 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.720 appears to be seeing. We're shown a lot of things, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:53.200 apparently from his perspective, that are just colors and hard 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.320 to understand. Yeah, there's this sense that is definitely an 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.440 acid trip vibe to it. I mean some of the 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:01.880 visuals so where we see these sort of cosmic explosions 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.040 taking place like those are are are films of like 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:08.040 oil uh that are very similar to some of those, 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.439 like those oil projection patterns that you see in like 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.959 sixties musical performances, whether you know, projected on the on 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.280 the screen or on the band itself. It reminds me 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.560 of like stand brackage movies like if you've ever seen 0:19:20.600 --> 0:19:24.480 a Dog, Starman or anything like that, experimental films that 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.399 have a lot of things like close ups of liquids 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.800 being pressed between pains and glasts and stuff. Yeah, that's 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:33.800 sort of thing. So you're you're left wondering, is this 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.880 is this the gateway that were as we're seeing it, 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:42.160 Is this just like the the crazy um psychedelic experience 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:44.720 that is that is happening to Bowman as he's kind 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:49.439 of like squeeze through the fabric of reality and you know, 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:51.639 with space and time warping all around him. Is this 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.560 essentially Stephen King's the jaunt is because he looks like 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.520 he's jaunting and some of those skills that we see, Yes, 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.719 so like his visions seem to be or cut with 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.040 these stills of his face being blurred and warped and 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:08.880 like he's losing his mind. And then Bowman finally ends 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.040 up in a strange room that has like a glowing 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:16.880 floor and neo classical furniture and decorations, and a lot 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.240 of people have argued over what this scene means, but 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.640 he essentially sees himself other versions of himself and then 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.720 becomes them as an older and older version of himself. 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.320 It seems to sort of suggest that many years passed 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:31.680 with him living in this room, but it's not exactly clear. 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:35.080 And then finally he's laying in bed, apparently near death, 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:37.600 and another monolith stands at the foot of his bed, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.920 and he appears transformed into some kind of glowing newborn 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.199 baby with these creepy adult eyes. Adult eyes on a 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:49.280 baby is just the most horrifying side, but it's this 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.760 new form of humanity shown. And then he has finally 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.320 shown hovering back over Earth, and a lot of people 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:57.520 have argued, what does this mean? Has he come back 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.480 to Earth to what has he been transfer warmed? Is 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:03.640 he back here to share some kind of knowledge with us? 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.200 Is he back here to do something to observe us 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.680 to destroy Earth. Yeah, or indeed, I mean it's also 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.199 up a new interpretation. Really, like, how literally should I 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:15.080 take this is? I mean, how much of the later 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.280 portions of the film are just purely uh, you know, metaphoric. 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.840 Am I supposed to really think about him becoming a 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:26.240 giant star child and orbiting the planet um? And certainly 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:27.880 there's a lot of evidence of support that you are. 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.280 But then on the other hand, I always feel like 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:34.879 any kind interpretation is always an equal opportunity game. I 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.120 feel like you can equally say, well, this is this 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.840 is all happening within the head of Bowman, or this 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.919 is just kind of this is kind of pointing the 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:48.119 direction for the future evolution of of human civilization now 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:51.280 that they have essentially made contact with this higher power. 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:53.560