Author’s Note: the novel, not the movie
Which is worth noting, as for whatever reason Arthur C.
Clarke decided to do both, virtually at the same time. Although I can think of
better things to do two of at the same time, he felt that the story needed proper
explaining, specifically the Star Gate and the alien intervention, whereas
Stanley Kubrick felt that the movie should be mysterious, enigmatic, and move
the viewer into a gripping sense of wonder. I like Arthur C. Clarke’s decision
more; books are just better and you can draw ultimately the same conclusions
with two very different tactics but visually, especially visually as of 1968, I
feel like you lose some emotional and psychological unseen aspects that films
cannot offer.
That being said, Clarke wrote a very good but not great
story, in my humble opinion. I love science, I love space and I love fiction.
Anything with space exploration, space treachery, novel concepts of galactic
travel, self-aware computers, bizarre ends to interaction with
hyper-intelligent creatures and so on, I am all for it.
In fact, I loved just about everything in this book. The
symmetry between Moon-Watcher and the Star Child, inheriting powers from the
aliens that help shape humanity at the beginning and end of the book, 3 million
years apart; great stuff. The will and drive of the cosmonauts to further space
exploration knowing their chances of success were terrifyingly low but would
stop at nothing to complete the mission; awesome. Even the little things about
how physics works differently for them, and with the confinement of the ship
and the peril of being alone at the edge of our solar system mounting, their
brains are still so well suited that they can work through conflict and keep
you interested in their quest to reach Saturn.
I would like to say the only negative of the book was the
same thing that usually gets me involved in sci-fi books: aliens. Maybe it is
the fault of the creators of the television show Ancient Aliens, but anytime one tries to link humanity’s early
advancements with alien intervention (e.g. The Great Pyramids; the Nazca Lines;
Stonehenge) there are often silly jokes or strange looks given in response
rather than intelligent conversation being sparked. So yeah, alien assistance
to shape us the way we are is met with ridicule because it is fairly silly. But
Clarke and Kubrick made a really good story about it. And that is not at all
what bothers me about this book.
It is really HAL 9000. I guess I have read too much of
Robert Heinlein’s self-aware computers (The
Moon is a Harsh Mistress with MIKE/MICHELLE/Adam Selene or Time Enough for Love with Dora and
Minerva) or droids in stories like The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy. But for some reason I simply could not go from a semi-advanced
human race in the not-to-distant-future, which 2001 presents to us, to a race with computers that have emotions,
feelings, show enthusiasm about completing a mission and ultimately kill humans
in the process but with some guilt along the way. They do not fit into the same
era, for me.
Okay, I get it, there are self-aware computers in this
universe. Good, nothing new for me. But why? How? And if we are newly gaining
the ability to travel beyond Mars, and newly gaining the ability to have a
supercomputer, then give us some insight as to how it came to get a
personality.
In The Moon is a Harsh
Mistress, for example, MIKE’s personality is gained quite by accident as it
makes a computer’s attempt at a joke. Far out, yes, but that’s Heinlein. It is
also an error, as in, not supposed to happen and a complete mistake in the
computer. In Time Enough for Love,
Dora and Minerva are given their personalities, Dora by Lazarus Long in an
attempt to remind him of the mortal girl he once loved since she was a child. Sure,
it’s sweet, but it is also a design feature.
HAL 9000 just is. And that was a noticeable gap for me that I tried to overcome
and enjoy the story, which I did, but just cannot give it credit for being
great. The hole that represents HAL 9000 aside, though, everything else is
really enjoyable. Even aliens helping us evolve into what we have become (ideas
that have since been humiliated by Ancient
Aliens. Thanks a fucking lot Ancient
Aliens). Going to watch the movie soon, maybe I will let you know how I
feel about it. I can already tell you now though that Stanley Kubrick creeps me
the fuck out.