2001: A Space Confusion

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quorthon said:

Hey Spacer, I just got and watched 2010--I loved that one, too. It came with some explanation, but also with more wholes. What's your analogy of 2010?

I've finally got the copy of the 2010. But it was available only in divx format. Quality of the vision is quite good but the sound is a bit weak and it was impossible to make it louder. So I found english subs to make the watching more comfortable (I hate straining my hearing). But the problem was that the format of subs was again not matching the action. I converted the subs for 2 hours. I literally littered the comp with all kinds of subs but they all sucked
Finally I got back to comp monitor, switched off the subs and wore the headphones in which the sound sounded better.
But it got very late and I haven't completed the flick. I saw about 2/3 of it. And I have to tell you that I enjoyed it a lot though I cursed a lot because of these fucking subs.
I loved the scene on the Russian ship Leonov when during the risky aerobraking manouver in Jovian atmosphere all were so sick with fear. It looked so natural, no dumb & artificial Hollywood bravery. The finest moment was when a Russian young female crew member joined the protagonist in his cabin looking for a companion in this fearful moment.
I know that for some feminist women that scene might look patronizing but in reality this scene naturally showed fear of both man and woman equally without political correctness shit.

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Yesterday, I completed the film. I think it's great. Once I saw it on Polish TV. It wasn't dubbed (with a background speaker and with original voice soundtrack hushed a bit ) But original soundtrack sounds much better. (though it was a bit too weak as I said before).

I feel like a shit today so maybe I won't sound too poetic and special probably
I've got a sore throat now
OK. Let's go to the point.
The ending in my opinion is much clearer that in the case of Kubrick's 2001. It's wordy not only image like in original.
We have a lot of key words here:
Peace (USE ALL WORLDS BESIDE EUROPA
USE THEM IN PEACE)
Obvious connotation here. The old tension story between two superpowers USA and that might sound now a bit outdated Soviet Union. We've got here a similar things happening like during Cuban blockade but much more serious with some ships sunk and satellites destroyed. So full scale world war with a new front-line in space. Message is very clear we have to abandon our old warlike habits or we're gonna be destroyed (without the cooperation of the two Russian and American ships everybody would have died) or we just destroy ourselves.
Next connotation In order to survive and create such an advanced civilization we must abandon war as only peaceful civilizations may survive and thrive thru millenia and create such marvelous things like monoliths.

Children (Children of the new sun, Children of the old sun)
New (New Earth)
Again here quite obvious connotations relating to the new beginning, fresh start, new hope, new life, new species, new territories (Bible again) and etc...
When we start something new we have always high hopes and certainly we hope so when we learn after our grave mistakes. There is a a lot of reason in it.
Then of course a lot of Biblical connotations here and below. Humankind is given a next Eden but must bear in mind that may be expelled from that idyllic territory too.
Darkness opposed to Light
Strong biblical references. Owners of the monolith are indeed The Creator. The God.
They create a new light to disperse the darkness in the human mind and heart by lighting the Jupiter and thus creating a new Sun.

Humankind is no longer alone, have to abandon the megalomaniac thought that our civilization is special the only one and superior to everything else.
"One day the children of new Sun will meet the children of the old Sun"
The very last scene:
We are watching how a inhospitable, barren ice land is terraformed into a young Earth image. And the last shot we see a monolith again waiting for the next species to be learned and guided. Here the circle closes. In Clarke's 2001 in the first scene we have a monolith too which is spawning the human branch of civilization.
Circle of live.
But no cows this time ;D

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By the way, guys, don't worry, Jupiter is waaaay much to light to become a new star.
So in order to convert it into a sun monolithians had to to pump immence astronomical amounts of mass into it. ;D

[Quorthon]

What was the Europa message about? Are we allowed to do what we may to all bodies in our system, except for Europa? Or what?

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Well to me the message about Europa was very clear and to me it is just a technical info given Humans not to meddle with that world because of technical reasons only. I don't think it is a threat of any kind. It is probably the place where all the 'machinery' is placed so humans shouldn't mess with this place in order not to spoil or destroy or cause any malfunction to the systems run by monolith creators.
By systems I mean also the place where the living things for terraforming were manufactured.
It's like the warning on the hot thing :DON'T TOUCH IT.
It is probably the place of residence of these children of new Sun as well - we can understand them as monolith creatures, or new branch of humans derived from Bowman, or some other different alien race being under protection of monolithians like Humans (the last is the least probable possibility to me).
If you happen to still have any question, do not hesitate to ask them.
I'll answer them with pleasure Quorth.

[Quorthon]

Those have got to be two of the most "open to speculation" films ever made...

I guess... for me, Europa is meant as the home of the Children of the New Sun--although it may be too close to sunny Jupiter to house complex life...

Maybe I should read the books...

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Any more questions?

Reading is always worth doing.
Clarke is among greatest sc-fi writers.

[ZapRowsdower]

The meaning of life is gonna have to take a back seat. The first question I'm gonna ask God when I die is "What did Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick intend to say in the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey?"

Now THERE'S a profound question. All we could come up with is speculation.