# So I just watched 2010: The Year We Made Contact



## Shane Enochs (Jun 29, 2012)

I thought I was confused in the first movie, but holy crap, I have no idea what happened in the second.  I was hoping the second one would provide answers to my unanswered questions for the first one, but to no luck.

Could someone explain what exactly the premise of each movie is?  Is the whole point that some alien civilization is seeding life?  Is that's what is going on?  Or is it simply speeding up the process of evolution via the monoliths?


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## Metryq (Jun 29, 2012)

I always thought of 2010 as the sequel for anyone who didn't "get" the first film. As others have recommended in other threads, read the last few chapters of 2001, where everything is spelled out. Arthur C. Clarke's CHILDHOOD'S END is a similar story. Last but not least, there are Margaret Stackhouse's comments on 2001. 2001 was all symbolism and philosophical notions. 2010 was pure plot.


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## Foxbat (Jul 2, 2012)

Only my opinion (completely unqualified and probably wrong) but, take 2001.....and discount God or any form/variation thereof. We are left with an alien intelligence. Think about ourselves - we seem to have a yearning not to be alone in this universe. But what if we are? What if the aliens feel the same. What if they can do something about it? The Monolith. The method to advance life more rapidly through its evolutionary stages.

For me, 2010 is the cycle starting again and we see it from our own new enlightened perspective (but still with the same old Earth problems). At the end, we are told in no uncertain terms where the boundaries lie. Perhaps an analogue for Eden? So, perhaps I was wrong to discount God after all

As I said - only my thoughts on the matter.


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## Shane Enochs (Jul 2, 2012)

So were they creating life on Jupiter's moon by creating a miniature sun where Jupiter was?


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## Foxbat (Jul 2, 2012)

Shane Enochs said:


> So were they creating life on Jupiter's moon by creating a miniature sun where Jupiter was?


 
Yes. That's the way I understood it anyway. Europa was (is) a planet covered in ice. By creating a small sun nearby, they would accelerate life there (remember, it is already established earlier in the film that life is already in existance on Europa by the presence of chlorophyll).


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## Shane Enochs (Jul 2, 2012)

Ahhh.  I wonder if it makes me stupid that I couldn't connect those dots at first.


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## TomS (Jul 2, 2012)

Foxbat said:


> For me, 2010 is the cycle starting again and we see it from our own new enlightened perspective (but still with the same old Earth problems). At the end, we are told in no uncertain terms where the boundaries lie. Perhaps an analogue for Eden? So, perhaps I was wrong to discount God after all
> 
> As I said - only my thoughts on the matter.



Yes, the cycle starts again but, because of the 'alarm system' aspect of the monolith found on the moon in 2001, we were _meant_ to witness it. The idea is that if their acceleration of life on Earth was successful, in time, we would travel to the moon and discover the buried monolith. It was programmed to send it's signal to Jupiter when that happened. We would then travel there to find out why. Dave Bowman traveled through the monolith in orbit there and was transformed and (in the book, it's explained better) uploaded into the monolith network and becomes an emissary to any humans who make contact with it. That which was once Dave Bowman gave his cryptic warning to leave without explanation and without any hints of how to do this. This was a test of our intelligence. If the crews of the Leonov and Discovery couldn't figure it out and died when Jupiter transformed, that would have been the end of it. The human race as a whole probably wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the new system. But we proved ourselves and were given the new planets (except Europa, of course) to exploit or live on as we pleased.


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## clovis-man (Jul 2, 2012)

Metryq said:


> Arthur C. Clarke's CHILDHOOD'S END is a similar story.


 
I have always thought of *Childhood's End* as a more descriptive way of telling much the same story as *2001*. Well worth the effort to read and you get a more down to Earth view of the transcendant evolution that is at the heart of the story.


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## Foxbat (Jul 3, 2012)

TomS said:


> Yes, the cycle starts again but, because of the 'alarm system' aspect of the monolith found on the moon in 2001, we were _meant_ to witness it. The idea is that if their acceleration of life on Earth was successful, in time, we would travel to the moon and discover the buried monolith. It was programmed to send it's signal to Jupiter when that happened. We would then travel there to find out why. Dave Bowman traveled through the monolith in orbit there and was transformed and (in the book, it's explained better) uploaded into the monolith network and becomes an emissary to any humans who make contact with it. That which was once Dave Bowman gave his cryptic warning to leave without explanation and without any hints of how to do this. This was a test of our intelligence. If the crews of the Leonov and Discovery couldn't figure it out and died when Jupiter transformed, that would have been the end of it. The human race as a whole probably wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the new system. But we proved ourselves and were given the new planets (except Europa, of course) to exploit or live on as we pleased.


 
A much better explanation than my attempt


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## TomS (Jul 3, 2012)

I never ever want to talk about 2061. Not ever.

3001, on the other hand, appeals to me. But not in the same way as the first two.


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