Today was my day for the monolith. I woke up around 1:15, read the rest of 2061: Odyssey Three, and read the prologue to 3001. I got downstairs around 2, to find that 2010 had finished downloading. Well I have to watch it. So I did, and it was terrible. I’ve seen it before but that was 2 or 3 years ago. All I could really remember was every thing to do with Bowman and Bob Balaban’s face. I also remembered that crap with the “piece of pie” and “easy as cake.” So after talking to Shane last week, I realized that I had forgotten a lot of the movie. I didn’t even know that they imploded Jupiter in the film. So this was no longer a film to see for interest, but for analysis. After reading 2001, I discovered that the movie was completely different. 2010 was very true to the story except for a few minor details, with the exception of Tsien. First off, let’s look at the differences. I don’t remember anything in the book about a world war breaking out between the US and Russia, but this was most likely put in to “make nice” with the enemy. This wouldn’t have been so bad, if they hadn’t changed the purpose of the monolith. In the book, it is served to promote intelligence. In the movie, however, they seem to h ave made the monolith act in order to prevent a war on Earth. This is also evident since they FUCKING CHANGED THE WARNING!!!! In the book, it is “All these worlds are yours--except Europa. Attempt no landings there.” Oooo. Scary. Omnipotent beings. In the movie, they added on, “Use them together. Use them in peace.” Who the fuck does Peter Hyams think he is? Not only has he created a visually unappealing movie, mainly because his space looks completely fabricated, and every scene aboard Leonov, is too fucking dark to see.

Hyams also left out the surprise of the Chinese spacecraft Tsien, landing on Europa, and replaced it with some stupid ass probe, which again, looked like crap. Even though the cast was horribly chosen, with the exception of Balaban, the worst aspect of this movie was Roy Scheider. It was great that Douglas Rain was back as HAL, and the fact that Keir Dullea reprised Bowman was excellent. If Dullea wasn’t back as Bowman, I don’t know how this film would have held up. But let’s get back to Scheider. My guess is that Hyams wanted a big name to bank on, and to be able to compensate for 2001 being the prequel. Although Jaws had come out 9 years previous, Scheider was still a reliable star, but why oh why, didn’t they stick with William Sylvester?!?!? Every time I read part of an odyssey novel, I always think of Sylvester as Floyd. There’s no way that Scheider could ever pronounce, “Deliberately buried.” as well as Sylvester. That is my favourite Floyd line.

2010 is a poor movie. Everyone says that if it didn’t have 2001 to live up to, it would be a spectacular film. Well if 2001 didn’t exist, 2010 would be a very confusing, and therefore, pointless movie. 2010 has to live up to 2001. That’s how sequels work. Sometimes they work (Aliens), and sometimes they don’t. Everyone also says that 2010 was much better because 2001 was artsy, and this one was “action-packed.” First off, where’s the action? Where’s the meaning? And more importantly, Where’s the point?