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From: rosul@nmtvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: Ending of "2001:  A Space Odyssey"
Message-ID: <140@nmtvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 3-Mar-84 21:27:12 EST
Article-I.D.: nmtvax.140
Posted: Sat Mar  3 21:27:12 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Mar-84 09:13:38 EST
References: <6981@watmath.UUCP>, <371@ihlts.UUCP>, <79@eneevax.UUCP>, <591@pyuxa.UUCP>
Organization: New Mexico Tech, Socorro, N.M.
Lines: 53

O.K.-Enough meandering. I have seen "2001, A Space Odyssey" at least 7 times
and have read the book, oh, about 20 times. Having explained the ending to 
many a person, I will try to clear up all questoins here and now. First, it
helps your understanding if you have read the book. It can say things that the
movie couldn't. I will presume that the book has not been read, and you have
only seen the movie. 

	Now, in my opinion, the movie starts to get confusing when the script 
goes away.  This takes place about the time when Dave Bowman has just un-
pluged HAL from his main circuits. The Discovery is floating around a 
moon of Jupiter. (In the book, they are around a moon of Saturn). Dave 
Bowman is just leaving the ship to check out TMA 2. He is then 'sucked'
into the thing by forces unknown. After a brief flythrough in LSD land, 
he lands on what appears to be the lobby of a Washington hotel he once
stayed in.  We than watch as Dave is transformed from young man, to old 
man, to older man, then to a baby. The movie then ends with a couple 
shots of Earth, thereby confusing everyone.

	Now, what happened is this:

	If you couldn't figure it out, the thing that David found, the thing
on the moon, and the thing in the beginning of the movie, were all placed
by the same people. Now, these 'people' are of a higher society than ours
and they placed these thing all over the galaxy to 'test' civilizations
that they found in their travels. The first one was just a test to get 
us on our way, the second one, on the moon, was there as a beacon to 
alert whomever that we had progressed to a particular level, and the last
one was our reward for finding these things. What happened to Dave is
that he was transformed, by the 'creatures' into one of them. The 'light
tunnel' was an 'off-ramp' to the stars. The motel room was a ploy by the
creatures to put Dave at ease. What happened to him  is that the went 
through like a pendulum state, swinging from old to young, and then back 
even before his conception. At this point, David Bowman was, as the book
put it, a Star Child. 

	Now, the second book by Arthur C. Clarke, "2010: Odyssey 2", explains
a lot of what happened. It is aa good book if you have read the first one
or have seen the movie. A movie version of "2010" is coming (or so they 
say) this summer.

	This explanation was derived from reading the book multiple times, 
seeing the movie multiple times, reading the second book, and long talks
with my sister on the subject of space travel, time warps, and like stuff.

	Hope that answer all questions! if not, either mail your inquiries to
me or post them here, and I will try to answer them. Thanks for your time!

	Sincerely, Ronald "Not quite all here" Rosul@nmtvax

New Mexico tech, Socorro, New Mexico.

p.s.-I'm going to be dissappointed if there are no 'second opinions' on 
	 this!!!!!