Gail Shaw wrote:

>> First there's some monkeys hitting a large black brick.
> 
> The monolith on earth, sparking tool usage in proto-humans and kick-starting
> the whole human race.

Oh, is that what that's supposed to be. (What is this monolith thing, 
and why is it there?)

>> Then there's a
>> baby floating in space.
> 
> OK, I don't remember that. Wait, wasn't that at the end, after Dave
> sees/falls into the monolith?

Possibly... I don't really remember now.

>> Then there's something approximating a bad acid
>> trip.
> 
> You mean the space trip to IO to investigate the monolith?

Oh, is *that* why they went there? (And that's where "there" was...)

> Or the end where Dave's experiencing the monolith.

Again, I'm not sure exactly where. But I do remember Futurama did a 
parody that was quite amusing...

>> There's also a computer who calls everybody "Dave".
> 
> No. It only calls Dave, Dave. But then, seeing as it's killed everyone else,
> there's not really anyone else to speak to.
> btw, the computer's name was HAL 9000

or IBM 8999, if you prefer. ;-)

> The whole theme of the movie/book is evolution of mankind. Natural or
> forced.

Right. This wasn't evident from the film at all.

>> Um... wuh??
> 
> Seriously, read the book. It's by Arthur C. Clark. Read Odyssey Two as well.

I did read *a* sequal book - but sure exactly which one. It was quite 
depressing, but otherwise fairly incoherant and... wait, was there meant 
to be a point?

>> It does look like the kind of film where they tried to fit a giant story
>> into quite a short film - with the result that it makes almost no sense
>> at all. (Unless you already know what's going to happen.)
> 
> It is quite a long book. Forget the movie version of it. it wasn't great.
> See if you can find the mini series version (4 parts) That's quite good and

Certainly it looks like the book might well be better than the film. The 
*film* was, as I said, incomprehensible.

>> [BTW, did you ever watch the "extended" versions of the three LotR
>> films? My God, they make *so* much more sense!
> 
> Yes a few times, but seeing as I've read all the books more than once, they
> made sense anyway.
> Though there are long pieces in the movie that aren't in the books at all.

The final film seems to consist of about 45 minutes of intense battle, 
followed by 8 hours of "saying goodbye"...

I've never read the books, but I'm guessing it's not like that. ;-)

-- 
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