Movies - 2010: The Year We Make Contact

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	Movies - 2010: The Year We Make Contact

2010: The Year We Make Contact, also known as 2010, is a science fiction film released in 1984 directed by Peter Hyams. It was based on the novel 2010: Odyssey Two by Arthur C. Clarke. The film, like the book, is a sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

After the visual impact and enigmatic ending of the film of the original 2001 (made in 1968), the film sequel was considered by some to be a disappointment. However, other viewers argue that if it is considered on its own, it is still more substantial than most other films of the genre.

The movie stars Roy Scheider (replacing William Sylvester
, who passed away in 1995), John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, and Bob Balaban, along with several Russian actors playing cosmonauts; with Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain reprising their roles from the original film as David Bowman and the voice of HAL 9000, respectively.

Hyams’ e-mail correspondence with Arthur C. Clarke, author of the book and collaborator on the film 2010: Odyssey Two, was published in 1984. Entitled The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, it illustrates the two men's fascination with the then-pioneering medium and chronicles Hyams' near-daily e-mail communication with Clarke during the film's planning and production.

Synopsis

The film is set nine years after the Discovery mission to Jupiter failed. A joint Soviet-American crew, including Heywood Floyd from 2001, on the Soviet spaceship Alexei Leonov (named after cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov) arrives to discover what went wrong with the earlier mission, to investigate the monolith in orbit around the planet, and to resolve the disappearance of David Bowman. They hypothesize that much of this information is locked away on the now-abandoned Discovery craft. The Soviets have developed an advanced new "Sakharov" drive that will beat any American ship to Jupiter, so Floyd is invited to join the Leonovs crew, along with Dr. Chandra, creator of Discovery's HAL 9000 computer, and Curnow, an American space engineer, whose expertise is needed to resurrect the floating hulk of the Discovery.

The Leonov makes a rendezvous with the Discovery, and after Curnow brings the Discovery back to shipshape condition, the two giant spacecraft rendezvous with the monolith. Dr. Chandra restarts the HAL 9000 computer to determine whether it has any information about the incidents of 2001.

It is necessary to investigate the huge black monolith in orbit around Jupiter. Remote observations fail to answer their questions, so the Soviet space captain details a cosmonaut, Maxim Brailovsky (Elya Baskin) to fly a space pod over there for a close-up look. As Max approaches the monolith, a huge burst of energy erupts from it: Max and his space pod are smashed to pieces. The energy burst heads towards Earth.

A sequence of scenes follows the explorations of David Bowman, who has been transformed into a noncorporeal, energy-based life-form much like the aliens controlling the monoliths. The avatar of Bowman travels to the Earth, making contact with significant individuals from his human past: he brushes his ailing mother's hair, and he appears on his widow's television screen and has a conversation with her.

Meanwhile political tensions on Earth between the US and the Soviet Union escalate. The US astronauts are ordered to leave the Leonov, as it is Soviet territory, and move to the Discovery, which still belongs to the United States.

An apparition of Bowman appears before Floyd, warning him that they must leave Jupiter within two days. Floyd asks what will happen at that time and Bowman replies, "Something wonderful." Floyd has difficulty convincing the rest of the crew at first, but then a dark spot on Jupiter begins to form and starts growing. HAL's telescope observations reveal that the Great Dark Spot is in fact a vast population of black monoliths, increasing in number at a geometric rate.

Floyd and the Leonovs crew devise a plan to use the Discovery as a booster, enabling them to leave Jupiter early, and return to Earth ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, HAL and the Discovery will be trapped in Jovian orbit with insufficient fuel to escape, and left to their fates when Jupiter ignites. Floyd and Chandra are worried that HAL will develop the same neuroses on discovering that he will be abandoned yet again, and Dr. Chandra must convince HAL that the human crew is in danger. Once HAL understands, he agrees that he must sacrifice himself, if necessary, to save all the humans aboard the Leonov.

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