It wasn't until the spring of 1964, when director Stanley Kubrick, who had just finished "Dr. Strangelove," approached Clark for ideas for a sci-fi movie, that Clark revisited the ideas offered by "Outpost." In their "brainstorming" (in Arthur Clarke's words), the two geniuses realized that a super-civilization watcher on the moon could serve as an entry point for a movie that could lead to a bigger story. As a result, a near-future space odyssey story gradually took shape in the repeated discussions, and the novel and the movie script were carried out almost simultaneously. In 1968, a landmark novel and film in the history of science fiction literature and art came out at the same time, "2001: A Space Odyssey" ("2001: A Space Odyssey") opened the interdimensional contact between humans and super civilization.
I prefer the unofficial translation of "2001: A Space Odyssey", the metaphor of the adventures of Odysseus in "Homer", which gives this sci-fi work a heavy epic color. Arthur Clarke likes to compare advanced spaceships to the sailing ships of the age of sailing in his space novels. The spaceship is named "Mighty", the name comes from one of the most famous ships in history, the 370-ton coal carrier commanded by Captain James Cook. Between 1768 and 1771, Captain Cook sailed the ship on a circumnavigation. In the 18th century, the human exploration on the vast ocean was tragic and legendary. In this sense, the future space exploration is similar to the same.
Therefore, when later generations set up the category of "space epic" for film history, "2001" took the first place.
However, it is precisely because of the popularity of this work that the brilliance of the sun covered the three sequels that Arthur Clark later wrote: "2010: A Space Odyssey" in 1982, and "2016: A Space Odyssey" in 1988. and 1997's 3001 A Space Odyssey. These four works traverse the second half of Clark's life, and this period happens to be the golden age of his creation. In 1962 Clark suffered from polio syndrome, which limited his mobility and was almost confined to a wheelchair. The suppression of physical limitations further released his soul and mind, just like Hawking, the greatest scientist of this era. In his 30 years of life, he has spanned a thousand years of human history, from the earth to the moon, from Jupiter to comets, from the edge of the solar system to centaurs Alpha star. In the bright sunshine and gentle sea breeze of Sri Lanka, Arthur Clarke acted as an envoy at the forefront of interstellar communication, arranging contacts with alien civilizations for mankind again and again, and even deploying methods to resolve the crisis. The old man passed away in 2008 at the age of 91. I wonder if Bowman led his soul away, allowing him to examine all beings on earth from a higher dimension.
Most of the chapters of the four novels in the entire "A Space Odyssey" series are dominated by humans, but the real protagonist and soul is the Tycho magnetic board, which is the human observation outpost left by the alien civilization. It guides the apes to open their wisdom, helps Bowman to achieve the ascension from human to super intelligent creature, creates their own sun for Europa creatures, and the unknown super weapon that became the alien civilization "cutting weeds" in the last episode, It completes the shocking turn in every novel. Arthur Clarke is well versed in the way of wanting and suppressing. If you visualize the compactness of the plot of the four-part series, they are basically in the shape of a hammerhead, that is, the first 90% of the content is flat and soothing like the handle of a hammer, and at the end a sudden supernova An explosion that transforms the bland as water into a shock beyond imagination. This rhythm is most vividly displayed in the second part <2010>, the rescue trip to Jupiter, most of the process was spent in the laughter and scolding of American Freud and the Russian crew, and the return journey Immediately, Bowman, who was missing in the first episode, suddenly appeared on the spacecraft and gave an unreasonable warning to leave, and then, the most spectacular and deterrent scene in the solar system happened (no spoilers here). When I read this chapter, I was in a dilapidated minibus. I forgot the unpleasant smell of the car, the shaking that made me feel motion sickness, and the discomfort caused by the seat. It was no longer on the minibus, but on the Leonov, hundreds of millions of kilometers away from the earth, to witness the unprecedented life project with the luckiest crew members in the solar system. So much so that I passed the station and almost lost my way.
But unfortunately, this novel lacks a complete and systematic translation version, four books and four translators, and the quality is naturally uneven. The most classic version of "2001" was translated by Hao Mingyi. Later, I learned that this translator was actually Ma Li who collaborated with Taiwan cartoonist Zheng Wen on "Abi Sword"! No wonder the writing is so smooth! But there are also flaws in details. For example, in the end, the energized Bowman returned to Earth, and a certain country on Earth activated a nuclear weapon in satellite orbit for defense. Hao Mingyi translated it as: "He noticed that the planet full of death had woken up, Stretching on the track", I didn't understand what was going on at the time, but it was explained in "2010", Zhang Hui's translation is more thorough, "He realized that a dormant lethal weapon had been awakened and was in its orbit. get active". Obviously, Hao Mingyi's translation of "a planet full of death" is not very accurate, and it is easy to cause misunderstandings. "2010" is the version translated by Zhang Hui, and it is also the one with the highest translation quality among the four books. Clark's large number of technical terms and humor in the context of Western culture are not sluggish under Mr. Zhang Hui's translation, especially The text describing the development of alien intelligence is a classic. "2061", I only found the version translated by Zhang Qiyang of Shanghai People's Publishing House on the Internet. I really can't agree with many of his translation habits. For example, the names of foreigners often use the Chinese way, with the first word, followed by Mr. directly, such as Hal The creator of Dr. Chandra, to whom he became "Dr. Jane", was like a cloud at first glance. After reading the whole novel, I was confused, and many details were not understood at all, so that I felt a little nervous when I thought of this version. "3001" was translated by Zhong Huiyuan. This version is relatively reliable, at least clear and easy to understand, but in the last chapter, it does not create the sense of urgency that the mountains and rains are coming.
Needless to say the movie version of "2001", I'm afraid I know not much about the movie version of "2010". I also discovered this 1985 film after reading the novel. The director of the movie was not Stanley Kubrick (otherwise the movie would have been famous), but Peter Hymes, who was not very famous at the time (he later directed "Variants", "Thunderbolt", etc. Science fiction film), the name of the film has also been changed to "2010 The Year We Make Contact", the Chinese translation is "2010: Prestige Sun God". The movie failed to reproduce the brilliance of "2001". Although the stunts have improved, the most spectacular final scene has not been shown, which is really regrettable. However, many people know it because of a small detail in the film: there is a poster in one room, it is the poster of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the poster is a hurdler.
Personally, I think "2010" is more suitable to be made into a movie, with more conflicts and bigger scenes. Under today's film industry, space epics can definitely be perfectly presented. Of course, we can no longer shoot according to Kubrick's highly personal video style. The first person who dares to play with the audience will be regarded as a master. Later, people who want to play like this are courting death.
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