2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1984) is a groundbreaking science fiction film, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay, co-written by Kubrick and renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, draws inspiration from Clarke’s 1951 short story The Sentinel as well as other works. The story begins in a prehistoric veld where a tribe of hominins is forced to leave their water source by a rival tribe. The following day, they discover the presence of an alien monolith amongst them. Through this encounter, the tribe learns how to utilize bones as weapons and successfully defends themselves against their rivals in their next hunt. In the future, we are introduced to Dr Heywood Floyd, Chairman of the United States National Council of Astronautics, who travels to Clavius Base on the moon.

While stopping at Space Station Five, he meets Russian scientists who express concerns about problems occurring at Clavius Base. However, Dr Floyd chooses not to discuss rumors of an epidemic potentially spreading through the base. At Clavius, Heywood briefs a group of personnel on the importance of maintaining secrecy about their latest discovery. His task involves investigating an artefact that was unearthed four million years ago near Tycho crater on the moon. As they analyze the object and take pictures, it suddenly emits a strong radio signal. A year and a half later, Dr Dave Bowman and Dr Frank Poole join three other scientists in suspended animation aboard the American spacecraft Discovery One, which is en route to Jupiter.