The Starchild?

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Xenothinker

MemberOvomorphApril 20, 2012

Currently I am reading Arthur Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey and have got to thinking about some nods RS has made towards Kubric's film of the same name. Perhaps the most obvious were the shots of Vickers in some form of corporate waiting room (which looked very similar to the space station in 2001) and even Vickers private chambers. Mind you these aren't straight rip offs of 2001, but you can certainly see the artistic nod to the great space film. But as I have read more on the series by Clarke, I got to thinking about David 8. Is it not possible, in some, sordid way, he becomes the "star child" in a manner suited to this franchise? Perhaps he is the progenitor of the xeno...the all powerful monsters we already know and love. Is there more to his name then simply David (or a clever alphabetical easter egg as mentioned in a previous thread - A1; Ash A2& 3; Bishop A4; Cal)? Personally, I would not be surprised to see David's role becoming more enigmatic and profound, drawing upon inspirations from David Bowman in the Odyssey series. Your thoughts?

blake_84
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April 20, 2012

while david does seem to be playing a crucial role, i think his name is strictly an easter egg. but i do think he is sent to space on a secret mission to bring some sort of weapon or engineering to earth or start life

dallas!dallas!
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April 20, 2012

The more I learn and see of Prometheus, the more I think Scott will be wearing his love of 2001 on his sleeve. On another thread ( it was awhile ago so I can't even tell you which one it was) I talked at length about the possibility of Prometheus being a nightmare version of 2001. With David becoming the anti-star child so to speak. The David viral video is strengthening this idea for me. Imagine HAL as an android instead of computer When I think of 2001, it does have a certain, very subtle, horror aspect to it, with the murderous HAL and the creepy aliens that are clearly beneficent only at the end. Some very spooky scenes. And Scott did say 2001 ruined sci-fi because no one could make another sci-fi flick without having to recycle ideas in it, as it covered everything!! Ultimately, I would be happy with just that, a sick twisted version of 2001. Not blatant rip-off mind you, but a scary distant cousin that you never want to visit (except as viewer).

dallas!dallas!
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April 20, 2012

And don't forget the hero in 2001 was also named David as you said. I just hope if there is a sequel, we don't get a 2010 where all the mystery of HAL's insanity is taken away. Even though one could draw the conclusion that HAL's "secret" about knowing the true mission helped induce his insanity, making it all the fault of humans just rips away one of the truly frightening things about 2001: Our creation going crazy on its own. 2010 was a well written book and the movie was well made but HAL and the aliens became such lesser beings. Sigh.

John D.
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April 20, 2012

There's quite an extraordinary number of similarities between the basic premise of "Prometheus" and that of "2001. " I do wonder how far Ridley will go with the parallels.

dallas!dallas!
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April 20, 2012

@ John D. Well, if we look at how many other ideas Scott made his own in Alien, I wouldn't be surprised Scott goes quite far. As long as he makes it his own. On another note, the original story 2001 is based on, The Sentinel, is far, far more ominous than 2001. And the implication at the end is that the aliens may be sinister; the narrator is clearly worried. We never learn what happens. A C Clarke being the optimist he is of course makes them noble in 2001. And now for something (almost) completely different.

John D.
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April 20, 2012

Yeah I remember that now that you mention it. I was listening to an old radio adaptation of "The Sentinel" from the show X Minus One (or maybe it was Dimension X) and I seem to remember that they destroy the object (is it a monolith?) at the end of the story with a nuke - just because they wanted to find a way to get through the force field protecting it (Let me know if I'm remembering this wrong), and the narrator thinks that by doing so, they triggered an 'alarm' to the race that left the monolith on the moon, alerting them to the fact that man had finally made it off-world. Isn't the last line of the story "I do not think we will have to wait long?"

dallas!dallas!
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April 20, 2012

That's it precisely. Excellent story. Wish I could have heard it. Clarke's sequels are all set in alternate universes. It's only in 3001, the last one, where Clarke starts to explore the aliens as hostile. Or more precisely, dangerously forgetful and not all that concerned about humanity as the monoliths go offline due to some mix-up and decide to end human life.

John D.
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April 20, 2012

Okay - I was mistaken, it wasn't either of the programs I mentioned- it was actually on the radio show "Mindwebs." I found the episode; someone uploaded it to the Internet Archive along with some others. You can hear it at this link: http://archive.org/details/SciFiAudioInMp3Format-Part1. But yeah, that last line got me every time. Something about the idea of us accidentally drawing the attention of a vastly superior and incredibly advanced race by clumsily destroying something they may have left just for that purpose - I felt a deep sense of foreboding at the end of the story, far more chilling than the more upbeat ending of the movie/novel.

dallas!dallas!
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April 20, 2012

Thanks for the link. I will try it out. I think Clarke had a latent talent for horrific sci-fi that he kept bottled up. Childhood's End, Rendezvous with Rama, are two that could have gone to very different places, and kind of hint they may early on. Would have loved to read something from him that went for the jugular.

The Starchild?

Xenothinker

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