Moral of the Story? I'm crying because NASA doesn't have any funding anymore
Personally, I think that a novel like 2001: A Space Odyssey can never be written again. It has a certain romantic and magical quality to it, in the promise that by the year 2001 we would have a viable space program and that we would have moved beyond our petty differences to embrace a future of cooperation. Reality has failed to match up to that vision of course, and I find myself quite upset about it. In fact, I have had such feelings ever since the last Space Shuttle was retired. It was the end of an era. And I wonder when humans might go back out there again. To the moon. The first human treads on the surface of Mars.
Reading this novel made me cry for what we have failed to realise, what has failed to come to pass. We have failed as adventurers and explorers. This is why I love Star Trek as a setting so much, particularly anything to do with the Enterprise and its legacy (barring the new films of course). Then, the focus was always on exploration. That was indeed the mission of the ship. This novel reminds me of all that could have been.
Anyways, getting back to the novel. The manned mission to Saturn’s moons is the primary story in the novel. It is the prime focus, with everything that comes before being the setup for such. In David Bowman, HAL9000 and the other characters, Arthur C. Clarke created an amazing cast of characters who take you along for an exciting and thrilling ride. There is so much tension in these scenes, even when Bowman and his fellow astronauts are carrying out routine work on their ride.
And along the way, we get some really awesome and detailed descriptions about Jupiter, Saturn and the latter’s ring system. These are the details that really pulled me in. I was totally lost in the description of a probe descending through Jupiter’s atmosphere, until it eventually got crushed under the immense pressures. I was fascinated by the descriptions of Saturn’s moons and ring system. Such incredible work, with such an eye for detail and such a grand vision.
Think about it. A space craft launched from Earth, carrying a crew of astronauts trained for the exploration of another planet’s moons.
And above and beyond everything is the central narrative of this novel: that some mysterious aliens left a device on Earth that aided in the development of humans down the ages and that was eventually buried on the Moon to mark the level of technological superiority of the human race that would classify it as ready to do something great. Such as joining the galactic community for instance, we don’t know. This is the thread that runs throughout the novel and it is the once object in the entirety of it that provides some of the greatest wonder for the characters, no matter which era of Earth’s history or present or future we see here.
In the end, we come down to one of the most mind-numbingly awesome visuals ever. When Bowman makes that big leap and he is exposed to wonders that no man has ever imagined. The sights. The sounds. The mood. The atmosphere. The feelings. The experience. Arthur C. Clarke’s incredible vision is made manifest in this novel, and I was along for a ride that thrilled me with every moment. If I can ever write something with a hundredth of the same impact, I would consider myself incredibly lucky.