Griffin Ardill

Professor Chris Koehler

ASEN 1969

April 12, 2022

Ahead of Their Time

Technological and scientific accuracy in science fiction movies has become very rare in

an oversaturated market, but three films stand apart in their use of facts and substantiated

theories to create a compelling story. These films are Interstellar, The Martian, and 2001: A

Space Odyssey.

2001: A Space Odyssey, directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick was a

revolution in both movie special effects technology and scientific accuracy. Considering the

movie was released in 1968, a year before humans walked on the moon and yet was able to

predict space technology decades ahead of its time. The movie itself is split into three acts; in the

first act, commonly known as The Dawn of Man, a tribe of pre-historic primates lives near a

watering hole in the desert before being forced away by an opposing tribe. These primates, now

waterless, go off to find a new place to live and end up finding a large rectangular object

standing upright in the middle of the desert, a monolith. After interacting with this monolith, a

primate picks up a bone and begins hitting things with it, the first ever tool. This then prompts

the tribe to retake the watering hole with their new weapons and even to hunt the co-existing

herbivorous tapers, which hints at humanities omnivorous origins. It is theorized that the sharp

corners of the monolith compared to the organic features of nature showed the primates that it

must have been created by an intelligent being and therefore it is possible to manipulate nature,
prompting them to use tools. The movie then fades back to the original primate who throws the

bone in the air and then cuts to an orbital missile launcher high above the earth 10s of thousands

of years later, representing the evolution of human technology and destruction.

In the second act, Dr. Haywood Floyd travels to the Clavius moon base to deal with a

supposed virus outbreak, but it is revealed that this is only a cover to mask the discovery of

another, bigger monolith buried on the Moon. When Dr. Floyd and his team arrive at the site and

begin to take pictures with the discovery, the monolith emits a high-pitched siren which causes

the team to writhe in pain. It is possible that this siren is a result of the monolith’s disapproval of

the humans’ use of technological innovation for destruction and personal gain as seen first

through the cut to the orbital missile launcher and later when the humans take pictures with the

monolith.

The film then cuts to its third act set 18 months later aboard the Discovery One spacecraft

bound for Jupiter, with two active crew members, Dr. Dave Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole, three

other crew members in suspended animation and the HAL 9000 supercomputer aboard. The

mission aims to investigate a mysterious signal received from Jupiter after the events of the

previous act, but as it progresses, HAL begins to see the crew members as liabilities to the

mission by way of human error. HAL then terminates the life support functions of the sleeping

crew members and leaves Dr. Poole stranded to die in the vacuum of space. This act seems to

provide a commentary on the dangers of technological advancement, specifically AI, which is

quite applicable to modern day. Dr. Bowman is eventually able to disconnect HAL and save the

mission, finally reaching his destination, after which he discovers a third and even larger

monolith orbiting Jupiter and in full alignment with the other planets and the sun. A distorted

sequence of images follows in which Dr. Bowman seems to be guided through time by the
monolith experiencing himself in various stages of old age before becoming the monolith

himself and then a celestial energy baby, looking down on the earth and seemingly able to travel

through space without a vehicle, transcending all technology. The transition from a person who

utilizes technology, to a piece of incredibly advanced technology, to a being free of the bounds

of technology provides insight into the dependence of humans on their technology in the present

day and the need to leave this behind for the betterment of humanity in the future.

2015’s The Martian is in many ways a modern translation of 2001, as it provides a look

at technology that could very well exist soon as we push to get humans to Mars. In the film, the

crew of the Aries III Mars mission is forced to abandon their post and return to Earth due to an

unexpectedly strong sand/dust storm. While evacuating the planet, astronaut Mark Watney is

separated from the crew and presumed dead only to wake up later deserted on Mars. He is forced

to learn how to grow food and survive on a planet that doesn’t support crop growth. After his

crops are destroyed by a depressurization of the habitat, he is forced to travel to a future mission

site and utilize their escape vehicle to reach the orbital Hermes which came back to pick him up.

The technology used in this movie associated with Mars travel has been confirmed by NASA

engineers to be accurate. In particular, the Hermes spacecraft which contains a “von Braun

wheel” for astronauts to prevent bone and muscle mass loss, a commonly known problem for

long-term space travel. Additionally, the practice of sending supplies to the mission site in

advanced which Mark takes advantage of to get himself off-world is what NASA intends to do

on any eventual manned Mars missions. In comparison to 2001: A Space Odyssey, the character

development experienced in The Martian seems much more representative of our current

philosophy of space technology acting to aid humans and not to direct or control them, as Mark

is only able to survive on Mars due to the technology, but he is also able to adapt it to help him
grow food. Conversely, it seems to align with the concept of transcending the chains technology

places on humanity as seen through.

Interstellar adds an interesting perspective into the mix as it is set in a world on the brink

of environmental collapse with a waning food supply and population. This is an important but

dark point of view that the other two hardly touch on but is incredibly pertinent to the current

state of our world and our environment. Additionally, Interstellar focuses more on the theoretical

physics of black holes and their effect on the relativity of time and less on spacecraft technology.

However, it does provide another, more in depth look at a rotating wheel space station or “von

Braun wheel”, this time as a possibility for mass habitation. In Interstellar, a former NASA pilot

is re-recruited to venture deep into space through a wormhole to investigate possible life-

supporting worlds. In this process, he and the crew travel near a supermassive black hole and

experience incredible time dilation before finally failing to find a habitable world. He ends up

travelling through a black hole and being recovered by the formed inhabitants of Earth, now

living in a rotating space station near Saturn. Highly distinguished astrophysicist Kip Thorne was

a key consultant on this film, providing it a great amount of credibility and provides a very

unique view on the effects of black holes.

In total, these movies represent the best of space that Hollywood has to offer and should

serve to inspire filmmakers and others in the future.

 Citations

2001: A Space Odyssey. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick Productions. April 2,

1968.

Interstellar. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures,

Legendary Pictures, Syncopy.

The Martian. Directed by Ridley Scott. 20th Century Studios. October 2, 2015.