knudsen@ihnss.UUCP (12/16/84)
<all these nits are yours> The ending of the movie 2010 is fine, and the monolith scene is lovely. But a major point is left out from the book! The aliens (monolith makers, not Europa greenies) tell Bowman that someday, after the Europans mature as an intelligent race, that the solar system will be only big enuf for one race, and at that time the Aliens will choose between them... which one lives, and which one is snuffed out (as was the life on Jupiter, depicted in the book). In other words, THE LAST JUDGMENT. SHape up, Humans, or SHIP OUT! Certainly calling off the war with the RUssians is a step in the right direction (the alternative might spare the Aliens the trouble of exterminating us), but the book's original message was far more cosmic, far-reaching, and unsettling! It left the story open-ended, and you really wondered what would become of our race. The movie says that hey, we've made up with the Reds, so Earth has nothing to worry about any more. Lets you walk out smiling, but this watering down puts the movie's philosophical power below the novel's, and hence below 2001, whose greatest virtue was its open-endedness. mike k PS: As I stated in an earlier posting, I really liked the film and the book. I'd recommend this movie highly and am looking forward to the next viewing. But first, on to Arrakis...