{{short description|Science fiction media franchise}} {{Italic title}} {{about|the science fiction franchise|other uses|Space Odyssey (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox media franchise | creator = {{Plainlist| *Arthur C. Clarke *Stanley Kubrick }} | origin = ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) | owner = {{Plainlist| *Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer *Hawk Films (1968–2001) *Warner Bros. Pictures<br>{{small|(through Turner Entertainment Co.)}} }} | years = 1968–1997 | novels = {{Plainlist| * ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) * ''2010: Odyssey Two'' (1982) * ''2061: Odyssey Three'' (1987) * ''3001: The Final Odyssey'' (1997) }} | comics = {{Plainlist| * ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1976–77) * ''2010'' (1984) }} | films = {{Plainlist| * ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) * ''2010: The Year We Make Contact'' (1984) }} | soundtracks = ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) }}'''''Space Odyssey''''' is a science fiction media franchise created by writer Arthur C. Clarke and filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, consisting of four novels and two film adaptations. The first novel was based in the Kubrick's film and published after the release of the film. The second novel was made into a feature film directed by Peter Hyams and released in 1984.
==Literature==
'''Novels''': * ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/SpaceOdyssey_819/2001_A_Space_Odyssey_-_Arthur_C_Clarke/|title=2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Full Text|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref> * ''2010: Odyssey Two'' (1982)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/SpaceOdyssey_819/2010_Odyssey_Two_-_Arthur_C_Clarke/mode/2up|title=2010: Odyssey Two (1982) Full Text|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref> * ''2061: Odyssey Three'' (1987)<ref>{{cite web|url= https://archive.org/details/SpaceOdyssey_819/2061_Odyssey_Three_-_Arthur_C_Clarke/|title=2061: Odyssey Three (1987) Full Text|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref> * ''3001: The Final Odyssey'' (1997)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/SpaceOdyssey_819/3001_The_Final_Odyssey_-_Arthur_C_Clarke/mode/2up|title=3001: The Final Odyssey (1997) Full Text|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref>
'''Nonfiction''': * ''The Lost Worlds of 2001'' (1972)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/SpaceOdyssey_819/The_Lost_Worlds_of_2001_-_Arthur_C_Clarke/page/n5/mode/2up|title=The Lost Worlds of 2001 (1972) Full Text|publisher=Internet Archive|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref>
'''Comic books''': * ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' – ten-issue Marvel comic book series based upon the 1968 film of the same name that ran from 1976 to 1977<ref>{{gcdb series|id= 2342|title= ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' series}}</ref> * ''2010'' – based on the 1984 film of the same name, originally published in ''Marvel Super Special'' #37, then again as a two-issue miniseries; both versions published by Marvel Comics in 1984<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comics.org/issue/39464/|title=GCD :: Issue :: Marvel Super Special #37|work=comics.org}}</ref><ref>[http://www.comics.org/series/3006/ ''2010''] at the Grand Comics Database</ref>
==Films== *''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) *''2010: The Year We Make Contact'' (1984)
===Cancelled sequels===
It was reported on Yahoo! in 2000 that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Tom Hanks were in discussions regarding turning both ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey'' into movies (Hanks would reportedly play Frank Poole in the ''3001'' film). An update in 2001 stated that there was no further development on the project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/preview/1808402810 |title=3001: The Final Odyssey - Greg's Preview - Yahoo! Movies |date=2016-02-12 |access-date=2017-07-09 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627014222/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/preview/1808402810 |archive-date=27 June 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
In November of 2014, it was reported that the U.S. cable channel Syfy had ordered a miniseries adaptation of ''3001: The Final Odyssey'' into production, planned for broadcast in 2015. The miniseries would be executive-produced by Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker and Stuart Beattie; the latter would also be the primary script-writer. The estates of both Clarke and Kubrick were reported as having "offered their full support", but the extent of their involvement was not known at the time.<ref>{{cite web |last=Ausiello |first=Michael |url=http://tvline.com/2014/11/03/2001-a-space-odyssey-sequel-tv-series-syfy-3001 |title='2001: A Space Odyssey' Sequel Ordered at Syfy — '3001: The Final Odyssey' |publisher=TVLine |date=2014-11-03 |access-date=2017-07-09 |archive-date=2015-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150216182431/http://tvline.com/2014/11/03/2001-a-space-odyssey-sequel-tv-series-syfy-3001/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In February 2016, the series was mentioned as one of Syfy's "in development pipeline" projects during their press release for ''Prototype'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/prototype-syfy-orders-new-thriller-series-pilot/ |title=Prototype: Syfy Orders New Thriller Series Pilot - canceled TV shows |date=12 February 2016 |publisher=TV Series Finale |access-date=2017-07-09}}</ref> though no further announcements have been made since that time.
==Development==
The ''2001'' screenplay was written by Clarke and Kubrick jointly, based on the seed idea in "The Sentinel" that an alien civilization left an object on the Moon to alert them to humankind's attainment of space travel. In addition, the 1953 short story "Encounter in the Dawn" contains elements of the first section of the film, in which the ancestors of humans are apparently given an evolutionary nudge by extraterrestrials. The opening part of another Clarke story, "Transience", has plot elements set in about the same time in human history, but is otherwise unrelated.
The 1972 book ''The Lost Worlds of 2001'' contains material that did not make it into the book or film.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-solute.com/continue-down-your-mistaken-path-the-lost-worlds-of-2001/|title="Continue down your mistaken path": The Lost Worlds of 2001|publisher=Solute|language=English|date=9 June 2015|access-date=17 March 2026}}</ref>
Clarke's first attempt to write the sequel to ''2001'' was a film screenplay, though he ultimately wrote a novel instead that was published in 1982. Clarke was not directly involved in the production of the second film, although he did communicate with writer/director Peter Hyams a great deal during the production via the then-pioneering medium of e-mail (as published in the book ''The Odyssey File'') and also made a non-speaking cameo appearance in the film. Kubrick had no involvement in the ''2010'' novel or film, or any of the later projects.<ref>{{cite book |last1=LoBrutto |first1=Vincent |title=Stanley Kubrick: A Biography |date=1997 |publisher=D.I. Fine Books |isbn=978-1-55611-492-2 |page=456 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aHVZAAAAMAAJ&q=LoBrutto+1997+Your+job+is+to+stop+anybody+%5Bfrom%5D+making+it+%5Binto+a+movie%5D+so+I+won%27t+be+bothered |access-date=21 March 2022 |language=en}}</ref>
The ''Space Odyssey'' series combines several science-fiction narrative conventions with a metaphysical tone. Since the stories and settings in the books and films all diverge, Clarke suggested that the continuity of the series represents happenings in a set of parallel universes. One notable example is that in the ''2001'' novel, the voyage was to the planet Saturn. During production of the film, it was decided that the special effects for Saturn's rings would be too expensive, so the voyage in the film is to Jupiter instead. The second book, ''2010'', retcons the storyline of the first book to make the destination Jupiter as seen in the film.<ref>The novel version of ''2001'' featured the journey to Saturn instead: Clarke acknowledges this retroactive continuity in his author's foreword.</ref>
Clarke stated that the ''Time Odyssey'' novels are an "orthoquel" – a neologism coined by Clarke for this purpose, combining the word ''sequel'' with ''ortho-'', the Greek prefix meaning "straight" or "perpendicular", and alluding to the fact that time is orthogonal to space in relativity theory – to the ''Space Odyssey'' series.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-03-05 |title=Firstborn by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter |url=http://www.scifidimensions.com/Mar08/firstborn.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305165450/http://www.scifidimensions.com/Mar08/firstborn.htm |archive-date=2012-03-05 |access-date=2024-07-28 }}</ref>
== Main characters== * '''HAL 9000''' is a sentient supercomputer that becomes the primary antagonist of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''. HAL is also in the sequel novels and the film sequel ''2010''. In both films he is voiced by actor Douglas Rain.<ref name="2001-Odyssey">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm|title=2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Full cast & crew - IMDb|publisher=IMDb|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref><ref name="2010-Contact">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086837/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm|title=2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) - Full cast & crew - IMDb|publisher=IMDb|access-date=18 March 2026}}</ref> * '''Dr. David "Dave" Bowman''' serves as the protagonist of ''2001: A Space Odyssey''. The character later appears in the sequel story released first as a book, ''2010: Odyssey Two'', and then as a movie, ''2010: The Year We Make Contact'', albeit as a non-corporeal entity, and also returns in two more books by Arthur C. Clarke, ''2061: Odyssey Three'' and ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. In the forewords to both ''2010'' and ''2061'', Clarke makes it clear that the plots of the movies and books do not necessarily follow a linear arc, and should be seen as taking place in parallel universes, or as being variations of a main theme; consequently there are apparent inconsistencies in the character of David Bowman throughout the series. In the two movies, Bowman is played by Keir Dullea.<ref name="2001-Odyssey"/><ref name="2010-Contact"/> * '''Dr. Heywood R. Floyd''' first appears in ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' as being in charge of the mission to investigate the alien Monolith found on the Moon. After the events that took place in ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', he is the protagonist of ''2010: Odyssey Two'' and ''2061: Odyssey Three''. Floyd was born in 1958 in America, and by 1999 is chairman of the National Council of Astronautics, overseeing all American spaceflight operations. He has two daughters (only one in the movies, born 1994) and was widowed when his wife Marion died in a plane crash. In ''2010: The Year We Make Contact'', Floyd has a new wife and a five-year-old son named Christopher. Floyd was played by William Sylvester in the film version of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' and by Roy Scheider in ''2010: The Year We Make Contact''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chatten |first=Richard |date=1995-03-14 |title=Obituary: William Sylvester |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-william-sylvester-1611159.html |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref><ref name="2010-Contact"/> * '''Dr. Frank Poole''' is an astronaut aboard ''Discovery One'' on the first crewed mission to Jupiter in ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' (Saturn in the novel). He and Dave Bowman are the only crew members who were not put on board in suspended animation (hibernation). His boyhood hometown was Flagstaff, Arizona, where he visited the Lowell Observatory at its museums on many occasions. These visits sparked his interest in astronomy and astronautics, and hence he went to college to study these subjects.<ref>3001: The Final Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke</ref> He is the main character of ''3001: The Final Odyssey''. In Stanley Kubrick's ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', Poole was portrayed by Gary Lockwood.<ref name="2001-Odyssey"/> Tom Hanks once expressed interest in directing a film version of ''3001'', in which he would have played Poole, but this never came to fruition. * '''Walter Curnow''' appears in the book and movie versions of ''2010: Odyssey Two'' as the American engineer who designs ''Discovery'' and helps to build ''Discovery II'' to go back to Jupiter. When the joint Soviet-American mission on the ''Leonov'' is planned instead, Curnow is one of the three American experts to go on the trip, along with Heywood Floyd and Dr. Chandra. Curnow is one of the first people to set foot on ''Discovery'' again, along with Maxim Brailovsky. Due to his engineering expertise, ''Discovery'' becomes operational again. In the 1984 film adaptation, ''2010: The Year We Make Contact'', Curnow is played by John Lithgow.<ref name="2010-Contact"/> * '''Dr. Sivasubramanian Chandrasegaram Pillai''' (often abbreviated to '''Dr. Chandra''') is mentioned in the novel of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' as a scientist who instructed the computer HAL 9000 in its basic functions (in the film, it was instead a "Mr. Langley"). He is a main character in ''2010: Odyssey Two'' where it was established that he was in fact the creator of HAL, and he is a member of the joint Russian-American expedition to Jupiter on board the Soviet spacecraft ''Leonov''. Although the character does not make any further appearances in the ''Space Odyssey'' novels, he is briefly mentioned by an elderly Heywood Floyd in the novel ''2061: Odyssey Three''. In 2010: The Year We Make Contact, Chandra was played by Bob Balaban and is referred to as Dr. R. Chandra.<ref name="2010-Contact"/>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Space Odyssey}} {{Arthur C. Clarke}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Space Odyssey series, The}} Category:Space Odyssey Category:Book series Category:American film series Category:Science fiction book series Category:Science fiction film series Category:Novels about ancient astronauts Category:Films about ancient astronauts Category:Novels set on Jupiter Category:Book franchises introduced in 1968 Category:Film series introduced in 1968 Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer franchises Category:Warner Bros. Pictures franchises Category:Films adapted into comics