2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey is a science-fiction narrative, produced in 1968 as both a film, directed by Stanley Kubrick, and a novel, written by Arthur C. Clarke. Both projects are partially based on Clarke's short story "The Sentinel", written in 1948 as an entry in a BBC short story competition. Originally, Clarke was going to write the screenplay for the film, but this proved to be more tedious than he had estimated. Instead, Kubrick and Clarke decided it would be best to write a prose treatment first and then adapt it for the film and novel upon its completion.

The screenplay and treatment were developed by Clarke and Kubrick in collaboration, which were loosely based on "The Sentinel" and incorporated elements from various other Clarke stories. Clarke wrote the novel adaptation independently. Although the film has become famous due to its ground breaking visual effects and ambiguous, abstract nature, the movie and book were intended to complement each other.

Film
2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke and with specialist artwork by Roy Carnon&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;. The film deals with themes of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, and provocatively ambiguous imagery and sound in place of traditional narrative techniques.

Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, 2001: A Space Odyssey is today thought by some critics to be one of the greatest films ever made.&lt;ref&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and received one for visual effects. It also won the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Best Director and Best Film awards of 1968. In 1991, 2001: A Space Odyssey was deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Score
The 2001: A Space Odyssey score is an unused film score composed by Alex North for Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Novel
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke, based on the screenplay by Clarke and Kubrick. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, most notably "The Sentinel" (written in 1948 for a BBC competition but first published in 1951 under the title "Sentinel of Eternity"). For an elaboration of Clarke and Kubrick's collaborative work on this project, see The Lost Worlds of 2001, Arthur C. Clarke, Signet., 1972.

The first part of the novel (in which aliens assist the evolution of human ancestors) is similar to the plot of an earlier Clarke story, Encounter at Dawn.

Comics
2001: A Space Odyssey was the name of an oversized comic book adaptation of the 1968 film of the same name and a 10-issue monthly series "expanding" on the ideas presented in the film and the eponymous Arthur C. Clarke novel. Jack Kirby wrote and pencilled both the adaptation and the series, which were published by Marvel Comics beginning in 1976.

The Space Odyssey series
The Space Odyssey series is a science fiction series of novels and films created from 1948 to 1997 primarily by the science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke and by the film director Stanley Kubrick. The series consists of two films and four novels. The two films were directed by Kubrick and by Peter Hyams, respectively. The first film screenplay was written by Kubrick and Clarke jointly, based on the seed idea in an earlier short story by Clarke (which bears little relation to the film other than the idea of an alien civilization having left something to alert them to mankind's attaining the ability of space travel). The second film had a screenplay by Hyams based on the novel by Clarke, who was not directly involved in its production as he had been with the first film. Kubrick had no involvement in any of the later projects.