3001: The Final Odyssey
LC Class PR6005.L36 A618 1997 | | |
Preceded by | 2061: Odyssey Three |
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3001: The Final Odyssey is a 1997 science fiction novel by British writer
Plot summary
The novel begins with a brief prologue describing the bioforms – dubbed the First-Born – who created the black monoliths. They evolved from "primordial soup", and over the course of millions of years, became a space-faring species. Perceiving that nothing was more precious than "mind", they catalysed the evolution of intelligent species wherever they went, by increasing the intelligent species' chance of survival. After visiting Earth, the First-Born found a way to impress themselves into the fabric of space and time, becoming effectively immortal. Meanwhile, the monoliths—implied to have been forgotten by their creators when they ascended to a higher state of being—continued to watch over their subjects.
3001 follows the adventures of
Poole integrates into the society of 3001, but is prompted by a friend to revisit
Thirty years later, Poole is married, and a member of a small team responsible for monitoring Europa. Halman contacts him to warn that following the events of 2010: Odyssey Two and 2061: Odyssey Three, the Jovian monolith had sent a report to its superior monolith, containing details about the human species after first contact. Since this report took place shortly after the wars of the 20th century, Halman believes the response just received after the 900-year round trip contains instructions to destroy humanity, due to its failure as a species.
Unsure whether they can physically harm the Monolith, the Europa team decide instead to infect it – as a computational mechanism – with a computer virus. Poole requests Halman to act as a
The monolith does receive orders to exterminate humanity, and starts a duplication, whereupon millions of monoliths form two cascade screens to prevent Solar light and heat from reaching Earth and its colonies, but the monoliths all quickly disintegrate as a result of the virus. The monoliths' makers' response to its destruction will occur in another 900 years as the earliest possibility.
The petabyte storage device, containing Halman and other lifeforms, but also infected with the virus, is subsequently sealed by scientists in the Pico Vault. At the close of the story, Poole and other humans land on Europa to start peaceful relations with the primitive native Europans. A statement is made that the monolith's makers will not determine humanity's fate until "the Last Days".
Characters
Main characters
- Frank Poole: 3001's protagonist, Frank Poole has been revived by highly advanced medicine, a thousand years after being killed by HAL during the Discovery's original mission.
- Dr. Indra Wallace: A specialist on the history of the early twenty-first century, Wallace acts as Poole's cultural guide.
- Halman: a merging of the entities that were once HAL 9000 and Dave Bowman, Halman communicates with Poole at various points throughout the novel, warning Poole of the possibility that the monoliths may issue negative judgment against humanity.
Minor characters
- Dimitri Chandler: Captain of the Goliath, Chandler mines the outer solar system for ice material which is slowly pushed towards the inner solar system, to make the inner planets habitable through long-term terraforming.
- Professor Anderson: a medical doctor, Anderson leads the medical team which revived Poole, and works with Indra Wallace both to aid Poole's convalescence, and also to manage his cultural shock at awakening into a strange future world.
- Dr. Stephen Del Marco: Alive at a future time (2513 AD) which is yet in the novel's distant past, Del Marco is the discoverer of TMA-0 in Africa: an earthbound monolith matching the lunar monolith which had been discovered hundreds of years earlier, in 2001.
- Dr. Theodore "Ted" Khan: A resident of Ganymede, Dr. Khan is contemptuous of religion, identifying it as a mental disorder.
Adaptations
In 2000, Yahoo! reported that MGM and actor/director Tom Hanks were in discussions regarding adapting both 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey into movies, with Hanks reportedly to play Frank Poole in the 3001 film. An update in 2001 stated that there was no further development on the project.[1]
On 3 November 2014, it was reported that the US TV channel
References
- ^ Schmitz, Greg Dean (12 February 2016). "3001: The Final Odyssey - Greg's Preview". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (3 November 2014). "'2001: A Space Odyssey' Sequel Ordered at Syfy — '3001: The Final Odyssey'". TVLine. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ^ "Prototype: Syfy Orders New Thriller Series Pilot - canceled TV shows". TV Series Finale. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
Further reading
- Clarke, Arthur C. (1998). 3001: The Final Odyssey (1st ed.). New York: ISBN 0345423496.
External links
- 3001: The Final Odyssey title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database