“2001: A Space Odyssey” WorksheetName __________________________ Class_____ ID #______

1. What kills one of the apes at the start of the movie? _____________________________2. What are the apes fighting for? ______________________________________________3. The apes find a large monolith when they wake up. What color is the monolith? ______4. Do the apes touch the monolith? ____________________5. What is the first tool that man’s ancestors use (according to the movie)?

___________________________6. Name 2 things the apes are able to do with their new tool. ________________________

___________________________7. Did the monolith change the apes? _________ How? ____________________________8. What are man’s newest tools (the movie shows them to you right after the apes)?

___________________________9. Who Does Dr. Floyd call on the videophone? ___________________________________10. Man is now master of the earth, but does it seem to you that man is the master of

space? _____________11. What is the base on the moon called? ________________________12. Why did Dr. Floyd travel to the moon?

_________________________________________13. Can you see a difference between the way men acted when they saw the monolith, and

the way the apes acted when they saw it? __________ What was the difference? _____________________________________

14. What happens when the men try to take a picture of the 2nd monolith? ______________

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15. What planet do the astronauts go to after the men see the 2nd monolith on the moon? _________________________.

16. What is the name of the computer on the spaceship mission? _____________________17. Much of this movie is about man’s reliance on tools. What is the most advanced tool

they have on their spaceship? _______________________________________________18. The astronaut goes out and tries to fix the spaceship’s ___________________________19. What was Hal’s mistake?___________________________________________________20. Hal says the mistake “can only be attributable to _______________ error”.21. Did Hal ever make a mistake before this? ____________22. How does Hal figure out what the astronauts are saying while they are in the space pod?

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23. Why doesn’t Hal open the pod bay doors? ____________________________________24. What tool does the astronaut use to “kill” Hal? _________________________________

Is that a simple, or a very complex tool? _____________________25. Where does the astronaut go after Hal dies? ___________________________________26. The astronaut has conquered his tools, what is the one last thing he must conquer in the

movie before he takes his next evolutionary step? _______________________________27. At the end, you see a child and he is coming to earth. What changes do you think this

child will bring with him? How do you think the earth will change when the child arrives? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

POST QUESTIONS

1. Who directed “2001: A Space Odyssey”? ______________________________________2. What country is the director from? __________________________________3. Where do you think the monoliths came from?

________________________________________________________________________4. What year was “2001: A Space Odyssey” made? _________________5. One of the main points of the film was man’s overreliance on technology. Do you think

that is coming true today? ____________6. How was the spaceship to Jupiter able to simulate gravity? ________________________7. Why do you think Hal made a mistake? ________________________________________8. Why do you think Hal didn’t know the astronaut could shoot himself through the airlock

and enter the ship? _______________________________________________________9. Why did the astronauts go to Jupiter? _________________________________________10. The astronaut puts himself into space without a spacesuit after HAL will not open the

doors. Is it really possible to live in space for a few seconds without a space suit (research this, NASA is a good source for information)? ________________________________________________________________________

11. The movie shows the astronaut in space, and there is no sound. Is there really no sound in space? __________________________

12. In the movie you saw spaceships in space, which were miniature models. Did you like seeing the models, or do you prefer the look of the modern computer generated images? ________________________________________________________________

13. How many monoliths appear in the movie? ___________________14. What do you think the monoliths mean in the movie. What do they represent?

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