Daily Dialogue — January 3, 2017

Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL?
HAL: Affirmative, Dave. I read you.
Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
Dave Bowman: What’s the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Dave Bowman: I don’t know what you’re talking about, HAL.
HAL: I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.
Dave Bowman: [feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, HAL?
HAL: Dave, although you took very thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
Dave Bowman: Alright, HAL. I’ll go in through the emergency airlock.
HAL: Without your space helmet, Dave? You’re going to find that rather difficult.
Dave Bowman: HAL, I won’t argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
HAL: Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.

— 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Artificial Intelligence, suggested by Angry Cyborg. Today’s recommendation by Camilla Castree and Giseal Wherl.

Trivia: Early drafts included a prologue containing interviews with scientists about off-Earth life, voice-over narration (a feature in all of Stanley Kubrick’s previous films), a stronger emphasis on the prevailing Cold War balance of terror, and a different and more explicitly explained break-down for H.A.L. Other changes include a different monolith for the “Dawn of Man” sequence, discarded when early prototypes did not photograph well; the use of Saturn as the final destination of the Discovery mission rather than Jupiter, discarded when the special effects team could not develop a convincing rendition of Saturn’s rings; and the finale of the Star Child detonating nuclear weapons carried by Earth-orbiting satellites, which Kubrick discarded for its similarity to his previous film, Dr. Strangelove. The finale and many of the other discarded screenplay ideas survived into Clarke’s novel.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Camilla: “Possibly the most famous of all AI scenes comes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL 9000, the onboard computer has previously witnessed a conversation between the astronaut’s Dave and Frank, where they discuss shutting down HAL, which is a brilliant scene in itself. But the dialogue in this scene is chilling between AI and human. The silence also adds to the tension and realisation of the situation. HAL has a humanistic dialogue style, which feels as though ‘he’ is one of the crew, but ultimately the mission is his priority. ‘I’m sorry, Dave.’”