by David C. Terr

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Title: 2010: The Year We Make Contact

Director: Peter Hyams

Starring: Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Bolaban, Keir Dullea, Douglas Rain, Elya Baskin

Release Date: Dec. 7, 1984 (USA)

Running Time: 116 min

Genres: Mystery, Sci-Fi , Thriller, Adventure

Commentary
2010: The Year We Make Contact, or simply known as 2010, is the long-awaited sequel to the classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The novel "2010: Odyssey Two" by Arthur C. Clarke upon which it is based is one of my favorite books. Although the movie doesn't do justice to the novel in my opinion, it's still quite excellent. 2010 is nowhere nearly as great as 2001 though. Although it was released 16 years later, the special effects don't compare with the original. Also, 2010 lacks the profound mystery of 2001, many of the mysteries of the previous movie in fact being explained in this one, including why HAL malfunctioned and explicitly interpreting some of the purpose of the Monolith by the end of the movie. Still, 2010 is a very entertaining movie with a quite a moving and heartfelt ending.

Plot Summary
Dr. Heywood Floyd, the American scientist who'd been responsible for the failed Jupiter mission aboard The Discovery in 2001, is selected to board The Leonov, a Soviet spacecraft headed for Jupiter, in 2010, along with two other American and six Soviet scientists. The purpose of the mission is threefold:

• to determine what made HAL malfunction and kill four of the five crew memebers
• to investigate the Monolith
• to determine what happened to David Bowman

Differences with the Novel
There are several key differences between the movie and the novel upon which it is based. The following are the case with the novel but not the movie:

• The superpowers are on good terms and there is much less tension between the American and Soviet crew members.
• Max never pilots the space pod to the Monolith - instead, the crew sends an unmanned pod to investigate the Monolith.
• The crew is given 15 days to leave Jupiter as opposed to just two in the movie.
• The message, "ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.", sent by HAL does not contain the phrase, "USE THEM TOGETHER. USE THEM IN PEACE."

Movie Clips

Here's a clip of the discovery of chlorophyll on Europa.

Here's a clip of the aerobraking scene, in which the crew uses Jupiter's atmosphere to slow down.