Follow along worksheet written by yours truly. Ask if you aren't sure of the answers.

1. 1
“2001: A Space Odyssey” Worksheet
Name __________________________ 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? ______________
________________________________________________________________________
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?
________________________________________________________________________
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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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