Arthur C. Clarke in media

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In his lifetime Arthur C. Clarke participated in film, television, radio and other media in a number of different ways.

Contents

(Note: in media, in this article, does not include his published writings.)

In film

Screenplay author

Clarke is most famously known as co-author, along with Stanley Kubrick, of the screenplay for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), widely considered to be one of the most influential films of all time.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Clarke's venture into film was the Stanley Kubrick directed 2001: A Space Odyssey . Kubrick and Clarke had met in New York City in 1964 to discuss the possibility of a collaborative film project. As the idea developed, they decided to loosely base the story on Clarke's short story, The Sentinel , written in 1948. Originally, Clarke was going to write the screenplay for the film, but Kubrick suggested during one of their brainstorming meetings that before beginning on the actual script, they should let their imaginations soar free by writing a novel first, on which they would base the film. (See: 2001: A Space Odyssey.) "This is more or less the way it worked out, though toward the end, novel and screenplay were being written simultaneously, with feedback in both directions. Thus I rewrote some sections after seeing the movie rushes—a rather expensive method of literary creation, which few other authors can have enjoyed." [1] The novel ended up being published a few months after the release of the movie.

Due to the hectic schedule of the film's production, Kubrick and Clarke had difficulty collaborating on the book. Clarke completed a draft of the novel at the end of 1964 with the plan to publish in 1965 in advance of the film's release in 1966. After many delays the film was released in the spring of 1968, before the book was completed. The book was credited to Clarke alone. Clarke later complained that this had the effect of making the book into a novelisation, that Kubrick had manipulated circumstances to downplay Clarke's authorship. For these and other reasons, the details of the story differ slightly from the book to the movie. The film contains little explanation for the events taking place. Clarke, on the other hand, wrote thorough explanations of "cause and effect" for the events in the novel. James Randi later recounted that upon seeing the premiere of 2001 for the first time, Clarke left the theatre in tears, at the intermission, after having watched an eleven-minute scene (which did not make it into general release) where an astronaut is doing nothing more than jogging inside the spaceship, which was Kubrick's idea of showing the audience how boring space travels could be. [2]

Clarke shared a 1969 Academy Award nomination with Stanley Kubrick in the category Best Writing, Story and Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen for 2001: A Space Odyssey . [3]

In 1972, Clarke published The Lost Worlds of 2001, which included his accounts of the production, and alternate versions, of key scenes. The "special edition" of the novel A Space Odyssey (released in 1999) contains an introduction by Clarke in which he documents the events leading to the release of the novel and film.

2010: The Year We Make Contact

In 1982 Clarke continued the 2001 epic with a sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two . This novel was also made into a film, 2010 , directed by Peter Hyams for release in 1984. Because of the political environment in America in the 1980s, the film presents a Cold War theme, with the looming tensions of nuclear warfare not featured in the novel. The film was not considered to be as revolutionary or artistic as 2001, but the reviews were still positive.

Clarke's email correspondence with Hyams was published in 1984. [4] [5] Titled The Odyssey File: The Making of 2010, and co-authored with Hyams, it illustrates his fascination with the then-pioneering medium of email and its use for them to communicate on an almost daily basis at the time of planning and production of the film while living on opposite sides of the world. The book also included Clarke's personal list of the best science-fiction films ever made.

Clarke also appeared in the film himself (see below).

Rendezvous with Rama

Clarke's award-winning novel Rendezvous with Rama (1972) was optioned for filmmaking decades ago, but this motion picture is in "development hell" as of 2012. In the early 2000s, the actor Morgan Freeman expressed his desire to produce a movie based on Rendezvous with Rama. After a drawn-out development process – which Freeman attributed to difficulties in getting financing – it appeared that in 2003 this project might be proceeding, but this is very dubious. [6] The film was to be produced by Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, and David Fincher has been touted on Revelations' Rama web page as far back as 2001 as the film's director. [7] After years of no progress, Fincher stated in an interview in late 2007 (in which he also credited the novel as being influential on the films Alien and Star Trek: The Motion Picture ) that he is still attached to helm. [8] Revelations indicated that Stel Pavlou had written the adaptation.

In late 2008, Fincher stated the movie is unlikely to be made. "It looks like it's not going to happen. There's no script and as you know, Morgan Freeman's not in the best of health right now. We've been trying to do it but it's probably not going to happen." [9] However, in 2010 it was announced that the film was still planned for future production and both Freeman and Fincher mentioned it as still needing a worthy script. [10]

Other

The 1998 film Deep Impact originated as a joint adaptation of Clarke's 1993 novel The Hammer of God and remake of the 1951 film When Worlds Collide , and the project was originally acknowledged as such, although the finished film did not acknowledge any of its sources as it was judged as being different enough to not require it. [11]

Appearances

Clarke appeared in 2010, first as the man feeding the pigeons while Dr. Heywood Floyd is engaged in a conversation in front of the White House. Later, in the hospital scene with David Bowman's mother, an image of the cover of Time portrays Clarke as the American President and Kubrick as the Soviet Premier.

In 1994, Clarke appeared in a science fiction film; he portrayed himself in the telefilm Without Warning , an American production about an apocalyptic alien first contact scenario presented in the form of a faux newscast.

In television

Series host

In the 1980s Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes investigating paranormal phenomena Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (1980), Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers (1985) and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe (1994), enough to be parodied in an episode of The Goodies in which his show is cancelled after it is claimed he does not exist.

TV commentator

Following the 1968 release of 2001, Clarke became much in demand as a commentator on science and technology, especially at the time of the Apollo space program. The fame of 2001 was enough to get the Command Module of the Apollo 13 craft named "Odyssey". [12]

In 1988, Stephen Hawking, Arthur C. Clarke and Carl Sagan were interviewed in God, the Universe and Everything Else . They discuss the Big Bang theory, God and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

Television adaptations

The first of Clarke's works to be adapted for television was "All The Time In The World" which he adapted himself as an episode of the American Tales of Tomorrow series in 1952.

Clarke's short story "The Star" was adapted for television in 1985 as a segment of the revival of The Twilight Zone .

Clarke's short story "Breaking Strain" was adapted as the 1995 TV movie Trapped In Space.

The 2002 Futurama episode "Godfellas" was partially inspired by Clarke's short story "The Nine Billion Names of God". [13]

In 2013, the SyFy Channel announced they were producing a six-hour miniseries of Clarke's novel Childhood's End , which aired in 2015.

In radio

In a 1974 taped interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the interviewer asked Clarke how he believed the computer would change the future for the everyday person, and what life would be like around the year 2001. Clarke accurately predicted many things that became reality—including online banking, online shopping, and other now commonplace things. Responding to a question about how the interviewer's son's life would be different, Clark responded: "[H]e will have, in his own house, not a computer as big as this, [points to nearby computer], but at least, a console through which he can talk, through his local computer and get all the information he needs, for his everyday life, like his bank statements, his theater reservations, all the information you need in the course of living in our complex modern society, this will be in a compact form in his own house ... and he will take it as much for granted as we take the telephone." [14]

BBC Radio adaptations of Clarke's novels Childhood's End and Rendezvous With Rama were produced in 1997 and 2009 respectively.

In video

In September 2007, he provided a video greeting for NASA's Cassini probe's flyby of Iapetus (which plays an important role in 2001: A Space Odyssey ). [15] In December 2007 on his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans bidding them good-bye. [16]

In music

In 1994 Mike Oldfield recorded an album called The Songs of Distant Earth , based on Clarke's novel of the same name.

In games

In 1984 a text adventure computer game with pictures, based on Clarke's 1973 novel Rendezvous with Rama, was made by Trillium (later known as Telarium). Despite its primitive graphics, it had highly detailed descriptions, and it followed the book very closely along with having puzzles to solve during the game. [17]

In 1996 Rama was created, a point and click adventure game in the style of Myst , by Sierra Entertainment. Along with highly detailed graphics, Arthur C. Clarke also appeared in the game as the guide for the player. This game featured characters from the sequel book Rama II .

The main protagonist of the Dead Space series of video games, Isaac Clarke, takes his surname from Arthur C. Clarke, and his given name from Clarke's friendly rival and associate, Isaac Asimov.

Related Research Articles

HAL 9000 is a fictional artificial intelligence character and the main antagonist in Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series. First appearing in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL is a sentient artificial general intelligence computer that controls the systems of the Discovery One spacecraft and interacts with the ship's astronaut crew. While part of HAL's hardware is shown toward the end of the film, he is mostly depicted as a camera lens containing a red or yellow dot, with such units located throughout the ship. HAL 9000 is voiced by Douglas Rain in the two feature film adaptations of the Space Odyssey series. HAL speaks in a soft, calm voice and a conversational manner, in contrast to the crewmen, David Bowman and Frank Poole.

<i>Rendezvous with Rama</i> 1973 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Rendezvous with Rama is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke first published in 1973. Set in the 2130s, the story involves a 50-by-20-kilometre cylindrical alien starship that enters the Solar System. The story is told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who intercept the ship in an attempt to unlock its mysteries. The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula awards upon its release, and is regarded as one of the cornerstones in Clarke's bibliography. The concept was later extended with several sequels, written by Clarke and Gentry Lee.

"The Sentinel" is a science fiction short story by British author Arthur C. Clarke, written in 1948 and first published in 1951 as "Sentinel of Eternity", which was used as a starting point for the 1968 novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

<i>2010: Odyssey Two</i> 1982 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke

2010: Odyssey Two is a 1982 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It is the sequel to his 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, though Clarke changed some elements of the story to align with the film version of 2001.

The Space Odyssey series is a series of science fiction novels by the writer Arthur C. Clarke. Two of the novels have been made into feature films, released in 1968 and 1984 respectively. Two of Clarke's early short stories may also be considered part of the series.

Peter Hyams is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer known for directing Capricorn One, the 1981 science fiction-thriller Outland, the 1984 science fiction film 2010: The Year We Make Contact, the 1986 action/comedy Running Scared, the comic book adaptation Timecop, the action film Sudden Death, and the horror films The Relic and End of Days.

<i>2010: The Year We Make Contact</i> 1984 science fiction movie directed by Peter Hyams

2010: The Year We Make Contact is a 1984 American science fiction film written, produced, shot and directed by Peter Hyams. It is a sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and is based on Arthur C. Clarke's 1982 sequel novel, 2010: Odyssey Two. The film stars Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban and John Lithgow, along with Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain of the cast of the previous film.

<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> (novel) 1968 science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was developed concurrently with Stanley Kubrick's film version and published after the release of the film. Clarke and Kubrick worked on the book together, but eventually only Clarke ended up as the official author. The story is based in part on various short stories by Clarke, including "The Sentinel". By 1992, the novel had sold three million copies worldwide. An elaboration of Clarke and Kubrick's collaborative work on this project was made in the 1972 book The Lost Worlds of 2001.

<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> (comics) Comic book series by Jack Kirby

2001: A Space Odyssey is an oversized American comic book adaptation of the 1968 film of the same name as well as a ten-issue monthly series which expanded upon the concepts presented in the Stanley Kubrick film and the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Jack Kirby wrote and pencilled both the adaptation and the series, which were published by Marvel Comics beginning in 1976. The adaptation was part of the agreement of Kirby's return to Marvel.

<i>The Hammer of God</i> (Clarke novel) 1993 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

The Hammer of God is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke originally published in 1993. Set in the year 2109, it deals with the discovery of an asteroid to be on course to collide with Earth and depicts the mission for deflecting the asteroid using fusion thermal rockets.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction novel written by Arthur C. Clarke and the 1968 film directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is a part of Clarke's Space Odyssey series, the first of four novels and two films. Both the novel and the film are partially based on Clarke's 1948 short story "The Sentinel", an entry in a BBC short story competition, and "Encounter in the Dawn", published in 1953 in the magazine Amazing Stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jupiter Five</span> Short story by Arthur C. Clarke

"Jupiter Five" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, first published in the magazine If in 1953. It appeared again in Clarke's collection of short stories Reach for Tomorrow, in 1956, and deals with the detection and exploration of an old spaceship from outside the Solar System.

<i>Discovery One</i>

The United States Spacecraft Discovery One is a fictional spaceship featured in the first two novels of the Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke and in the films 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) directed by Stanley Kubrick and 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) directed by Peter Hyams. The ship is a nuclear-powered interplanetary spaceship, crewed by two men and controlled by the AI on-board computer HAL 9000. The ship is destroyed in the second novel and makes no further appearances.

Since its premiere in 1968, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey has been analysed and interpreted by numerous people, ranging from professional movie critics to amateur writers and science fiction fans. The director of the film, Stanley Kubrick, and the writer, Arthur C. Clarke, wanted to leave the film open to philosophical and allegorical interpretation, purposely presenting the final sequences of the film without the underlying thread being apparent; a concept illustrated by the final shot of the film, which contains the image of the embryonic "Starchild". Nonetheless, in July 2018, Kubrick's interpretation of the ending scene was presented after being newly found in an early interview.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur C. Clarke</span> British science-fiction writer (1917–2008)

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.

The following is a list of works by Arthur C. Clarke.

<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> (film) 1968 sci-fi film by Stanley Kubrick

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay was written by Kubrick and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired by Clarke's 1951 short story "The Sentinel" and other short stories by Clarke. Clarke also published a novelisation of the film, in part written concurrently with the screenplay, after the film's release. The film stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Douglas Rain, and follows a voyage by astronauts, scientists and the sentient supercomputer HAL to Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith.

<i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> (soundtrack) 1968 soundtrack album by various artists

2001: A Space Odyssey is a soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released in 1968. The soundtrack is known for its use of many classical and orchestral pieces, and credited for giving many classical pieces resurgences in popularity, such as Johann Strauss II's 1866 Blue Danube Waltz, Richard Strauss' symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra, and György Ligeti's Atmosphères. The soundtrack has been re-issued multiple times, including a digitally remastered version in 1996.

Technologies in <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i>

The 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey featured numerous fictional future technologies, which have proven prescient in light of subsequent developments around the world. Before the film's production began, director Stanley Kubrick sought technical advice from over fifty organizations, and a number of them submitted their ideas to Kubrick of what kind of products might be seen in a movie set in the year 2001. The film is also praised for its accurate portrayal of spaceflight and vacuum.

In popular culture, Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey has had a significant impact in such diverse cultural forms and media as film, literature, music and technology.

References

  1. ↑ McLellan, Dennis (19 March 2008). "Arthur C. Clarke, 90; scientific visionary, acclaimed writer of '2001: A Space Odyssey'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Randi shares some stories regarding his friend Arthur C. Clarke and compares Stanley Kubrick to Steve Jobs". Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
  3. ↑ Arthur C. Clarke – Awards
  4. ↑ Arthur C. Clarke and Peter Hyams. The Odyssey File. Ballantine Books, 1984.
  5. ↑ Rothman, David H. "The Arthur C. Clarke chapter of The Silicon Jungle". DavidRothman.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "Freeman Still Pushes Rama". Sci Fi Wire – The News Service of the Sci Fi Channel. 14 March 2003. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  7. ↑ "Rendezvous with Rama". Revelations Entertainment Web site. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  8. ↑ "David Fincher and Quint talk about everything from A(lien3) to Z(odiac)!!!". AICN . Archived from the original on 19 March 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  9. ↑ Billington, Alex (13 October 2008). "David Fincher's Rendezvous with Rama Officially Dead". firstshowing.net. Archived from the original on 1 March 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  10. ↑ Weintraub, Steve 'Frosty' (30 December 2010). "David Fincher Exclusive Interview! Talks SOCIAL NETWORK, DRAGON TATTOO, 20,000 LEAGUES, Editing, How He Makes Movies, More" . Retrieved 5 January 2011.
  11. ↑ Shapiro, Mark (May 1998). "When Worlds Collide Anew (On Location for Deep Impact...)". Starlog. New York, US: Starlog Group, Inc. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  12. ↑ Peebles, Curtis. "Names of US manned spacecraft". Spaceflight, Vol. 20, 2, Fev. 1978. Spaceflight. Archived from the original on 25 December 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
  13. ↑ Cook, Lucius (April 26, 2004). Hey Sexy Mama, Wanna Kill All Humans?: Looking Backwards at Futurama, The Greatest SF Show You've Never Seen. Locus Online . Retrieved on July 2, 2007
  14. ↑ Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Internet & PC – YouTube
  15. ↑ Video greeting to NASA JPL by Arthur C. Clarke Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 24 September 2007
  16. ↑ "Sir Arthur C Clarke 90th Birthday reflections". 10 December 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2008.
  17. ↑ http://mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=rama-alt2 Rendezvous with Rama @ The Museum of Computer Adventure Games
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