"2001: A Space Odyssey" is a story that is told mostly in images. You were meant to sit and soak in that Cinerama auditorium and simply let those pictures tell their tale. The dialogue is almost unneeded. But those wondrous images come across in other ways, too - and for those who enjoy ASCII art, and are familiar with the storyline of the film, here is a whole new 'look' at "2001".

If you've never run into ASCII art before, let me tell you a quick story: Once upon a time - in an Internet Far, Far away, there were no pictures - only text. And that text was rather limited because lots of different computers had to talk to each other without too much trouble. So, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) was created. Its 256 characters have served as the lingua franca of the digital world. Still do, for the most part!

Of course, people weren't content with just words - they wanted pictures, too - and there are places on the web where you'll find incredibly elaborate illustrations made with those 256 characters. But for more immediate uses, little "emoticons" were invented, and still pepper email today. Those are your standard 'smileys' :-) and other little pictures that convey more than mere words.

To look at most ASCII emoticons and small pictures, you'll need to tilt your head to the left. This is true for most of the images in my little ASCII "2001"story - although you can look at many of them straight on, too. You'll figure it out! Have fun!

2001: An ASCII Odyssey
	The Dawn of Man
	Moonwatcher checks out the monolith
	Moonwatcher tosses the bone
	Floyd approaches the space station
	The Orion approaches the moon
	The monolith sends its signal
	A view of Discovery 1
	Close-up of Hal's eye
	HAL 9000
	"I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit"
	"I don't think he can hear us, Frank"
	Dave stalks Frank
	"Open the pod bay doors, Hal"
	"Dave...stop. Will you stop, Dave"
	The Monolith reveals itself
	"My God - it's full of stars!"
	Through the Stargate
	Dave in the Stargate
	The Starchild returns to Earth
	Another version of Discovery
	My cats watch me work

2001: The Missing Lines

Editor's Note In "Stanley Kubrick A Film Odyssey" (Popular Library, New York, 1975), Gene D. Phillips writes as follows.

Clarke and Kubrick began to compose 2001 in the spring of 1964... By the end of the year the first draft of the prose treatment was completed... Clarke's published version of 2001, which appeared in July 1968, is based on the early prose treatment...

Ever since, the question has been asked: does any unseen material remain from the collaborative work between Clarke and Kubrick? It is well known that Kubrick responded to his restless audience at the first press review showing of "2001" in New York on April 1, 1968, by cutting some 20 minutes of what he considered to be inessential footage and adding some titles between major shifts in time and location. The existence of a genuine screenplay has always been disputed. Documents purporting to be screenplays have been widely circulated, yet no less an authority than Gary Lockwood ("Frank Poole"), who might be considered to have insider's knowledge, maintains that no screenplay was used.

In late October 1996 a first edition copy of "2001: A Space Odyssey" was purchased by a private collector at auction in New York. The dust jacket had been secured by a clear plastic wrapper. Examination revealed the existence of a small piece of paper that had been torn out of a notebook and inserted between the dust jacket and back board, held in place by the folds of the wrapper.

Although bearing no signature, it has been claimed that the handwritten words on the paper were the product of one of the numerous meetings between Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, where details of the film's storyline were discussed. The words are reproduced in their entirety below, and make it clear that scenes involving the supposed alien creators of the monolith were seriously considered.

The handwriting does not match that of either Clarke or Kubrick, and a search is currently under way to determine whether any further notes exist. Arthur C. Clarke has been quoted as declaring that no screenplay ever existed, and anything purporting to be such must be a forgery. Stanley Kubrick has declined to comment.