2001

A black monolith has an affect on humans, the monolith's effects focusing on two specific time periods. The first period is four million years ago, at the dawn of man. After the appearance of the monolith, the ape men begin to display behavior unknown before then. The second period is the near future, in the year 2001. There are five astronauts aboard Discovery One, which is on a mission to Jupiter. At the beginning of the mission, the reason for it is unknown to the five astronauts. Three of the astronauts are in hibernation at the start of the mission to preserve the manpower over its entire course, leaving mission commander Dr. Dave Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole as the two manning the spacecraft. There is another what is often considered "sixth" astronaut on board, HAL 9000 - referred to simply as Hal - the artificial intelligent computer which controls all of the craft's functions, including the systems keeping the three hibernating astronauts alive. Hal is made all the more astronaut-like as it is given an artificial voice, Hal and the astronauts often having conversations. A 9000 series computer is considered infallible, any error one has ever made being human caused. Ultimately, Bowman and Poole believe that Hal is malfunctioning, they are unaware that Hal's behavior is due to knowledge of classified information it has about events at Clavius, a lunar outpost, eighteen months earlier. However, the issue between the astronauts and Hal becomes a fight for survival. The mission in its entirety has profound consequences for the human race.