2010: The Year We Make Contact quotes

View Quote Dave Bowman: Hal, do you read me?
HAL-9000: Affirmative, Dave. Where are you? I cannot see you on any of my monitors.
Dave Bowman: That isn't important now. I have new instructions for you. I want you to point the AE-35 antenna unit towards Earth.
HAL-9000: Dave...that will mean breaking contact with the Leonov. I will be unable to relay my Jupiter observations according to program.
Dave Bowman: I understand. The situation has changed. Accept Priority Override Alpha. Here are the AE-35 coordinates. Please do it now.
HAL-9000: Instructions confirmed, Dave. It is good to be working with you again. Have I fulfilled the mission objectives properly?
Dave Bowman: Yes, Hal. You've done very well. Now, there is one final message for you to send. It is the most important message you have ever sent. I want you to keep repeating it as many times as possible.
HAL-9000: What is going to happen, Dave?
Dave Bowman: Something wonderful.
HAL-9000: I'm afraid.
Dave Bowman: Don't be. We'll be together.
HAL-9000: Where will we be?
Dave Bowman: Where I am now.
HAL-9000: Lock confirmed on beacon Terra One. Message commencing.

View Quote Dave Bowman: You see, something's going to happen. You must leave.
Dr. Floyd: What? What's going to happen?
Dave Bowman (reverently): Something wonderful.
Dr. Floyd: What?
Dave Bowman: I understand how you feel. You see, it's all very clear to me now. The whole thing. It's wonderful.

View Quote Dr. Floyd: [sighs, takes off glasses] All right, what's going on here?
Tanya Kirbuk: What do you mean?
Dr. Floyd: Well, I may not be the swiftest guy in the world, even when I'm not hung over, but I do seem to remember a process where you people ask me questions and I give you answers and then I ask questions and you give me answers and that's the way we find out things. I think I read that in a manual somewhere.
Tanya Kirbuk: Your government wanted us to awaken you when we reported our findings. We did that. You are here to help us reactivate the Discovery and its computer systems because that is United States territory. You are authorized to observe other aspects of our mission. We have no other obligation.
Dr. Vladimir Rudenko: A lot has happened while you have been asleep.
Dr. Vasili Orlov: It is not our choice.
Tanya Kirbuk: The problem in Central America is growing worse.
Dr. Floyd: This looks as if you've detected the presence of chlorophyll.
Tanya Kirbuk: The United States is threatening a naval blockade.
Dr. Floyd: There's nothing but ice down there, so how the hell can there be any chlorophyll?
Tanya Kirbuk: You know and I know that my country cannot allow a blockade.
Dr. Floyd: How fast is it moving?
Tanya Kirbuk: We are under instructions -
Dr. Floyd: Listen, just because our governments are behaving like asses doesn't mean we have to. We're supposed to be scientists, not politicians. How fast?
Tanya Kirbuk: Doctor Floyd, I am also an officer of the Soviet Air Force!
Dr. Floyd: How fast?!
Dr. Vasili Orlov: One meter per minute.
Dr. Floyd: Don't worry, I'm just observing. Toward the sun?
Dr. Vasili Orlov: Yes.
Dr. Floyd: That's...that's incredible.
Tanya Kirbuk: We are going to send a probe down.
Dr. Floyd: Good!

View Quote Dr. Walter Curnow: Look at it closely. Tell me I'm nuts. Are those cloud formations going toward the spot?
Dr. Floyd: You're not nuts.
Dr. Vasili Orlov: It looks like the thing is eating the planet.
Dr. Floyd: I think it is.
Dr. Walter Curnow: It's reproducing exactly like a virus!

View Quote Dr. Walter Curnow: You know what I miss? I miss green. Trees, and grass...I love green.
David Floyd: I'd love a hot dog.
Dr. Walter Curnow: The Astrodome. Good hot dogs.
Dr. Floyd: The Astrodome? You can't boil good hot dogs indoors...Yankee Stadium, September. Hot dogs have been boiling since the opening day in April. That's a hot dog.
Dr. Walter Curnow: Yellow mustard, or the darker one?
Dr. Floyd: Darker.
Dr. Walter Curnow [nodding]: It's important.
Dr. Floyd: Darker.
[a contemplative pause]
Dr. Walter Curnow: You really think we're gonna get out of this alive?
Dr. Floyd: We have a chance.
Dr. Walter Curnow: A man of few words. I like it.

View Quote HAL 9000: Dr. Floyd?
Dr. Floyd: What is it, HAL?
HAL 9000: There is a message for you.
Dr. Floyd: Who's calling?
HAL 9000: There is no identification.
Dr. Floyd: What's the message?
HAL 9000: Message as follows: "It is dangerous to remain here. You must leave within two days."
Dr. Floyd: What?
HAL 9000: Do you want me to repeat the message, Dr. Floyd?
Dr. Floyd: Who recorded it?
HAL 9000: This is not a recording.
Dr. Floyd: Who's sending it?
HAL 9000: There is no identification.
Dr. Floyd: I don't understand.
HAL 9000: Neither do I.
Dr. Floyd: Is this message by voice or keyboard?
HAL 9000: I don't know.
Dr. Floyd: My response is, we don't have enough fuel for an earlier departure.
HAL 9000: The answer is, "I am aware of these facts. Nevertheless you must leave within two days."
Dr. Floyd: HAL, who the hell is sending this?
HAL 9000: I'm sorry, Dr. Floyd, I don't know.
Dr. Floyd: Well, tell whoever it is that I can't take any of this seriously unless I know who I'm talking to.
HAL 9000: Dr. Floyd?
Dr. Floyd: Yes?
HAL 9000: The response is, "I was David Bowman." Do you want me to repeat the last response?
Dr. Floyd: No, no. Tell Curnow that this is no time for jokes.
HAL 9000: Dr. Curnow is not sending the message. He is in access way two.
Dr. Floyd: Well, tell whoever it is that I can't accept that identification without proof.
HAL 9000: The response is, "I understand. It is important that you believe me. Look behind you."

View Quote HAL-9000: Dr. Chandra, I detect strong vocal stress patterns. Is there a problem?
Dr. Chandra: No, Hal; the mission is proceeding normally. Can you analyze the image on monitor circuit #2?
HAL-9000: Yes. There is a circular object near the equator. It is 22,000 kilometers in diameter. It is comprised of rectangular objects.
Dr. Chandra: How many?
HAL-9000: 1,355,000, plus or minus 1,000.
Dr. Chandra: And what is the proportion of the objects in question?
HAL-9000: 1 by 4 by 9.
Dr. Chandra: Do you recognize these objects?
HAL-9000: Yes. They are identical in size and shape to the object you call the Monolith. 10 minutes to ignition. All systems nominal.
Dr. Chandra: Is the number of monoliths constant?
HAL-9000: No. They are increasing.
Dr. Chandra: At what rate?
HAL-9000: Once every 2 minutes.

View Quote SAL-9000: Will I dream?
Dr. Chandra: Of course you will. All intelligent beings dream. Nobody knows why. Perhaps you will dream of HAL... just as I often do.

View Quote Victor Milson: You've double-checked this? Please say you haven't. [Floyd is silent] You aren't saying anything, Floyd.
Dr. Floyd: Something incredible's happening up there. Discovery is being pulled towards Io, or pushed away from Jupiter, whichever. Sometimes it seems to be accelerating, and other times, it just seems to stop. I've never seen anything like it.
Victor Milson: How long before it impacts on Io?
Dr. Floyd: Two, two and a half years.
Victor Milson: How could we be so goddamn wrong about the orbit?
Dr. Floyd: Because we weren't wrong.
Victor Milson: Well, if we weren't wrong, well then, terrific! Why the hell is it gonna crash?
Dr. Floyd: I don't know. It's bizarre. Unless it's got something to do with that Monolith up there.
Victor Milson: You see that building behind us? [points to the White House] I'm supposed to go in there and have lunch in half an hour. Course, there's one good thing about a reactionary President, he's not into health foods. Last one, we didn't lunch, we grazed. Wanna know what lunch is about? I'll tell you. We've got two more aircraft carriers off the coast of Honduras. The Russians are moving some of their big stuff. Now you've got the Joint Chiefs screaming about Russian satellites with anti-missile lasers on 'em, so we gotta send up our laser satellites to counteract theirs. So the President has come to the conclusion that the NCA should be placed under the jurisdiction of the Defense Department. Enough with the crazy scientists spending all this money trying to talk to Martians. So, here we are on your actual brink, my agency's going to become a part of the military, I've got a President with his finger poised on the button, and you want me to walk across the park and tell him we want to hitch a ride with those very same Russians. Have I missed anything?
Dr. Floyd: That's about it.

View Quote [after the first conversation with HAL, who professes to having no memory of Bowman and Poole leaving the ship]
Dr. Vasili Orlov: What was that all about?
Dr. Chandra: I've erased all of HAL's memory from the moment the trouble started.
Dr. Vasili Orlov: The 9000 series uses holographic memories, so chronological erasures would not work.
Dr. Chandra: I made a tapeworm.
Dr. Walter Curnow: You made a what?
Dr. Chandra: It's a program that's fed into a system that will hunt down and destroy any desired memories.
Dr. Floyd: Wait... do you know why HAL did what he did?
Dr. Chandra: Yes. It wasn't his fault.
Dr. Floyd: Whose fault was it?
Dr. Chandra: Yours.
Dr. Floyd: Mine?
Dr. Chandra: Yours. In going through HAL's memory banks, I discovered his original orders. You wrote those orders. Discovery‍'‍s mission to Jupiter was already in the advanced planning stages when the first small Monolith was found on the Moon, and sent its signal towards Jupiter. By direct presidential order, the existence of that Monolith was kept secret.
Dr. Floyd: So?
Dr. Chandra: So, as the function of the command crew - Bowman and Poole - was to get Discovery to its destination, it was decided that they should not be informed. The investigative team was trained separately, and placed in hibernation before the voyage began. Since HAL was capable of operating Discovery without human assistance, it was decided that he should be programmed to complete the mission autonomously in the event the crew was incapacitated or killed. He was given full knowledge of the true objective... and instructed not to reveal anything to Bowman or Poole. He was instructed to lie.
Dr. Floyd: What are you talking about? I didn't authorize anyone to tell HAL about the Monolith!
Dr. Chandra: Directive is NSC 342/23, top secret, January 30, 2001.
Dr. Floyd: NSC... National Security Council, the White House.
Dr. Chandra: I don't care who it is. The situation was in conflict with the basic purpose of HAL's design: The accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment. He became trapped. The technical term is an H. Moebius loop, which can happen in advanced computers with autonomous goal-seeking programs.
Dr. Walter Curnow: The goddamn White House.
Dr. Floyd: I don't believe it.
Dr. Chandra: HAL was told to lie... by people who find it easy to lie. HAL doesn't know how, so he couldn't function. He became paranoid.
Dr. Floyd: Those sons of bitches. I didn't know. I didn't know!

View Quote [The message is:]
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA.ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.USE THEM TOGETHER.USE THEM IN PEACE.
[The first 11 words are common to novel and movie; the last 7 appear only in the movie]

View Quote [referring to Europa] Oh, there's something down there, all right. We all saw it; we read the data; we know it's there. But suppose, just suppose that it had something to do with the Monolith? Now, before you get that look on all of your faces, just listen to me for a minute. We've been sending probes out here since the 1970s. And so have you guys. But none of us have ever encountered even the slightest signs of chlorophyll on any of Jupiter's moons, never. And we certainly were close enough, weren't we? 9 years ago, the Monolith was detected here. Discovery was sent up and everything went wacko. You catching my drift? So here we are, 9 years later, trying to figure out what the hell happened and what the Monolith was all about. And guess what we discover along the way? The possibility of life where it had never existed before. I don't think it was electrostatic anything. I think something wants us to stay away from Europa.

View Quote Dear Caroline: I miss you terribly. The time has come to put ourselves in orbit around Io, which is where the Discovery is. And we don't have enough fuel to slow ourselves down, so we are about to use a technique called aerobraking. The theory is that we will enter the outer layer of Jupiter's atmosphere, using what is called a ballute for a shield. The atmosphere will slow us down, and Jupiter's gravity will grab hold of us and slingshot us around behind the dark side. If all goes well, we'll wind up in a gentle orbit around Io. It's dynamite on paper. Of course, the people who came up with the numbers on the paper aren't here. Since no one has ever done this before, everyone up here is as scared as I am. The difference is they're busy. I have nothing to do but wait for it to happen. And I hope this is all worth it.

View Quote Dear Caroline: The first part of this journey is coming to an end. We are about to rendezvous with the Discovery. The race will be on now. We're going to send a boarding party over to climb inside this 800-foot long shipwreck, which is floating over Io, to see if she can be rescued before her orbit gives out. There are 9 years of secrets inside, including a sleeping computer who knows the answers. My past is also inside, and I want those answers.

View Quote Dear Caroline: This is finally it. After 9 years and hundreds of millions of miles, we are about to come face to face with the Monolith. The last human being who did that disappeared and was never seen or heard from again. Something truly amazing is going on out here, and I really believe this black giant is controlling it all. We have so much to ask. I have a feeling that the answers are bigger than the questions.