Maps of Movies
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Where 2001: A Space Odyssey says it takes place, and where it was really shot.
A film set among the stars, yet its backdrops came from Namibia, Scotland and the Utah-Arizona border
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Scenes and places
The Dawn of Man
A hominin tribe loses its water hole to a rival tribe and wakes to find a monolith. Soon after, they learn to use animal bones as weapons.
Set in Prehistoric veld — A tribe of hominins is driven from a water hole and next day finds an alien monolith.
The film places this scene in a prehistoric veld, with no exact location.
Filmed at Spitzkoppe, Namibia — Still photographs of these mountains were used as backdrops for the Dawn of Man sequence, which itself was shot at a studio in Borehamwood, England. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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Space Station Five
Dr Heywood Floyd stops at Space Station Five on his way to the Moon. Russian scientists press him about trouble at Clavius, and he will not talk about rumours of an epidemic.
Set in Space Station Five — A stopover on the way to the Moon where Floyd meets Russian scientists.
An orbiting station; no real place stands for it.
Clavius Base
Floyd addresses the Clavius staff and stresses the need for secrecy about their newest discovery.
Set in Clavius Base — An American lunar outpost.
A lunar outpost, invented for the film.
The monolith at Tycho
Floyd and others examine and photograph the buried monolith. It answers with a high-powered radio signal.
Set in Tycho crater, the Moon — The dig site where a monolith was found buried four million years earlier.
A crater on the Moon; the film's dig site is a set.
Filmed at Shepperton Studios, Stage H — Stage H housed the large pit for the Tycho crater excavation scene, the first scene shot, on 29 December 1965. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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Discovery One and HAL
Bowman and Poole live aboard with HAL, who controls most of the ship. When HAL reports an antenna fault that Bowman cannot find, doubts about the computer begin.
Set in Discovery One — The spacecraft bound for Jupiter, run by the HAL 9000 computer.
A spacecraft; no real place stands for it.
The pod, out of HAL's hearing
Worried about HAL's behaviour, Bowman and Poole shut themselves in a pod to talk without HAL overhearing. They agree to disconnect him if he is proven wrong.
Set in Outside Discovery One — Bowman and Poole in an EVA pod, away from HAL.
Open space beside the ship; shot with studio effects.
Jupiter
At Jupiter, Bowman finds a third, much larger monolith orbiting the planet and leaves Discovery in a pod to investigate.
Set in Jupiter orbit — Where Discovery finds a much larger monolith orbiting the planet.
Orbit around Jupiter; no real place stands for it.
The Star Gate
Bowman is pulled into a vortex of coloured light and passes bizarre astronomical phenomena and strange landscapes of unusual colours.
Set in The Star Gate — A vortex of coloured light with strange landscapes of unusual colours.
A passage of light and colour with no place on any map.
Filmed at Outer Hebrides, Scotland — Live-action landscape footage for the Star Gate sequence was filmed in the Hebridean islands and the mountains of northern Scotland; the exact islands and peaks are not named. The pin is the island chain's centre. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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Filmed at Monument Valley, Utah-Arizona border — Another source of live-action landscape footage for the Star Gate sequence; the exact spot in the valley is not given. Google Maps · Apple Maps
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Characters
- Heywood Floyd — Chairman of the US National Council of Astronautics, sent to investigate a find on the Moon.
- Dave Bowman — Mission pilot and scientist aboard Discovery One.
- Frank Poole — Mission pilot and scientist aboard Discovery One.
- HAL 9000 — The ship's computer, which runs most of Discovery's operations.
Questions answered on the map
- Where were the Star Gate landscapes really filmed?