Difference between revisions of "2001: A Space Odyssey"

Latest revision as of 07:01, August 18, 2025

2001: A Space Odyssey is a science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, released in 1968. The novel of the same title, by Arthur C. Clarke, was written concurrently with the development of the film and was published after the film's release. A sequel to the novel, titled 2010: Odyssey Two, appeared in 1982 and was adapted into a film in 1984. Clarke went on to write two additional sequels in the 2001 series, 2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey, neither of which has been adapted into a movie.

2001: A Space Odyssey has been referred to several times in Simpsons media.

References to 2001: A Space Odyssey in The Simpsons[edit]

Episodes[edit]

Season	Episode number	Episode name	Reference
3	43	"Lisa's Pony"	At the beginning of the episode, Homer dreams he is one of the apes in the "Dawn of Man" sequence. While the other apes learn to use fire and tools, Homer uses the monolith as a back-scratcher and falls asleep leaning against it.
59	"Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?"	Homer's vision when he rides the Spinemelter 2000 is based on the "Star Gate" sequence.
5	91	"$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)"	Mr. Burns laying in bed in a reference to the scene near the end where Dave awakes as an old man.
96	"Deep Space Homer"	In the Itchy & Scratchy episode, Itchy leaves the ship to retrieve Scratchy, flying an EVA pod which resembles the ones on Discovery. In the scene where Homer eats the floating chips, the background music is "Blue Danube", which is heard during the docking scene in 2001. Also, the closeup where Homer opens his mouth as he approaches a chip is a visual callback to the docking scene. Also Sprach Zarathustra plays during the episode's ending scene. Bart throwing the marker pen which turns into a satellite references the transition from the Dawn of Man sequence to the space station. The satellite hits an embryonic Homer, who appears as a Star Child in orbit about Earth.
8	177	"The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase"	Moe's Love Tester, possessed by Grampa, is attacked by Jimbo, Kearney and Dolph, and while malfunctioning sings "Daisy Bell" in a distorted voice. This is based on the scene where HAL 9000 sings "Daisy Bell" as its circuits are disconnected.
10	220	"Maximum Homerdrive"	The Navitron Autodrive System says "I'm afraid I can't let you do this, Red", referencing the famous line from HAL 9000. It also uses a red light similar to HAL.
13	270	"Treehouse of Horror XII"	The "House of Whacks" segment has a number of references to 2001: The Ultrahouse 3000 is based on HAL. Marge and Homer's bedroom resembles the bedroom seen at the end of the film. When Marge tries to escape, the Ultrahouse suggests that she take a stress pill. HAL makes the same suggestion to David Bowman. Homer removes the circuit boards of the Ultrahouse to deactivate it, the same way that Bowman deactivates HAL. Also like HAL, as the circuit boards are removed, the Ultrahouse's voice becomes garbled and dies out completely when Homer removes the last one.
289	"Little Girl in the Big Ten"	Also sprach Zarathustra plays as Bart rolls Lisa (enclosed in the plastic bubble) off of the school roof to land on the giant chocolate cake commemorating Principal Skinner's years of service.
14	294	"Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade"	The scene of the connection of the TV to the satellite and of the monkeys working in the spaceship takes place with the musical piece An der schönen blauen Donau by Johann Strauss II
15	330	"My Big Fat Geek Wedding"	In one shot, when the family is at the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con, a poster for the film can be seen at the top right of the screen (see image).
19	409	"Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind"	Homer's vision of memories resembles the Star Gate.
22	485	"500 Keys"	After Lisa finds the hidden classroom at Springfield Elementary School, she notices that the things in it look real but don't really work, such as a ruler without lines and a book with pull tabs that don't do anything, similar to the hotel room (as described in the novel) where Bowman ends up after he goes through the Star Gate.
23	495	"Holidays of Future Passed"	One of the ships in bottles that Homer has built is Discovery (farthest to the left, above Lisa's head).
26	556	"Treehouse of Horror XXV"	Homer attacks Sideshow Mel with a bone similar to how the apes used bones as weapons in the Dawn of Man sequence. Afterwards, he sees what appears to be a black monolith, but is actually an iPhone shown up close. Stanley Kubrick throws a pen in the air in the same way that one of the apes throws a bone at the end of the Dawn of Man sequence.
571	"The Kids Are All Fight"	Also sprach Zarathustra plays when Homer begins to strangle Bart.
28	600	"Treehouse of Horror XXVII"	Bill Odenkirk is credited as "2001: A Space Odenkirk".
610	"Fatzcarraldo"	The sun rising behind the Dominoes Pizza box is a parody of one of the monolith scenes.
30	640	"Bart's Not Dead"	The aliens seen at the beginning of the episode are in a room similar to the one seen at the end of the film.
643	"Treehouse of Horror XXIX"	When Lisa is absorbed by a pod, she has a vision based on the Star Gate sequence.
31	675	"Frinkcoin"	The sun rising over the whiteboard surrounded by lights in the town square.

The Simpsons Movie[edit]

Picture	Reference
	Also sprach Zarathustra plays during the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon seen at the beginning of the movie, during the scene where Itchy and Scratchy land on the Moon.

Specials[edit]

Picture	Title	Reference
	Trumptastic Voyage	During Homer's voyage on Donald Trump's head, he floats past the monolith being worshipped by a number of apes with Trump's hair and the Hamburglar.

Comics[edit]

Picture	Comic issue	Story name	Reference
Simpsons Comics
	Simpsons Comics #159	Big Monty	When Waylon Smithers smashes the sentient computer Lisa has communicated with throughout the entire narrative, its final words are: "Lisa... Lisa... give me your answer do.", a nod to Hal 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey when it is deactivated and starts singing "Daisy Bell" (with the line: "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.").

Video games[edit]

Picture	Game	Reference
	The Simpsons: Tapped Out	R.O.S.A and her catchphrase "I am sorry, I am afraid I can't do that" are references to HAL.

Other[edit]

Picture	Source	Reference
	Powers of Ten parody (couch gag)	Also sprach Zarathustra plays.

Common cast and crew[edit]

Cast[edit]

Picture	Name	Role in the 2001 franchise	Role on The Simpsons
	John Lithgow	Portrayed engineer Walter Curnow in the film adaptation of 2010: Odyssey Two.	Voiced himself in the Season 30 episode "I'm Just a Girl Who Can't Say D'oh".

External links[edit]

2001: A Space Odyssey at Wikipedia

Cultural references

view • talk • edit • past Television
The A-Team • All in the Family • Alvin and the Chipmunks • America's Funniest Home Videos • American Dad! • Animaniacs • Barney & Friends • Battlestar Galactica • Baywatch • Beauty and the Beast • Bewitched • The Big Bang Theory • Black Mirror • Bob's Burgers • The Brady Bunch • Breaking Bad • Charlie's Angels • Cheers • The Critic • CSI • Dallas • Davey and Goliath • DC Comics • Dennis the Menace • Dilbert • Disenchantment • Doctor Who • The Dukes of Hazzard • Family Guy • The Flintstones • Frasier • Futurama • Game of Thrones • Garfield • Gilligan's Island • Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. • Happy Days • The Honeymooners • Gunsmoke • I Dream of Jeannie • I Love Lucy • The Jetsons • King of the Hill • Late Show with David Letterman • Law & Order • The Lone Ranger • Looney Tunes • Lost • Lost in Space • Married... with Children • Marvel • MAS*H • Matlock • Monty Python's Flying Circus • Mork & Mindy • The Munsters • The Muppets • My Little Pony • MythBusters • The Odd Couple • Orange Is the New Black • Peanuts • Pokémon • Popeye • The Powerpuff Girls • The Ren & Stimpy Show • Rick and Morty • The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show • Sailor Moon • Scooby-Doo • Sesame Street • Seinfeld • The Smurfs • The Sopranos • South Park • SpongeBob SquarePants • Stargate • Starsky & Hutch • Star Trek • Stranger Things • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Teletubbies • That '70s Show • Thriller • The Tracey Ullman Show • Transformers • The Twilight Zone • The Walking Dead • When Animals Attack! • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? • The Wonder Years • The X-Files

view • talk • edit • past Films
2001: A Space Odyssey • Alice in Wonderland • Alien • Alvin and the Chipmunks • Apocalypse Now • Avatar • Back to the Future • Beauty and the Beast • Ben-Hur • Das Boot • C.H.U.D. • Charlie's Angels • Casablanca • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory • A Christmas Carol • Citizen Kane • A Clockwork Orange • Close Encounters of the Third Kind • DC Comics • Dial M for Murder • Die Hard • Dracula • The Dukes of Hazzard • The Exorcist • Fantasia • The Fly • Frozen • Garfield • Ghostbusters • The Godfather • Godzilla • Gone with the Wind • Harry Potter • Home Alone • The Hunger Games • Indiana Jones • It's a Wonderful Life • James Bond • Jaws • Jurassic Park • King Kong • Laurel and Hardy • The Lion King • The Little Mermaid • The Little Rascals • The Lone Ranger • Looney Tunes • The Lord of the Rings • MAS*H • Mad Max • Marvel • The Marx Brothers • The Matrix • The Odd Couple • Pirates of the Caribbean • Planet of the Apes • Pokémon • Popeye • Psycho • Pulp Fiction • RoboCop • Saw • Scooby-Doo • The Shawshank Redemption • The Shining • The Silence of the Lambs • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • The Sound of Music • Soylent Green • SpongeBob SquarePants • Star Trek • Star Wars • A Streetcar Named Desire • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Terminator • Thelma & Louise • They Saved Hitler's Brain • The Three Stooges • Thriller • Titanic • Toy Story • Transformers • When Harry Met Sally... • The Wizard of Oz

view • talk • edit • past Video games
Angry Birds • Candy Crush Saga • Donkey Kong • Fortnite • Grand Theft Auto • The Legend of Zelda • Mario • Minecraft • Pokémon • Rocket League

view • talk • edit • past Magazines
Cracked • MAD • The New Yorker • Playboy • Rolling Stone

view • talk • edit • past Books
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn • Alice in Wonderland • Beauty and the Beast • Ben-Hur • The Catcher in the Rye • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory • A Christmas Carol • A Clockwork Orange • Dial M for Murder • Dracula • The Exorcist • Fahrenheit 451 • The Fly • Game of Thrones • The Godfather • Gone with the Wind • Goosebumps • Harry Potter • The Hunger Games • James Bond • Jaws • Jurassic Park • The Little Mermaid • The Lord of the Rings • Moby-Dick • The Old Man and the Sea • Planet of the Apes • Psycho • The Silence of the Lambs • The Shining • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • A Streetcar Named Desire • The Wizard of Oz

view • talk • edit • past Comics
DC Comics • Dennis the Menace • Dilbert • Garfield • Life in Hell • Marvel • Mary Worth • My Little Pony • Peanuts • Popeye • Sailor Moon • The Smurfs • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Tintin • The Walking Dead

view • talk • edit • past Other
Art references • Gilbert and Sullivan • Hindenburg disaster • Photography references • Wikipedia • References in other media