2001 is a story of evolution sometime in the distant past someone or something nudged evolution by placing a monolith on earth presumably elsewhere throughout the universe as well evolution then enabled humankind to reach the moons surface where yet another monolith is found one that signals the monolith placers that humankind has evolved that far. 2001 a space odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by stanley kubrickthe screenplay was written by kubrick and arthur c clarke and was inspired by clarkes 1951 short story the sentinel and other short stories by clarkea novel released after the films premiere was in part written concurrently with the screenplay the film which follows a voyage to jupiter . 2001 a space odyssey is the 1968 science fiction novel written by arthur c clarke and the 1968 film directed by stanley kubrickit is a part of clarkes space odyssey series the first of four novels and two films both the novel and the film are partially based on clarkes 1948 short story the sentinel an entry in a bbc short story competition and encounter in the dawn published in