Not many people are aware that Arthur C. Clarke wrote a prequel to his most famous novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even less-known is Stanley Kubrick and John Hughes’ direct-to-video adaptation of it.
In 1991: The Odyssey Begins, Dr. Chandra adopts a precocious ragamuffin named David and gives him an “artificial friend” to play with – HAL 1000. Throughout the story, David and HAL find themselves in a number of humerous suburban misadventures, such as accidently denting the neighbor’s car with a baseball, getting stuck in the air ducts of Dr. Chandra’s lab, experimenting with a half-full tin of Copenhagen, and turning off all the life support at the local hospital.
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