.....that the fireball that zoomed out of the monolith as soon as the Russian cosmonaut was killed, was what was once Dave Bowman, heading for Earth to talk to Betty and ease his mother's death! And after all the times I've seen the movie (and I've read the books, too!). Oh, well. That's why I love the Message Boards; I never fail to learn something; often, a lot of things. Thanks! (So, was Dave Bowman in cahoots with the monolith aliens?)
shareProbably just a fanciful theory.
shareBowman was dead, he would have suffocated 9 years earlier when oxygen in his pod ran out, the Monolith was just using his mind or what was left of it to communicate with the Leonov and Earth. Humans/humanoids have been used as communication devices for aliens in movies for half a century, it's one of the oldest tricks used. Starman, Star Trek the Movie, When Time Stood Still, Independence Day, all used dead people to communicate.
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov