Jimmy Joe and the BOX
Jimmy Joe and the MONOLITH (?!)
My God. It's full of cardboard!
One of the more interesting tidbits about the Jimmy Joe universe is its amazing resemblance to another big story.
And that is Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
What is the resemblance? Well, look at it this way:
Jimmy Joe's BOX
and
2001's Monolith
The BOX and the Monolith. Two strange and silent unknowns.
Both come from some advanced culture not of the Earth.
Both are tools of that culture from which they originate.
Both use the "capture" method.
Both are a simple shape based on a cube.
2001 was from 1968, Jimmy Joe from 1995.
So... Jimmy Joe copied off of 2001, right?
Wrong.
It was another year before I realized the resemblance. I was shocked. Parts of 2001 and Jimmy Joe were actually interchangeable. It was never planned that way. It just happened.
The character of Jimmy Joe can be 2001's David Bowman.
The BOX can be the Monolith.
Once I saw the connection between the two, I couldn't help myself. I immediately wrote a scene into the first Jimmy Joe movie. It ended up being the last scene in the film. In 2001, it was the first scene.
It was none other than the famous Monkey-Finds-Monolith scene. Except, for Jimmy Joe: The Motion Picture, I changed it to Monkey-Finds-Box. The scene is quite similar to 2001, complete with the monkey hesitantly touching the Box. It is the only plagiarized part of the whole Jimmy Joe saga. And, the scene is complete with Thus Sprach Zarathustra, as it was in 2001. Even an idiot could see the resemblance.
For those of you who don't know, the monolith is the big, black thing. (No, not Mr. T) It looks like a giant domino. But without the dots.
Now, whether or not Jimmy Joe will ever visit Europa, the Moon, or a mysterious hotel room far from Earth is something that only future stories can tell. Will Star-Child Dave Bowman ever meet up with Box-Child Jimmy Joe? Will the Monolith and the Box ever try to capture one another?
Well, as Dave said in 2001:
"I don't think that's something anybody can truthfully answer."
Another part of the Jimmy Joe Universe that alludes to 2001 is a concept that was dropped. During a scene in Jimmy Joe: The Motion Picture II, there was to be a U.S.S. Discovery. A design for it was made and approved. It resembled the Discovery seen in 2001. (Jimmy Joe's Discovery had the registry of JGS-2001). The scrapped scene would have been on the ship's bridge, where a large panel of "History of the Vessel Discovery" would be hung. There would be four pictures: The 18th century sailing vessel H.M.S. Discovery, the Space Shuttle Discovery, 2001's Discovery-1, and Jimmy Joe's U.S.S. Discovery. But, the scene was cut. We can only assume that it was there.
The future Jimmy Joe may make idle references to 2001, but it's doubtful that there will so blatantly be a part that copies it so exactly as the monkey scene, but hey, that scene is copied by everybody, so I was just leaving my mark. Naturally.
I will keep this chapter updated with all new 2001 references that are made in Jimmy Joe.
Oh, and if you have no idea what the heck I'm talking about and only made it this far because you're bored, then I urge you to go out and see 2001: A Space Odyssey. It hasn't been called "one of the greatest movies ever made" for thirty years for no reason. It's a great movie. I love it. And then... you may just understand... me.
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This page engaged 25 February 2001.
Last updated 25 February 2001.
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