2001: A Space Odyssey in popular culture "2001" was the unbeatable film that in a sense killed the science fiction genre. Similarly, film critic Michel Ciment in his essay "Odyssey of Stanley Kubrick" stated, "Kubrick has conceived a film which in one stroke has made the whole science fiction cinema obsolete." However, others credit "2001" with opening up a market for films such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Alien", "Blade Runner" and "Contact"; proving that big-budget "serious" science-fiction films can be commercially successful, and establishing the "sci-fi blockbuster" as a Hollywood staple. Science magazine "Discover"s blogger Stephen Cass, discussing the considerable impact of the film
A Time Odyssey Clarke's previous "Space Odyssey" novel series. In the introduction to the "Time's Eye", Clarke describes the premise as "neither a prequel nor a sequel" to "Space Odyssey", but an "orthoquel" (a neologism coined by Clarke for this purpose, combining the word "sequel" with "ortho-", the Greek prefix meaning "straight" or "perpendicular", and alluding to the fact that time is orthogonal to space in relativity theory). In "Space Odyssey", a race of benevolent godlike aliens with highly advanced technology decides to use machines called "monoliths" to travel across the galaxy with the intention to ensure the survival chances of intelligent life