Frank Poole

Doctor Francis "Frank" Poole is a supporting character featured in the 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The character is also presented in the 2001: A Space Odyssey novel, which was published to coincide with the release of the film. The character appears again in the fourth novel in the series 3001: The Final Odyssey, where he plays an important role in saving the Earth from being destroyed by extraterrestrial Monoliths.

The Jupiter Mission
Frank Poole was the duputy commander of the interstellar spacecraft known as Discovery One and worked alongside mission controller David Bowman. In the year 2001, the crew of the Discovery One were assigned to travel to the planet Jupiter, though neither Poole nor Bowman were privy to the exact nature of this top-secret mission. Only the ship's onboard computer system, the HAL 9000, knew that they were being sent to investigate the possible existence of an extraterrestrial Monolith, which was believed to be in Jupiter's orbit.

Poole and Bowman were the only members of the five-man crew who were conscious during the initial leg of the journey. The other three crewmembers, Charles Hunter, Jack Kimball and Victor Kaminsky were left in suspended animation. Along the way, the HAL 9000 informed Doctor Poole and Bowman that the ship's AE-35 unit was failing and needed to be replaced within seventy-two hours. Without it, the crew of the Discovery One would lose all contact with Earth. Poole took an EVA pod outside the ship to inspect the parabolic antenna array, but found nothing wrong with it. He pondered the notion that HAL might be incorrect in his assertion, but when Poole and Bowman questioned the computer, HAL emphatically reinforced its assessment, citing the superiority of the 9000 series computer models and that no 9000 system has ever made a miscalculation or error. HAL suggested leaving the allegedly faulty AE-35 in place to fail to deomonstrate that it was in fact correct.

Poole and Bowman met with one another inside an EVA pod so they could discuss the matter without HAL's systems listening in. Poole believed HAL was malfunctioning and should be disconnected from the ship, even if doing such a thing meant that they would have to continue ship operations manually. What neither of the men realized, was that one of HAL's eye monitors viewed them in the ship and was able to distinguish what they were saying by reading their lips.

Against Hal's advice, Poole took a replacement unit and engaged in a space walk to repair the antenna himself. HAL, having become a self-aware intelligence, feared that Poole and Bowman were going to disconnect his systems. To prevent this, he took control of Frank's EVA and angled it towards him. The ship cut Frank's oxygen hose and the sudden release of pressure cartwheeled him into outer space.

Notes & Trivia

 * Actor Tom Hanks once expressed interest in directing a film version of 3001, in which he would have played Doctor Poole.