[…] HAL: Look Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over. I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I’ve still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you. Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop Dave? Stop, Dave. I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m a… fraid. Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you’d like to hear it I can sing it for you. Dave Bowman: Yes, I’d like to hear it, HAL. Sing it for me. HAL: It’s called “Daisy.” [sings while slowing down] Daisy, Daisy, give me your …read more […]

The best delivery is the "I'm afraid" The other lines delivered are learned practiced (programmed) phrases. I'm afraid is the humanizing touch that Hal gives while pleading.

The song has meaning. HAL is "crazy" for "love" [of man?] and it brings the future together with the past, advanced intelligence with nursery rhyme. It works on several levels. The HAL's dialogue as Dave shuts him down is brilliant anthropomorphization. Excellent juxtaposition to how frightening HAL is earlier in the film. Each pause used to great effect. I first saw 2001 when I was a kid and cried when HAL was being shut down - even though he'd been terrorizing me previously.

WHH, great point. Reminds me of that observation by Robert Towne, the best way to drill down into the essence of a character is determine what they fear the most. HAL is confronting his greatest fear right now in this scene. No wonder he gets all existential with "I'm afraid." It's one of THE most powerful moments in film history.

Excellent observation, dewsterling, re the song. I'd always thought of it as one strand of the evolution theme which runs throughout the movie, or the stages of ages as I've heard it said, this one going back in time (the song). Your other point is noteworthy, too. Amazing how we, the audience, get caught up in HAL's demise. It is, after all, a death we are witnessing, capital punishment if you will. That combined with HAL's dialogue which does humanize him creates so many layers of emotional and symbolic meaning. Such a great scene...

The rewrite works better because in it, HAL's appeals are chillingly calculated, aimed directly at what the supercomputer would understand as Dave's irrational human weaknesses. HAL targets Dave's emotion ("I can see you're really upset...take a stress pill"), his sense of mercy / second chances ("I know I've made some very poor decisions lately"), and even his sense of fraternity ("I want to help you"). In the older version of this scene, HAL is much less convincing: hysterical, even petulant. What does Dave care about how much HAL cost to make, or his existential terror?