The Lines: The following creepy, childlike exchange with Dave...
HAL: 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." HAL: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.
How He Dies: Slowly, singing, as he shuts down. HAL's demise is an oddly appropriate full-stop on the curious life of the sentient, murderous artificial intelligence: following the trend set by other robot-focused films that use the jarring motif of human-like behaviour (and especially infantile characteristics) to reinforce weirdness. There is something delightfully perverse about Dave singing a simple nursery rhyme, especially in conjunction with HAL's acknowledgement of his own mortality.
