Differences With The Film
Some plot points and characters were omitted from the film version, while others were added.
- In the novel, Ellie is well into her 40s, as is Palmer Joss.
- Attempts to cut funding for Ellie's project are not prominent in the novel.
- S.R. Hadden's retirement plan and his last journey are different.
- Ellie's romantic relationships are different.
- Ellie's mother is still alive, and re-married after her father died.
- The President of the United States is a fictional woman, not Bill Clinton.
- The contents and the coding of The Message are different (polarity modulation vs between lines of video).
- The work on The Message causes a major thaw of international relations in the novel.
- There are three Machines built in the novel, but only 2 in the film.
- The transport capsule is enclosed within solid rotating spheres, with a vacuum between the spheres, instead of falling through spinning rings.
- The Machine transports only one inhabitant (Ellie, an American) in the film.
- The apparent elapsed time of the journey, from earth's perspective, is considerably shorter in film.
- The alien "beach" in the novel is indistinguishable from a real beach, while in the film it is given an artificial, dream-like quality.
- The entire last chapter of the novel was not included in the film.
Read more about this topic: Contact (novel)
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