2001 a Space Odyssey

As a surprisingly forum-appropriate yet off-topic aside, I'm sure all 2001 aficionados know that Kubrick commissioned a de novo film score, delivered by Alex North, which he ultimately discarded (perhaps apropos of Mr. Brennan's penile comment above).

Some years back, that score was released; I'd encourage 2001 fanboys/completists to give it a listen.

Alex_North%27s_2001_Jerry_Goldsmith_record_cover.jpg

The story I've always heard is that the early test screenings, at least for the studio executives, received such a glowing response to the test score made up of existing classical music recordings that Kubrick decided (and was possibly pressured a bit) into using it as-is.

The glacial pace was , I believe, a very deliberate choice by the filmmaker.
Not a lot of explosions, nor even funny aliens.

I do feel bad for Kubrick's lack of foresight in imagining that Pan Am and IBM (umm... HAL) would still be iconic brands in the 21st Century.

oops.

IBM is still a pretty iconic brand, and still builds a lot of high-end industrial and scientific computers. They're one of the companies that have been pioneering the AI industry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)

Zoroastrianism is an ancient monotheistic religion; perhaps the oldest (I am too lazy to actually look it up).

Yeah, I forgot the Bell System videophone.

I do remember the zero-g toilet instructions -- "the film's only intentional joke"

Zero-Gravity+Toilet.jpg

As to the book "vs." the movie; the book was, as I recall, written after the movie -- although based on the early intention to have the extra-terrestrial setting to be Saturn rather than Jupiter (them rings, you know; a bleedin' sign, they are, eh what?). I like the book, but it's cut from a very different cloth than the movie.

Also, as to an earlier comment about 1968 and what we did or didn't "know" about space -- don't forget that the movie was in production for a long, long time (most of the sixties, again, if memory serves).

Another movie hjames probably doesn't like ;) is Silent Running, made by 2001 special effects maven Douglas Trumbull and starring the weird, talented Bruce Dern.
Silent Running does tackle Saturn, and introduces us, literally, to the movie forebears of another galaxy's Artoo Detoo :p

The last scene of Silent Running always makes me sniffle a little bit when I watch it. :)

hqdefault.jpg

The book and movie were written concurrently, Kubrick and Clarke bounced ideas back and forth, and both had final release approval on both versions. The book came out shortly after the film because, in one of Kubrick's infamous dick moves, he withheld his approval of the novel just long enough to make sure that the film would be released a few weeks before the book.
 
Since 2010 has been mentioned, here's a bit of trivia. Arthur C Clarke appeared in the movie, feeding pigeons outside the White House, as Floyd and Millson discussed hitching a ride with the Russians.

Also the Time magazine cover shown in the movie depicts Clarke and Kubrick as the American and Russian presidents.
 
FWIW, Sight&Sound has two top 100 movies lists (ever). In the Director's top 100 ( http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/directors ), 2001: A Space Odyssey is ranked as No. 2 , and in the Critics' top 100 ( http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics ) as No. 6. Besides the fact that these lists have a relative meaning, it is clear that it is considered as one of the best movies ever made by a number of people involved in the film industry, including some creators. It is also apparent that for a number of people it is considered as Kubrick best movie and one of the best movies made by an American director (the omnipresent Citizen Kane shares this honor with it). BTW, Stalker by Tarkovsky (already mentioned in this thread) is also included in both lists.
 
FWIW, Sight&Sound has two top 100 movies lists (ever). In the Director's top 100 ( http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/directors ), 2001: A Space Odyssey is ranked as No. 2 , and in the Critics' top 100 ( http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/critics ) as No. 6. Besides the fact that these lists have a relative meaning, it is clear that it is considered as one of the best movies ever made by a number of people involved in the film industry, including some creators. It is also apparent that for a number of people it is considered as Kubrick best movie and one of the best movies made by an American director (the omnipresent Citizen Kane shares this honor with it). BTW, Stalker by Tarkovsky (already mentioned in this thread) is also included in both lists.

2001 achieved much that nowadays would be thrown at the CGI department. Kubrick' brilliance often comes down to his simple solutions to a demanding problem. The floating pen in 2001's zero gravity scene was simply attached to a plexiglass plate. I watched the scene dozens of times without noticing the slight stickiness as the air hostess pulled it off the plate and placed it in Floyd's pocket. Only after hearing an interview with the actress was I able to go back to the movie and see the trick.

Scenes like using Discovery's main deck as an exercise wheel were performed by having the actor wear the camera because there was no room in the set for additional crew.

That said, there are certainly some modern methods that far surpass what was possible back in the 60s, and Kubrick never did have a monopoly on imagination. I imagine the brilliantly executed scene in Interstellar showing the entry into the wormhole was accompanied by a quietly voiced "Eat THAT, Stanley Kubrick!"
 
Since 2010 has been mentioned, here's a bit of trivia. Arthur C Clarke appeared in the movie, feeding pigeons outside the White House, as Floyd and Millson discussed hitching a ride with the Russians.

Also the Time magazine cover shown in the movie depicts Clarke and Kubrick as the American and Russian presidents.

Thus...

bba95df8fdd171542ebfca8c59a6cc41.jpg



Another...

2012-02-08-kubricknewsweek.jpg
 
Kubricks genius was juxtaposing classical music with modern visual themes

He started with Dr Strangelove in the opening where the B52 makes love to the tanker
Then 2001 with the Blue Danube with the space station and the Gayene Ballet is the loneliest music ever
Clockwork Orange Classical with Ultra Violence
 
Speaking of A Clockwork Orange, this has always been my favorite "Easter Egg" therefrom.

06-big.jpg


The dystopian Earth of Kubrick's version of Burgess' novel could have been the Earth we never see (except from space) in 2001.
 
"In a 1959 essay Clarke predicted global satellite TV broadcasts that would cross national boundaries indiscriminately and would bring hundreds of channels available anywhere in the world. He also envisioned a "personal transceiver, so small and compact that every man carries one." He wrote: "the time will come when we will be able to call a person anywhere on Earth merely by dialling a number."

Understand that I read Clark's explanations about satellite being used as borderless weapons ages ago - probably BEFORE I read "The Sentinel" and long before I actually saw 2001. Its not that I don't like 2001, its just that it didn't age well for me, and I don't have the patience for all that "Gee whiz, man in space ... sigh... " atmosphere. Like many folks can't site through the long sequences in the 1st Star Trek movie showing the Enterprise on the big screen ...

And I actually do like SiIent Running - If I shut off my brain and just watch it for the visuals its lots of fun ... except for the cheesey Joan Baez music...!
... and the concept that a botanist would not understanding the forests were dying due to lack of sunlight ... duh!




Another movie hjames probably doesn't like ;) is Silent Running, made by 2001 special effects maven Douglas Trumbull and starring the weird, talented Bruce Dern.
Silent Running does tackle Saturn, and introduces us, literally, to the movie forebears of another galaxy's Artoo Detoo :p

The last scene of Silent Running always makes me sniffle a little bit when I watch it. :)

hqdefault.jpg
 
Speaking of A Clockwork Orange, this has always been my favorite "Easter Egg" therefrom.

06-big.jpg


The dystopian Earth of Kubrick's version of Burgess' novel could have been the Earth we never see (except from space) in 2001.

I thought it was a neat touch. Nothing like doing something just because you can.

Clarke alludes to the fact that all is not well on Earth in the book. As Floyd is heading for the moon he wonders whether the place will still exist when he gets back. I wonder if that is some sort of homage to Dr Strangelove?
 
"In a 1959 essay Clarke predicted global satellite TV broadcasts that would cross national boundaries indiscriminately and would bring hundreds of channels available anywhere in the world. He also envisioned a "personal transceiver, so small and compact that every man carries one." He wrote: "the time will come when we will be able to call a person anywhere on Earth merely by dialling a number."

Understand that I read Clark's explanations about satellite being used as borderless weapons ages ago - probably BEFORE I read "The Sentinel" and long before I actually saw 2001. Its not that I don't like 2001, its just that it didn't age well for me, and I don't have the patience for all that "Gee whiz, man in space ... sigh... " atmosphere. Like many folks can't site through the long sequences in the 1st Star Trek movie showing the Enterprise on the big screen ...

And I actually do like SiIent Running - If I shut off my brain and just watch it for the visuals its lots of fun ... except for the cheesey Joan Baez music...!
... and the concept that a botanist would not understanding the forests were dying due to lack of sunlight ... duh!

I -- I kind of like Queen Joan's song(s) in the soundtrack :p

I like that movie a lot, even though it is indeed cheesy and more than a little bit "of its time".
I like the droids playing poker with Dern :)
 
Yup, I got that (in terms of your liking Silent Running) :)

You probably know that Schickele (of whom I've been a fan since childhood*, btw) and Joanie had worked together at least once before (maybe more, I dunno)
R-1525318-1286532486.jpeg.jpg


As an aside -- my big beef against so many space movies: something blows up in space, and we hear a big explosion on the soundtrack.

___________
* mine, not his, that is.
 
Yup, I got that (in terms of your liking Silent Running) :)

You probably know that Schickele (of whom I've been a fan since childhood*, btw) and Joanie had worked together at least once before (maybe more, I dunno)
R-1525318-1286532486.jpeg.jpg


As an aside -- my big beef against so many space movies: something blows up in space, and we hear a big explosion on the soundtrack.

___________
* mine, not his, that is.

Taking up your aside, I wish the movie makers would trust the audience on points like that one. I don't need a huge explosion to tell me that shit just went sideways. Neither do I need the plot simplifying. If Bradbury, Dick or Heinlein wrote it, I want to see it.

Since Solaris has been mentioned in this thread, I'll point out that the 1972 version was not the original. The 1968 version (b/w) apparently follows Lem's plot a lot more closely. I haven't seen any of them yet but the book and both movie versions are on my to-do list. It seems to me, reading the synopsis, that I read a book years ago by A E van Vogt that was inspired by, or was the inspiration for, Solaris. Wish I could remember the title.
 
Great movie but the soundtrack was always a disappointment. I figure that by now somebody would have resurrected the soundtrack and make the movie as great as it was intended.
Many fixes have been done to the Star Wars and sequels to make them much better sounding. Not up to todays recordings but very, very good.
 
Look at what just came in the mail today. What can be more appropriate viewing on brutal cold January evening?

(Well either this, 2001, The Shining or Fargo). :)

001.JPG
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom