2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

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2001: A Space Odyssey

Original film poster
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Produced by Stanley Kubrick
Written by Novel:
Arthur C. Clarke
Screenplay:
Stanley Kubrick
Arthur C. Clarke
Starring Keir Dullea
Gary Lockwood
William Sylvester
Daniel Richter
Leonard Rossiter
Douglas Rain
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Editing by Ray Lovejoy
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Turner Entertainment
Warner Bros.
Release date(s) April 6, 1968
(United States)
Running time 160 minutes
(Premiere)
141 minutes
(General release)
Country United Kingdom
United States
Language English
Budget $10,500,000
Gross revenue $191,000,000 (Worldwide)
Followed by 2010
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. The film deals with thematic elements of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, ambiguous and often surreal imagery, sound in place of traditional narrative techniques, and minimal use of dialogue.

Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, 2001: A Space Odyssey is today recognized by critics and audiences as one of the greatest films ever made; the 2002 Sight & Sound poll of critics ranked it among the top ten films of all time.[1] It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and received one for visual effects. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.

Tagline: An epic drama of adventure and exploration.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Tribal apes approach the mysterious black monolith.
Tribal apes approach the mysterious black monolith.

The title sequence begins with an image of the Earth rising over the Moon, while the Sun rises over the Earth.

Over images of an African desert, a caption reads "The Dawn of Man". A tribe of prehistoric ape-men is struggling to survive in the dry desert. One morning, a mysterious black rectangular monolith appears near their habitat and is examined by the nervous apes. Following this encounter, a lone ape-man (Daniel Richter) invents the first tool when he picks up a bone from a pile and discovers he can use it as a club to crush other bones. The tool-using tribe is seen to be then eating the meat of a tapir which they killed, whereas they had previously been eating vegetation. The ape-man, now standing partially upright, leads the tribe in defense of their waterhole against another tribe, using the new weapon to club an enemy ape to death. The victorious ape-man throws his weapon into the air, at which point the film jumps to the future, in a match cut that links the tumbling bone to an orbital satellite.

A Pan American Orion_III_spaceplane carrying only one passenger, Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (William Sylvester) docks with an Earth-orbital space station. From the station, Floyd makes a videophone call to his daughter on Earth (played by Vivian Kubrick). He then encounters an old friend, Elena, one of a group of Soviet scientists. When he says he is traveling to the American base in Clavius crater, one of the Soviets, Dr. Andrei Smyslov (Leonard Rossiter), asks why no one has been able to contact Clavius, mentioning that Clavius had even denied emergency landing permission to a Soviet shuttle, in violation of international agreements. Floyd feigns surprise, but when Smyslov presses him for further details, alluding to "very reliable intelligence reports" that a serious epidemic of unknown origin has broken out at Clavius, and expresses concern that the epidemic might spread to the Soviet base, Floyd replies that he is "not at liberty" to comment.

Floyd travels to Clavius Base on a lunar shuttle. At the Base, Floyd meets scientists and administrators and speaks about the importance of hiding the true reason for the base's suspicious quarantine. He states that the cover story of an epidemic and a base-wide communications black-out will remain in effect until their superiors on Earth decide otherwise. He reminds them of "the potential for cultural shock and social disorientation" that the discovery presents. Though ostensibly there to assess the situation and make a report, Floyd informs those present that new security oaths are required from all personnel.

During a later moonbus ride to the excavation, a discussion between Floyd and a base administrator reveals they have discovered an alien object, "deliberately buried" on the Moon four million years earlier. At the dig site, the scientists approach an identical monolith to that found by the man-apes; like them, Floyd strokes its smooth surface. The scientists gather around it for a group photo but are interrupted when a continuous high-pitched tone is picked up by their radio receivers, apparently triggered by the first rays of the sun to reach the monolith since its burial.

Three of the Discovery One crew are in a state of hibernation, ostensibly to conserve resources for the voyage.
Three of the Discovery One crew are in a state of hibernation, ostensibly to conserve resources for the voyage.

At this point, a caption reads "Jupiter Mission: Eighteen Months Later". On board the spaceship Discovery One, bound for Jupiter, are two mission pilots, astronauts Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) and Frank Poole (Gary Lockwood), and three scientists "sleeping" in cryogenic hibernation. Dave and Frank watch a BBC television program about themselves, in which the "sixth member" of the crew, the HAL 9000 supercomputer (voiced by Douglas Rain), is introduced and interviewed. The interview reveals that the supercomputer is the pinnacle in artificial intelligence, with an error-free performance record. HAL 9000 is designed to communicate and interact like a human, and even mimics (or reproduces) human emotions; in fact the astronauts have learned to treat it like another crewman, addressing it as "Hal".

During an informal conversation with Dave, HAL raises concerns about the unusual secrecy surrounding the mission, and repeats rumors about "something being dug up on the moon." When Dave suggests that HAL's quizzical conversation is actually part of his "crew psychology report," HAL abruptly reports an imminent equipment malfunction. He claims to have detected a defect in a component of the ship's communications system. Dave exits the Discovery in an EVA pod to retrieve and replace the faulty AE-35 unit, but upon detailed examination no fault can be found. Mission controllers back on Earth assert that HAL is "in error in predicting the fault", something unheard of for the 9000 series. HAL suggests another EVA mission to restore the part and wait for it to fail: this will determine the problem. Hiding their concern, Dave and Frank retreat to a pod to discuss, in secret, HAL's questionable reliability. They finally agree to "disconnect" him should the AE-35 not fail, as he predicted. Unbeknownst to them, however, HAL is reading their lips.

As Dave watches from inside Discovery, Frank exits in a pod to put back the original AE-35. While Frank is performing the EVA, HAL takes control of the empty pod, and accelerates it at Frank, severing his oxygen hose and sending his body tumbling in space. Dave hurriedly exits the ship in another pod to rescue Frank, forgetting to bring his space helmet. While Dave is outside, HAL kills the three hibernating scientists by deactivating their life support systems.

Upon returning to the ship with Frank's lifeless body, Dave is refused reentry into the ship by HAL. HAL reveals that he knows of Frank and Dave's plan to disconnect him, and asserts that the mission is "too important" to allow any human to jeopardize it. HAL terminates the conversation. After releasing Frank's body, Dave opens an air lock, and activates the pod's emergency hatch bolts. The explosive decompression propels him into the airlock, exposed to the vacuum of space without a helmet, but he manages to close and pressurize the airlock.

Bowman (here seen in his space suit, from above) enters HAL 9000's Central Core in the Discovery to disconnect his "higher functions."
Bowman (here seen in his space suit, from above) enters HAL 9000's Central Core in the Discovery to disconnect his "higher functions."

Safely inside the ship, Dave enters HAL's 'Logic Memory Center'. As HAL futilely attempts to negotiate with him, Dave proceeds to disconnect his higher brain functions. HAL pleads and protests his termination, slowly regresses to past memories, sings a song he learned during his initial programming, and finally falls silent. Suddenly, a pre-recorded video briefing by Dr. Floyd plays, explaining the true nature of the mission — to investigate the signal sent to Jupiter from the alien artifact on the Moon. Floyd discloses that the secret mission had been known only to HAL until the ship's arrival in Jupiter space.

The Star Child looking at the Earth
The Star Child looking at the Earth

A caption reads "Jupiter and beyond the Infinite". A third monolith is seen in orbit around Jupiter. As the planet and its moons and the monolith appear to align, Dave exits Discovery One in a pod to investigate. He appears to travel across vast distances of space and time through a "Star Gate," a tunnel of colorful light and imagery and sound. After passing over the landscape of an alien world, Bowman arrives in a futuristic room containing Louis XVI-style decor[2] which was modeled after The Dorchester hotel in London.[3] As he walks about the room, he repeatedly sees himself at later stages of aging, first in his spacesuit, then in an ornate dressing robe, sitting down to a well-appointed meal. The older Dave accidentally knocks his glass on the floor, smashing it and breaking the silence. Looking up from the broken glass, he sees himself lying on what appears to be his deathbed, at the foot of which appears a final monolith. Dave slowly reaches out to it and is transformed into a fetus-like being enclosed in a transparent orb of light — the "Star Child". The film suddenly returns to space near the Moon and Earth. Floating in space, the Star Child gazes at Earth.

[edit] Cast

Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman
Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman

[edit] Production

[edit] Writing

Shortly after completing Dr Strangelove (1964), Stanley Kubrick became fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life,[2] and determined to make "the proverbial good science fiction movie".[4] Searching for a suitable collaborator in the science fiction community, Kubrick was advised to seek out Arthur C. Clarke by a mutual acquaintance, Columbia Pictures staffer Roger Caras. Although convinced that Clarke was "a recluse, a nut who lives in a tree", Kubrick agreed that Caras would cable the Ceylon-based author with the film proposal. Clarke's cabled response stated that he was "frightfully interested in working with enfant terrible", and added "what makes Kubrick think I’m a recluse?"[5]

In early conversations, Kubrick and Clarke jokingly called their project How the Solar System Was Won, an allusion to the 1962 Cinerama epic How the West Was Won.[6] Like that film, Kubrick's production would be divided into distinct episodes. Clarke considered adapting a number of his earlier stories before selecting "The Sentinel", published in 1950, as the starting point for the film. The collaborators originally planned to develop a novel first, free of the constraints of a normal script, and then to write the screenplay; they envisaged that the final writing credits would be "Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, based on a novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick", to reflect their pre-eminence in their respective fields.[7] However, in practice the cinematic ideas required for the screenplay developed parallel to the novel, with cross-fertilisation between the two. In the end, the screenplay credits were shared while the novel, released shortly after the film, was attributed to Clarke alone, but Clarke wrote later that "the nearest approximation to the complicated truth" is that the screenplay should be credited to "Kubrick and Clarke" and the novel to "Clarke and Kubrick".[8]

On 22 February 1965, MGM announced it was backing Kubrick’s new science fiction film under the title Journey Beyond the Stars.[9] Interviewed by The New Yorker shortly afterwards, Kubrick compared the proposed film to "a space Odyssey",[7] and in April he officially changed the title to 2001: A Space Odyssey.[8] The date of 2001 was said to allude to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, which was set in 2026.[10] Arthur C. Clarke kept a diary throughout his involvement with 2001, excerpts of which were published in 1972 as The Lost Worlds of 2001. Clarke's diary reveals that by the time backing was secured for Journey Beyond the Stars in early 1965, the writers still had no firm idea of what would happen to Bowman after the Star Gate sequence, though as early as 17 October 1964 Kubrick had come up with what Clarke called a "wild idea of slightly fag robots who create a Victorian environment to put our heroes at their ease".[8] Initially all of Discovery’s astronauts were to survive the journey; a decision to leave Bowman as the sole survivor and have him regress to infancy was agreed by 3 October 1965.[8] The computer HAL was originally to have been called "Athena", from the Greek goddess of wisdom, with a feminine voice and persona.[8] Clarke noted that, contrary to popular rumor, it was a complete coincidence that each of the letters of HAL’s name immediately preceded those of IBM.[11]

[edit] Filming

Filming of 2001 began December 29, 1965 in Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, England. The studio was chosen because it could house the 60'x 120'x 60' pit for the Tycho crater excavation scene, the first to be shot.[12] From 1966, filming was at MGM-British Studios in Borehamwood, from where the production was run to facilitate special effects filming; it was described as a "huge throbbing nerve center… with much the same frenetic atmosphere as a Cape Kennedy blockhouse during the final stages of Countdown."[13]

The film was planned to be photographed in 3-film-strip Cinerama (like How The West Was Won), but was changed to Super Panavision 70 (which uses a single-strip 65 mm negative) on the advice of special photographic effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull, due to distortion problems with the 3-strip system; color processing and 35 mm release prints was done using Technicolor's dye transfer process. The 70 mm prints were made by MGM Laboratories, Inc. or Metrocolor. In March of 1968, Kubrick began editing the film, making his final cuts just before the film's general release in April 1968. The budget was $4.5 million over the initial $6.0 million budget, and 16 months behind schedule.[12]

[edit] Special effects

This film pioneered retroreflective matting (front projection) used in the African scenes where apes learn to use tools. Static landscape transparency images were projected through a partly-silvered mirror placed diagonally before the camera. The projected landscape image illuminates both the actors and the retro-reflective glass-bead background screen. The projected landscape is invisible on the actors because it is dimmer than the scene illumination. The glass-bead background screen selectively reflects the landscape and actors' images to the camera, passing through the mirror and photographed as the background of the scene the audience view. The projected background image is reflected in the eyes of the leopard, because the feline retina is highly reflective. Front projection produced more realistic images than did other methods of the time; today, computer-processed bluescreen techniques have replaced it.

Director of Photography Geoffrey Unsworth wanted the film to not be muddied up with printing effects such as blue screen, so the space travel effects were done in-camera. The model of the Discovery One space craft was moved along a track, mechanically linked to the camera. On the first pass, the model was unlit, masking the star-field. The model and film were returned to the start position, and on the second pass, the model was lit. For the third pass, motion picture frames were projected onto retroreflective screens in the model's windows, showing the interior of the ship. The result was a film negative that was as sharp as live footage.

[edit] Deleted scenes

Kubrick filmed several scenes that were deleted from the final film. These include a schoolroom on the moon base; Floyd buying a bush baby from a department store, via videophone, for his daughter; additional space walks; and astronaut Bowman retrieving a spare part from an octagonal corridor. The most notable cut was a 10-minute black-and-white opening sequence featuring interviews with actual scientists discussing extraterrestrial life, which Kubrick removed after an early screening for MGM executives.[14]

[edit] Release

The film's world premiere was on April 2, 1968, at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.. Kubrick deleted 19 minutes from the film just before the film's general release on 6 April 1968.[15][16] It was released in 70mm format, with a six-track stereo magnetic soundtrack, and projected in the 2.21:1 aspect ratio. In autumn 1968, it was generally released in 35mm anamorphic format, with either a four-track magnetic stereo soundtrack or an optical monaural soundtrack.

The original 70 mm release was advertised as Cinerama in cinemas equipped with special projection optics and a deeply curved screen. In standard cinemas, the film was identified as a 70 mm production. The original release of 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70 mm Cinerama with six-track sound (via Klipschorn- and Odyssey-model cinema speakers) played continually for two years in The Glendale Theater, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a feat cited by Arthur C. Clarke in the non-fiction book The Lost Worlds of 2001.[16]

MGM also published letterbox laserdisc editions (including an updated edition with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound). There also was a special edition laserdisc from The Criterion Collection in the CAV format. In 1999, it was re-released in VHS, and in 2001 as part of the "Stanley Kubrick Collection" in both VHS and DVD formats with remastered sound and picture.

It has been released on Region 1 DVD four times: once by MGM Home Entertainment in 1998 and thrice by Warner Home Video in 1999, 2001, and 2007. The MGM release had a booklet, the film, trailer, and an interview with Arthur C. Clarke, and the soundtrack was remastered in 5.1 surround sound. The 1999 Warner Bros. release omitted the booklet, yet had a re-release trailer. The 2001 release contained the re-release trailer, the film in the original 2.21:1 aspect ratio, digitally re-mastered from the original 70 mm print, and the soundtrack remixed in 5.1 surround sound. A limited edition DVD included a booklet, 70 mm^ frame, and a new soundtrack CD of the film's actual (unreleased) music tracks, and a sampling of HAL's dialogue.

Warner Home Video released a 2-DVD Special Edition on October 23, 2007 as part of their latest set of Kubrick reissues. The DVD was released on its own and as part of a revised Stanley Kubrick box set which contains new Special Edition versions of A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, Full Metal Jacket, and the documentary A Life in Pictures. Additionally, the film was released in high definition on both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

[edit] Reaction

Upon release, 2001 polarized critical opinion, receiving both ecstatic praise and vehemently negative criticism. Some critics viewed the original 160-minute cut shown at premieres in Washington, New York and Los Angeles,[15] while others saw the 19 minutes shorter general release version that was in theaters from April 6, 1968 onwards. In The New Yorker, Penelope Gilliatt said it was "some kind of great film, and an unforgettable endeavor…The film is hypnotically entertaining, and it is funny without once being gaggy, but it is also rather harrowing."[17] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times opined that it was "the picture that science fiction fans of every age and in every corner of the world have prayed (sometimes forlornly) that the industry might some day give them. It is an ultimate statement of the science fiction film, an awesome realization of the spatial future…it is a milestone, a landmark for a spacemark, in the art of film."[18] Louise Sweeney of The Christian Science Monitor felt that 2001 was "a brilliant intergalactic satire on modern technology. It's also a dazzling 160-minute tour on the Kubrick filmship through the universe out there beyond our earth."[19] Philip French wrote that the film was "perhaps the first multi-million-dollar supercolossal movie since D.W. Griffith's Intolerance fifty years ago which can be regarded as the work of one man…Space Odyssey is important as the high-water mark of science-fiction movie making, or at least of the genre's futuristic branch."[20] The Boston Globe's review indicated that it was "the world's most extraordinary film. Nothing like it has ever been shown in Boston before or, for that matter, anywhere…The film is as exciting as the discovery of a new dimension in life."[21] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars in his original review, believing the film "succeeds magnificently on a cosmic scale."[22] Time provided at least seven different mini-reviews of the film in various issues in 1968, each one slightly more positive than the preceding one; in the final review dated December 27, 1968, the magazine called 2001 "an epic film about the history and future of mankind, brilliantly directed by Stanley Kubrick. The special effects are mindblowing."[23]

However Pauline Kael said it was "a monumentally unimaginative movie",[24] and Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic called it "a film that is so dull, it even dulls our interest in the technical ingenuity for the sake of which Kubrick has allowed it to become dull."[25] Renata Adler of The New York Times wrote that it was "somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring."[26] Variety's 'Robe' believed the film was a "Big, beautiful, but plodding sci-fi epic…A major achievement in cinematography and special effects, 2001 lacks dramatic appeal to a large degree and only conveys suspense after the halfway mark."[27] Andrew Sarris called it "one of the grimmest films I have ever seen in my life…2001 is a disaster because it is much too abstract to make its abstract points."[28] (Sarris reversed his opinion upon a second viewing of the film, and declared "2001 is indeed a major work by a major artist."[29]) John Simon felt it was "a regrettable failure, although not a total one. This film is fascinating when it concentrates on apes or machines…and dreadful when it deals with the in-betweens: humans…2001, for all its lively visual and mechanical spectacle, is a kind of space-Spartacus and, more pretentious still, a shaggy God story."[30]

The "Star Gate" sequence, one of many groundbreaking visual effects.
The "Star Gate" sequence, one of many groundbreaking visual effects.

2001 earned one Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Director (Kubrick), and Original Screenplay (Kubrick, Clarke).

[edit] Top film lists

2001 was number 22 on AFI's 100 Years… 100 Movies, and was named number 40 on its 100 Years, 100 Thrills, included on its 100 Years, 100 Quotes ("Open the pod bay doors, HAL."), also HAL 9000 is # 13 villain in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, is the only science fiction film to make the Sight & Sound poll for ten best movies, and tops the Online Film Critics Society list of "greatest science fiction films of all time."[31] In 1991, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. Other lists that include the film are 50 Films to See Before You Die (#6), The Village Voice 100 Best Films of the 20th Century (#11), the Sight & Sound Top Ten poll (#6),[32] and Roger Ebert's Top Ten (1968) (#2). In 1995, the Vatican named it as one of the 45 best films ever made (and included it in a sub-list of the "Top Ten Art Movies" of all time.)[33]

[edit] Academy Awards

Award Person
Best Visual Effects Stanley Kubrick
Nominated:
Best Original Screenplay Stanley Kubrick
Arthur C. Clarke
Best Art Direction Anthony Masters
Harry Lange
Ernest Archer
Best Director Stanley Kubrick

[edit] Other awards

[edit] Won

[edit] Nominated

[edit] Interpretation

Main article: Interpretations of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Since its premiere, 2001: A Space Odyssey has been analyzed and interpreted by multitudes of people ranging from professional movie critics to amateur writers and science fiction fans. Kubrick encouraged people to explore their own interpretations of the film, and refused to offer an explanation of "what really happened" in the movie, preferring instead to let audiences embrace their own ideas and theories. In a 1968 interview with Playboy magazine, Kubrick stated:

You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film — and such speculation is one indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level — but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point.[34]

[edit] Scientific accuracy

Spaceship USS Discovery One launching an EVA pod. Note the deliberately non-aerodynamic design of both craft. In space, aerodynamics do not matter.
Spaceship USS Discovery One launching an EVA pod. Note the deliberately non-aerodynamic design of both craft. In space, aerodynamics do not matter.

The primary technical adviser for 2001: A Space Odyssey was Marshall Spaceflight Center engineer Frederick I. Ordway.[35] (Detailed design information is given by Ordway in the American Astronautical Society History Series.[36]) 2001 is highly realistic when compared with other science fiction films, particularly its predecessors. It accurately presents outer space as transmitting no sound. Its portrayal of weightlessness in spaceships and outer space is notable. Tracking shots inside the rotating wheel providing artificial gravity contrast with the weightlessness outside the wheel during the repair and HAL disconnection scenes. (The pod bay walking scenes of the astronauts may be explained by the earlier scenes where stewardesses walk in zero gravity using velcro-equipped shoes labelled Grip Shoes.)

Much was made by MGM's publicity department of the film's realism, claiming in a 1968 brochure that "Everything in 2001: A Space Odyssey can happen within the next three decades, and…most of the picture will happen by the beginning of the next millennium."[37] This has proved to be wrong, although some of the film's predictions (see below) have been realized.

The film is scientifically inaccurate in minor details, many explained by the technical difficulty inherent to producing a realistic effect:

  • When spacecraft land on the Moon, dust is incorrectly shown billowing as it would in an atmosphere, not the vacuum of the Lunar surface.[38]
  • As Bowman retrieves Poole's body, reflections from the pod's monitors on Bowman's face are unrealistically sharp.[39]
  • Bowman holds his breath just before ejecting from the pod into the airlock. Before exposure to a vacuum, NASA states, one must exhale, because holding in the breath would rupture the lungs.[40] On the DVD edition of 2001 released in 2007, Arthur C. Clarke states in an interview that had he been on the set the day they filmed this, he would have caught this error.
  • The blown pod hatch simply vanishes.[41]

[edit] Imagining the future

The Centrifuge in Discovery One — Exercising astronaut Frank Poole jogs its circumference.
The Centrifuge in Discovery One — Exercising astronaut Frank Poole jogs its circumference.
Small, portable, flat-screen devices were indeed available in the year 2001.
Small, portable, flat-screen devices were indeed available in the year 2001.

The film shows an imagined version of the year 2001. Some of what is seen in the film has come to pass:

  • Flat-screen computer monitors (simulated by rear projection in the film)
  • Glass cockpits in spacecraft
  • The proliferation of TV stations (the BBC's channels numbering at least 12)
  • Telephone numbers with more digits than in the 1960s (to permit direct national and international dialing)
  • The endurance of corporations like IBM, Aeroflot, Howard Johnson's, and Hilton Hotels
  • The use of credit cards with data stripes (the card Heywood Floyd inserts into the telephone is American Express; a close-up photo of the prop shows that it has a barcode rather than a magnetic strip, as some present-day ID cards have PDF417 barcodes)
  • Biometric identification (voice-print identification on arrival at the space station)
  • The shape of the Pan Am Orbital Clipper was echoed in the X-34, a prototype craft that underwent towed flight tests from 1999 to 2001
  • Electronic darkening of a normally transparent surface (Bowman uses a helmet control to darken his visor during an EVA)
  • A computer that can defeat a human being at chess
  • Personal in-flight entertainment displays on the backs of seats in commercial aircraft
  • Voice recognition / voice controlled computing (although not as powerful as HAL) are seen today in things as simple as telephone systems and video games.
Establishing a permanent colony on the moon is not yet a reality.
Establishing a permanent colony on the moon is not yet a reality.

Some of the things in the film were not yet realities by 2001:

Some of the things depicted in the film that existed in 1968, but no longer existed in 2001:

[edit] Soundtrack

[edit] Music

Music plays a crucial part in 2001, and not only because of the relatively sparse dialogue. From very early on in production, Kubrick decided that he wanted the film to be a primarily non-verbal experience,[42] one that did not rely on the traditional techniques of narrative cinema, and in which music would play a vital role in evoking particular moods.

The film is remarkable for its innovative use of classical music taken from existing commercial recordings. Major feature films were (and still are) typically accompanied by elaborate film scores or songs written especially for them by professional composers. In the early stages of production, Kubrick had actually commissioned a score for 2001 from noted Hollywood composer Alex North, who had written the score for Spartacus and also worked on Dr. Strangelove.[43] However, on 2001 Kubrick did much of the filming and editing using, as his guides, the classical recordings which eventually became the music track. In March of 1966, MGM became concerned about 2001's progress and Kubrick put together a show reel of footage to the ad hoc soundtrack of classical recordings. The studio bosses were delighted with the results and Kubrick decided to use these 'guide pieces' as the final musical soundtrack, and he abandoned North's score. Kubrick failed to inform North that his music had not been used and, to his dismay, North did not discover this until he saw the movie just prior to its release.[44] What survives of North's soundtrack recordings has been released as a "limited edition" CD from Intrada Records. All the music North originally wrote was recorded commercially by North's friend and colleague Jerry Goldsmith with the National Philharmonic Orchestra and was released on Varese Sarabande CDs shortly after Telarc's first theme release but before North's death. In 2005, The City of Prague Philharmonic recorded their version of the 2001 theme on their album "The Incredible Film Music Box".

In an interview with Michel Ciment, Kubrick explained:

However good our best film composers may be, they are not a Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms. Why use music which is less good when there is such a multitude of great orchestral music available from the past and from our own time? When you are editing a film, it's very helpful to be able to try out different pieces of music to see how they work with the scene…Well, with a little more care and thought, these temporary tracks can become the final score.[45]

2001 uses works by several classical composers. It features music by Aram Khachaturian (Gayane's Adagio from the Gayaneh ballet suite) and famously used Johann Strauss II's best known waltz, An der schönen blauen Donau (in English, On The Beautiful Blue Danube), during the space-station rendezvous and lunar landing sequences. 2001 is especially remembered for its use of the opening from Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra (or "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in English), which has become inextricably associated with the film and its imagery and themes. The film's soundtrack also did much to introduce the modern classical composer György Ligeti to a wider public, using extracts from his Requiem (the Kyrie), Atmosphères, Lux Aeterna and (in an altered form) Aventures (though without his permission).[46]

HAL's haunting version of the popular song "Daisy Bell" (referred to by HAL as "Daisy" in the film) was inspired by a computer synthesized arrangement by Max Mathews, which Arthur C. Clarke had heard in 1962 at the Bell Laboratories Murray Hill facility when he was, coincidentally, visiting friend and colleague John Pierce. At that time, a speech synthesis demonstration was being performed by physicist John Larry Kelly, Jr, by using an IBM 704 computer to synthesize speech. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer vocoder recreated the song "Daisy Bell" ("Bicycle Built For Two"), with Max Mathews providing the musical accompaniment. Arthur C. Clarke was so impressed that he later used it in the screenplay and novel.[47]

"Daisy" did not necessarily survive in foreign language versions of the film. For example, in the French soundtrack to 2001, HAL while being disconnected sings the French folk song Au Clair de la Lune.

In Italian version the song was "giro giro tondo", the one you sing when you play ring-ring-a-roses.

In the German version, HAL sings the children's song "Hänschen klein" ("Johnny little").

[edit] Dialogue

Alongside its use of music, the dialogue in 2001 is another notable feature, although the relative lack of dialogue and conventional narrative cues has baffled many viewers. One of the film's most striking features is that there is no dialogue whatsoever for the entirety of the first and last 20 minutes of the film—the total narrative of these sections, totalling almost 45 minutes of the film is carried by images, actions, sound effects, and two title cards.

Only when the film moves into the postulated future of 2000 and 2001, do we encounter characters who speak. By the time shooting began, Kubrick had deliberately jettisoned much of the intended dialogue and narration,[48] and what remains is notable for its apparently banal nature—an announcement about a sweater being found, the awkwardly polite chit-chat between Floyd and the Russian scientists, or his comments about the sandwiches en route to the monolith site.

[edit] Sequels and offshoots

Kubrick did not envisage a sequel to 2001, fearing the later exploitation and recycling of his material in other productions (as was done with the props from MGM's Forbidden Planet). To the dismay of MGM Studios, he ordered all prints of unused scenes, sets, props, miniatures, and production blueprints destroyed. Most of these materials were lost, with several notable exceptions, including a 79-inch model of the spaceship Discovery One. It was salvaged and appeared in modified form in Space 1999.[2][49][50][51]

Clarke went on to write three sequel novels: 2010: Odyssey Two (1982), 2061: Odyssey Three (1987), and 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997). 3001: The Final Odyssey reconnects with Frank Poole, who has been found drifting by a ship that was looking for frozen water near the edge of the solar system. Sufficiently preserved by the vacuum of space, he is revived by the advanced medical technology of the time and becomes the novel's protagonist.

The only filmed sequel, 2010, was based on Clarke's 1982 novel and was released in 1984. Kubrick was not involved in the production of this film, which was directed by Peter Hyams in a straightforward style with more dialogue. Clarke saw it as a fitting adaptation of his novel.[52] As Kubrick had ordered all models and blueprints destroyed from 2001, Hyams had to recreate the models from scratch for 2010. There has been no discussion of filmmakers adapting the other two for the screen, although actor Tom Hanks has expressed interest in possible adaptations of 2061 and 3001.[53]

Beginning in 1976, Marvel Comics published both a Jack Kirby-written and drawn comic adaptation of the film and a Kirby-created 10-issue monthly series 'expanding' on the ideas of the film and novel.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sight and Sound: Top Ten Poll 2002. British Film Institute web site. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  2. ^ a b c Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. New York: Signet. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  3. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dorchester#_note-1
  4. ^ Clarke, Arthur C. (1972). The Lost Worlds of 2001. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, p.17. ISBN 0-283-97903-8. 
  5. ^ LoBrutto, Vincent (1997, 1998). Stanley Kubrick. London: Faber and Faber, pp.156–257. ISBN 0-571-19393-5. 
  6. ^ Arthur Clarke's 2001 diary, excerpted from Lost Worlds of 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke. Retrieved October 7, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Agel (1970): pp.24–25
  8. ^ a b c d e Clarke (1972): pp.31–38
  9. ^ Agel (1970): p.1
  10. ^ Phillips, Gene D. (1977). Stanley Kubrick: A Film Odyssey. New York: Popular Library, p.210. ISBN 0-445-04101-3. 
  11. ^ Clarke (1972): p.78
  12. ^ a b Gedult, Carolyn. The Production: A Calendar. Reproduced in: Castle, Alison (Editor). The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Taschen, 2005. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1
  13. ^ Lightman, Herb A. Filming 2001: A Space Odyssey. American Cinematographer, June 1968. Excerpted in: Castle, Alison (Editor). The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Taschen, 2005. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1
  14. ^ Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Signet, p.27. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  15. ^ a b Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Signet, p.363. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  16. ^ a b Clarke, Arthur C. (1972). The Lost Worlds of 2001. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 0-283-97903-8. 
  17. ^ Gilliatt, Penelope. "After Man", review of 2001 reprinted from The New Yorker in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  18. ^ Champlin, Charles. Review of 2001 reprinted from The Los Angeles Times in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  19. ^ Sweeney, Louise. Review of 2001 reprinted from The Christian Science Monitor in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  20. ^ French, Philip. Review of 2001 reprinted from an unnamed publication in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  21. ^ Adams, Marjorie. Review of 2001 reprinted from The Boston Globe in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  22. ^ Roger Ebert, Reviews: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968. Retrieved from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19680412/REVIEWS/804120301/1023
  23. ^ Unknown reviewer. Capsule review of 2001 reprinted from Time in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  24. ^ Critical Debates: 2001: A Space Odyssey. rogerebert.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
  25. ^ Stanley Kauffmann, "Lost in the Stars", The New Republic. Retrieved from http://www.krusch.com/kubrick/Q16.html
  26. ^ Adler, Renata. Review of 2001 reprinted from The New York Times in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  27. ^ Review of 2001 by 'Robe'. April 1, 1968
  28. ^ Sarris, Andrew. Review of 2001 review quoted from a WBAI radio broadcast in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  29. ^ Hail the Conquering Hero. FilmComment.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
  30. ^ Simon, John. Review of 2001 reprinted from The New Leader in Jerome Agel's The Making of Kubrick's 2001, Signet Books, 1970. ISBN 0-45107-139-5
  31. ^ "2001: A Space Odyssey Named the Greatest Sci-Fi Film of All Time By the Online Film Critics Society". Online Film Critics Society. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  32. ^ Sight & Sound: Top Ten Poll 2002. British Film Institute web site. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  33. ^ USCCB – (Film and Broadcasting) – Vatican Best Films List. USCCB web site. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
  34. ^ Norden, Eric. Interview: Stanley Kubrick. Playboy (September 1968). Reprinted in: Phillips, Gene D. (Editor). Stanley Kubrick: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi, 2001. ISBN 1-57806-297-7 pp. 47–48
  35. ^ F.I.Ordway (March 1970). "2001: A Space Odyssey, Spaceflight". Spaceflight 12: 110–117. British Interplanetary Society. 
  36. ^ Ordway, F.I. (1982). "Part B: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY IN RETROSPECT". Eugene M. Emme American Astronautical Society History Series SCIENCE FICTION AND SPACE FUTURES: PAST AND PRESENT 5: 47 – 105. 
  37. ^ MGM Studios. Facts for Editorial Reference, 1968. Reproduced in: Castle, Alison (Editor). The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Taschen, 2005. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1
  38. ^ The Kubrick Site: 2001 Gaffes & Glitches
  39. ^ The Kubrick Site: 2001 Gaffes & Glitches
  40. ^ Human Body In a Vacuum. Imagine the Universe!: Ask An Astrophysicist. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center web site. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  41. ^ The Kubrick Site: 2001 Gaffes & Glitches
  42. ^ New Titles - The Stanley Kubrick Archives - Facts. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  43. ^ Time Warp – CD Booklet – Telarc Release# CD-80106
  44. ^ LoBrutto, Vincent (1998). Stanley Kubrick. London: Faber and Faber, p.308. ISBN 0571193935. 
  45. ^ Kubrick on Barry Lyndon: An interview with Michel Ciment. Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
  46. ^ György Ligeti -- music scores used in '2001' film (obituary). Retrieved on 2006-06-13.
  47. ^ Bell Labs: Where "HAL" First Spoke. (Bell Labs Speech Synthesis web site). Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  48. ^ Trivia for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). IMDb. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  49. ^ Mark Stetson (model shop supervisor). (1984). 2010: The Odyssey Continues [DVD]. ZM Productions/MGM. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.
  50. ^ Starship Modeler: Modeling 2001 and 2010 Spacecraft (2005-10-19). Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
  51. ^ Bizony, Piers (2001). 2001 Filming the Future. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 1-85410-706-2. 
  52. ^ STARLOG magazine
  53. ^ "3001: The Final Odyssey" on Yahoo! Movies

[edit] Further reading

  • Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Signet. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  • Bizony, Piers (2001). 2001 Filming the Future. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 1-85410-706-2. 
  • (2005) "Part 2: The Creative Process / 2001: A Space Odyssey", in Castle, Alison (ed.): The Stanley Kubrick Archives. New York: Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1. 
  • Chion, Michel (2001). Kubrick's Cinema Odyssey, translated by Claudia Gorbman, London: British Film Institute. ISBN 0-85170-840-4. 
  • Clarke, Arthur C. (1972). The Lost Worlds of 2001. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 0-283-97903-8. 
  • (2006) in Kolker, Robert (ed.): Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey: New Essays. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517453-4. 
  • Richter, Daniel (2002). Moonwatcher's Memoir: A Diary of 2001: A Space Odyssey, foreword by Arthur C. Clarke, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1073-X. 
  • (2000) in Schwam, Stephanie (ed.): The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 0-375-75528-4. 
  • Wheat, Leonard F. (2000). Kubrick's 2001: A Triple Allegory. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-3796-X. 

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