2001: A Space Odyssey (film)


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 many 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.

Contents

Plot

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

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

Over images of an African desert, a caption reads "The Dawn of Man". A tribe of apes that has been attempting to gain control of a water-hole sees a mysterious black rectangular monolith. As they examine it, the audience senses they are being mentally stimulated and transformed. One of the apes (Daniel Richter) consequently discovers how to use a tool as a weapon. This discovery is also accompanied by “Thus Spake Zarathustra”. With this knowledge, this ape-tribe is now able to wrest the water-hole away from the other tribe. Exultant in victory, one of the apes throws his bone into the air which then goes to match cut to a shot of an orbital satellite, identified in early drafts of the screenplay (and other sources) as an orbiting nuclear weapon.

The camera moves onto a Pan American space plane which is taking Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (William Sylvester)on a journey from the earth to a moon, docking at Space Station 5 en route in an extended sequence choreographed to Strauss’ ‘The Blue Danube’. There, Floyd makes a videophone call to his daughter (played by Vivian Kubrick) before meeting with a group of friendly Russian scientists who query him anxiously about the “great big mystery” of what has been going on at the moonbase Clavius. Floyd declines to answer them. Floyd then leaves the space station for Clavius in a different ship in another extended sequence choreographed to more of “The Blue Danube”. At Clavius we discover that the purpose of Floyd’s mission is to investigate an artifact that was dug up on the moon that seems to have been deliberately buried 4 million years ago. Floyd rides in a Moonbus to the archeologial site. The artifact turns out to be a monolith similar to the one encountered by the apes millions of years ago. While Floyd’s men are examining the monolith as the sun rises over it, it emits a high-pitched radio signal.

Three of the Discovery One crew are in a state of hibernation in order to conserve life support resources for the voyage.
Three of the Discovery One crew are in a state of hibernation in order to conserve life support 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. They are watching a BBC television story about their mission, during which the audience is introduced to the computer HAL 9000 (voiced by Douglas Rain), who has human-like intelligence and runs most of the ship’s operations. This is followed by a birthday message from Frank’s parents. While Dave is showing HAL some sketches of the suspended astronauts, HAL asks Dave some pointed questions about suspicions he has about the air of mystery and secrecy surrounding the mission. HAL then interrupts himself to state that the AE-35 unit (which controls communications to Earth) is going to fail in 72 hours. Dave goes out in an EVA pod to replace the unit, and then examines the one HAL claimed was defective. He is unable to find anything wrong with it. Ground control tells them that their earth-based HAL computer states that their own board computer is in error in predicting the fault. This precipitates a discussion as to whether the prediction was due to human error or computer error. Dave and Frank go into one of their spacepods, as they can talk there without being overheard by HAL. Frank says he has “a bad feeling about this”. They agree that if HAL is proven to be malfunctioning, they will have to disconnect him. Unbeknownst to them, HAL is reading their lips. At this point, in most copies of the film, there is a break for intermission.

HAL and the astronauts have agreed to put back the original AE-35 unit and let it fail. However, as Frank is attempting this, his spacepod accelerates, comes at him severing his oxygen hose, and cutting him adrift. Dave Bowman then goes on a rescue mission to recover Frank. While Dave is out of the spaceship, the lifefunctions of all the crew in suspended animation are terminated. When Dave returns, he asks HAL to open the pod bay doors to let him in the spaceship, but HAL refuses to do so, saying that Dave’s plan to disconnect him puts the mission in jeopardy. Dave enters through the emergency air lock, and makes his way to the computer control room in order to disconnect HAL. HAL tries to protest and reassure Dave that everything will be all right, but Dave ignores him.

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."

As Dave slowly removes one module after another from HAL’s circuitry, HAL repeats the lines “My Mind is Going” and “I’m afraid.” HAL eventually to regresses to the time of his creation, and sings a song ("Daisy Bell" he was taught on the first day he was operational. As he sings this, his voice slowly slows down. When HAL is entirely disconnected, a recording of a prerecorded briefing explaining the purpose of the mission is activated. Dave now knows the purpose of the mission is to investigate why the moon monolith sent a powerful radio signal to Jupiter.

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

A caption reads "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite”. Dave now encounters the monolith and while coming up to it, he finds himself suddenly traveling through a “Star Gate” across vast distances of space at great speed watching a large variety of strange astronomical phenomena. He eventually finds himself inside a room containing Louis XVI-style decor. He repeatedly sees future versions of himself. Each time this occurs the POV switches to the later Dave. We eventually are brought to an elderly and dying Dave Bowman lying on the bed. At the foot of the bed, a similar monolith appears. It transforms him 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. The Star Child gazes at Earth while floating in space, while we hear "Thus Spake Zarathustra". Thus the film ends in a way that echoes the beginning. [2]

Cast

Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman
Keir Dullea as Dave Bowman

Production

Writing

Shortly after completing Dr Strangelove (1964), Stanley Kubrick became fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life,[3] 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] In addition, astronomer Carl Sagan wrote in his book The Cosmic Connection that Clarke and Kubrick asked his opinion on how to best depict extraterrestrial intelligence. Sagan, wryly acknowledging Kubrick's desire to use actors to portray humanoid alien for convenience's sake, argued that alien life forms were unlikely to bear any resemblance to terrestrial life, and that to do so would introduce "at least an element of falseness" to the film. Sagan proposed that the film suggest, rather than depict, extraterrestrial superintelligence. Sagan attended the premiere and was "pleased to see that I had been of some help." Sagan related that many Soviet scientists regarded the film to be the best American movie they had seen.[9]

On 22 February 1965, MGM announced it was backing Kubrick's new science fiction film under the title Journey Beyond the Stars.[10] 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.[11] 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 named "Athena", after 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.[12]

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.[13] 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."[14]

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 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 sixteen months behind schedule.[13]

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 did not want the film to be complicated with printing effects such as blue screen, so the space travel effects were done as in-camera effects. 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.

Veteran technicians of previous science fiction films were puzzled by how realistic the effects of floating in space were when Dave or Frank are outside the Discovery. These were accomplished by having them be suspended from a ceiling (as was common in simulating spacewalking) and having the camera underneath them pointing straight up, thus eliminating the common effect of a notable up-down pull on an astronaut.

The colored lights in the StarGate sequence were accomplished by slit-scan photography of moving images of painting. The shots of various nebula-like phenomena were colored paints in water in a dark room.

Deleted scenes

Painting school class scene, deleted from the film.
Painting school class scene, deleted from the film.

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.[15] If the music intro and outro are included, 29 minutes of film have been axed from the theatrical version.[16]

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.[17][18] 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.[18]

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 Disc. The Imdb.com listing of this DVD and the official Warner Brothers webpage [19] have a complete listing of all the special features but both omit a documentary entitled "What is Out There?" featuring interviews with Keir Dullea and Arthur C. Clarke.

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,[17] 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."[20] 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."[21] 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."[22] 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."[23] 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."[24] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars in his original review, believing the film "succeeds magnificently on a cosmic scale."[25] 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."[26]

However Pauline Kael said it was "a monumentally unimaginative movie",[27] 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."[28] Renata Adler of The New York Times wrote that it was "somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring."[29] 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."[30] 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."[31] (Sarris reversed his opinion upon a second viewing of the film, and declared "2001 is indeed a major work by a major artist."[32]) 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."[33]

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).

Top film lists

2001 was number 22 on AFI's 100 Years… 100 Movies, was named number 40 on its 100 Years, 100 Thrills, included on its 100 Years, 100 Quotes ("Open the pod bay doors, HAL."), HAL 9000 is the #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."[34] 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),[35] 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.)[36]

More recently, 2001 was named number one by the American Film Institute on their 10 Top 10 special in the Science Fiction category.

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

Other awards

Won

Nominated

American Film Institute recognition

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.[37]

Scientific accuracy

Spaceship Discovery One launching an EVA pod. Note the deliberately non-aerodynamic design of both craft. In space, aerodynamics do not matter.
Spaceship 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 III.[38] (Detailed design information is given by Ordway in the American Astronautical Society History Series.[39]) 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."[40] 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.[41]
  • As Bowman retrieves Poole's body, reflections from the pod's monitors on Bowman's face are unrealistically sharp.[42]
  • 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.[43] 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.[44]
  • In both the sequence when the apes encounter the monolith, and later when the monolith is found on the moon, the sun is briefly shown at the zenith of the sky directly above the monolith in a shot in which the camera's eye is at the bottom of the monolith pointing straight up with the sun just peeking over the edge of the slab. However, while this could happen in an African veldt, it is questionable if this could happen anywhere near the crater Tycho (where the monolith is found) as it is 45 degrees south of the lunar equator.

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. They currently have 22 (8 of which are television channels, the remainder are radio stations.))
  • 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:

Soundtrack

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,[45] 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.[46] 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 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.[47] 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.[48]

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).[49]

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.[50]

"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 the German version of the film, HAL sings the children's song "Hänschen Klein" ("Johnny Little") and in the Italian version HAL sings "Giro Giro Tondo."

Soundtrack Album

The initial MGM soundtrack album release contained none of the material from the altered and uncredited rendition of "Adventures", used a different recording of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" than that heard in the film, and a longer excerpt of "Lux Aeterna" than that in the film. In 1996, Turner Entertainment released a new soundtrack on CD which included the material from "Adventures" and restored the version of "Zarathustra" used in the film, and used the shorter version of "Lux Aeterna" from the film. As additional "bonus tracks" at the end, this CD includes the versions of "Zarathustra" and "Lux Aeterna" on the old MGM soundtrack, an unaltered performance of "Adventures", and a 9-minute compilation of all of HAL's dialogue from the film.

In 1993, Varese Sarabande issued a CD recording of Alex North's unused music for 2001.

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,[51] 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.

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.[3][52][53][54]

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.[55] 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.[56]

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.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sight and Sound: Top Ten Poll 2002". British Film Institute web site. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  2. ^ Robert Burgoyne, "Narrative Overture and Closure in 2001: A Space Odyssey" Enclitic 5 4 (1981): 179
  3. ^ a b Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. New York: Signet, p.11. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  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. ^ Sagan -, Carl (1973). {{{title}}}. New York pages=p.181-184: Doubleday & Co.. 
  10. ^ Agel (1970): p.1
  11. ^ Phillips, Gene D. (1977). Stanley Kubrick: A Film Odyssey. New York: Popular Library, p.210. ISBN 0-445-04101-3. 
  12. ^ Clarke (1972): p.78
  13. ^ a b Gedult, Carolyn. The Production: A Calendar. Reproduced in: Castle, Alison (Editor). The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Taschen, 2005. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Signet, p.27. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  16. ^ "2001 A Space Oddysey - Alternate Versions". 
  17. ^ a b Agel, Jerome (1970). The Making of Kubrick's 2001. Signet, p.363. ISBN 0-451-07139-5. 
  18. ^ a b Clarke, Arthur C. (1972). The Lost Worlds of 2001. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 0-283-97903-8. 
  19. ^ http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com
  20. ^ 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
  21. ^ 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
  22. ^ 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
  23. ^ 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
  24. ^ 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
  25. ^ Roger Ebert, Reviews: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968. Retrieved from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19680412/REVIEWS/804120301/1023
  26. ^ 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
  27. ^ "Critical Debates: 2001: A Space Odyssey". rogerebert.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
  28. ^ Stanley Kauffmann, "Lost in the Stars", The New Republic. Retrieved from http://www.krusch.com/kubrick/Q16.html
  29. ^ 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
  30. ^ Review of 2001 by 'Robe'. April 1, 1968
  31. ^ 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
  32. ^ "Hail the Conquering Hero". FilmComment.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-12.
  33. ^ 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
  34. ^ ""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.
  35. ^ "Sight & Sound: Top Ten Poll 2002". British Film Institute web site. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.
  36. ^ "USCCB – (Film and Broadcasting) – Vatican Best Films List". USCCB web site. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
  37. ^ 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
  38. ^ F.I.Ordway (March 1970). "2001: A Space Odyssey, Spaceflight". Spaceflight 12: 110–117. British Interplanetary Society. 
  39. ^ 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. 
  40. ^ MGM Studios. Facts for Editorial Reference, 1968. Reproduced in: Castle, Alison (Editor). The Stanley Kubrick Archives, Taschen, 2005. ISBN 3-8228-2284-1
  41. ^ The Kubrick Site: 2001 Gaffes & Glitches
  42. ^ The Kubrick Site: 2001 Gaffes & Glitches
  43. ^ "Human Body In a Vacuum". Imagine the Universe!: Ask An Astrophysicist. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center web site. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  44. ^ The Kubrick Site: 2001 Gaffes & Glitches
  45. ^ "New Titles – The Stanley Kubrick Archives – Facts". Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  46. ^ Time Warp – CD Booklet – Telarc Release# CD-80106
  47. ^ LoBrutto, Vincent (1998). Stanley Kubrick. London: Faber and Faber, p.308. ISBN 0571193935. 
  48. ^ "Kubrick on Barry Lyndon: An interview with Michel Ciment". Retrieved on 2006-07-08.
  49. ^ "György Ligeti—music scores used in '2001' film (obituary)". Retrieved on 2006-06-13.
  50. ^ "Bell Labs: Where "HAL" First Spoke". (Bell Labs Speech Synthesis web site). Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  51. ^ "Trivia for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)". IMDb. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  52. ^ Mark Stetson (model shop supervisor). (1984). 2010: The Odyssey Continues [DVD]. ZM Productions/MGM. Retrieved on 2007-08-31.
  53. ^ "Starship Modeler: Modeling 2001 and 2010 Spacecraft" (2005-10-19). Retrieved on 2006-09-26.
  54. ^ Bizony, Piers (2001). 2001 Filming the Future. London: Sidgwick and Jackson. ISBN 1-85410-706-2. 
  55. ^ STARLOG magazine
  56. ^ "3001: The Final Odyssey" on Yahoo! Movies

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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