AG Monday: 2001
Praise for and debate over a classic film.
One of the best SF movies ever made. Directed by one of the greatest directors ever. Co-written by said director and one of the most respected “hard” science fiction authors of the classic era. The movie that, in the last Sight & Sound poll, other film directors rated as their top movie, period. How have we not covered Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey before now? Perhaps we had not evolved enough…
Journey back with us when we were scratching our heads, trying to figure out this movie the way the Australopithecines were trying to understand the monolith. Jump forward in time to how we now see this classic film, and how we understand its meaning (including the final sequence). 2001 inspired a lively debate between us, so strap into your shuttle pod!
Monoliths! Murderous machines! Moon bases! Manipulating aliens! Progress from monkey to man to…My God, it’s full of stars! It’s all here.
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
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I rewatched it a few years ago, and posted some impressions here. So, rather than launch into another rant, I’ll say something else.
2001 was one of the first SF books I read. I first saw the movie in 1980 or 1981, on a VCR tape. I may still have the tape somewhere (but not a VCR any more). At the time, I thought it was visually stunning, but that the book was far better. Why? Because the book told a story, whereas I thought the movie didn’t quite.
I still can’t say I like the movie, but it has the distinction, still, of the most realistic depiction of routine spaceflight. And I regard the Blue Danube sequence as one of my favorite movie sequences of all time.
It strikes me that Kubrick’s best decisions for this film was using Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the Blue Danube in the movie.
Then there’s the sequels. I thought 2010 was narratively superior, both book and movie versions, but the next two, and I hope those were all, I can’t even recall clearly. 2061 features Dr. Floyd, again, and a voyage to Halley’s Comet. 3001 features a reanimated Frank Poole, and a shoutout to the movie Jurassic Park.