Watch ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ with live music from Seattle Symphony This was fun, in 2017. The movie was projected above full orchestra. The Ligeti pieces had used a large choir
Incredible film. I watch it every 6 months or so just to marvel at what results Kubrick’s meticulous (some would say obsessive) attention to detail brought to the screen. The special effects still hold up today and don’t look dated in the least. My first viewing was when I was 8 or 9 or so, and I really didn’t understand a lot of it (neither did my parents). For years I couldn’t decide if the apes were real or people in costumes.
The production notes for the 4k release. In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s acclaimed film 2001: a space odyssey Warner Bros. completed extensive film work, both photochemically and digitally, in order to create the closest representation to date of the film’s original theatrical release. Warner Bros. started off the 50th Anniversary with brand new “unrestored” 70mm film prints that debuted at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival before playing in theaters around the world. The newly remastered Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray with HDR built upon the work done for the new 70mm prints, including brand new scans of the original 65mm film negative. Photochemical Preparation Preparing the original 65mm negative for scanning involved a great deal of work, much of which was accomplished by Vince Roth, then supervisor of large format optical at Pacific Title, in 1999. Roth prepared the negative for preservation by removing past repairs to the film, which included tape repairs for broken perforations and tears across the image. This work included tape supports added by MGM to the original splices to insure they did not break open while printing. Roth carefully removed years of dirt, oil and chemicals from the surface of the negative. He determined the dates of when replacement sections were cut into the negative to determine if earlier generation elements existed which would yield the best quality replacement footage. Once the camera negative was repaired and cleaned, Warner Bros. created a 70mm answer print using the original MGM timing lights and making slight adjustments to compensate for fading of the negative and changes in modern film print stock. The 1999 answer print – which served as the basis for the 2018 “unrestored” film prints and the color reference for the 2018 video master – was completed under the direction of Leon Vitali, assistant to Stanley Kubrick who supervised color timing of prints for Kubrick for a period of 20 years, and Ned Price, Vice President of Restoration at Warner Bros., at CFI Laboratories. A 35mm optical reduction interpositive was created from the 65mm negative – as a 35mm print was necessary in order for Warner Bros. to scan for home video elements (including the DVD remastered box set in 2000 and the Blu-ray in 2007). Digital Scans and Color-timing The new 2018 video masters were achieved by scanning the 65mm original negative in 8K-resolution and utilizing top-of-the-line color correction software, allowing technicians to follow natural color and luminance curves (characteristics) of film print stock. Color reference in the DI suite was provided by the 1999 70mm answer print from the original camera negative and a 70mm check print from a new dupe negative. Vince Roth (now the Lab Technical director at Fotokem) completed the dupe and check print for the 2018 color grade. Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema (who both worked extensively with large film formats) oversaw the new 70mm film prints and were brought in to consult on the creation of new video masters to match the 70mm reference prints. These 2018 video masters were completed under the direction of Leon Vitali and Ned Price. Color grading of the master was completed by Janet Wilson of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging – who previously worked with Leon on HD mastering of Barry Lyndon, Full Metal Jacket and Lolita. Audio Work The new home entertainment release includes two 5.1 audio mixes. It includes the fully remastered audio mix that was completed in 1999 (for the previous DVD and Blu-ray releases) as well as the original theatrical 6-track audio mix formatted for 5.1. This audio mix was generated from an archival copy of the 35mm 6-track audio mag master translated uniformly into a modern-day 5.1 configuration. Comparison to Previous Home Entertainment Releases There will be noticeable differences between the 2018 release and previous home entertainment releases. The last Blu-ray release was mastered at Motion Picture Imaging in 2007 from a 2k scan of a 35mm optical reduction from the 65mm negative (that was made in 1999). This extra step was required as the scans needed to be made from a 35mm film element. Unfortunately, the 35mm reduction is not as sharp as the 65mm negative and the optical reduction process induced cross color contamination, which resulted in some compromises to color in order to balance the image. There was compressed picture detail in low light areas and also shading errors inherent in the optical reduction – luminance and color dropped off on the sides of the image – which resulted in an uneven field of color across the full image. Overall, it limited the range of the color grade of the 2007 video master. Also, the 2018 release contains correct picture aspect ratio as it was scanned directly from the 65mm original negative which is spherical (flat) versus anamorphic (scope). The 35mm anamorphic (scope) reduction that was scanned for the 2000 and 2007 releases contained a little more information on the left and right of the frame then was intended for 2.2 70mm projection aspect ratio. Also, the optical scope reduction added a slight amount of linear image distortion, which is not present in the 65mm spherical camera negative. While the 2007 work utilized the best technology available at the time, the 2018 release takes advantage of higher resolution and higher bit-depth scans. The color is based on the original MGM timing lights and the technological capabilities of the color software have improved greatly. The same team has put together the new release (almost 20 years after from the previous restoration) and Leon Vitale has reviewed and approved both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray check disks. Audiences may be most familiar with previous home video releases of 2001: a space odyssey and may be struck by some of the differences. However, the newly-remastered version has been scanned and timed to directly match the original film release, rather than the previous home video master. The new HD Blu-ray and 4K UHD Blu-ray will have more detail, greater color depth, better color accuracy in terms of matching Stanley Kubrick’s original 1968 theatrical release. As digital technology continues to evolve, it becomes more and more possible to recreate the experience of viewing a film print in your own home.
2001 had a profound effect on me when I first watched it at roughly 17 years old. I watch it once a year, every year since. I’m 35. In my opinion it’s the greatest achievement in cinematic history.
In 1968 or 69 my dad took my older brother and a friend of his to see it, and somehow or another my 8 or 9 year old self was able to go along with them. I remember the controversy around it because it was said Kubrick was an athiest and was basically proclaiming there was no God. This was a big no-no in 1960s Arkansas. Oddly enough, my dad was a preacher, but was always a pretty enlightened, open minded sort of person. Needless to say, I didn't understand much of it, but I really enjoyed the early hominid part of the film. When we left the theater there was a long line queued up for the next showing, and my old man, ever the prankster, shouted "the butler did it", completely embarrassing my older brother. I still watch it every couple of years, and consider it one of the best movies ever made.
I think I was 13 when I finally got to a theater that could show it in my area. Not nearly mature enough to give Kubrick the latitude of taking his sweet time with a narrative that wasn't sufficiently explained (and I was a voracious SF reader by then). Clarke was right to get the novelization out as quickly as he did, though. While Kubrick had every right to artistically depict the story without overexplaining it, I wonder in retrospect if his own overfamiliarity with a storyline he was working with for years, failed to grasp how little the public was following it all. In particular, "the Starchild" (or, "the boy in the bubble") was left to a lot of speculation and, dare I say it, missed opportunity to communicate what the audience really needed to know about a plot that a filmmaker took for granted we were intelligent enough to be satisfied with. Clarke had to do the heavy lifting for the failure of Kubrick to finish his job. I take umbrage at a creator who looks down at an audience because they're not as smart as he thinks he is, when he was given the full context of the story, the nuances and implications...and just fails to let everybody in on what he's trying (not) to tell them. Just because he's read "The Sentinel" and we have not, doesn't mean we deserve to be "punished" for it. So, pardon the eff out of me, if I fail to take in enough information just because he reprises "Also Sprach Zarathustra", and calls it a day. I sincerely hope this is going to be another of Dillydipper's Unpopular Opinions. This has been my favorite film for years, but that doesn't mean I have to accept that Kubrick didn't seem to care enough whether you understood it or not, to make that happen.
As Keir Dullea says about Micheal Benson's book Space Odyssey at the beginning of the video, "I thought I knew everything about this movie!" When I did a search for this link, I found a bunch of other interesting interviews that I now need to watch...
I was born the year this came out. In the mid-80's, me and my then best friend, as teens, got into a lot of things, including the VHS revolution, and the availability of paperback novels in general - including key ones by Arthur C. Clarke. And one of my older brothers told me he caught a theater viewing in 1968 when he was a teen, and recalls many people in the audience asking at the end "what does the baby mean!!!! At the same time, we were into other Kubrick films. Short verdict (his film interpretations of novels) - excellent. Disagree? Make your own effing movie. The 1968 film is definitely long and slow and boring most of the time. Jane Fonda could have spruced things up. But that raises the question - what do you want; realism, or cool space battles or humans in E-woky costumes ordering drinks in bars where musicians are sentenced to playing an imagined 1979 disco/jazz fusion form of music? That movie about seven years ago where you are at least comatose for most of the journey to Alpha Centauri helped deal with some of these issues. And they had a bar ready in case you woke up early. And HAL is here. Alexa will close those pod bay doors, if you ask politely. Maybe...
"What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven's sake, mankind, it's only four light years away, you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that's your own lookout. Energize the demolition beam. I don't know, apathetic bloody planet, I've no sympathy at all."
I saw 2001 a space odyssey at the Capitol Theater in NYC on Friday morning, 5 April 1968. The homeroom teacher had put a two-sided poster for the film on the bulletin board in January and collected $3 from each student who wanted to go on the field trip. We did a lot of those. The school bus left at 8am and we arrived before 9. We parked for a long time on 51st street behind the other school buses. We were shown to seats in the upper balcony right side. The screen was enormous. The 70mm projection was tactile. It was like being in space. It made some kids dizzy. The volume was LOUD. LOUDER than any other movie I'd seen. By 1:30 pm we were back in school on time for lunch on Long Island. I was 11 years old, and the film had a profound impact on my mind. I couldn't stop thinking and talking about it. I obsessed over it. In a way I think I understood 2001 at the time, but not in a logical sense. It certainly changed my life. The next time I saw 2001 it was shorter. I've seen it a hundred times over the years, both projected and on every iteration of home video, but that first screening effected me like the monolith did the apes. 2001 was the monolith in my life.
I had an argument with someone several years ago who found the film stultifyingly tedious, and (amongst several other points) I focused specifically on the deaths of the cocooned other inhabitants of the vessel to bolster my argument that the film was something special. To me, that scene remains one of the most coldly clinical and disturbing death scenes I've ever seen, and it shows absolutely nothing other than graphs and displays illustrating their helpless, unknowing demise. It still chills me to think about it. I unequivocally love this film for many reasons beyond that which I just shared, but I offer that particular sequence as an example that there are scenes which may seem "boring" but instead are extremely powerful. Aaron
I’m pretty sure I agree with you. First time I saw it (aged 13ish) was a BBC broadcast, pan and scan, 14” TV, so the scale of it completely eluded me initially. I completely failed to understand the ending, but went and tracked down a paperback of the novel. I don’t think I’d have ever truly understood the film without the novel. Still one of my favourite films, and the newer 4K version now available via Apple TV is the best version I have seen on a small screen. The 70mm screening on a Cinerama screen was remarkable, though.
Here is a list of the original roadshow engagements. "A blue lady's cashmere sweater has been found in the restaurant. It can be claimed at the manager's desk."
Review of the UHD version by AVS Forum. Spoiler alert: they liked it. 2001: A Space Odyssey Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Not only that, but the scene where HAL kills astronaut Frank Poole, and he goes spinning off into deep space waving his arms and suffocating from a broken air hose, scared the living crap out of me as a kid. I saw the movie 3 times at the local Cinerama theater as a kid, and I think experiences like that compelled me to eventually move to LA and work in the film business. One thing that was very convincing in the "astronaut death scene" you describe is that Doug Trumbull's fake computer readouts looked fantastic. He just bought a lot of graphic press-on letters and clear animation cels, and lit them in bright colors and used interesting designs and a lot of technical gobblety-goop that looked good when projected on those screens (from the back). I gotta admit, the "Life Functions Terminated" readout just shocked the hell out of the audience: Trumbull was (by far) the youngest guy on the VFX crew, and wound up basically running the whole thing as each supervisor either got fired or had to leave to work on other projects. He was miserable towards the end, and was livid with Kubrick for the director taking credit for supervising the effects (when it was really Trumbull doing a lot of that work), which enabled the director to accept the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. They didn't speak for almost 30 years, but Trumbull eventually called in the late 1990s and they buried the hatchet. The impact of 2001 on all science-fiction movies that followed can't be minimized. The computers, the model effects, the look, the danger of space... I don't think anything that came before it was nearly as influential. BTW, the 2018 book Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece is an incredible read, and answers a ton of questions about the story, about the creative decisions made on the script, and how the film was actually shot and produced. I thought I knew a lot about the film, but the book goes into far more detail than anything I've ever seen before. It's pretty illuminating to find out how paranoid and insecure Kubrick was while the film was going on, and how he was convinced it was going to be an absolute disaster, possibly ending his career. The big surprise for me was learning how desperate Clarke was to work on the film and get paid -- he had a lot of bills to cover, and Kubrick & MGM were slow at making all the final payments. Of course, it all ended well and became one of the biggest hits MGM had had in a long time. And its success changed the lives of Trumbull and Kubrick and Clarke, all for the better.
2001 a space odyssey is NOT an action movie. A lot of people assume that a movie that takes place in outer space has big action scenes, for some reason. The pace and cutting of an action film would ruin it.
My uncle took me to see 2001 aged 9 or 10, in the King's Rd., Chelsea, 1972 or 3. I remembered the apes, monolith and rocks forever. Then nothing for a long time. Late last year I was on a plane to Singapore and 2001 was available to watch, so I did. Amazing but small. BUT when I arrived in Madrid a month later, the Kubrick exhibition was there so I went to that. So now I need to see the film again, but with a bigger screen than the plane. Watched Barry Lyndon on the plane, too. Loved that.
