hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I recently bought this book, it is a great read on the background and personalities that made "2001".

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Grew up reading the same authors and still continue to read them. I plan to read all of Asimov's Robot/Foundation series this summer. I have been reading the collected short stories from Arthur C. Clarke, but stopped since I still remember them and the endings from 40+ years ago.

Burtzy Loc: Bronx N.Y. & Simi Valley, CA

I read the entire Foundation and Robot series years ago and was fascinated by how Asimov managed to steer them to each other and ultimately make them one and the same. Brilliant.

htbrown Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

I went to see this one when it came out - three times. I still love it. I recently re-watched it, and noted several things:

- it is slow, by modern standards. When the first Indiana Jones movie came out, both my wife and I were dizzied by its breakneck pace. No all movies are that way, and when we saw it again recently, it didn't seem too fast. So tastes and styles change.

- that slow pace is deliberate, emphasizing the tediousness that a long space voyage would undoubtedly incur.

- it provides an interesting look at the social dynamics of the 1960s. Women, for the most part, are in subservient roles such as (wo)manning a kiosk or serving passengers on the way to the moon. The interactions between the men, both in the meeting on the moon and when they are eating sandwiches while traveling to the obelisk, remind me very much of men of my father's generation. It's just what you'd expect for the 60s, but by the time we actually can do all the movie portrays, things will inevitably be different.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Pick up your phone right now, and ask Siri or Gertie Google to "Open the pod bay doors".

Sersly...

You will get some pretty good answers. My favorite from Siri is "But then the cat will get out".


Andy

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

When the movie came out, many people apparently walked out of the showings. The response to 2001 seems to be bimodal; one either hated it or loved it. I saw it with my brother in 1968, he didn't like it, I walked out of the theater stunned. I read an article lately, the director Chris Nolan is overseeing a release of "2001". He was watching the film and noticed that in the scene where HAL9000 is being lobotomized, the astronaut is doing it out of anger, not just for his own safety.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Yes! I noticed that as well. One of the multiple recurring themes is the interplay between emotional and rational decision making. I've watched it dozens of times and almost always find some new subtlety or easter egg. You are right about the love / hate reaction - I know many of the latter, including my wife. But I think it's one of the most brilliant films of my lifetime and has aged very well (although the tech guys missed on a few predictions - I'm still looking for those video phone booths - must be coming soon to an airport near me).


Andy

Paladin48 Loc: Orlando

Where did you find that sound bite?!? That would be a great one to have.

jdedmonds

Ever notice that HAL are the three letters immediately preceding IBM?

n3eg Loc: West coast USA

I fell asleep in the movie theater when I was 9. I tried to watch it again at age 39 and also fell asleep. I'm not watching it again at age 69 because I might not wake up.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

That's why they have horse races!

pendennis

There was always speculation that Arthur C. Clark and Stanley Kubric had something to do with the HAL/IBM naming. Both have always stated that there was no IBM connection to the naming of HAL.

HAL = Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer

Hyperhad Loc: Thunder Bay, Canada

2001 is at the top of my top ten best films of all time. My favourite Director, Stanley Kubrick, was eccentric, a perfectionist, a genius. Just look at the composition of each scene of the film. Each one is thoroughly thought out and planned. Kubrick's visual concept of what outer space would look like, directional lighting, and how people and spacecraft would react when moving, was all far ahead of its time. Remember, in 1968 the US had not yet gone to the moon. It has been said by some who have been in space, that Kubrick's imagining of what it is like was very accurate. Compare 2001 to "Mission Mars 1967", or "The Astro-Zombies 1968". Yes, these films were made around the same as 2001.
Kubrick's use of classical music to score space flight was genius, and never before done. He used models for his spacecraft. He sometimes placed cameras inside the models, looking out a viewport, as the model approached another object, just to allow for proper "point-of-view" perspective. Clark was a genius in his own right, of course. His short story, "The Sentinel", was the basis upon which 2001 was based. He and Kubrick made for a great match, with this film as a result. Watch "Barry Lyndon" for more great, well-composed scenes. "The Shining" is similarly well-done.
The film is not a fast-paced action story. It is the story of alien intervention in the evolution of human beings. The ending of the film shows the "Star Child", the next step in our evolution. This scene links to the moment near the beginning of the film when the apes? touch the obelisk, thereby gaining the knowledge to use weapons. That knowledge begins our evolution. I really love the scene when the bone, the ultimate weapon of the time, is thrown up into the air, spinning slowly. As the bone slows, we cut to a slowly spinning nuclear platform, the ultimate weapon of (then) modern times. When an obelisk is again discovered, buried on the Moon, one of the astronauts touches it. A loud signal is sent off, signalling the human beings are ready for the "next step". Love it!

BBurns Loc: South Bay, California

Working in the aerospace industry, I had the pleasure of meeting Arthur Clarke at seminars on a number of occasions. Fascinating mind.

In 1984 I saw the sequel, 2010 in Hollywood at a good theater.
On the way home I commented that it would be great to see the original 2001 while this latest film was fresh in our mind.
As we drove east on Sunset Blvd. we passed the Cinerama Dome, just as they were changing the marquee to 2001.
We came back the next evening to see it. Still a classic film.

Now, will they ever make a film of Clarke's book, 2061 ??

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Some of Hal's wave file are in my reference on page 1 along with installation directions.

HAL 9000: "There is a message for you." is in the group of Hal Voice files.