“Good afternoon, HAL. How's everything going?”

April 28, 2018 4:28 PM

Revisit One of the Most Influential Films of All Time With 2001: A Space Odyssey's 70mm Trailer [YouTube] “50 years ago, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey debuted. It became a classic for its exploration of film style, for its technological advances in cinema, and for the birth of a new sub-genre within science fiction and narrative storytelling. Now, audiences can experience the phenomenon that started a film movement and affected all films to come after. Oscar-nominated director Christopher Nolan will introduce the 70mm rerelease of 2001 at its Cannes premiere on May 12.” [via: Paste Magazine]
posted by Fizz (42 comments total)

I so expected us to be flying Pan Am to giant ringed space stations by then. I am so disappointed.
posted by y2karl at 4:43 PM on April 28, 2018 [13 favorites]

But the part about the murderous tendencies of Artificial Intelligence, I mean that was pretty spot on.
posted by Fizz at 4:45 PM on April 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

It killed Pan Am, sure enough!
posted by darkstar at 4:58 PM on April 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

The only thing that doesn't hold up is the hominid makeup.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:58 PM on April 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

There's a great comparison between the "Unrestored" trailer and the 2007 Blu-Ray here.

What I'm seeing is that the new/unrestored version has a much warmer color temperature compared to the 2007 Blu-Ray. Which I prefer.
posted by SansPoint at 5:00 PM on April 28, 2018 [4 favorites]

Come to think of it, I first saw it on what must have been a 10th anniversary thing.......I don't know if it was in 70mm or not though
posted by thelonius at 5:01 PM on April 28, 2018

One of my favorite details of seeing 2001 in HD was being able to see the warning on the explosive bolts on the EVA pod.

One of my favorite details of seeing 2001 in 70mm was ALSO being able to read all the instructions on the Zero-Gravity Toilet.
posted by tclark at 5:06 PM on April 28, 2018 [11 favorites]

I saw a fresh 70mm print of 2001 on a very large screen. Sadly the large amount of marijuana in my system along with the high resolution of the print made much of it feel like a curated tour of Kubrick's plastic model collection.
posted by idiopath at 5:10 PM on April 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

I must have been ten when I first saw part of this movie on TV. My Dad was watching it. Later it was one of the first VHS movies I ever rented. I must about have been around eleven or twelve. "2010: Odyssey Two" was one of the first "grown-up" books I read. I must have been twelve or so. I love this movie, for sure.

I was actually in Colombo for work a couple of months ago, and was *so* *close* to ACC's house. I even got an personal introduction to the caretaker for a visit, but the email bounced back. Maybe next time.
posted by JamesBay at 5:24 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Well they've definitely updated the trailer style.
posted by kersplunk at 5:24 PM on April 28, 2018 [7 favorites]

I hate the new trailer but I can't wait to see a 70mm print of 2001. I've probably watched it more than any other movie but only once in theater and that was a very scratched print at a midnight showing at the Harvard Square Theater in 1978.

I watched a Blu-ray rip a few months ago and was amazed all over again at how well it holds up.
posted by octothorpe at 5:44 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Watched the orginal at the Orpheum in Boston, giant screen, in its first run, a truly amazing experience. Looking forward to seeing it again in similar format.
posted by beagle at 5:56 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

2001 fans, if you're in Washington, DC before May 28^th be sure to check out "The Barmecide Feast" at the National Air and Space Museum.
posted by Rob Rockets at 6:00 PM on April 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

I so expected us to be flying Pan Am to giant ringed space stations by then. I am so disappointed.

Born in 67. Grew up with Saturn V's going to the moon.

And then we stopped.

Damn you to Hell, Richard M. Nixon. Damn you!
posted by mikelieman at 6:03 PM on April 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

I had a particularly disastrous first date featuring this movie when it was first released. I had read the book and the reviews, so I kind of knew what I was getting into, but my poor companion had no idea. I picked her up late, there was construction, we smoked a bunch of pot, and we walked in late. The movie was virtually unintelligible to me, who was prepared. We were both dumbstruck with the visuals, there was no conversation on the way home, and, needless to say, there was no second date. I've watched it dozens of times since, and I wish I could remember her name to apologize.
posted by Floydd at 6:10 PM on April 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Previously
posted by valkane at 6:15 PM on April 28, 2018

I got to see the rerelease in 2001. Up until that point, I'd only ever seen it on TV. I was really struck by how hokey most of the special effects in the first half of the movie were when writ large. On the other hand, the final sequences, which I'd always found pretty boring on the small screen, were just amazing in a huge theater. It completely changed the way I thought about the film.
posted by phooky at 6:20 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

My mom took me and some of my friends to see this movie in the theater for my 11th or 12th birthday party in the very early 70's - y'know, back before ILM ever reset the bar for special effects. I don't think she really thought things through though; she probably just wanted to see it herself and totally failed to anticipate how profound and formative an experience it would be for me...nor did she ever get used to the results. Next thing she knew I was reading classic sci-fi and questioning everything about our white middle-class suburban experience. Servers her right, I say!
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:25 PM on April 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

The movie on first release, it should be remembered, was not an immediate hit. It found an audience among weed (and other drug) enthusiasts, though, which canny marketers played up on with the added tagline "The ultimate trip." Now, of course, everyone remembers it as one of the great classics.

The ending, of course, is one of those sequences where you have to leave logic behind a bit, and let the movie take you somewhere completely unexpected. What are some other movies that do that, I wonder? Of course there was A.I., which Steven Spielberg dedicated to Stanley Kubrick, where the ending goes thousands of years into the future. When Kubrick does it it's considered a visionary stroke; I wonder how many other directors have tried a similar leap, and fallen flat? Have any succeeded?
posted by JHarris at 6:28 PM on April 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

I am never able to see the stargate sequences without thinking of the guy reverse-engineering the source images years later.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 6:30 PM on April 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

On the other hand, the final sequences, which I'd always found pretty boring on the small screen, were just amazing in a huge theater. It completely changed the way I thought about the film.

I saw it on the gigantic curved screen of the Cinerama in Seattle. That split screen unfolding sequence shit was beyond state of the art for us.

And we were all on acid.
posted by y2karl at 6:58 PM on April 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

The only thing that doesn't hold up is the hominid makeup.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:58 PM on April 28 [4 favorites +] [!]

Oh, baloney! I'd like to see you do better, uh, bonob--o--thh-e-gr-e-aa-tttt

on second thought, never mind!

Karl, I must dispute your assertion of universal lysergism at the first revival screening at the Cinerama. But it was a landmark viewing experience nonetheless. I look forward to what will be I guess my fourth 70mm viewing at that venue.

Upthread some folks mentioned that the FX seem lacking or hokey to them or something (ape suits to the side). Please elaborate! I haven't ever even seen a 70mm print of this that had masks fade in around space FX the way that the pre-restoration 1970s Star Wars movies did. The FX in this film, with the exception of the in-camera conceptual FX used for Dave's passage through the gateway, to me, have retained both a sense of pristine execution and powerful visualization.
posted by mwhybark at 7:12 PM on April 28, 2018

In 70 mm you can tell that big parts of the space station interior are cardboard cutouts, and that all the space ships in the exterior scenes are plastic models. Beautifully filmed plastic models.

It's not that you could tell they were plastic models if you looked closely, it's that it was hard to suspend disbelief - there were too many visual signs indicating they were small and plastic, not large and metal.
posted by idiopath at 7:24 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I saw it many times on VHS, and then finally had a chance to see it on the big screen in university maybe 25 years ago. The print was ancient -- it had the red fade of so many grade school filmstrips. All the blues were completely gone. With the red shift, it was quite easy to see the sheets of plastic animating the spaceship sequences and such.

It made me love the movie even more, seeing all the work behind the iconography I'd already loved, and being in a room with fellow die-hards who were going to see it on the big screen like it deserved, and nevermind a shitty print.

But boy oh boy -- a new 70mm print? I cannot wait. Simply cannot wait.
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:25 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

(Granted, I may not lost my shit so thoroughly as for the 70mm Barry Lyndon, but still.)
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:30 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

there were too many visual signs indicating they were small and plastic, not large and metal.

I believe we must agree to disagree! I'm sorry you percieve it that way. I am certainly not saying your perception is inaccurate or wrong. Thank you for answering my question.
posted by mwhybark at 8:00 PM on April 28, 2018

With the red shift, it was quite easy to see the sheets of plastic animating the spaceship sequences and such.

This may be a clue! I don't think I have ever seen a large-screen showing of the film that was not a 70mm restoration, come to think of it. Thus I wouldn't have any recall of the masking artifacts in this film that I definitely do recall with Star Wars.
posted by mwhybark at 8:04 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I went to probably the same Cinerama series that y2karl did. Last time I saw it (last year) at the Seattle Symphony with the full orchestra and chorus performing the score. There’s nothing quite as chill-inducing as that Ligeti piece performed live,
posted by matildaben at 8:08 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

the birth of a new sub-genre within science fiction

Not. even.

Unless that refers to spinning bones turning into space stations.

I invite those with questions to explore the work of Willy Ley and/or Chesley Bonestell. E.g. see here Esp. 'Conquest of Space', 1949, of which 'Arthur C. Clarke was also an admirer'. (Actually if you're not familiar with Bonestell's work, you owe it to yourself.)

As for alien artefacts, see Clarke's 'The Sentinel' (written 1948). And for the mother of ALL alien artefacts *in film*, (and the first non-funky UFO-shaped craft) see 1956 film 'Forbidden Planet' (you owe that too).
posted by Twang at 8:46 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

I thought BFI did the "new 2001 trailer" thing a little better. They knew what shot to end it with.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:51 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

According to one report, a young man at a showing in Los Angeles plunged through the movie screen, shouting, “It’s God! It’s God!”

- via The New Yorker
posted by fairmettle at 8:58 PM on April 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Still available is the book "Lost Worlds of 2001". Offers other movie/story ending options. There is an unused early sequence/draft where the aliens observe the early man colony a la Jane Goodall besides using the monolith and that same alien is waiting when the pod with Bowman lands, with no hotel room visions.
posted by Freedomboy at 9:02 PM on April 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Karl, I must dispute your assertion of universal lysergism...

Some of us saw it both ways and forgot everything one way but had a hella ride. Also, if I recall correctly, you were a child then, right ? No wonder. You were not of age, I mean. We were all so full of awe and wonder, with or without.
posted by y2karl at 9:24 PM on April 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

Also, if I recall correctly, you were a child then, right?

Ah! I see, I inaccurately imputed your viewing experience to the 2001 restoration screening, rather than the 1968 initial release! Yes, indeed. My folks did take us to Yellow Submarine, Willy Wonka, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in that era, but alas, not to 2001.
posted by mwhybark at 9:28 PM on April 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

The first time I saw Alien, it was the next day matinee at the UA 150 the day after it debuted at the Seattle Film Festival in 1979. I was so scared that I watched the last 10 minutes from behind a magazine. From behind a curtain in the lobby.

The second time was a week later when a young couple with a toddler sat down next to me. "Are you guys out of your minds," I asked, "This movie is super s-c-a-r-y." Got two blank stares and "We couldn't get a babysitter." JFHC!, I thought.

When the credits rolled and the camera started rolling through the bridge of the Nostromo, that boy got scared at the sight of the drinky bird and asked atremble, "Mommy, where are we going!?" My heart sank. Then he fell asleep. For the whole movie. Those two dodged a decades long whopping therapy bill, that boy's lifelong hatred and mass visits from CPS.
posted by y2karl at 10:07 PM on April 28, 2018 [12 favorites]

There's a great comparison between the "Unrestored" trailer and the 2007 Blu-Ray here. yt

I'm finding some of that comparison confusing, and the comments there are interesting.
A new chemical print of a 50 year old negative is more authentic to Kubrick's vision ? I don't really know enough about that process to comment, but he wasn't there, so I'm skeptical of that opinion.

I'm sure it will be interesting though.

Partially because of my disdain for all 60's culture when I was young, over saturation in the culture in general, and laziness, I never watched this whole movie until recently. I was surprised by how much I liked it. Really liked it.
posted by bongo_x at 10:23 PM on April 28, 2018

Fuck this new trailer though. “50 years ago ... one movie” BARF.
posted by ericost at 10:32 PM on April 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

I think the phrase "One X..." is required by law nowadays in movie trailers.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:37 PM on April 28, 2018 [3 favorites]

I saw Nolan's Interstellar on a 70mm print last week at Ebertfest and was blown away at how good it looked in that format. There's also something that I just love about seeing actual film projection that I find hard to put into words. For some reason just seeing the occasional piece of dust or scratch up on the screen makes me so happy knowing that I'm seeing a physical object and not just watching projected computer output.
posted by octothorpe at 5:51 AM on April 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

For some reason just seeing the occasional piece of dust or scratch up on the screen makes me so happy knowing that I'm seeing a physical object and not just watching projected computer output.

It's in our DNA, methinks.
posted by y2karl at 8:17 AM on April 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

And we were all on acid.

Having never seen 2001 on the big screen, I can’t say I’ve had that distinct pleasure. On the other hand, purple microdot at the first run of Tron made for quite an afternoon.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:40 PM on April 29, 2018

Chicago's Music Box recently commissioned a brand new 70mm print of 2001. How does this "official" 70mm process differ from that one?
posted by hwyengr at 3:53 PM on April 29, 2018