2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) &
Arthur C. Clarke (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 April 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Let the Awe and Mystery of a Journey Unlike Any Other Begin

Plot:

Mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon and, with the intelligent computer HAL, sets off on a quest.

Plot Keywords:

Father Daughter Relationship | Carl Jung | Space Shuttle | Millenialism | Messiah

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 10 wins & 6 nominations

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Keir Dullea	...	Dr. Dave Bowman
Gary Lockwood	...	Dr. Frank Poole
William Sylvester	...	Dr. Heywood R. Floyd
Daniel Richter	...	Moon-Watcher
Leonard Rossiter	...	Dr. Andrei Smyslov
Margaret Tyzack	...	Elena
Robert Beatty	...	Dr. Ralph Halvorsen
Sean Sullivan	...	Dr. Bill Michaels
Douglas Rain	...	HAL 9000 (voice)
Frank Miller	...	Mission controller (voice)
Bill Weston	...	Astronaut
Ed Bishop	...	Aries-1B Lunar shuttle captain (as Edward Bishop)
Glenn Beck	...	Astronaut
Alan Gifford	...	Poole's father
Ann Gillis	...	Poole's mother

Also Known As:

How the Solar System Was Won (USA) (working title)
Journey Beyond the Stars (USA) (working title)
Two Thousand and One: A Space Odyssey (USA) (alternative spelling)
År 2001 ett rymdäventyr (Sweden) [sv]
2001 - I odysseia tou diastimatos (Greece) [el]
2001 - Uzay yolu macerasi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
2001 Odissea nello spazio (Italy) [it]
2001, l'odyssée de l'espace (France) [fr]
2001, una odisea del espacio (Argentina) [es]
2001: йНЯЛХВЕЯЙЮЪ нДХЯЯЕЪ (Soviet Union: Russian title) [ru]
2001: Ürodüsszeia (Hungary) [hu]
2001: Avaruusseikkailu (Finland) [fi]
2001: Een zwerftocht in de ruimte (Netherlands) [nl]
2001: En romodyssé (Norway) [no]
2001: Ett rymdäventyr (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
2001: L'odyssée de l'espace (Canada: French title) [fr]
2001: Odisea del espacio (Argentina) [es]
2001: Odisséia no Espaço (Portugal) [pt]
2001: Odyseja kosmiczna (Poland) [pl]
2001: Odyssee im Weltraum (West Germany) [de]
2001: Uma Odisséia no Espaço (Brazil) [pt]
2001: Una odisea del espacio (Spain) [es]
2001: Una odissea en l'espai (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Avaruusseikkailu 2001 (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Rumrejsen år 2001 (Denmark) [da]
Svemirska odiseja 2001 (Serbia) [sr]

Runtime:

141 min | 160 min (premiere cut)

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | DTS 70 mm (2001 re-release)

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) (original rating) | New Zealand:PG | Malaysia:U | Canada:G (Quebec) | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | Spain:T | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (2007) | Australia:G (original rating) | Australia:PG (cable rating) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Norway:11 | Norway:12 (1969) | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:12 | Ireland:G | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The main Discovery set was built by aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrong inside a 12-meter by two-meter drum designed to rotate at five km per hour. It cost $750,000.

Goofs:

Factual errors: One of the most familiar effects in 2001 is when the stewardess enters a cabin on the round, moon-bound shuttle, velcro-walks around the wall and exits in a orientation upside down to how she entered. The upside down orientation is carried through to the next shot where she enters the pilots' control area and is readjusted to show she is matching the pilots' vertical. The goof is that, following the implications of the change of orientation, the pilots would be sitting upside-down in comparison to the passenger compartment. This would be problematic in the subsequent scenes of the shuttle landing on the moon - somebody would be on their heads at landing. The idea was to graphically demonstrate that there is no 'up' in space. Unfortunately, in a shuttle that lands in a gravity field, yes, there is an 'up' that has to be consistent throughout the ship, at least as far as the people are concerned.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Aries-1B stewardess: Here you are, sir, main level please.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Spaced: Chaos (#1.5)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Adventures

The Order of the Universe

I spent many a sleepless night after watching 2001. Not only because of the psychological horror (of which 2001 is a masterpiece) but also because of the way it brought me (a restless soul) some clarity to the way I observe the universe. It changed my way of thinking in a very profound way. And after reading the novel (by Arthur C. Clarke) I found myself once again inspired (a writer as I am) by the level of imagination.

The Space Odyssey is not something one can just "go and see". One has to be ready for it, or it cannot be understood. In fact I don't think it can be understood at all, at least not all of it at once. It is a philosophical journey to the infinite and beyond, a masterpiece of it's genre and still after 32 years technically quite impressive all the way to the powerful musical soundtrack featuring 'Also spracht Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss and 'Blue Danube' by Johann Strauss.

Take all the time you want, but eventually you are going to have to see this film. If it can bring some order and understanding to the universe of a struggling artist like me, it can certainly do it for you as well.

Or maybe I'm just plain crazy...