TITANS OF CULT: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY [1968 / 2020] [65th Anniversary Limited Edition SteelBook] [2K Blu-ray + 4K Ultra HD] [Amazon Exclusive Release] [UK Release] An Epic Drama of Adventure and Exploration! The Greatest and Most Influential Film Ever Made!
Stanley Kubrick’s dazzling; Academy Award® winning achievement is a compelling drama of man vs. machine, a stunning meld of music and motion. Stanley Kubrick, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Where we first visits our prehistoric ape-ancestry past, then leaps millennia via one of the most mind-blowing jump cuts ever into colonised space, and ultimately whisks astronaut Dave Bowman [Keir Dullea] into uncharted space, perhaps even into immortality. “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.” Let an awesome journey unlike any other begin.
TITANS OF CULT: Celebrates iconic cinema through unique home video releases, featuring newly-created artwork and paired thoughtfully curated collectables.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1968 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards: Win: Best Film. Win: Best Director for Stanley Kubrick. 1968 Laurel Awards: Win: Golden Laurel Award for Road Show. 1969 Academy Awards®: Win: Best Effects and Special Visual Effects for Stanley Kubrick. Nominated: Best Director for Stanley Kubrick. Nominated: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay and Written Directly for the Screen for Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick. Nominated: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for Anthony Masters, Ernest Archer and Harry Lange. 1969 BAFTA Awards: Win: BAFTA Film Award for Best Art Direction for Anthony Masters, Ernest Archer and Harry Lange. Win: BAFTA Film Award for Best Cinematography for Geoffrey Unsworth. Win: BAFTA Film Award for Best Sound Track for Winston Ryder. Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best Film for Stanley Kubrick. Nominated: UN Award for Stanley Kubrick. 1969 Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: Win: Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) [UK/USA]. 1969 David di Donatello Awards: Win: Best Foreign Production (Migliore Produzione Straniera) for Stanley Kubrick. 1969 Directors Guild of America: Nominated: DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for Stanley Kubrick. 1969 Hugo Awards: Win: Best Dramatic Presentation for Arthur C. Clarke (story/screenplay) and Stanley Kubrick (screenplay/director). 1969 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Films. 1969 National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA: Nominated: NSFC Award for Best Cinematography for Geoffrey Unsworth. 1997 Online Film & Television Association: Win: OFTA Film Hall of Fame for 2001: A Space Odyssey Motion Picture. 2008 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Nominated: Saturn Award for Best DVD Collection for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. 2008 Jules Verne Awards: Win: Jules Verne Légendaire Award for Stanley Kubrick. 2012 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Win: Saturn Award for Best DVD Collection for Warner Bros. for Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut and Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. 2015 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Nominated: Best DVD/Blu-Ray Collection for Lolita, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut. 2019 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA: Win: Saturn Award for Best DVD/Blu-Ray Classic Film Release.
FILM FACT No.2: The space suit helmet featured in the film ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,’ Stanley Kubrick consulted aerospace specialists to make sure on the design's accuracy. ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ earned Stanley Kubrick an Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects, as well as nominations for Best Director and Original Screenplay and shared with Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Anthony Masters was also nominated for Best Art Direction. Sir Arthur C. Clarke reports that he "wondered, as loudly as possible, whether the judges had passed over ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ because they thought we had used real ape-men." The film won four British Academy Film Awards, for Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Track and Best Road Show presentation, and was nominated in the Best Film category.
Cast: Daniel Richter (Chief man-ape), William Sylvester, Leonard Rossiter, Margaret Tyzack, Irena Marr, Krystyna Marr, Robert Beatty, Sean Sullivan, Frank Miller, Bill Weston, Glenn Beck, Mike Lovell, Edward Bishop, Edwina Carroll, Penny Brahms, Heather Downham, Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, Douglas Rain (HAL 9000), Alan Gifford, Ann Gillis, Maggie d'Abo (uncredited), Chela Matthison (uncredited), Judy Keirn (uncredited), Vivian Kubrick (uncredited), Kenneth Kendall (BBC 12 announcer) (uncredited), Martin Amor (uncredited), S. Newton Anderson Sheraton Blount (uncredited), Ann Bormann (uncredited), John Clifford (uncredited), Harold Coyne (uncredited), Julie Croft (uncredited), Penny Francis (uncredited), Jane Hayward (uncredited), Roy Lansford (uncredited), John Swindells (uncredited), Burnell Tucker (uncredited), Marcella Markham (uncredited), Kim Neil (uncredited), Jane Pearl (uncredited), Penny Pearl (uncredited), Ivor Powell (uncredited) and Kevin Scott (uncredited)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Producers: Stanley Kubrick and Victor Lyndon (uncredited)
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) and Sir Arthur C. Clarke (based on the story "The Sentinel")
Composers: Aram Khachaturyan, Gyorgy Ligeti, Richard Strauss and Johann Strauss
Special Photographic Effects Supervisors: Con Pederson, Douglas Trumbull, Tom Howard and Wally Veevers
Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Technicolor and Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 (Super Panavision® 70)
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Restored and Re-mixed)
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Original 1968 Theatrical Audio)
English: 5.1 Dolby Digital Descriptive Audio
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
German 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Italian: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Spanish [Castilian] 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Spanish [Latin]: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Português: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Polish [Lektor]: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian, Spanish [Castilian], Dutch, Chinese [Traditional], Chinese [Mandarin], Korean, Spanish [Latin], Português [Brazil], Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Português, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Simplified Chinese
Running Time: 148 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 3
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Home Video
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: The creation of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ [1968] was a big epic sci-fi film. Employing teams of professionals in every field from space flight to food services, Stanley Kubrick set out to make what he simply described as a "good science fiction film." Stanley Kubrick first step was to contact famed author Sir Arthur C. Clarke, and over the next four years the two men crafted a "fictionalized science lesson" which was to be a coming of age of the entire human race.
‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSE’ is a landmark, science fiction classic and probably the best science-fiction film of all time about exploration of the unknown. It was released, coincidentally, at the height of the space race between the USSR and the USA. It appeared at the same time as NASA's exploratory Apollo Project with manned Earth orbiting missions and a prelude to orbiting and landing on the Moon with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. And it prophetically showed the enduring influence that computers would have in our daily lives.
Director Stanley Kubrick's work is totally profound, visionary and astounding film and a tremendous visual experience. This epic film contained more spectacular imagery, about what space looked like, and special effects than verbal dialogue. Viewers are left to experience the non-verbal, mystical vastness of space and time with this film, and to subjectively reach into their own subconscious and into the film's pure imagery to speculate about its meaning. Many consider the masterpiece bewildering, boring, slow-moving or annoying, but are still inspired by its story of how man is dwarfed by technology and space.
The first spoken word is almost a half hour into the film, and there's less than 40 minutes of dialogue in the entire film. Much of the film is in dead silence, accurately depicting the absence of sound in space, or with the sound of human breathing within a spacesuit. Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi experiment intended to present its story almost purely with visual imagery and auditory signals with very little communicative human. All scenes in the film have dialogue, music or silence, but never both together.
The film is enriched by stunning and totally brilliant pioneering technical effects that was so advanced at the time and still looks awesome today. It featured orchestral music, presented in movements like in a symphony, from: Richard Strauss, Also Sprach Zarathustra; Johann Strauss, The Blue Danube Waltz; György Ligeti, Atmospheres, Lux Aeterna, and Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs and Orchestra and Aram Khatchaturian, Gayane Ballet Suite.
The breath-taking, richly eloquent, and visually-poetic film that is deliberately filmed at a slow pace and about space travel and the discovery of extra-terrestrial, and was based on the published 1951 short story “The Sentinel,” that was written in 1948 by English science fiction author Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Its original screenplay was co-authored by director Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke from an expanded novelization, and the film was originally going to be titled as ‘Journey Beyond the Stars.’ The film's title was chosen because it was the first year of the new Millennium and of the next century. The film was also strongly influenced by director George Pal's ‘Conquest of Space’ [1955], and was similar in some plot elements that were referenced by Stanley Kubrick. Three months after the film made its debut, Arthur C. Clarke published a novel based upon the film's screenplay.
The space sequences proved no less imaginative. Because characters would be traveling and living in a variety of environments on-board spaceships, and Stanley Kubrick needed to find a realistic way to blend both gravity and weightless conditions. The techniques ranged from the simple method of mounting a pen on a piece of rotating plexi-glass so that it appeared to be floating, to actually rotating the set, while the actors roamed about inside. The weightless spacewalk sequences were achieved by suspending actors, and in some cases set pieces like the "pod" transports, from the ceiling by wires. The "floating" actors were then shot from below, their bodies hiding the wires. For the "Stargate" sequence, FX Supervisor Douglas Trumbull devised what was called a "slitscan machine." The machine helped with the process of photographing backlit transparencies of artwork, exposing each frame for a full minute, and moving the camera and artwork in sync, recording the art with a "streaked," stylized fashion. The result was the appearance that Dave Bowman was moving through time and space at infinite speeds.
Taking just over four years and costing M-G-M $11 million, and ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ was met with mixed reviews when it premiered on the 12th April, 1968. Critics pretty much hated the film, calling it slow, boring, and confusing. Luckily, for Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke, ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ struck a chord with younger audiences, who made the film the second biggest box office draw of 1968. ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ is now widely praised as a remarkable achievement for its realistic depiction of space flight during a time when our space program was in its infancy. Years before we actually set foot on the moon, Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke not only envisioned settlements there; they showed us an unsettlingly accurate portrayal of the lunar surface. A sequel was made years later: director Peter Hyams's ‘2010’ [1984] from a 1982 published adaptation titled “2010: Odyssey Two” by Arthur C. Clarke. Other Arthur C. Clarke writings are potential film instalments: “2061: Odyssey Three” and “3001: Final Odyssey,” but sadly this never happened due to the fact that both Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke passed away before anything materialised or was dropped because M-G-M maybe thought the cost of further films in this sci-fi genre would be far too expensive and far too risky.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY MUSIC TRACK LIST
Gayane Ballet Suite – Gayane's Adagio (1941 – 1942) (Music by Aram Khachaturyan) [Performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra] [Conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky]
Atmosphères (1961) (Music by György Ligeti) [Performed by the Southwest German Radio Orchestra] [Conducted by Ernest Bour]
Lux Aeterna (1966) (Music by György Ligeti) (Performed by the Stuttgart Schola Cantorum) (Conductrd by Clytus Gottwald)
Requiem (1963) ("Requiem for Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Two Mixed Choirs, and Orchestra") (Music by György Ligeti) (Performed by the Bavarian Radio Orchestra) (Conducted Francis Travis)
The Blue Danube (1866) ("An der schönen, blauen Donau, op. 314 aka The Blue Danube") (Music by Johann Strauss) (Performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) (Conducted Herbert von Karajan)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Music by Richard Strauss) (Performed by Wiener Philharmoniker) (uncredited) (Conducted by Herbert von Karajan) (uncredited)
Adventures (1962) (uncredited) (Music by György Ligeti) (Performed by The International Chamber Ensemble Darmstadt) (Conducted Bruno Maderna)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU (1893) (uncredited) (Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill) [Performed by Alan Gifford and Ann Gillis]
OFF BEATS MOOD (uncredited) [Performed by Sidney Torch] [BBC segment opening theme]
DAISY BELL (A Bicycle Built for Two) (1893) (uncredited) (Composed by Harry Dacre) [Sung by Douglas Rain]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Warner Home Video brings you ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ in the stunning Technicolor and Metrocolor image that you expect to experience in this awesome encoded 1080p image that will blow you away and is helped with the framed 2.20:1 [Super Panavision® 70] aspect ratio that is equally spectacular that one would expect it to be with this high resolution images you get to view and also shows a very fine grain structure, and that is exactly how it appears in this transfer from Warner Home Video and it hardly looks as if it has aged. Of course, the look of the film is no doubt helped out by the brilliant auteur Stanley Kubrick's shooting style of exposing his special effects composite shots as successive passes on the original undeveloped 65mm negative. This new remastered Blu-ray edition is a sight to behold with a near flawless HD image transfer. The opening pre-historic part is filled with rich, warm colours in the sunsets and desert environment. The flesh tones are accurate, colours are vibrant and blacks are rather inky and stable throughout as well. I would imagine that ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ has never looked better, like what you would of viewed in the cinema. There are only some minor issues with some spottiness of blacks around the very edges of the frames keeping this from being absolutely perfect. But despite this the print is in excellent condition and isn't marred by any softness, edge enhancement, scratches, or any distracting instances of source noise. For a film that's well over forty years old, this high-definition release is nothing short of a stunning spectacular presentation and especially with the opening "Dawn of Man" sequence seems to have been shot entirely at magic hour. The resulting shots are totally beautiful and really show off this 2020 remastered Blu-ray disc with totally flawless handling of the colour balance. Just about every scene in ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ looks as though it could have been filmed today. The print is flawless and the images are truly spectacular. This is a must own title on Blu-ray and is the ultimate definition of hi-definition reference grade and it is a must purchase for all fans of Stanley Kubrick's ultimate science fiction masterpiece. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Once again Warner Home Video brings you ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ in the stunning and equally impressive 5.1 LPCM Master Audio and of course you also have the option of the 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, but the main hi-resolution audio option is a 5.1 LPCM Master Audio mix. The 5.1 LPCM Master Audio offers up a nicely expansive sound for the driving classical score, with a surprising amount of low end as well, but there is also a quite a bit of audible distortion in the orchestral recording. Dialogue is otherwise clean and intelligible in the centre channel. While I didn't notice much of a difference between the two tracks, both sound better than ever and provide a faithful experience that still manages to enhance Stanley Kubrick's original vision. The classical music in the film opens up the sound field and resonates with solid bass and stable trebles. Dialogue is crisp and perfectly prioritized, with HAL's soothing tones dominating the soundscape to good effect. Sharp sounds like bestial grunts and mechanical hisses have a distinct impact, while quiet scenes on the ship are layered with a careful level of naturalistic ambiance. This was the first time I'd noticed the subtle and comprehensive intricacies of the sound design. The original 6-channel stereo sound track has been remixed for 5.1 surround, but the rear channels have a limited presence that bolsters acoustics more than anything. The tone of the sound design is a clear product of the 1960s, particularly evident in the tenor of the voices, which can be attributed to the original recording more than anything else. Having said all that, ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ has never sounded better than it does here and is an elegant mix that adds to the experience of this incredible once in a lifetime awesome powerful sci-fi film.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood: The actors behind the characters Dave Bowman and Frank Poole reminisce about how they got involved with the project what it was like to work with such a visionary director, and they share their personal opinions about the greater meanings in the film. With the start of the film, the actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood introduce themselves and of course they inform us that they both had an amazing thought provoking experience to be part of the film ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ Gary Lockwood informs us that he became an actor in 1959, and came to England in 1965 to start shoot the film '2001.' Keir Dullea informs us that at the same time was filming in London on the film ‘Bunny Lake Is Missing,’ and when he got home from the days filming he got a call from his Agent to inform him that Staley Kubrick wanted him in his film 2001,' and of course Keir was blown away, as Stanley Kubrick was his all-time favourite director ever since he viewed the film ‘Paths of Glory’ [1957]. Because Stanley Kubrick hated flying, he sent a crew to Africa to take still photographs of the African landscape, which were photographed on plate glass to use as the background at the start of the film and when you see the Ape-men it was all shot in the film studio in Boreham Wood in Hertfordshire. Keir Dullea says when he read the script, he felt that he had read the same outline before, and suddenly realised he had read the same story in a science fiction magazine entitled “The Sentinel” written by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. When both actors were not filming, Stanley Kubrick would invite them to his home in North London, where other guests were gathered, like scientists, painters, sculptors, artists and also other people that were on the same wavelength of Staley Kubrick, where loved to discuss all aspects of life. Keir Dullea also informs us that to get the light right for filming a certain scene, Stanley would use a Polaroid camera to take hundreds of pictures and that is why each scene took ages to set up. When you see Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood watching the panel of small TV screens, Gary Lockwood says when you see all the panel of video screens relating to the working of the spaceship, they were actually small screens that had a 16mm projector being projected onto them and there were loads of people behind to keep the projectors working. Keir Dullea also informs us that the food they were eating was developed by NASA. Keir Dullea also praises Gary Lockwood and really enjoyed working with him and that they both got on very well throughout the filming of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,’ especially that both actors had totally different personalities and Keir also says that it was to do the fact that it was a sort of YIN and YAN scenario, and that is why they acted so well together and again got on extremely well together, which helped a great deal, as they worked on the film for about 6 months. But as the years have passed them both by, they are still very good friends, despite not being in regular contact, because Keir Dullea mainly works in the theatre in New York and Gary Lockwood does other pursuits that is not involved with film. But what they both inform us that they were both very proud to work on such an awesome film, that they were also very proud to work with such a brilliant director like Stanley Kubrick, who also informed them both that he was also proud and honoured to have Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood appear in ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ But most important that there is a pretty good balance of personal stories and behind-the-scenes information, to such an extent that the audio commentary never becomes at all dull, because sometimes audio commentaries aren't really worth your time, but this is a really good one. So all in all this audio commentary is a must listen, as both actors are so informative about all aspects on their experiences with the film ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ and you will be spellbound by what you hear and it definitely get a 5 star rating from me.
Special Feature: Channel Four Documentary: 2001: The Making of a Myth [2001] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 2.20:1] [43.08] Hosted by director James Cameron, along with leading actor Keir Dullea, co-author Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Visual Effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull, goes behind-the-scenes into the making of Stanley Kubrick's classic space epic ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ The geniality of the mythical Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ is explored and debated here by scholars, some members of the cast and crew, plus other luminaries who were part of the magnificent experience that would help towards making the film become one of the landmarks of science fiction films, and still fascinating audiences with its mystery still today, as well as its spectacular visual images and its messages. Contributors include: James Cameron [Director], Sir Arthur C. Clarke [Author], John F. Kennedy (archive footage), Con Pederson [Special Photography Effects Supervisor: ‘2001’], Douglas Trumbull [Special Photography Effects Supervisor: ‘2001’], Brian Johnson [Special Effects Artist: ‘2001’], Fred Ordway [Scientific Consultant: ‘2001’], Heather Downham [Spaceship Stewardess: ‘2001’], Ed Bishop [Spaceship Captain: ‘2001’], Daniel Richter ['Moonwatcher' Chief Ape-man: ‘2001’], Guy The Gorilla [London Zoo: 1966] (archive footage), Keith Denny [Ape-man: ‘2001’], Professor Camille Paglia [Writer and Critic], Ray Lovejoy [Film Editor: ‘2001’], Dr. Ron Brachman [Artificial Intelligence Expert: AT&T], Elvis Mitchell [Film Critic: New York Times], John Logsdon [Director: Space Policy Institute, Washington DC], Roy Coutinho [Videophone Technologist: AT&T] and Dr. Lawrence R. Rabiner [Voice Recognition Expert: Bell Laboratory from 1963].
Special Feature: Standing on the Shoulders of Kubrick: The Legacy of ‘2001’ [2007] [1080p] [2.20:1 / 1.78:1] [21.25] Here we take a hypnotic journey with filmmakers whose own careers were inspired by the cinematic landmark of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ Stanley Kubrick's ground-breaking ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ opened the door to all the films and filmmakers who followed it. Through interviews with directors such as George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Sydney Pollack, as well as special effects professionals and cultural historians and this documentary examines the legacy of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece and its influence on science fiction films, special effects and world cinema. It is also spit up into different categories, which includes: FIRST IMPRESSIONS; REINVENTING THE FORM; BREAKING NEW GROUND; A FEAST FOR THE SENSES; COMMITMENT TO TRUTH and A FILMMAMKER’S FILMMAKER. Contributors included: Steven Spielberg [Director], Caleb Deschanel [Cinematographer], Dennis Muren [Visual Effects Artist Supervisor], Ben Burtt [Sound Designer], Jay Cocks [Contributor: The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey], Roger Ebert [Film Critic], Phil Tippet [Stop Motion Animator], John Dykstra [Special Photographic Effects Supervisor], Peter Hyams [Director: ‘2010’], Anthony Frewin [Assistant to Stanley Kubrick for ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’], Dan O'Bannon [Screenwriter], Sydney Pollack [Director], Ernest Dickerson [Director], David Hughes (Anglo-Welsh Author of The Complete Kubrick], William Friedkin [Director], Paul Duncan [Author of Stanley Kubrick: The Complete Films], John Calley [Former Warner Bros. Executive], Jan Harlan [Executive Producer], Janusz KamiÅ„ski [Cinematographer], Douglas Trumbull [Special Photographic Effects Supervisor], John Baxter [Author of Stanley Kubrick: A Biography].
Special Feature: Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of ‘2001’ [2007] [1080p] [2.20:1 / 1.78:1] [21.31] Stanley Kubrick and Co-Author Sir Arthur C. Clarke create a finely detailed vision of the future. In this documentary, Filmmakers, Writers and Sir Arthur C. Clarke himself, reflect on the accuracy of their predictions. In ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,’ Stanley Kubrick showed us what the future might look like. How true was his vision? This documentary employs interviews with filmmakers, screenwriters and authors and including Sir Arthur C. Clarke to delve deep into the heart of the film's imagined future and determine the extent to which Stanley Kubrick and Sir Arthur C. Clarke's vision predicted a world of fantasy or today's reality. It is also spit up into different categories, which includes: A CREDIBLE FUTURE?; THE REALITY OF SPECE TRAVEL; A PRODUCT OF ITS EREA and THE ALTRA OF TECHNOLOGY. Contributors include: Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey], John Baxter [Author of Stanley Kubrick: A Biography], Anthony Frewin [Assistant to Stanley Kubrick], Dennis Muren [Visual Effects Supervisor], Robert Ebert [Film Critic], David Hughes [Anglo-Welsh Author of The Complete Kubrick], Paul Duncan [Author of Stanley Kubrick: The Complete Films], Douglas Trumbull [Special Photographic Effects Supervisor], Dan O'Bannon [Screenwriter], Rob Coleman [Canadian Animation Director], Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles [Author of Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space], John F. Kennedy (archive footage), Phil Tippet [Stop Motion Animator], John Dykstra [Special Effects Supervisor], Jan Harlan [Executive Producer], Hugh Hudson [Director], William Friedkin [Director], John Calley [Former Warner Bros. Executive], Richard Edlund [Visual Effects Supervisor] and Sydney Pollack [Director].
Special Feature: ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ – A Look Behind the Future [1996] [480i] [1.37:1] [23.11] We take a look in on the LOOK magazine's charmingly retro guided tour of the London set in Boreham Wood, Hertfordshire of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ With this short documentary about the making of and production of Stanley Kubrick's ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ and its impact on the 1960's view of the future. Sadly the quality is of terrible quality, but still pleased it was included in the extras. Contributors include: Vernon Myers [LOOK Magazine], Fred Ordway [Space Scientist], Harry Lange [Space Scientist], Charles A. Lindbergh (archive footage), Roy Carnon, Anthony Masters, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Tom Buck [LOOK Magazine], Keir Dullea [Actor], Gary Lockwood [Actor] and Stanley Kubrick [Director].
Special Feature: What Is Out There? [2007] [1080p / 480i] [2.202:1 / 1.78:1] [20.42] Examines the philosophical themes of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,’ including possibilities of Extra-Terrestrial life; The Concept of God and the intersection of these two possibilities. At the start of this special feature, you get a quote from Stanley Kubrick, where he states, “In an infinite and eternal universe, the point is, anything is possible.” Keir Dullea narrates a segment that starts off rather awkward with him reading from notes on his lap, but evolves into another informative look at the themes presented in the film. Excerpts from an interview with Sir Arthur C. Clarke are sourced as well as Keir Dullea sharing relevant quotes from great thinkers like Isaac Asimov. The piece is written, rather well I should note, by Anthony Frewin, son of the film's unit production manager and a long-time assistant to Stanley Kubrick. They examine the philosophical themes of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,’ including possibilities of extra-terrestrial life, the concept of God, and the intersection of these two possibilities. One interesting item we see at the end of this special feature is a quote from Stanley Kubrick that is relevant to the film ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ in which Stanley Kubrick states: “The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile, but that it is indifferent. If we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death, our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.” Contributors include: Keir Dullea [Dave Bowman], Stanley Kubrick [Director] (archive footage) and Sir Arthur C. Clarke [from “People To Watch” BBCTV 1966] (archive footage).
Special Feature: 2001: FX and Early Conceptual Artwork [2007] [1080p] [2.20:1 / 1.78:1] [9.33] Here we get a retrospective of the Art and Visual Effects Designs that led to the mind-bending visions of Stanley Kubrick's ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ The first half of this features Douglas Trumbull discussing the slit-scan techniques used during the final voyage beyond the infinite as well as the method of dabbing lacquer and enamel paints in water to create the illusion of shattering cosmic events. Christiane Kubrick follows with an introduction to the colourful conceptual artwork everyone associated with the project was asked to submit to help guide the direction of the film's final act. Despite none of colourful conceptual artwork was used, it was still worth a view. While viewing all the brilliant and colourful conceptual art images, you hear in the background a specially composed music. Contributors include: Douglas Trumbull [Special Photographic Effects Supervisor] and Christiane Kubrick [Widow of Stanley Kubrick].
Special Feature: LOOK: Stanley Kubrick! [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] [3:15] Stanley Kubrick also had a natural eye for photography. Just before the start of his career, Stanley Kubrick sold several photographs to the LOOK magazine while still a student at the Taft High School in New York. In 1946 Stanley Kubrick left Taft High School and went to work for the LOOK magazine. Over the next four years Stanley Kubrick shot thousands of photographs on his assignments. Stanley Kubrick’s career as a film director has over-shadowed his early career as a photojournalist. The photographs we get to view are of America in the late 1940s and it demonstrates Stanley Kubrick’s remarkable talent. . . You get to view a collection of stunning black-and-white still photographs taken by Stanley Kubrick, of all aspects of American life. But as a bonus you also get to hear a really brilliant jazz soundtrack in the background.
Special Feature: Audio-Only Bonus: 11/27/1996 interview with Stanley Kubrick conducted by Jeremy Bernstein in 1966 [1966] [1080p] [1.78:1] [76:13] In the spring of 1965, the physicist and prolific author Jeremy Bernstein wrote a short piece for The New Yorker’s “Talk of the Town” about of 37-year-old director Stanley Kubrick, who was accelerating towards the zenith of his cultural acclaim after releasing the films ‘Lolita’ and ‘Dr. Strangelove’ and was about to release his greatest film, his cult collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke, ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.’ The piece garnered enough interest that Jeremy Bernstein was assigned to write a feature-length profile of Stanley Kubrick — something the reclusive director wouldn’t have ordinarily agreed to, had it not been for one peculiar passion he shared with Jeremy Bernstein: the love of chess. So Jeremy Bernstein travelled to Oxford, where ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ was being shot, and spent ample time with Stanley Kubrick, sneaking in chess matches during production breaks. And even though he never beat Stanley Kubrick, Jeremy Bernstein accomplished an even greater feat: Jeremy Bernstein got the young director Stanley Kubrick, notoriously averse to long interviews, to engage in the audio interview conversation that was recorded on tape. One thing Jeremy Bernstein learned about Stanley Kubrick was that he loved gadgets and had a special fondness for tape recorders. Also Stanley Kubrick didn't like giving long interviews. So when it came time to do the interviews, Stanley Kubrick took control as director and insisted on using one of the devices. "My interviews were done before tape recorders were commonplace." This rare audio was recorded on the 27th November, 1965, is arguably Stanley Kubrick’s most extensive and revealing interview about his early career, discussing such wide-ranging subjects as how he learned that problem-solving is the key to creative success, why he got bad grades in high school. Stanley Kubrick talked with Jeremy Bernstein on a range of topics related to his early career. In this audio preserved in the recording, Stanley Kubrick discusses his bad grades in high school and his good luck in landing a job as a photographer for LOOK magazine, his earliest film work producing newsreels, and all of his feature films up to that point, including ‘Paths of Glory,’ ‘Lolita’ and ‘Dr. Strangelove.’ Stanley Kubrick talks about his working relationships with Clarke and Vladimir Nabokov, and his views on space exploration and the threat of nuclear war and the allure of space exploration, and what it was like to work with Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Vladimir Nabokov. So director Stanley Kubrick, talks with physicist and writer Jeremy Bernstein, and discusses his life in general and also the making of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ in this very rare 1966 audio interview. Perhaps the best inclusion on the set, with this interview was with physicist and author Jeremy Bernstein and his candid discussion from the formative years of a visionary artist. There is an incredible wealth of information here, and anyone who considers himself a fan of Stanley Kubrick's work is sure to enjoy this very informative rare interview. Stanley Kubrick has a great insight to life, where he comments, “People react primarily to direct experience and not to abstractions; it is very rare to find anyone who can become emotionally involved with an abstraction.” Stanley Kubrick also commentated by saying, It was the building of the Berlin Wall that shaped Stanley Kubrick’s interest in nuclear power and nuclear strategy, and he began to read everything he could get hold of about the bomb. Eventually, he had decided that he had about covered the spectrum, and wasn’t learning anything new. “When you start reading the analyses of nuclear strategy, they seem so thoughtful that you’re lulled into a temporary sense of reassurance,” Stanley Kubrick explained. “But as you go deeper into it, and become more involved, you begin to realize that every one of these lines of thought leads to a paradox.” It is this constant element of paradox in all the nuclear strategies and in the conventional attitudes toward them that Stanley Kubrick transformed into the principal theme of Dr. Strangelove.” Stanley Kubrick goes on to argue that nuclear energy and the atomic bomb have been reduced to an abstraction, one “represented by a few newsreel shots of mushroom clouds,” which hinders people’s ability to actually engage with the reality of the issue. He tells Jeremy Bernstein: “People react primarily to direct experience and not to abstractions; it is very rare to find anyone who can become emotionally involved with an abstraction. The longer the bomb is around without anything happening, the better the job that people do in psychologically denying its existence. It has become as abstract as the fact that we are all going to die someday, which we usually do an excellent job of denying. For this reason, most people have very little interest in nuclear war. It has become even less interesting as a problem than, say, city government, and the longer a nuclear event is postponed, the greater becomes the illusion that we are constantly building up security, like interest at the bank. As time goes on, the danger increases, I believe, because the thing becomes more and more remote in people’s minds. No one can predict the panic that suddenly arises when all the lights go out — that indefinable something that can make a leader abandons his carefully laid plans. A lot of effort has gone into trying to imagine possible nuclear accidents and to protect against them. But whether the human imagination is really capable of encompassing all the subtle permutations and psychological variants of these possibilities, I doubt. The nuclear strategists who make up all those war scenarios are never as inventive as reality, and political and military leaders are never as sophisticated as they think they are.” And yet, despite this glib view of our capacity for transcending the limitations of our own minds, Kubrick did have beautiful faith in the human spirit, as his timeless words bespeak: “However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.” The interview was apparently conducted in multiple takes starting on the 27th November, 1965 and ending sometime in early 1966. Filming of ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ commenced on the 29th December, 1965 and a month after the taped conversation begins, and near the end of the tape Stanley Kubrick mentions having already shot 80,000 feet, or about 14.8 hours, of film. The only annoying factor relating to this fascinating interview with Staley Kubrick is that it ends abruptly and I would have thought Jeremy Bernstein could have thanked Stanley Kubrick for the interview and signed off. Despite my last comment, this is truly wonderful rare interview recording with Stanley Kubrick and is a must listen on hearing the thoughts of life in general with the auteur director Stanley Kubrick.
Theatrical Trailer [1968] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:51] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY,’ but sadly it is not being shown in the 2.20:1 (Super Panavision® 70) aspect ratio. But despite this, it is still a stunning awesome presentation, and Time Magazine proclaimed that it was “The most dazzling visual happenings in the history of the motion picture!”
BONUS: Exclusive ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ Enamel Pin
PLUS: Exclusive ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ Embroidered Patch
Finally, Stanley Kubrick's ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ is an absolute stunning masterpiece, the magnum opus of our greatest filmmaker of all time and one of the most important films ever made and it has been my ultimate No.1 favourite film of all time. It's nothing short of breath-taking. ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ is widely considered to be one of the ultimate science fiction film ever made, and with good reason. It's something totally unique and forward thinking and you owe it to yourself to savour that experience by owning ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ especially with this 65th Anniversary Limited Edition SteelBook Blu-ray. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
