2001: A Space Odyssey
01/07/2002 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

DVD widescreen: Warner Brothers D065000. 143 mins. Price: £18.99 (UK). director: Stanley Kubrick. stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, Douglas Rain, Daniel Richter and William Sylvester.

I might not have a DVD player connected to my TV but the one in my computer lets me look at the new format. An opportunity to look over one of the greatest SF films ever should never be over-looked. Never look double opportunities in the mouth. You never know when they can turn up again.

‘2001’ is regarded as great simply because it illustrates how the Space Age would have looked had we pursued over dreams into space after the first Moon landing in 1969.

The fact that Stanley Kubrick had been planning and filming this movie two years previous to the 1968 release and a year before said landing is an indication of both his vision and that of writer Arthur C. Clarke.

Spaceships are as they would happen. Even in the 60s, we had our share of glitzy spaceships giving no credibility to the laws of momentum. The space shuttle to the space station and the moon shuttle to the Moon indicating the tediousness of space flight.

The US Discovery coasted along to Jupiter the way NASA would have intended with no glitzy sound effects greeting the vacuum. The fact that things got out of hand for Captain David Bowman in Jupiter space was entirely beyond his control. We saw the finest example of terrestrial created space flight finally meet up with alien travel that took Bowman across the galaxy in the ultimate trip and a re-birth ceremony.

In case you don’t know the plot and been hibernating - hopefully without a computer watching over your sleep, ‘2001’ centres on the discovery of an alien artefact discovered on the Moon that sends a signal to Jupiter. The Jupiter Mission is sent to discover what it was doing. Along the way, the on-board computer, HAL 9000, decides the crew are jeopardising the mission and kills most of them. Bowman is abducted by an alien artefact orbiting in Jupiter space and sent on the ultimate trip.

Watching scenes from this film again, I couldn’t help but wonder if NASA are going to pay attention to this particular details should they ever attempt a long distance flight. Providing some verbal commands to over-ride the computer would be a good idea. A bit of privacy from your AI isn’t a bad idea either.

Having EVA pods that actually link properly to standard air-locks wouldn’t be good, too, or having spare space helmets in said pods as well. Even spacesuit design needs to be improved. Having an exposed air hose just waiting to be snipped is just an accident waiting to happen. I can be critical simply cos I know the film so well.

Watching this film on widescreen has felt a bit odd though. I’ve watched my video tape version enough times to know what I might have been missing this time around. The little peripheral details like seeing out of the windows of the space station and seeing the Earth revolve in the distance.

The attention to such detail was always staggering. CGI might be doing as well as this now but in the late 60s it was a lot more work to attain perfection. With the computer controls on hand, it’s a very simple matter to freeze-frame and have a closer look at the marvellous screen displays that Doug Trumbull concocted.

As the box notes, this version is ‘digitally restored and remastered’. It isn’t simply a copy of the video version. This is the film version! When I saw the film in 1970 - I missed its first distribution although I stayed in the cinema for 3 screenings - there was always an intermission about 80 minutes in.

Cinemas had to be served and everyone needed an ice cream break or simply to go to the loo. The intermission is retained here, both in time and with some of Ligeti’s ‘Atmospheres’ music. Whether you want to share the original effect is debatable but if you want the nostalgia, everything is intact.

As commented regarding other DVDs I’ve bought, I tend to be more interested in the extras more than the film itself, mainly because I’ve seen them enough times on video. It’s unfortunate that there’s very little here. A selection of language variations in case English isn’t your native tongue and the original movie trailer.

Now the trailer isn’t something I’ve seen before. The trailer whizzes through scenes from the film at a very rapid pace in such a linear fashion that it looks like a quick abridged version of the story. Even back then, the film company weren’t quite sure how to sell this film and depended entirely on Kubrick’s visuals. The fact that it actually makes sense at this speed is the biggest wonder.

Considering the amount of photos and technical sketches that have abounded in books on ‘2001’, it’s really a shame that nothing could have been added as additional features. The normal punter isn’t likely to look at them more than once but the die-hard fans would. The bits and bobs that come with a deluxe version of this DVD are more to do with the wrapping than any changes in the disk.

No doubt if you’re the proud owner of a DVD player and SF fan, then you already own a copy of this DVD. The main attraction has to be the full widescreen effect. Even without the extras, this is still a bewitching film to watch.

GF Willmetts

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