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The story of the critical derision that greeted "2001: A Space Odyssey" when it first opened in 1968 has been told many times. Not all of its earliest viewers were prepared to have their senses expanded so dramatically, especially when they could not even understand what the story was about. The unfortunate consequence was that some of it has never been screened again.

Yet, for each bemused and dismissive critic, there were many, mostly young, people whose reaction was more akin to: "At last! A film that treats us like intelligent people!". Once they realised "2001" was not just a shallow piece of art cinema, the critics too mellowed in their interpretations, and ever since "2001" has won new audiences each time it is screened.

For many admirers, "2001" remains to this day not simply "the only science- fiction movie ever made", but for a considerable number of them "the best movie ever made".

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Technical artistry

Thirty years on, the film "2001" is historically equivalent to what a film released in 1938 would have been to those who saw it when it first came out. The intervening years have brought us technological advances that make the conditions under which "2001" was made look like something out of a history book. Each new science- fiction epic takes us beyond its predecessors. Star Wars. Alien. Close Encounters. Bladerunner. Star Trek. Dune. Contact.

Yet, technically and artistically, "2001" has never been surpassed. On the far too rare occasions when "2001" is screened today in its full 70mm Super Panavision widescreen, stereo multi- channel soundtrack glory, audiences are still discovering that, after thirty years, it has the power to make all other films look dated and inadequate.

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No answers

Even in the drastically curtailed dimensions of the video, people today are discovering the unique qualities of "2001". The teaming of Stanley Kubrick with Arthur C. Clarke was one of those fortuitous meeting of minds that defined a new cinematic experience. They made no attempt to explain what it all meant. They presented their vision and left it up to each one of its audience to work out, in their own way, what it was about.

There can be no "2001 expert", eager to reveal a meaning that has remained hidden from the rest of us. We are all equals when it comes to satisfying our own need for answers by comparing what moves us in "2001" with what we experience in our own lives.

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Such an experience

The World Wide Web site, "2001: A Space Odyssey - 30 Years On", first appeared early in 1996 as a homage offered to express the sense of wonder and awe that had never left its writer in all the years since 1968.

The original essays are still there, honed and enhanced, the core that holds the site together, but around them has grown a whole complex of opinions, thoughts and illuminations submitted by readers from all over the world, from simple but telling words of agreement and appreciation through to learned and expert dissertations on some of the things that made "2001" such an experience.

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A new presentation

In "2001: A Space Odyssey - 30 Years On", you will find things about "2001" that have never been presented before in quite the same way. Here are a few of them.

BulletWhat lay behind the stunning physical impact of the widescreen technology Stanley Kubrick used?

BulletDid Stanley Kubrick "change the rules" with "2001", as maintained by the author of a fine paper included in this site?

BulletWho were the composers who gave us the music that has since become inextricably linked with those stunning visions of early humanoids whose world was transformed by a featureless monolith, of space stations and interplanetary travel, of man's journey through the barriers of known space and time?

BulletWho wrote much of an entire original score for "2001", and why did he leave it untouched and unheard for twenty years?

BulletWhat became of those "trims" (scenes cut from the original)? Is it true, that they have never been seen since?

BulletHow has the "Space Odyssey" saga been developed and continued over the years by its originator, Arthur C. Clarke?

BulletWhat was experienced by Andrey Tarkovsky, Stanley Kubrick's counterpart, struggling behind the Iron Curtain to produce the near- contemporary and unforgivably neglected science- fiction masterpiece "Solaris"?

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Hal

What of "that" computer, the Hal 9000?

BulletWas "2001" really a film about a computer that went mad?

BulletDid Hal cheat to win a game of chess?

BulletWas Hal incapable of reconciling the demands of conflicting priorities and "secret" instructions?

BulletWas Hal capable of murder?

BulletWhat does the name "Hal" mean?

BulletDid Dave "kill" Hal?

Hal's story did not end with his famous rendition of "Daisy" as the mission commander and sole human survivor on board "Discovery", David Bowman, took the spanner to his higher brain functions. This site follows Hal's fate through "2001"'s successor, "2010: The Year We Make Contact", to see what lessons, if any, can be drawn from his resurrection in remote orbit around Jupiter.

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Beyond 2001

Beyond his comprehensive coverage of the "Space Odyssey" saga and "Solaris", the author takes a light- hearted but affectionate look at other movies that have impressed him over the years, from Steven Spielberg's moving "Empire of the Sun" through John Carpenter's shocking "The Thing" and Walt Disney's dazzling "Fantasia" to the "rock" videos of Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream.

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An inspiration

The inevitable page of links to other Web sites goes beyond the usual random collection of subjects that have some vague personal interest for the author. Each link has been selected to provide further commentary or illumination on some aspect of "2001".

BulletWhich URL has been added on the personal recommendation of Arthur C. Clarke to the site author?

BulletHow did Neil Armstrong's experience of landing on the moon compare with the one enjoyed by "2001"'s cinema audience?

BulletWhere else can you go to find out more about "2001"?

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Words

This is no frustratingly superficial Web site. Reading all the pages is equivalent to reading a good- sized book, with all that implies for appreciating and understanding the points being presented. The author never falls into the trap of mistaking his chosen subjects for real life, and an undercurrent of gentle humour flows throughout.

And, always, the site is open to discussion, interpretation and appreciation from its readers.

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Landmarks

As the year 2001 approaches, much faster than anyone could ever have expected all that time ago, there is no doubt that the film and all that it represents will continue to gain attention and respect. The fact that the reality of life at the turn of the century is so unlike what was envisaged three decades ago will not diminish the inspiration people draw from the film. New audiences will discover, in "2001" and beyond, why this is one of cinema's greatest landmarks. Others will learn, from Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, in the site author's own words, "the meaning of the word 'possibilities'". And others, too, will be influenced in the decisions they make in their own lives by what they experience when they watch "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Hal asked a famous question of Dr Chandra, who didn't know the answer: "Will I dream?"

But the answer, for all who have been moved by "2001", has always been: "Yes, Hal, you will".

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"2001: A Space Odyssey - 30 Years On"
Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 by
The Underview
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