I have seen 2001 over a dozen times. Mostly on cable. The first full viewing was at the Springfield Public Library during their Summer of Sci-Fi. I think it would be 1979, maybe 1980 since it was before being on HBO. Seeing it on the big screen was sweet. Other than an annoying clicking noise in the left-front speakers at the Alamo Ritz, it was awesome to finally experience the most realistic space film in conditions pretty close to 1968…minus the haze of weed smoke when the movie was rebranded for Hippies.
Most realistic? What about Gravity? It’s a close second but stumbles on three points to 2001‘s one. Who was the judge of this? Scientists and from a favorite book, Bad Astronomy by Dr. Phil Plait. The only error was Dr. Floyd drinking from a straw, when he stops, the liquid sinks back in which it won’t given the lack of terrestrial gravity. The other realistic elements drive most audiences crazy; the silence in outer space. We’re conditioned to expect the ships to making noise when they zoom around a la Star Wars.
Over the years, my appreciation has grown. Keir Dullea’s performance as Dr. Dave Bowman is impressive because he behaves in the manner real astronauts do. When he’s in the pod going after Dr. Frank Poole, you can tell he’s holding back, staying calm, being rational all the while he’s about to lose his shit. Bowman’s cohort had an “accident” and may be dead yet he’s going to apply every thing he learned in training to get through the unexpected. Traditional action movies tend to have a Bowman-like character be one of the extremes: Mr. Spock detached or Han Solo crazy.
Lastly, I read someone’s theory regarding the ending. After Bowman enters the Monolith, experiences the trippy colors and ends up in some weird bedroom until he dies, then returns as the Star Child. What we’re witnessing is Bowman’s encounter with the Monolith creators and they’ve trapped him in their zoo. He ages due to them being fourth-dimensional beings (time isn’t linear, odd he only goes forward). When I was a kid, my reaction then was “what the hell was that about?” which was everyone else’s was at the premiere. The zoo idea is more plausible. I doubt we’ll ever really know…unless I plod through the numerous books about Kubrick, Clarke and/or this movie.
