50 Years of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’

In 1968, NASA launched two successful missions-a manned orbital flight and a manned lunar orbiter. It was also the year that Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” was released as a feature film and the novel based on the screenplay was published. The novel, while written in collaboration with Kubrick, was shaped by two earlier stories Clarke had written; “The Sentinel” and “Encounter in the Dawn.” Both stories are included in “The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.”

Released on April 3, 1968, “2001” was the highest-grossing North American film of the year in addition to becoming a cult classic. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and Stanley Kubrick received one for his direction of visual effects. In 1991 it was further honored when chosen for preservation by the National Film Registry.

In an unusual move, Kubrick often used classical music as a substitute for dialog, and the soundtrack features such well known works as” Thus Spoke Zarathustra” and “The Blue Danube.” “The Ultimate 2001 Album” CD, contains the soundtrack, plus the additional music NASA recorded for the Voyager spacecraft and Wagner’s Immolation of the Gods. The film’s carefully crafted special effects also contributed to the film’s popularity. One reviewer commented that “there is not a single moment, in this long film, when the audience can see through the props. The stars look like stars and outer space is bold and bleak.”

The story begins with the extraordinary appearance of a pre-historic monolith then it leaps to a mysterious 21st century space mission and the discovery of another monolith. The space mission itself starts off quietly with its crew of two astronauts, three hibernating scientists, and the HAL 9000 computer, voiced by actor Douglas Rain, which runs the spaceship. HAL stands for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer. The astronauts’ lives on board the space craft are uneventful, and even boring, until they suspect that HAL has begun to malfunction. Hal’s famous quote, “I am afraid I can’t do that Dave” is memorably ominous and correctly indicates trouble ahead for the mission and its crew.

“2001” has multiple themes, including the perils of technology, the perils of nuclear war, evolution, extraterrestrials, artificial intelligence and space travel. However, “2001” can be also be enjoyed for the story, soundtrack, special effects and depiction of space travel. In 1968 man had not yet walked on the moon, nor had lengthy space travel begun and there were no limits to Clarke’s fertile imagination envisioning the future as he did in 2001. After the success of 2001, he went on to write the sequels “2010: Odyssey Two,” “2061: Odyssey Three” and “3001: The Final Odyssey.” All these books are available in the Manatee County Public Library. For a special treat, however, get together a group of your friends and check out the film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” After 50 years, it is still, in the words of another reviewer, a true cinematic experience, and that is cause for celebration.

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 4:52 PM with the headline "50 Years of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’."