2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY- Special Edition

It is always hard to fathom that when Stanley Kubrick released 2001 that man had not yet even walked on the moon. Made in collaboration with teams of experts, scientists and advisors, and written with sci-fi author Arthur C. Clark, the director’s obssession for detail produced a film that not only seemed believable, but carried a realism to it that has never been matched by any film. But although much is made about the film’s scientific aspects of the main sequence, set in the year 2001 onboard a space station, almost half of the film takes place in another time–and space–and which is necessary to understand the true heart of the film, a mediation on the nature of man, his evolution and his destiny.

Divided into three sections, the first is a lengthy “Dawn of man” sequence. In this remarkable and utterly compelling–without a single line of dialog–thirty-minute piece, we travel back millions of years to discover our ape ancestors struggling to survive in the primal ancient world. The sudden arrival of a mysterious object inspires one ape to take the first steps towards modern evolution, through the discovery of tools. Jump-cutting a few million years ahead, we then follow the story of scientist Bowman, who investigates the fate of a group of astronauts who discovered a mysterious object buried in the moon, and struggles with computer HAL, who may very well be going insane. The last section has puzzled, intrigued and awed viewers for four decades, as Bowman goes through a journey somehow connected with that same mysterious object seen in the previous two sections.

To say that 2001 is a masterpiece is to state the obvious. This is considered the greatest science fiction film ever made, and for good reason. But what makes it more than just a smart intellectual film about ideas, the same way Star Trek often is, and brings it into the realm of high art is its construction, its form and the way in which it evolved the form of cinema, much like the way the film itself is about the form of man evolving. Told purely through visuals, bereft of almost any dialog, and with a message that is made deliberately obscured through the indirect manner in which it is told allegorically through pictorials rather than any sort of literal explanation, it is a film which ultimately challenges its viewers to examine how they read cinema. Its themes of evolution, of mortality and sentience, of extra-terrestrialism and the fate of man, of artificial intelligence and the meaning of life, reflected mainly in the lengthy middle section of the film, grant it a depth and complex web of meaning that takes many viewings to totally sort out, which perhaps is why, forty years later, we continue to be fascinated by the film and what it has to say.

For those who have not yet seen this great achievement of cinema, the new DVD out today presents it in as best as way that can be had on home video (and for those fortunate enough–try it in HD on Blu-ray disk!).

The Video: For a movie that is forty years old, the presentation here is absolutely incredible. With a flawless image, one might think this film was shot recently were it not the appearance of bee-hive haircuts in the film. Sharpness is excellent, and the colour rendition is superb. The film looks more or less identical to the previous transfer some years ago, but this one looks a bit cleaner, and with better contrast. It also is finally presented in proper widescreen, and not the horrible full-screen open-matte that some believe Kubrick actually intended the film to be seen in (he said he wanted the film shown open-matte when he saw the horrific pan-and-scan version on TV, not knowing that one day films would be availble in sharp, detailed resolution in wide-screen and on TV’s larger than 19 inches).

The Audio: 2001 is a film driven by visuals, but it is also one driven by audio as a way of re-enforcement, and thus its effect is highly dependant on the soundtrack. The 5.1 mix here is excellent, and really does justice to the careful original mix, with terrific atmospheric touches, excellent fidelity in the music and otherwise without any noticeable flaws. My only complaint is that the original mix is missing, which would be interesting purely from a historical soundpoint, but this would be more of a bonus than anything else.

The Extras: This is the real reason most people will be buying ths new two-disk set, and I’m happy to report that this thing is jam-packed with features. Disk one brings us a trailer and a full-length commentary with actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. Sharing memories and thoughts on the film, it is a decent supplement for the film. My only dissapointment–with the entire set really–is that there is no commentary track available from a critic or scholar that might offer some insight as to the meaning and construction of the film, as Criterion often does with its films, which I think might have been more interesting than the commentary track here.

Moving on to disk two we get to the real meat of the set. First up is a new documentary titled “The Making of a Myth.” Taking a look at the making of the film and with participants such as Arthur Clark, Doug Trumbell and Keir Dullea, as well as a number of experts from the art and science communities, this is a terrifically entertaining and highly informative doc that is also very professionally done. Originally produced in 2004 for Channel Four, the piece looks at the time and era which gave birth to the project, goes through the entire production and traces all the way to the afterlife of the film (which originally had a poor release). “The Legacy of 2001″ looks at 2001’s impact on other filmmakers, including George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Despite being a somewhat fluffy subject, it actually is quite interesting to learn how the movie affected future filmmakers. “The Prophecy of 2001″ takes a look at the research that went into the film and how accurate–and inaccurate–the film’s views on the future were, while “A Look Behind the Future” is a vintage documentary from when the movie was still being made, looking at how the film was researched and the unprecedened scale of its production, and is a great time-capsule from 1967.

“What is Out There?” is a fascinating look at a prologue that Kubrick never integrated, asking scientists about their thoughts on extra-terrestrials and space travel, in many ways offering some insight into the true meaning of the film, here reconstructed by verbal transcriptions by Keir Dullea (and offering some nice footage of Kubrick on the set). “FX and Early Artwork” takes a look at how the wormhole effects were created and offers some great glimpses of early concepts struggled with before the more simplified version seen in the film was arrived at. “Look: Stanley Kubrick!” is a terrific treat for Kubrick fans, offering a montage of Kubrick’s still photos from his many years employed by the magazine in the 1940’s. Finally, a terrific bonus rounds out the disk–an audio interview with Kubrick from 1966, which runs for well over an hour.

All in all this is a must-own DVD. Aside from a first-rate presentation of a cinema classic, this marks the first real special edition treatment of the film–and what a special edition it is. With a plethora of extras, from documentarys on the film’s production to rare interviews with Kubrick to examining the film’s effects and its meaning, theres something for every fan of the film to be found here. While a film as rich and layered as 2001 inevitably has so much more to explore and analyse that can be contained on a mere two disks, this set is nonetheless a cause for celebration.

Thanks for visiting us at Obsessed With Film, we update several times a day, so if you haven't done so yet you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also sign up to receive updates via e-mail.