Kyle's 2001 review

[Head Mutant]

Good review, and you touched on something I thought funny... that now that Kubrick is dead, it seems to add some weight to his "classic" status that can't be debated without drawing some serious ire your way. Glad you enjoyed that movie, but I found 2001 to be an insufferable bore -- classic or no -- both times I watched it.

Question: why are "classics" often so incredibly boring? And how can they be that boring and remain "classic"?

[bladestarr]

My Plan: Someday when I'm already independently wealthy by other means, I'd like to get into filmmaking. I'm going to make a series of films over a 20 year span that feature beautifiul classical music, amazing abstract images, and lengths in excess of 150 minutes each. I will then become a 'recluse' and refuse to talk about 'my art' with anyone. Then I'll sit back and watch the sparks fly. Near the end of my life, when I'm on my death bed, I'll tell everyone the truth: that I pulled EVERY single one of the images and story concepts out of a hat completely at random. Now how cool would that be to have filmmakers and college professsors and the like totally "punk'd" in that way by making them look like to total pompous asses and making them find meaning in the meaningless huh? ;D

Now I'm not saying that Kubrick and Lynch have no meaning in what they say. I rather liked A Clockwork Orange and Mulholland Dr. I'm just saying that their weirdness BORES me and that their supposed attempts at art IRRITATES me to no end. If you've got a message about humanity, wouldn't it be nice if you could let the whole of humanity UNDERSTAND it without thinking too hard? Because honestly, some of us think way too much as it is, and don't need the extra brain cells shorting out. And I can guarantee MOST of humanity doesn't want to think at ALL if they can help it, so what's the point? To talk to an elite few that will accept your message and worship you like some sort of prophet? For people to love you for all eternity for making something so abstract and confusing that 'well it MUST be art!'?

Okay I don't know where I was going with that rambling incoherent rant, I just had to get it out. But I will say this to Lynch and Kubrick. You convinced Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman to go nude for me, so I'll shake your hands for that!

Oh yeah, good review Kyle, as always. ;D

[Magill]

If you read the book, it either answers a lot of your questions or takes the mystery/fun out of the movie (depending on your perspective). The book and film differ slightly--in the book the monolith is orbiting a moon of Saturn rather than Jupiter. Though in all successive books, Clarke puts it back by Jupiter.

[Spiderdancer]

Um... Not really either way for me. I thought the book was even more boring than the film, and I read the whole thing. (Admittedly this was a long time ago.) It didn't have the trippy light show, on one hand, but on the other hand, it didn't have Hal's amazing voice work, either.

Of course, I've never been much of a Clarke or Pol Anderson fan, either.

[Magill]

I guess I was referring to everything that happens after David enters the monolith. Instead of a trippy lightshow and a stark Louis-the-whatever style hotel room, there's an attempt at an explanation. Don't get me wrong--I like the movie a lot better than the book.

[kylerexpop]

what is everybody talking about?

every other mutant gets a "_____'s blah blah blah review" where people just fawn over the writer and talk about how great they are.

where's mine?

so bow down now or later. in the end, you will kneel.

[Lissa]

You're wonderful, Kyle. Seriously

(And actually, I agree with Justin that I really appreciated your points about classics!)

so bow down now or later. in the end, you will kneel.

"You see me as a god, don't you, Smithers?"
"Absolutely, sir!"
"You'd kneel before me?"
"Boy, would I!"
"Yes, well. I'll form my own religion!"

[TheLuckyOne]

captainkyle said:

so bow down now or later. in the end, you will kneel.

...before Zod?

-D

[pfrsue]

captainkyle said:

every other mutant gets a "_____'s blah blah blah review" where people just fawn over the writer and talk about how great they are.

I just get my spelling picked over with a fine toothed cattle prod.

Kyle, you're awesome. I'm not going to bow or kneel or whatever (bad back, don'tcherknow) but you rule!

Sue

[Spiderdancer]

I liked that you mentioned the LSD thing. To fully understand why, you'd have to hear my Dad talk about how he went to see this at an army base theater when it came out and almost got high from the pot fumes of other viewers attempting a similar experiment. Apparently some people tried it with both.

Oh, and no Creationist with half a brain (and yes, I know exactly what joke Richard Dawkins would be making, so let's take that one as read) is going to be offended by this movie, because it's the lamest presentation of evolutionary theory this biologist has ever seen. At least X-men managed to cram in both Scherschligt's Hopeful Monsters and the Punctuated Equilibrium Theory. Here we get "Um... A big black stone thing made some monkeys throw bones up in the air, and then there were space ships and a giant space baby."

[StarOpal]

Oh great and most excellent Kyle! We are blessed to be witness to your clever and highly accomplished reviewing ability!

...Oh yeah, and something about a movie in there too...

[DARTHMADLER]

If you liked the movie you should check out Lost Worlds of 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke.

It's basically a journal he kept while he and Kubrick put together 2001: A Space Odyssey. Very interesting to read the alternative story lines and endings that they came up with but either didn't or couldn't do at the time. I came across it at the library while trying to find the book version of the movie to figure out just what the heck the light show was all about.

[DTH]

Having read all the books in the Odyssey series, I will fill things in for those of you whom are interested:

SPOILERS AHOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The basic concept that Arthur C. Clarke follows in the series is that any sentient lifeform will follow the same evolutionary path, regardless of form;

A race will grow in intelligence, becoming tool users and eventually developing technology.

That is as far as natural evolution can take a race and from there, the species will evolve itself by melding technology with flesh becoming cyborg race to then becoming sentient machines (by transferring consciousness in to said technology) to then becoming energy beings (by utilising technology to transfer consciousness in to an energy construct).

With that in mind, the oldest of races (the builders of the monoliths) travel round the universe finding pre-sentient species (like apes) and then giving them a DNA-nudge in the right direction, promoting the build up to sentience.

Then they hang around for a millenia or two, waiting for the race to achieve an advanced technology. Once this is achieved, the advanced race see what they've cooked up, basically judging whether they are worthy of joining the rest of the galactic civilisation.

In 2001, a monolith arrives on Earth and gives the apes it finds there a nudge.

The monolith then sends a probe to the moon to await the arrival of humanity, under the idea that any sentient race that uncovers the probe will be advanced enough to warrant judgement...

Meanwhile, Daddy Monolith lives out at Jupiter.

So when the humans find Baby Monolith, it sends a message (an easily traceable signal) out to Daddy Monolith, which then awaits the arrival of the humans.

The monoliths were once giant spaceships that housed sentient minds but they have long been evacuated and left with artificially intelligent programs to continue the same job.

Earth then sends Odyssey out to Jupiter to check out Daddy monolith. However, they give HAL conflicting orders. The internal conflict sends HAL crazy as he tries to obey both. Consequently, he decides to resolve the conflict by destroying his human cargo...

Dave Bowman sorts it out and then, with no way back to Earth, decides to complete the mission. He goes out in an EVA pod and investigates Daddy Monolith.

As he does so, Daddy Monolith activates and reveals itself to contain a gateway back to the ancient race's stomping ground (the gateway is the lightshow we see in the movie).

Bowman arrives in a giant area (in the book) where many previous sentient races have arrived (not in the film).

He is then taken through an automatic process where his memories are downloaded (hence the crazy metaphorical bit where he's an old man) and then uploaded to an energy construct (the space baby).

The End

I could go on, but it gets more confusing, more silly until the last book (3001) is just embarrassing.

[Spiderdancer]

This is also known as the "Star Trek Evolutionary Theory," since if all races follow the same path to sentience, they all apparently also end up as either a.) bilaterally symmetrical bipeds or b.) glowing plastic-like beings which can be easily simulated with the materials you find around a tv studio. I personally love how creatures that evolved from REPTILES or INSECTS somehow evolve into MAMMALS complete with BOOBS.

Oh, and for a more detailed version of the "hand things over to the robots but it's ok because they're really us" theory, there's Hans Moravec's nonfiction book "Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendant Mind." An interesting if slightly freaky read.

[TheLuckyOne]

spiderdancer said:

I personally love how creatures that evolved from REPTILES or INSECTS somehow evolve into MAMMALS complete with BOOBS.

Just more proof that God is a guy.

-D