2001 a space odyssey book1/24/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() Clarke’s strange vision of mankind outgrowing its childhood was also influenced directly by the great Russian rocket scientist and futurist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who, in an essay published in 1912, stated, “Earth is the cradle of the mind, but humanity can’t remain in its cradle forever.” As the central utopian credo of the space age, Tsiolkovsky’s pronouncement would find direct expression in 2001’s final scenes.Īs with Ulysses, 2001 was initially greeted with varying degrees of incomprehension, dismissal, and scorn-but also awed admiration, particularly among the younger generation. Still considered his best work, Childhood’s End closed with the human race being shepherded through an accelerated evolutionary transformation by a seemingly benevolent alien race, the “Overlords.” In it, humanity is depicted as obsolete-destined for replacement by a telepathically linked successor species composed, oddly, of children. Clarke’s early novels Childhood’s End (1953) and The City and the Stars (1956) likewise encompassed sweeps of time so expansive that monumental civilizational changes could be examined in great detail. After touring the film’s emerging sets and viewing detailed scale models of its centrifuges and spacecraft, the man in charge of landing men on the Moon and returning them safely to Earth-the ultimate Odyssean voyage yet accomplished by the species-was impressed enough to dub the production “NASA East.”Ĭlarke’s fictions were greatly influenced by the work of British science fiction novelist Olaf Stapledon (1886–1950), whose seminal Last and First Men and Star Maker encompassed multiple phases of human evolution across vast timescales. Apollo was then still flight-testing unmanned launch vehicles, while NASA launched the precursor Gemini program’s two-man capsules in an ambitious series of Earth-orbiting missions. In late 1965, George Mueller, the czar of the Apollo lunar program, visited 2001’s studio facilities north of London. 2001’s space shuttles, orbiting stations, lunar bases, and Jupiter missions were thoroughly grounded in actual research and rigorously informed extrapolation, much of it provided by leading American companies then also busy providing technologies and expertise to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. One strategy they’d agreed on in advance was that their story’s metaphysical and even mystical elements had to be earned through absolute scientific-technical realism. Throughout, Kubrick and Clarke remained locked in dialogue. ![]() A transparent two-ton Plexiglas monolith was produced at huge expense and then shelved as inadequate. Giant sets were built, found wanting, and rejected. A documentary prelude featuring leading scientists discussing extraterrestrial intelligence was shot but discarded. Significant scenes were modified beyond recognition or tossed altogether as their moment on the schedule arrived. Major plot points remained in flux well into filming. Highly unorthodox in big-budget filmmaking, this improvisatory, research-based approach was practically unheard of in a project of this scale. All the while, the director and his team pioneered a variety of innovative new cinematic techniques. The picture, which dramatized the bloody trajectory of a Thracian gladiator as he led a successful uprising against Rome, won four Oscars and a Golden Globe award for Best Motion Picture Drama.)Īs the ne plus ultra example of Kubrick’s methods, 2001: A Space Odyssey wasn’t just rooted in extensive preproduction fieldwork, it continued throughout-an uninterrupted, well-funded research project spanning its live-action filming and extending across its postproduction as well (which, given the importance of its visual effects, was actually production by another name). (Still Spartacus, which Kirk Douglas both produced and starred in, marked Kubrick’s definitive induction into big-budget Hollywood filmmaking. While in practice, studios such as MGM footed the bills and exerted some influence, this gave him near-complete artistic independence. Following a stint as hired-gun director on Spartacus in 1960, he conceived of a personal kind of slave revolt, never again working on a project he didn’t produce himself. Having concluded his preproduction research, he directed his pictures with all the authority of an enlightened despot. Once he’d decided on a theme, he subjected it to years of interrogation, reading everything and exploring all aspects before finally jump-starting the cumbersome filmmaking machinery. Kubrick treated every film as a grand investigation, drilling down into his subject with a relentless perfectionist’s tenacity as he forced it to yield every secret and possibility. ![]()
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