2001 in theaters and my Oscar contact

[robcat2075]

There was a limited release of "2001: A Space Odyssey" in film theaters last spring but not near me.  However it was in IMAX theaters this weekend and may be thru Wednesday.

 

If you've never seen it on the big screen or haven't in a long time, I certainly recommend it. There were many nuances and details I did not recall, especially in the ape performances.  The whole thing is not nearly as dry and technical as I remembered it. I loved dry-and-technical when i was eight, none-the-less.

Biggest surprise... "Reginald Perrin" is in it.

 

But I have my own fleeting contact with this movie...

 

I have touched a "2001" Oscar!

 

My father's long-time employer, 3M, was awarded a special Oscar in 1969 for their reflective Scotchlite® material used for the front projection effects in the "Dawn of Man" section.

 

 

My father's immediate supervisor, Phil Palmquist, was the 3Mer who went to Hollywood collect the Oscar, although my father thought that to be a rather cringe-worthy misattribution of credit. After a week of show-biz parties and dinners his wife, Ardel, said, "That was fun, Phil. You should win an Oscar every year!"

 

The Oscar took up residence in Phil's office which is where I saw it, on a Family Day tour of 3M's "Reflective Products" division.

 

 

 

My Space Pod movie...

 

 

[Guest]

If you want to see that front projection set picture in colour and read all about 2001 vfx, follow this link.

 

http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2015/01/kubricks-2001-one-mans-incredible.html

 

Since the 40' x 90' Scotchlite screen and massive projection system (also shown) were too big to move, that set is on a turntable to allow different camera angles.

 

If your interested, also check for a rare medium shot (admittedly very poor quality) of the 50 foot Discovery model. You typically only see the 11 foot model on-line.

 

 

[Roger]

2001 had some very groundbreaking effects for the time, stuff that had never been seen before. I found some information on on how various effects were done as well as behind-the-scenes information that was pretty interesting:

 

https://indiefilmhustle.com/stanley-kubrick-slit-scan-2001/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgNyCluIRhA

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StZ2fmWYom4

 

There's a lot of good stuff if you're interested in how they made the film.

[robcat2075]

I don't think any of the actors in "2001" developed substantial starring careers after that... except Leonard Rossiter.

 

He was also in Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" and seems to have been big on British TV in the 70s appearing in multiple series simultaneously even.

He was the nosy Russian scientist on the space station.

 

 

 

 

His series I'm familiar with is "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" about an intentionally incompetent business executive:

 

 

 

[Roger]

I can't remember if I posted this before but this spoof is obviously referencing 2001:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeQi4zbT8fA

 

It's called Black Holes (warning: brief animated nudity ).

Apparently it is a pilot for a series but I've yet to see anything further by these guys using the same concept.

[robcat2075]

I think they may be referencing it too closely.

[largento]

They ran a successful Kickstarter in early 2017, raising $128K+ for a single episode. As of yet, they've note delivered it or any of the rewards to their backers. The latest update (from June) says something about them pitching it as a feature and gives vague details on the rewards, but doesn't mention the actual episode at all. The backers' comments are harsh. A comment from the producers said that everything would be shipped by the end of July, but a comment from a week ago indicates that not only have they not received them, but there's been no further updates. Backers are commenting that they will never support a Kickstarter campaign again.

 

I'm thinking they expected to get a TV development deal and when that didn't happen, they abandoned the season of 22 episodes and turned to the idea of making a feature out of the first two episodes, hoping to get financing for that. What's rotten is they don't seem to be telling their backers what is going on.

 

I really wonder about some of these Kickstarters. I supported a documentary about Mad Magazine in January of 2013 that still hasn't finished. Their last update was last December saying that because Mad Magazine was moving their offices to Los Angeles, they needed to rework the ending of the documentary. That's fine, but still no ETA on when it will be finished. Even just a "we haven't died and we're still working on it" update once a month would go along way for the backers and doesn't take more than a few minutes to do.