2001: A Space Odyssey

[yovargas]

Yeah, Clarke's insistence on explaining everything in the story is ultimately a big part of what makes the books less interesting than the movie, IMO.

[Crucifer]

I first experienced the books and the film somewhat simultaneously about three years ago, and I found that they complemented one another really well. It's true that at times the science can be a bit overwhelming, or the characters a bit flat in the books, but for me, the strength lies in the visionary universe Clarke created. Every detail was thought through and exact, (rather like a certain other author of whom we are all aware), and while the Odyssey books cannot be compared to, for example, LotR, they're certainly a lot less dry than, say, the Silmarillion.

[yovargas]

Well, no one ever accused the Silmarillion of being particularly wet.

[vison]

I didn't think that Clarke's universe was "visionary" but rather "the expected". It's hard to explain but what I'm trying to say is that when I was growing up there was no space travel. I was, I think, 14 when Sputnik was launched. What Clarke wrote about was what I and other scifi fans assumed or hoped or wished would become reality.

[Crucifer]

I think that's what I really meant when I said 'visionary', Vison. Looking at contemporaneous sci-fi, it was as much fantasy as it was sci-fi. There was as much of the mythical and legendary in it as of the scientific. Clarke's science fiction, however, was about scientific theory. Obviously, Bowman and Poole are embarking on an epic quest, but it is a quest for knowledge and enlightenment. The grounds for everything that happens in his work is science, and that was unique for the time.

[Impenitent]

The first Mac I used was set up by my predecessor in my job, a rabbi with a very quirky sense of humour, who had customised the alert tones in the sound folder.

The first time an error message came up, it was accompanied by HAL's voice, saying, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

Sent shivers up my spine.

One of the other alerts was Bill Murray from Ghostbusters, saying, "Back off, man, I'm a scientist." Can't remember which action that accompanied, though.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I moved the Science Fiction osgiliationto the Library. Thanks for getting back on topic, Impy!

[Inanna]

The first Mac I used was set up by my predecessor in my job, a rabbi with a very quirky sense of humour, who had customised the alert tones in the sound folder.

The first time an error message came up, it was accompanied by HAL's voice, saying, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

[axordil]

I knew someone who was actually named Dave whose Amiga said that for errors. He didn't set it up that way though...

[TheTennisBallKid]

Dunno who Alex North is but I imagine he'd have a pretty hard time matching the awe-someness of 2001's music.

While some of the films he scored are still rather well known (Spartacus, Cleopatra, Streetcar Named Desire, Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?), probably his most well known work today is Unchained Melody, written for an all but forgotten film, covered by...just about everybody, and nowadays maybe mostly associated with Ghost. (the love theme from Spartacus has been covered a lot, too, but nobody ever used it in a Patrick Swayze movie)

You can find some videos that sync North's unused score with the film on Youtube, but keep in mind that they don't necessarily line up to the film the way that North intended. (either because they use Jerry Goldsmith's re-recording of the score, which has different timings; or because the uploader simply didn't do enough research and lined the wrong music up with the wrong scenes) You can get a rough idea of what 2001 might have looked, er, sounded like, though.

Some of North's music is very striking, and he went on to reuse much of it in Shoes of the Fisherman(1968) and Dragonslayer(1981).

From the accounts I've read, Kubrick wanted to use the pre-existing music all along, North was only brought on board at the behest of MGM, who wanted an original score and didn't want to pay the licensing fees on the Strauss, Ligeti, etc. Kubrick instructed North to only score the earlier stages of the film, saying that the second half would rely breathing and other sound effects, instead of music.

While I think North, who is one of my favorite composers, could have written something remarkable for the film (see his other collaboration with Kubrick: Spartacus) and I do mourn the loss of that what-if (I'd like to take a Stargate journey to the alternate universe where North scored the whole film), Kubrick's music choices do work brilliantly with the images (the fact that some of the film was edited to better fit the music is part of this). Given his very specific vision it's doubtful anyone, Ligeti, Strauss, Strauss, and Khachaturian included, could have written something that he preferred over his temp-track; and that's part of the point: he had control over it. In the hands of a lesser director that could have been a mess, but they didn't call him "Stan the Man" Kubrick for nothing.

[/soundtrack geek]

[vison]

TTBK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great to see you. How's the missus?

[Frelga]

The first Mac I used was set up by my predecessor in my job, a rabbi with a very quirky sense of humour, who had customised the alert tones in the sound folder.

The first time an error message came up, it was accompanied by HAL's voice, saying, "I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

Sent shivers up my spine.

My first boss's Mac used to say, in this plummy voice, "You, an insulting pompous fool!" I kept expecting it to come on when I was on the phone with a client.

[TheTennisBallKid]

*waives at vison and is glad to report that he and the missus are well*

In fact, here we are on vacation last summer, with some friends:

[vison]

Hm. Looks like you got a good tan, TTBK.