2001: A Space Odyssey- new book coming next month on making of the film (1 Viewer)

[frik]

Josh, Nelson, thanks for your posts. Loved reading about the actual book(s) and seeing an image of the actual,uhm, thing.
(Sacrilege!)
I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey way back in 1968...69?? That was in London, where I hope to see it again sometime later this year, as there will be a re-release!

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/bfi-rerelease-stanley-kubricks-2001

When I first heard about this book, I was of course terribly excited and had to get myself a copy. But then - the price! Now I'm a huge 2001-fan, but also a high school teacher on a modest salary, so I decided to pass. Till it was sold-out, and then I absolutely hated myself for waiting too long. SOLD OUT!!!

To make things even worse, I'm also a pretty serious Stephen King collector, and I paid quite a bit more for some of his signed/limited releases. So, shame on me for letting this book go.

One day I'm going to have my copy! Not a re-print, the original!

sk

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Do you have a Taschen store nearby? They might still have one or two on hand. When I picked up my copy from the New York store, there was at least one more remaining for sale. (When I pre-ordered to the store, they offered to ship it to me, so you might even be able to get it from a non-local store if you call around.)

 

[frik]

Yes, Josh, we have a Taschen store in Amsterdam
And I was going to add this to my first post here, but didn't have the guts to do so, as I was afraid the store had made a mistake and would decline my order. I wanted to wait till next week, till after my order had come in!
Order?? Which order???

This is how I first wanted to end my post:

So, shame on me for letting this book go.

But....there's a happy ending to my quest, and I'm going to make some people here either very happy or very upset, but this is what I found, and my book will be here next week:

http://www.taschenboeken.nl/the-making-of-stanley-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyss.html

For those of you who haven't made the plunge yet: GO FOR IT!

sk

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Siep, I think you're going to love it. Looking forward to your thoughts when it arrives. You mentioned having Stephen King limited editions, what's your favorite among those? I had never really read him (beyond "The Shining") until a couple years ago, when I jumped in and read a ton of his books. I love "The Dark Tower" series so much!

 

[Nelson Au]

Guys, First off, frik, congratulations! You found an alternative method to get a copy! I'll also look forward to your reactions.Josh, thanks for your thoughts regarding the book and the guilt. I like the idea that we are buying art. And it's something we can enjoy more then once. I knew if I let this one get past, I'd regret it. It's such a limited thing and it's unfortunate it had to be that way. I'll be opening mine up tomorrow and I'll comment then on my initial reactions. Though a part of me hates the idea of opening it in case it might decrease its value. But it's not like I'll sell it. I'll be curious also if like others have speculated, Taschen might do another pressing but with a simplified version at a much lower cost later on. Reminds me of the time I bought a print of the painting of the space station that's used in the movie poster. It's signed by Gary Lockwood. The print still looks great but Lockwood's signature has faded.Edit: one seller on eBay has three copies, one sold. He's asking $1,000.00. Same as Taschen's price.

 

[frik]

Siep, I think you're going to love it. Looking forward to your thoughts when it arrives.You mentioned having Stephen King limited editions, what's your favorite among those? I had never really read him (beyond "The Shining") until a couple years ago, when I jumped in and read a ton of his books. I love "The Dark Tower" series so much!

Hope this works:
(Yes, it did)
I'll post some Dark Tower stuff later...

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/326716-what-sort-of-things-do-you-collect/?p=4126225

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Hope this works:
(Yes, it did)
I'll post some Dark Tower stuff later...

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/326716-what-sort-of-things-do-you-collect/?p=4126225

Very, very cool!

 

[andySu]

Guys, for fun I wanted to post a quick pic of the box. I placed the blu ray of 2001 and 2010 to show scale. If I stood the blu ray up, it's as tall as the box's side! It's one big .....

If it was priced by weight, it's a deal.

Regarding the cost of the book, I felt terribly guilty doing this. But I was reminded by someone who collects Taschen books from time to time that it's a guilty pleasure, so enjoy it.

image.jpg

Re-packing 2010 with FAKE stereo surrounds that was mixed at pro-tools R'us, sounds god awful dreadful. Yes I do own it and oh, thank god I didn't sell the DVD as that is 100% true Dolby discrete 6 channel.

The bluray has left and right sound effects music sandwiched onto the mono discrete surrounds so, you have no idea when the true surround are active or off. As the mess on this the surrounds are always active.

The centre discrete has the phantom left/right fronts imaging sandwiched onto the centre and you can't hear that nice opening theme as intended.

The LFE.1 is even faked with the LCR low end sandwiched onto it.

I would seriously avoid buying this at all costs.

Also 2001 has nearly all the directional dialogue panning centered. I'll give one example.

Aries-1B stewardess: "Here you are, sir, main level please."
The dialogue is centered when it should be panned over to left stage channel with a half centre sound.

Don't waste your money on it.

Buy the Laserdisc with DOLBY AC-3 or the out of print MGM DVD region 1, that has the directional dialogue panning for the home theatre speakers never mind the HD its all been a con this HD format with re-mixes and re-mixes and I'm sick and tired of it.

 

[Nelson Au]

"Don't mince words Bones. Tell us what you really think." I was half thinking if I left the 2010 disc in the image, someone would comment about it not being a worthy follow up to 2001. I didn't expect what you said Andy. Still haven't opened the box yet, but will.

 

[andySu]

"Don't mince words Bones. Tell us what you really think." I was half thinking if I left the 2010 disc in the image, someone would comment about it not being a worthy follow up to 2001. I didn't expect what you said Andy.Still haven't opened the box yet, but will.

No pun, Well glad I didn't waste money on it. I hope you shoplifted as its not worth paying for a re-packing in fancy large box to trick consumers paying out for it.

I'd sell it on ebay. Get as much of your money back as you can and buy a Pioneer laserdisc player with RF demodulator, the AC-3 laserdisc or MGM region 1 DVD might be the easiest. My 1 pence.

 

[Nelson Au]

Actually Andy, I have the MGM laserdisc and DVD of 2010. I think the blu ray is an improvement visually over the DVD. The audio never bothered me, but I'll listen for it the next time. And I'll listen to the audio on the 2001 blu ray. I remember that audio from a screening I got to see of 2001 in 2001 when it was making a limited run to select theaters across the US. I recall the audio over the intercom in the space station as Floyd and Mr. Miller was walking and Floyd stops to make the phone call. That stuck in my head, but this other think you mentioned I'll listen for.

 

[andySu]

Yes the dialogue panning of his daughter on the video-phone was panned.

Even the apes have panning sounds of grunting.

Even HAL has panning. Open the pod bay doors. His voice is panned over to stage left. While pod is on the right of the screen.

 

[Nelson Au]

I opened the set! This thing is big! And heavy. I think it's going to take a while to pour over everything.There is a metal box that houses the two long aspect ratio books. There is a magnetically held on side cover. It is the monolith. The larger thicker book contains a lot of photos from the film and the set. It's terrific. And there is preproduction art, the material I like to see. So of the pages I did look at, there are paintings of early concepts for the space station and Discovery. Plus images of props. And early mock- ups of the models. I liked the shots of the centrifuge during and after construction as well as the Moonbus. I am hoping to find the Piers Bizony artwork he created of the Clipper and Discovery and other ships in the earlier book. Unless I am mistaken and the few I've seen on the web is all there is. The two smaller books I have not opened yet and will discover what those are.

View attachment 12664

 

[Josh Steinberg]

What number is your copy? I'm 977!

 

[frik]

I know the didn't ask me, but I'm #1!



Just kidding....
Still an intriguing question.
As some may know, I collect Stephen King (amongst others) limited editions, and the lower the number of the book, the more it seems to be valued by many fellow collectors. A # 3, for instance, will definitely sell for more than a # 938.
Now why is this? It's beyond me.

sk

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My favorite number is "22" so maybe I'd pay slightly more for that number. I suppose copy #35 of this might be cool (cause of the "AE-35" unit in the film). If it had been a limited edition of 2001 copies, I'd want #2001!

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Well, at first I thought 'what, 500 Euros for a book?' but then I saw the pictures and suddenly it didn't seem so steep anymore. A really nice package that I might actually have to look into a bit more. A truly magic film, to be sure, so it seems worthy of a book of that caliber.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Well, at first I thought 'what, 500 Euros for a book?' but then I saw the pictures and suddenly it didn't seem so steep anymore. A really nice package that I might actually have to look into a bit more. A truly magic film, to be sure, so it seems worthy of a book of that caliber.

If you're thinking about getting it, I would definitely suggest deciding sooner vs later -- it's a limited edition and unfortunately the official Taschen website store has sold out. But it does seem that the individual Taschen stores still may have a few copies lying around (and the stores are able to ship to your home if you don't live locally), so your best bet may be to try them at the local level instead of online.

If it's already sold out, in the past they have done reprints of some of their books in scaled down versions. There was a $2000 set they did on Kubrick's "Napoleon" that he never got to make, and that sold out pretty quick. About a year later, they did a reprint for I think $200, which had all of the content of the original pressing, but on smaller pages, and with a lot of the images on a CD instead of in print. But at least it was reprinted and in a more affordable edition, and all of the content was the same. I couldn't afford the original set, and the reprint sold out before I could get it. I see the reprint on Amazon every now and then and it's tempting.

So far I'm totally loving it.

 

[Tino]

Jeez this Laserdisc crap is getting out of control. It's creeping into threads everywhere. The 2001 blu ray is fantastic and better than the laser in every way. Jeez. And why is this even being brought up in a thread about a book anyway??

 

[Craig S]

...Edit: one seller on eBay has three copies, one sold. He's asking $1,000.00. Same as Taschen's price.

And now he has one left. I just purchased a copy of this amazing-looking set from this seller (he's an authorized Taschen dealer, hence him selling it at the official price).

This will be my third Taschen book (I have the original Stanley Kubrick Archives that came with the 2001 film strip, and the James Bond Archives), and I can't wait. Nelson & Josh, you have really done a good job of selling this thing. You should send this thread to Taschen and ask for a commission!!

I can't believe I just dropped a grand on this, but I have been obsessed by this film for 45 years, so the way I look at it is I've been saving up that entire time, so it's only been $22.22 a year! Chump change!! Plus it's packaged in a freakin' steel monolith!! How can I NOT have it???

Can't wait to share my impressions later this week.