A Few Words About A few words about...™ 2001: a space odyssey -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Joshua for the Super 7 info. I didn’t know about those, the Alien set looks pretty good. I thought that was Lelu next to Kirk, by the way.

 

[dpippel]

I got this a while back. It'll do for me.

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ZERO points of articulation.

 

[JoshZ]

Thanks Joshua for the Super 7 info. I didn’t know about those, the Alien set looks pretty good. I thought that was Lelu next to Kirk, by the way.

Yes, Kirk found something more interesting to investigate while the science nerds look at the big block.

 

[dpippel]

I got this a while back. It'll do for me.

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Josh, could you share where you bought the Monolith?

 

[JoshZ]

Josh, could you share where you bought the Monolith?

It came from thinkgeek.com, but that was a long time ago and it doesn't appear to be available anymore.

Here's a similar item I found, though smaller at only 3" tall.

Toynk Science Fiction Collectible 2001 A Space Odyssey Monolith Action Figure

Read reviews and buy Toynk Science Fiction Collectible 2001 A Space Odyssey Monolith Action Figure at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

www.target.com

 

[mBen989]

What, no HAL figure?

 

[dpippel]

It came from thinkgeek.com, but that was a long time ago and it doesn't appear to be available anymore.

Here's a similar item I found, though smaller at only 3" tall.

Toynk Science Fiction Collectible 2001 A Space Odyssey Monolith Action Figure

Read reviews and buy Toynk Science Fiction Collectible 2001 A Space Odyssey Monolith Action Figure at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

www.target.com

Thanks. I've been trying to hunt down one of the versions that you have, but it seems to be unavailable except on eBay. The smaller model reminds me too much of the Stonehenge disaster in This is Spinal Tap.

 

[dpippel]

What, no HAL figure?

Amazon product ASIN B07SVCLLFW

 

[Johnny Angell]

I got this a while back. It'll do for me.

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I find it a bit humorous that the monolith is an “action” figure.

 

[bugsy-pal]

The Star Trek and Fifth Element figures are from Super 7's "ReAction" line. They licensed a million pop culture properties to make figures in 3.75" scale, in the style of vintage Star Wars toys. Some are better than others. Unfortunately, with a lot of them, you probably couldn't tell who the figure is supposed to be without the packaging to tell you (a similar problem that Funko POP!s have).

The best of them are the figures from Alien, which were actually based on figure molds created by Kenner in 1979 for an aborted Alien toy line.

The monolith was a novelty item from ThinkGeek. I love how the packaging boasts "Zero Points of Articulation."

 

[JoshZ]

I find it a bit humorous that the monolith is an “action” figure.

Yes, well, that was the joke. "Zero points of articulation."

ThinkGeek is (or was) a novelty company. They sold the type of stuff you'd find in a Spencer's Gifts or Hot Topic store. As I recall, my local bookstore used to sell this monolith, along with other gag items from the same company.

Although technically the brand still exists, they're currently owned by GameStop and have been reduced to a very small "curated" selection of items in those stores.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, thought I’d make a post about my experience watching the 4K blu ray.

I’ll save the details about the 4K display and gear, suffice it to say this is my first experience with 4K UHD, my first 4K display ever and so this was a totally new experience. It was fully broken in and calibrated I should add.

One of the first discs I tried was the 2001 4K UHD disc. I did scan through this thread this morning and since I got the 2001 blu ray waaay back before the pandemic hit, I was saving it for the day I had the gear to do it on. I’d forgotten about some of the controversy about this release.

I wasn’t planning to watch the whole film, I just wanted to sample it. I jumped into the film at the scene when Moonwatcher first sees the monolith, and I watched the film through to 18 months later on board the Discovery. I stopped at the point after Poole and Bowman was watching the news broadcasts on their IBM tablets. My screen is a big one, one I’d never ever thought I’d ever be able to own. So I had a very interesting experience, it reminded me a lot of my experience at the San Francisco Castro theater seeing 2001 in the theater there.

This TV is bright! I guess that’s partly what UHD is about. I felt like I was in the theater watching the movie. This is the first time I’ve seen 2001 at home when I actually felt like it was a film experience. I’ve seen this movie quite a few times, not as many as Josh, certainly not as many as Josh in a theatrical venue. I wasn’t looking for color errors or fade outs or counting frames. I was just absorbed into the experience and felt very much immersed by the experience. I was enjoying the image quality and I did see some dust on the glass that the pen is rotating on in the space clipper, but I wasn’t nitpicking. I was just seeing so much going on. I was reminded of my experience in the theater seeing the whirlpool and other logos on the food dispenser. I never noticed the Pan Am logo on the blanket over Dr. Floyd in the ship on the way to the moon. Of all the iterations of 2001 I’ve seen, the Criterion laser disc, first DVD’s, HD-DVD, and blu ray, the shot of the shuttle approaching the moon always looks sharper and sharper in each format. But on 4K UHD, I could actually see the Moon looking less sharp! And that’s not a criticism. I feel like it’s reached a point where I’m actually seeing the full resolution of the Moon as if that shot of the Moon was composited from a photograph of the moon shot with a very long and powerful lens from Earth. (I’ve tried to photograph the moon myself with a 400mm lens, it’s hard! And I’m by now means a photographer) I wish I could recall how it looked in the theater. But the long shot of Discovery passing the camera was quite a sight, the detail, the variations of greys on the paint job on the model was all there to see.

I never noticed the IBM logos before on the tablets that Poole and Bowman were watching the news on! Oh yeah, and I could see the Russian red star on the orbiting missile platform in Earth orbit. It was an eye opening experience in many ways.

I plan to set aside an evening and watch the entire film, I was just tired from spending the day clearing out my old display, and moving a very heavy plasma screen to another room and hefting in the new display, and cleaning up parts of the house too!

As an aside, I also watched a scene from The Force Awakens, when Rey and Fin take the Millennium Falcon to escape the tie fighters and leave Jakku. That was quite an immersive experience. And I sampled a scene from Fast 9. And I sampled the car chase from 1968’s Bullitt. One of my favorite films. A standard blu ray of an old transfer looked quite good too.

 

[Nelson Au]

It’s been 2 months since I’ve upgraded to a 4K display and after watching a few other titles in 4K and standard blu ray, it was time to watch the entire 2001 last night.

It’s amazing to watch this film each time as I upgrade my gear. The sequences on the Space Station is more obvious they are walking in a curved set, but the shots on the Moon look so real and in Discovery in the rotating sets are done so well. What really struck me this time was as Bowman leaves the Discovery for the last time and “falls” into the stargate and travels to the alien world. The imagery and colors are quite vivid. I’ve never tried any mind altering substances. I can imagine why some people in 1968 would want to enhance their viewing during this sequence.

Last week I saw an interview with Keir Dullea at a theater screening of the film in 2018 on YouTube. So when Bowman blows the hatch on the pod to enter Discovery, I could not help but think of his description of how they achieved that shot.

I know that 2010 The Year We Make Contact is not considered at the same level as 2001, but I still like it on other terms. I feel like I have to watch it next to continue the story. But how 2001 ends, it ends well and there is no real need to do a sequel. Except that Clarke did and I really enjoyed the book.

I’m interested in seeing a few other Kubrick titles next too. So few are on 4K. I’d imagine a region 1 box set might be coming.

One side thing I noticed all the way back to the laserdisc from Criterion, why is Keir Dullea wearing a hairpiece in this movie? It’s more obvious to my eye on each upgrade. He is not bald. So during this last viewing, it occurred to me why. My guess is during the last scenes, as he’s aged older, it makes the transition of going older look like a progressive change to white hair and then to the balding hair to the totally bald. I know it’s a minor detail, but was Kubrick thinking that level of detail. My guess is of course he was.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

why is Keir Dullea wearing a hairpiece in this movie?

Ooo I know the answer to this one!

It’s because they were shooting the Discovery sequences over a prolonged period of time, but obviously that part of the story itself was meant to take place over a very short period of time. (For instance, they might have shot Dullea walking down a corridor one day, and then not gotten the shot of him entering a room from that corridor until months later.) For continuity reasons, it was decided that having a single hairpiece that didn’t change was simpler than trying to maintain the same precise hair length over months of shooting.

 

[Mike Frezon]

You really ARE a know-it-all, aren't ya, Josh?!?

You must regale the wife this this stuff every day!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

My wife is grateful y’all listen to me so she doesn’t have to

 

[titch]

I’m interested in seeing a few other Kubrick titles next too. So few are on 4K.

More than half are already available or coming soon. Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket have been released. Kino Lorber are preparing Killer's Kiss and The Killing. So the ones left unannounced are Fear and Desire, Paths Of Glory, Lolita, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut. But I'll bet these will be released in due course. There's a good chance that Stanley Kubrick will be the first director to have his entire oeuvre on 4K UHD!

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Josh, thanks for the explanation for Keir Dullea’s hair! That makes sense!

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Kevin. I had seen that The Shining and Full Metal Jacket is available in 4K. I’m not sure I can take watching A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket. I have seen The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut and I like the creepy nature of both.

I saw a listing for a region B 4K box set of the Kubrick titles, but not in Region A yet. I have the Criterion blu ray of Dr. Strangelove so that might have to be upgraded. .

 

[dpippel]

Ooo I know the answer to this one!

It’s because they were shooting the Discovery sequences over a prolonged period of time, but obviously that part of the story itself was meant to take place over a very short period of time. (For instance, they might have shot Dullea walking down a corridor one day, and then not gotten the shot of him entering a room from that corridor until months later.) For continuity reasons, it was decided that having a single hairpiece that didn’t change was simpler than trying to maintain the same precise hair length over months of shooting.

Man, I consider myself a pretty observant person, but I've never noticed that Dullea was wearing a hairpiece in 2001. D'OH!! Thanks for the trivia, Josh!