Illustrator Brian Sanders spent time on the 2001 set and made a number of sketches. Here, Stanley Kubrick looks through the viewfinder (center) while cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth sips coffee (right).

An interview with Kubrick appeared in the September '68 issue of PLAYBOY magazine.

"You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophy and allegorical meaning of the film – and such speculation is indication that it has succeeded in gripping the audience at a deep level – but I don't want to spell out a verbal road map for 2001 that every viewer will feel obligated to pursue or else fear he's missed the point."

It's a very interesting interview. And, yes, I read it for the articles.

I snatched this from the site for the the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition. http://www.stanleykubrick.de

The caption underneath it said: "Stanley Kubrick and Geoffrey Unsworth developed a system for calculating from the grey tones of b/w Polaroids the right lighting for filming 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY."

In the bottom image, that appears to be Kubrick talking to Keir Dullea (or his stand-in).

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY was announced with ads like this one, which ran in Motion Picture Exhibitor in January of 1966 -- more than two years before the film's premiere in April of '68.

This ad's pretty generic and pedestrian compared to the beautiful ads and posters that followed. Looks like they gave the art director about 15 minutes to crank this thing out.

A frame from the HD or Blue Ray (can't remember which) DVD of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Pretty nice, huh?

Call your travel agent. Gas up the Buick. Log on and head over to Travelocity. com. Whatever, just make your plans for the Seattle CINERAMA Theatre's 70mm Film Series.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
January 27 and 29
February 3 and 5

The Seattle CINERAMA Theatre
2100 4th Avenue
(at Lenora St)
www.cinerama.com

They describe the print as being in "B" condition. Who cares? It's 2001. It's on film. It's 70mm. It's a real Cinerama theatre. This is as close as we're gonna get to seeing 2001: A SPACE ODYSEEY the way it was seen back in April of 1968.

And most importantly, it's a huge step up from whatever kinda swanky plasma high-def LCD THX DTS home theater surround sound rig you watched it on last.

And did I mention this is FILM?

By the way, that image at the top is a frame from a 70mm print of 2001. The brown is the magnetic stereo soundtrack. Click on it and it grows!

The instructions to the Aurora Moonbus model. These days, one of these things will set you back something like 300 bones.

Here's a still from a cut scene. While on the Clavius moonbase, Dr. Floyd passes by a children's painting class.

From one of the stops of the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition. Here we see one of the space helmets and ape heads.

Kubrick had most of the props and costumes destroyed once shooting was done, and much of what's left today is what he personally kept. I believe the Discovery model was, well, discovered somewhere.

I cannot wait till this exhibit finally makes it to the States. It's in Rome these days.

This is lifted from the back cover of 2001's original theatrical program from 1968. The entire program can be viewed at:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/2001/index.html

The site is very well organized, and it gives you a really good idea what the actual program is like. There are credits, notes and bios of the cast, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clark.

With metallic ink on its cover (that's it to the right), and some velum pages in the middle, this program is a very cool thing. To say that I want one is quite an understatement.

When I was a kid, my Dad collected movies. He still does, but now they're on DVD, not 16 or 35mm film.

Came across this image (on the wonderful, excessive, tech-y, geeky widescreenmuseum.com), and it really sent me back to those film days.

This image was one of the things that got me on started on my 2001 binge a few weeks ago. By the way, for a while, Dad had a beautiful 16mm anamorphic print of 2001, which is how I first saw it back in '75.

What you're looking at is a 35mm frame from that chilling scene right before the intermission where you realize HAL is reading their lips. Squeezed for anamorphic projection. With a round reel changeover cue. With both the stereo magnetic and optical mono soundtracks. And printed on whatever crappy film stock Metrocolor stuff was dumped on back in those days. Seemed like no matter how well you cared for the stuff, it faded to this sickly pink. I've heard that some films from the period were this faded while still in their theatrical release! 2001 certainly deserves to be seen in better shape than this! Imagine the Discovery making its way through a nasty pink universe.

The weird thing is, your brain will eventually correct the color for you — if the movie's any good. For instance, my best friend James and I watched THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM about 14 thousand times (including back-to-back showings from time to time), in a 'Scope 16mm faded-brown "Color by Pathe" print. And we never complained.

This is a great one. On the left, a panel from Jack Kirby's Marvel Comics adaptation of 2001: A SPACE ODDYSSEY. On the right, the poster artwork by Robert T. McCall it was based on. (There is no shot like this in the actual movie.) Note how close to the original Kirby's drawing is, and how much detail is retained.

Jack Kirby is one of the greatest comic artists of all time, and his 2001 is a really cool thing. He wrote and illustrated it himself, basing it on an early draft of the screenplay and the Clarke/Kubrick novel. So it's a valuable tool for those trying to figure the whole thing out.

I boosted this from Two Morrows, a publisher located here in Raleigh (and a design studio I did some freelance writing for years ago). John is a pretty major Kirby freak. Good for him.

This is the re-release poster -- done about a year after the film's release -- that helped turn 2001 into a cultural freakout. Lackluster reviews from weirded-out critics and bewildered word-of-mouth was hurting the boxoffice, but a masterful shift in marketing gears orchestrated by Mike Kaplan turned things around and helped the picture find the audience of hardcore film freaks and just, well, freaks that it needed.

Sorry about the crummy quality of the image. I'll try to find a spiffier one.

The original one-sheet, painted by Robert T. McCall.

Click on it. It gets really big.