PODCAST:

S4E11M – 2001: A Space Odyssey (movie)*

SHOW NOTES:

Wherein we ride this cosmic starship past the moon and head straight for the rings of Saturn—rather, Jupiter. Once more round the sun I am accompanied by musician John Doyle a/k/a Dole (I Decline, Theurgy) and sci-fi fan Richard Bacon. We three arrive, at last, to stare in perplexed amazement and wonder at this speculative fiction masterpiece.

It was no surprise that this film received universal praise from all three of us. While Ryan tended to cite examples of contributions by others including the co-creator of the story and the recruitment of clever forerunners in the special effects field, the guests were more focused on the director’s vision. Dole greatly appreciated that in the film everything was not explained for him and much was left to the viewer’s interpretation—though, he admitted the book provided a new perspective. Rich agreed and recounted a screening of the work he attended while in university that was introduced by actor James Earl Jones who provided some historical context.

Like, as before, we closed out this episode with another teaser track from Dole’s “Theurgy” band project (Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Theurgy-233634134183768/) called “Dreamcatcher”. Check out this preview of dark wave music at the end of the episode!

-Ryan

WRITTEN BOOK REVIEWS:

“2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)” by Stanley Kubrick (movie)

Ryan: 5 Stars “…an ode to space travel and mankind’s cosmic destiny that takes painstaking attention to scientific detail with deft poetic breath and all around general sense of contemplative bewilderment and awe…”

Dole: 5 Stars “…mind-blowing…I mean it’s so influential on any sci-fi film ever since created…”

Rich: 5 Stars “…a cinematic masterpiece—a must see, for anyone who wants to appreciate serious films…”

FUN FACTOIDS:

On this episode Ryan mentioned a collection of audio interviews of the director which included a collage of still photos. You can watch “Stanley Kubrick: The Lost Tapes” on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/QsSV6yZZIVk.

Some other podcasts about our subject work mentioned (maybe not by name) on our episode were the
Now Playing Podcast (http://www.nowplayingpodcast.com/episode.htm?id=1222) and a June 2018 interview of Michael Benson author of “Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece” by Martin Bandyke for Under Covers and the Ann Arbor District Library (https://aadl.org/node/377257).

Review: “2001: A Space Odyssey” – Stanley Kubrick