[net.space] Special effects

DVW.AGM@MIT-OZ@sri-unix (12/04/82)

I am disappointed that you do not consider 2001: A Space
Oddessy to be en excellent example of realistic special
effects.  From the pen floating in the weightless cabin
(apologies to those who aren't familiar with the movie)
to the EVA that Dave did without as helmut (which IS
possible -- Clarke and Kubrick took a lot of noise for
that scene, but they did their research too, and they're
right),  the movie is scientifically consistent.

Adam Mellis  (dvw.agm@MIT-OZ)

P.S.  Has anyone heard about 2010: Oddessy Two?
I hear it's sort of a loser.

-------

arlan (12/11/82)

I once asked Arthur C. Clarke about the errors of 2001
[over coffee one nightat UNC-G, Greensboro, NC] and he replied that
one very beAutiful scene had to be excised from the movie--that ofthe lunar
city with its gardens and people walking around as if under 1 G.
However, as he also pointed out, the interior shots
on the moon had one G, and most people have never noticed.

Also, fen have pointed out that you can seeStanley Kubrick's image in a
reflection from a space suit mask as the men enter the excavation around the
monolith.

Another point:  whereas a stunt man broke his back in 2001 scene
inside HAL, no astronaut has broken his/her back to date,
evevn though a few Russians suffered fatal injuries.
--arlan andrews, american bell, incorporated--indianapolis, in

mclure (03/09/83)

#R:sri-unix:-460300:sri-unix:13400001:000:759
sri-unix!mclure    Dec  4 16:08:00 1982

The only space scenes that I've seen which were more realistic than
2001's were the shots from inside the shuttle.  2001 is vastly more
realistic than *any* other space movie.  One of my major complaints
about SF in film and books is the unrealistic attitudes toward gravity,
vacuum, etc.  The only technical error occurs when Heywood Floyd is
eating his dinner on the way to Clavius and the goop falls back down
the straw, hardly noticeable unless you're looking closely.  I also
prefer 2001's effects to those of the various space movies we've seen
since then.  Kubrick's movie is a monument (monolith?!), and in fact
was recently voted one of the 10 best movies by a large number of
critics in a number of countries.  (Citizen Kane placed first.)

	Stuart