Best space movies - is '2001' the best or not? Discuss!

[X-Maniac]

The death of Arthur C Clarke, writer of 2001: A Space Odyssey and collaborator on the movie of that name (released back in 1968!), and plans to remake Dune, got me thinking in outer-space terms...

Is 2001 the best space movie ever? One of the best movies ever? What is your understanding/interpretation of what happens in the movie?

And what about the Star Wars movies? and Star Trek franchise? And other space movies, like Solaris, Sunshine, Dune, Event Horizon and, of course Alien (which is as much a monster movie as a space movie).

Which is the best space movie and why? Which is your favourite and why? What are the obscure-but-great movies that get overlooked?

Here's wikipedia's list of space movies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_about_outer_space

 

[X-Maniac]

I'm just about to go away on holiday in Germany for a few days. In the meantime, get posting and i'll catch up when I get back!

 

[odiin]

Tricky question as it can be taken multiple ways; One could ask "What is the best comedy of all time?" and could get answers like Dr. Strangelove or Annie Hall which are among the most expertly crafted comedies of all time, but certainly not the funniest. You could also receive answers like The Holy Grail or Borat which are funny, but not necessarily technically well made films.

So I ask you, are you referring to the most well-made movie that happens to be based in space, or the movie that best exemplifies the genre?

2001 is certainly a contender for the former, but not so much the latter.

 

[X-Maniac]

Tricky question as it can be taken multiple ways; One could ask "What is the best comedy of all time?" and could get answers like Dr. Strangelove or Annie Hall which are among the most expertly crafted comedies of all time, but certainly not the funniest. You could also receive answers like The Holy Grail or Borat which are funny, but not necessarily technically well made films.

So I ask you, are you referring to the most well-made movie that happens to be based in space, or the movie that best exemplifies the genre?

2001 is certainly a contender for the former, but not so much the latter.

Good points. Answer however you choose. Both the options you mention would be interesting. I'm just keen to hear people's views and some well-argued opinions. But I don't need essay answers necessarily!

I'm guessing Star Wars is going to be the best obvious 'space movie' but 2001 might be the best movie that happens to be in space, even though many find it incomprehensible.

 

[Odin's Lapdog]

it's got to be wrath of khan, surely...

 

[cerealkiller182]

I wouldnt say its the best space movie because I dont think space is important to the plot overall. It could technically happen anywhere.

Iwould put more emphasis on the black monolith. I believe they represent the unexplainable. Not necessarily an outside force, but that part of nature that allows for a jump in natural order. And then the end how everything happened so quickly because our protagonist saw the truth and it overwhelmed him

 

[Gilpesh]

Serenity. Merely cause you didn't even list it in your... "which is the best? this? that? the other?" thing.

 

[Erzengel]

Well Star Wars is obviously the most popular. And while I'm biased, I think Empire is the best Space movie.

 

[GhostPoet]

Serenity
Star Wars
and any Star Trek film

 

[WarBlade]

Apollo 13 would have to be high up the list.

 

[Gilpesh]

Well Star Wars is obviously the most popular. And while I'm biased, I think Empire is the best Space movie.

Which is hilariously ironic. Star Wars... the franchise with the least respect for space... is the most popular space movie.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

Spaceballs

 

[SuperFerret]

Which is hilariously ironic. Star Wars... the franchise with the least respect for space... is the most popular space movie.

Guh?

 

[Gilpesh]

Guh?

The franchise portrays space horribly. It's science.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Guh?

technically theres no lights and sounds in space but theres plenty in Star Wars


But really who cares?

 

[Drizzle]

Screw "2001". The Original Star Wars trilogy for the motherf***ing win.

 

[Joker]

I totally disagree. 2001 was boring as hell. I love Kubrick and all, but the movie just drags, and drags, and drags.

 

[Tanin]

I vote for Serenity

 

[StrainedEyes]

2001 is paced perfectly. I was never bored.

 

[The Guard]

Apollo 13.

 

[joker072]

Having not seen every outer space film I couldn't possibly say, however; 2001 certainly deserves to be up there at the top. 2001 has practically changed the way I look at and analyse films. After viewing it for the first time I was ready to burst with so much food for thought.

It's well researched and it offers a convincing portrayal of space travel. Just taking a wild guess here, but 2001 is probably one of the few films to portray space as utterly silent and also capture the empty atmosphere. It's as if 2001 is a cinematic Rubik’s cube... or, if you will, a Kubrick's cube?

I was stumped by why the film included intermissions, and I thought to myself (what a wonderful world... sorry, couldn't resist!) intermissions are only seen in theatrical productions so there must be a purpose to this, otherwise without purpose what’s the point? I remember reading one guy's hypothesis about how the intermission looks like the monolith itself and that same haunting piece of music is playing, so it's as if the monolith is humming its tune to the audience (just like it did on earth to the apes, on the moon to the humans and near Jupiter to Bowman) and the joke is on us.

Mankind's flaws are also outlined a lot during the film: losing control of our tools (I think it was a pen, when Bowman fell asleep during the transportation process to the station), when Bowman knocks the glass off the table in that rather odd Victorian-style environment. Also, when the other humans are in hibernation in the pods and finally the other noticeable one was Bowman and Poole were eating their microwave meals watching TV, outlining reliability on technology.

Did this film mess with anyone else’s mind at all? I had to double check the guidance rating at first. It's probably just me, but the haunting soundtrack throughout combined with HAL's chillingly monotonous voice and human traits (look at that sinister zoom at 2:59: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzSt40CKENg&feature=related) just made me feel awkward.

 

[Bat Attack]

Hmmmmm. Alien? Is that really a space movie though? Oh well, its my favorite that pertains to space in some large aspect. And 2001 is only scary if you are on acid.

 

[TankerX]

I vote for Serenity

Same, i would go for Empire Strikes Back but thats hardly in space...Serenity rocks

 

[Apollo]

i really like 2001, but i think the Star Wars films are the best Space movies.

 

[WarBlade]

I was stumped by why the film included intermissions, and I thought to myself (what a wonderful world... sorry, couldn't resist!) intermissions are only seen in theatrical productions so there must be a purpose to this, otherwise without purpose what’s the point?

Intermissions being breaks in the middle of a movie serve a very valuable purpose. In the past, before platters came into use, a projectionist could only run spool to spool and that means less than an hour's worth of movie in any one continuous length. The entire presentation could be delivered in two parts or set up with a "changeover" where a second projector is placed adjacent to the first so that the show could be flicked from one to the other at reel changes.

These days an entire movie is most commonly decked horizontally on platters and we can run a continuous length of film up to something like three and a half hours on those Kinoton ones beyond the link. Note that many platter systems still don't have capacity enough to run something the length of the Lord of the Rings extended editions, because the print is physically too large to fit on the platter and an intermission might be needed in order to screen such a film in certain venus.