Why I became a scientist after watching 2001 Space Odyssey. It was that black screen as the film began to roll!

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2014)

I remember sitting in the movie theatre back in 1968 as a young teen watching the black screen appear at the beginning of 2001; A Space Odyssey while transcendent music/vocals played, curious as to whether the absence of a visual cue was a technical failure or intentional? At the time, I failed to envision that the theatre viewing screen was proportionally the same length and width as the black monolith per Arthur C. Clark's expansive novel. Maybe its common lore, but it only just struck me last week, while I was watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on my own widescreen TV for the unknown'th time, that Stanley Kubrick was having his way with us during the Prelude. It is easy to envisage that we, the audience, were being "educated" by the black monolith before us as represented by the seemingly void, imageless screen. While some critics in 1968 panned the movie (Village Voice, NYT) others, and many still do today, and described it as boring and unimaginative, in fact Kubrick's juxtaposition of the laughably mundane and tedious daily life of an influental space traveller against most extraordinary cosmic events makes it a stunning achievement in science fiction moviedom that may never be repeated. In this matter, George Lucas has stated that it remains the Holy Grail of science fiction films. After all these years, 2001; A Space Odyssey still showcases Stanley Kubrick's most incredible ingenuity, imagination, and style in interpreting Aurthur C. Clarke's engrossing ideas. And he had his way with us a little bit too! The fact that 2001 came and went doesn't dampen my enthusiasm; every time I watch 2001; A Space Odyssey I am still back in that theatre in 1968 full of wonder at Kubrick's masterpiece.