Unlike many sci-fi films today, which may not seem to care one bit about science or realism, 2001: A Space Odyssey got a different treatment. It's not perfectly scientifically accurate, of course, and there are people who won't hesitate to point that out, but director Stanley Kubrick took great pains to make as accurate a film as possible.
Why? Because the more scientifically accurate a sci-fi film can be, the more easily it will be believed, drawing people into the narrative without making them think “wait a minute, no way!”
The result was something that became one of the most popular and talked-about films of all time, one that will be as culturally relevant next year as it was when it was first released in 1968. This was thanks to more than just scientific accuracy, of course – the plot is profound, and the book on which the movie was based was written by Arthur C. Clark, who also helped write the screenplay. But this accuracy was an important part of Kubrick's desire to make a movie that could express their incredible vision of humanity's place in the universe.
Injecting Realism and Science into 2001
NASA was working to send men to the moon while the film was in production, and this helped spur Kubrick to make the movie more accurate. If he didn't show believably-futuristic technology, he was worried that NASA would succeed and make his film look outdated and wrong. This was a smart move, because one year later in 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did step foot on the moon, and the world was watching.
By doing an obsessive amount of research, Kubrick and the crew were able to create sets and props that would both capture audiences and seem realistic based on NASA's progress. So how did they do it?
Kubrick hired science consultants (a somewhat rare choice by directors), notably some ex-NASA employees like Frederick Ordway and Harry Lange. Ordway was NASA's former chief of space information systems, while Lange was a designer from Germany who worked as head of the “future projects” section. Both had worked on actual spacecraft design, and did an incredible amount of research to ensure the props and set design would look real.
2001 avoided many of the exciting but unrealistic tropes we see in so many movies today. You won't hear any noise in space in 2001, from explosions or objects bumping into each other, because space is silent. The astronauts take years to get to Jupiter, and transmissions back and forth take 10 minutes, because that's what the laws of physics dictate.
Kubrick didn't want to create gravity on the spaceship Discovery One, which took the astronauts to Jupiter, using some kind of magical gravity-producing machine. Instead he spent about $75,000 ($5 million today) to create the rotating habitat sphere, which simulated gravity using centrifugal force and took six months to build. He was able to depict zero-gravity situations in ways that many experts applauded.
The design of Discovery One was based on a 1962 NASA project called EMPIRE: “Early Manned Planetary-Interplanetary Round Trip Expeditions.” EMPIRE was trying to send 8 people to Mars, using a nuclear-powered craft that would take 15 months to get to its destination. Discovery One ended up with nuclear rocket engines, along with other details from EMPIRE.
When it comes to the astronauts on board the craft, you won't find any flashy or eccentric characters. Instead, they're calm, methodical, and mission-oriented, a much better depiction of actual hard-working and intelligent astronauts than most movies.
HAL 9000 is probably the most memorable crew member on board (do you even remember the astronauts' names?) and one of the most interesting pieces of technology in the movie. The astronauts are forced to disable HAL after he becomes homicidal, because certain elements of his programming make him decide that he should kill the astronauts for the good of the mission. This is a real dilemma faced by computer scientists today, who are trying to figure out how to program a general AI that could solve all kinds of problems (without becoming a murderer).
When HAL is being disconnected (or dying), his higher brain functions are turned off first and he ends up regressing to more primitive states. He begins singing the song “Daisy Bell,” a reference to the actual first song that was ever sung by a computer – you can even listen to it right here, it's pretty charming and not nearly as ominous as in the movie.
This was just a tiny taste of how the science got into 2001: A Space Odyssey, which has been repeatedly hailed as one of the most scientifically accurate movies ever. You can learn much more online or in books like “Lab Coats in Hollywood” or “2001: The Lost Science.”
Are you passionate about space exploration and film? Then check out the CineSpace 2016 short film competition, a contest to create original works of art using real NASA imagery. Registration is open until July 31st, so get those creative juices flowing!
