“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood, as a child, I thought as a child: but, when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11. Roger Lay Jr’s 2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey, compels its audience and documentary participants to reflect on the 1968 film’s impact as an evolutionary and transcendent piece of art. Scholars, film buffs, and historians have poured over Kubrick’s film in infinite detail. Moreover, Kubrick’s efforts changed special effects, storytelling, and artist collaboration; it influenced future artists who would change the business of filmmaking. Within this particular “ultimate trip,” a reference to the changed tagline on the artwork, the film’s impact on the next generation of filmmakers, or dreamers is as imperative as the film itself. Lay assembles a bevy of talent in front of and behind the camera, their testimonials driving the documentary’s excellent narrative.

An Ultimate Trip

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is indeed the ultimate trip. What director Lay and producers Mike and Denise Okuda consider is how Kubrick’s collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke changed cinema. Some might claim that Star Wars or Jaws changed cinema. The documentary solidifies its influence on George Lucas and Steven Spielberg and their accomplishments changed the business of cinema. 2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey demonstrates Douglas Trumbull’s innovative approach to special effects and Stuart Freeborn’s astounding makeup and mechanical appliances to give natural movement to facial features that were, then, unheard of.

Special effects artists, Brian Johnson (Alien, Space 1999) 2001’s assistant special effects artist, and Daren Dochterman (Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition) discuss how the film’s effects were conceived and achieved. Throughout the documentary, Dochterman discusses the recreated, modern renderings of the special effects work from 2001: A Space Odyssey courtesy of a team of special effects artists from Jules Urbach’s OTOY, while the film’s star, Keir Dullea, who played Dave Bowman, and Dan Richter, who choreographed and played ‘Moonwatcher’ recount their time with Kubrick on the set, and Kubrick’s influence on their performances. Modern film critic Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits, and filmmaker and artist Jeffrey Morris of FutureDude Entertainment (the upcoming The Eagle Obsession) speak to the history of science fiction leading up to the creation of 2001: A Space Odyssey and their perspectives on the film’s influence on their respective art.

Kubrick’s Eye-Opening Impact

At the centrifuge of 2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey, is Michael Benson, the author of Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece. Benson’s in-depth knowledge culled from extensive research, countless interviews with Kubrick’s widow, and his conversations with Clarke inform and expand on the behind-the-scenes process.

2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey looks at the film through an influential eye. Hunt, Morris, and entertainment journalist and film critic, Grae Drake all speak on varied levels to the influence of the film on them. Drake speaks of Kubrick’s legacy, initial studio, and critical reactions, and how a younger audience’s embrace of the film challenged critical notices that did not favor the film. Commonly, the interview participants reflect on just how eye-opening of an experience 2001: A Space Odyssey is on a 65mm theatrical presentation.

This critic can confirm that the theatrical experience of 2001: A Space Odyssey is indeed a life-affirming experience.

Inspired, Timeless Oddyseys

2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey is a labor of love and passion from those who lived it or were influenced by it. It reaffirms why 2001: A Space Odyssey is this critic’s favorite film of all time, one that, on a first-time watch in the late 1980s on a 19-inch television set, first introduced by his dad, didn’t immediately make an impression.

Admittedly, a 19-inch television with commercials interrupting the flow of Kubrick’s masterpiece is not the best or most effective way to watch the film. Yet, the film became a salient moment in time. Lay reminds us that, any inspiration taken from the flow of images and details the artisans that committed vast amounts of work to celluloid, were rewarded and continue to be rewarded. We, the audience, managed to put away our childish notions, and better appreciated Kubrick’s journey into the cosmos. That the experience never ends: the documentary as much as the film itself is timeless.

Growing Up with A Thousand Faces

2001’s story is a visual experience, its pirouetted, purposeful movements through time and space are a philosophical transition from childhood into adulthood, ultimately as a species. 2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey derives the influential experience from those interviewed. The concept and the art stuck, it continues to reward its participants and its viewers.

And, yes, Keir Dullea’s chilling, somber voice extraordinarily drives goosebumps.

2001: Creating Kubrick’s Space Odyssey is available on YouTube. Now to seek out Joseph Conrad’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces . . .