Following the film's release in 1968 Frederick I. Ordway (scientific and technical consultant) contacted Kubrick with advice to improve the narrative of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Accompanying his notes on editing he speaks about the lack of narration in sections of the film and how the film's 'intended impact was lost' because of this.
1. The 'Dawn of Man' sequence and its original scripted narration.
The next three paragraphs narrate the 'moon-watcher' (lead ape) and his role in the discovery of the 'bone weapon'.
2. The landing sequence.
3. When the monolith emits a burst of electromagnetic energy.
4. To occur just before the 'interstellar sequence' when we see the monolith (in 'D1', I think this is a scene number!).
This material is taken from a copy of The Making of Kubrick's 2001 by Jerome Agel I found in a Temple Bar book stall for 1euro. It is by far the most informative book on the film I've ever come across and includes letters to Kubrick, all the major reviews/interviews at the time, script segments that never made it into the edit, 100pages of photographs including SFX shots that never made it into the film and Arthur C. Clarke's original short story 'The Sentinal' . Its pretty much an encyclopedia on the film. Super good stuff.
1. The 'Dawn of Man' sequence and its original scripted narration.
The next three paragraphs narrate the 'moon-watcher' (lead ape) and his role in the discovery of the 'bone weapon'.
2. The landing sequence.
3. When the monolith emits a burst of electromagnetic energy.
4. To occur just before the 'interstellar sequence' when we see the monolith (in 'D1', I think this is a scene number!).
This material is taken from a copy of The Making of Kubrick's 2001 by Jerome Agel I found in a Temple Bar book stall for 1euro. It is by far the most informative book on the film I've ever come across and includes letters to Kubrick, all the major reviews/interviews at the time, script segments that never made it into the edit, 100pages of photographs including SFX shots that never made it into the film and Arthur C. Clarke's original short story 'The Sentinal' . Its pretty much an encyclopedia on the film. Super good stuff.
Interesting stuff. Laying it out in narration like that would have been madness, lucky that clever people like Kubrick know to ignore silly advice.
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