1976

1968 was a definitive year in the history of the United States and for that matter, the world. Here are just a few events that occurred in 1968.
January:
– North Korea captures the USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence vessel
– The Tet Offensive occurs in Vietnam
March:
– The My Lai massacre occurs in Vietnam
April:
– Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated
June:
– Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated
August:
– Chicago Democratic Convention (and the riots that followed)
December:
– Apollo 8 orbits the moon

With all these major events occurring, it would have been easy to miss another event that happened in April of that year, the release of the movie “2001 a Space Odyssey”. This was a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Arthur C. Clarke. I highly recommend watching it if you haven’t, and if you have, I encourage you to watch it again. It is an… “interesting” movie that needs to be watched more than once to “get it”. Whatever “it” may be to you. Everyone’s taste will vary, of course…

As I write this, it is the end of December of 2018, 50 years since all of these events occurred. Apollo 8’s 50th anniversary has just passed as well, so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on other happenings in space, in this case the fictional space of 2001.

I was a little young to see 2001 in 1968 but like many kids, I loved space, loved the space program and loved science fiction. Thus, 2001 entered my lexicon early and became “the standard” of science fiction movies to me and my friends. On TV we had Star Trek, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Land of the Giants and more. Plus, there were lots of old “B” movies to watch as well. One exception to the B movie rule was Forbidden Planet (highly recommended). It was the science fiction movie “high water mark” until 2001 came out. Finally, even though I knew all about 2001, it wouldn’t be until eight years after the initial release, that I finally had the chance to see it for the first time.

That brings me to 1976, the bicentennial year of the United States. Specifically, the end of May and my 9th grade science class. You see, every year my science teacher, Mr. Brown, would do an end of year science fiction movie. This particular year he pulled out all the stops and was able to procure a copy of 2001 and a 70mm lens for one of the school’s lowly film projectors so we could see 2001 in all of its widescreen glory!

What I remember more than anything else was the preview Mr. Brown gave us a day or so before we watched the full movie. Imagine a junior high earth science room, the lights are out, the room filled with tables, chairs and cabinets full of various science gear, students scattered around the room and two screens hung side by side from the ceiling near the chalkboard. All that can be heard is the projector running and music playing as we watch the Moon shuttle travel across the mountains and craters on the Moon. We finally here voices as the actors start to eat sandwiches. We don’t yet know who these characters are for sure, but their chatter is mezmerizing. It still sticks in my mind like it was yesterday, the beginning of reel 2, our preview of 2001. We would watch it all over the next few days but those first five minutes were special, very special.

There was something about seeing that moon shuttle fly across the surface of the moon that stroked my imagination for years to come. The starkness of the moon with space and the Earth as a backdrop. Flying by mountains and craters in silence. I always thought 2001 got this part right, the silence of space and the incredible beauty and desolation of the moon.

Now, some forty two years later, it is still my favorite part of the movie. Maybe because it is the most tangible? Most likely though it it’s because it captured the imagination of a young teenager and took him to a place he always wanted to go, the Moon.

The movie, in my opinion, has held up pretty well after all these years. Sure special effects have improved immensely and the story is still something you have to think about, but it is a movie that can still transport you to places yet to be discovered.

But, what will stir the imaginations of today’s teenagers? All I know is space stirred my imagination for a lifetime, with Apollo 8 in 1968, and watching 2001 in 1976. What has stirred the imagination of teenagers in 2018? That is the harder question to answer…