Most reactors struggle with this film.  Jen Murray did a great job of getting it.  She's a sharp one, and tons of fun, too!

I’m surprised that reactors often don’t notice the “apes” who discover how to use tools also start to walk upright.

You don't have to understand it to know that it's the greatest film of all time. Still influential after almost SIXTY YEARS.

When you read the book, it's easy to understand. In short, the monoliths improve humans. The second step (at the end of the movie), he's reborn as a new super human, the next step in evolution. In a spirit, almost, god form. Which has a critical role in the next books to save humanity.

A few notes:

The animals you see with the human ancestors are called Tapirs. After they used the first tool, did you see them eating Tapir meat? Without the energy density from meat, our brains could not have developed as they did. Thus, we are seeing a twofold... meat eating and tool building.

“The dawn of man" (4 million years ago) segment depicted the above invention of the first tool. And then you saw one of the biggest cuts in movie history. The bone (a tool) cut to a modern tool in orbit.  What truly sets us apart from the animals is our ability to build tools.

The obelisk was then moved to the Moon and buried. That wanted us to be a space faring species before we found it again. Also, by humans unburying it, sunlight hit it for the first time in 4 million years and that is the moment it sent the radio signal to Jupiter.

Note: the Discovery no helmet airlock scene is truly viable. The human body is quite resilient. This actually happened at NASA. During a spacesuit test in a complete vacuum, a spacesuit helmet failed and popped off. The astronaut was fine.

Title fanfare music is called " Sunrise " from a tone poem, " Also sprach Zarathustra " composed by Richard Strauss. The pictures shown during the Dawn of Man are still photos with added sound, creating the illusion of film. A remarkable and influential movie.

The little girl in the video phone is in fact Stanley Kubrick's daughter.❤

..la maggior parte di voi non e' ancora pronta per questo Capolavoro.....

This movie  revolutionized SOUND in film.No such thing as an AUDIO ENGINEER until this movie!GroundBreaking❤

The opening theme is Also Sprach Zarathustra, which translates to “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. Zarathustra was the holy prophet in the Zoroastrian religion.

In 2026 they are grouped together in the south of a country, each with their own weapon.

my father told me that the obelisk represents knowledge

' The Dawn of Man ' episode represents upright walking hominids Australopithecus
of 40,000 centuries ago  . . . Humanity - Homo Sapiens - evolved around 3,000
centuries ago (& we've had Civilizations for about 100 centuries, so far) . . .

04:42  Our ancestors' first murder ?

The movie was intended for an overwhelming Cinerama wrap around screen. I want to see a reactor viewing it the modern way - on a teeny bleeping phone screen. 😁

This is my hypothesis. The monolith (dimensions 1^2 by 2^2 by 3^2) is, for the lack of a better name, a “ET”. Both monoliths communicate concurrently. The larger one by Jupiter and the smaller one on the earth and moon. The monoliths objective is to transform an Earth person to a higher state. But the ape-man was not sophisticated enough to transform. So the monolith decided to teach the ape-man to use a tool (weapon) and then move to the moon and bury itself (4 million years) under the moon surface and wait to be found. When discovered man will determine the communication between the monolith and Jupiter.  So Discovery ship was built and sent to Jupiter to investigate. HAL computer was told everything that was known about the mission to Jupiter, BUT was told not to say or divulge anything to the crew. Discovery’s communication disc antenna had to be silent, so HAL then would not have a problem.  HAL found out that Bowman and Poole would disconnect high level access.  HAL did. Bowman disconnected. On to Jupiter.  After arriving at Jupiter, Bowman discovered the large monolith and went to investigate He is pulled into a vortex, worm-hole, and transported to another solar system or galaxy. He was moving faster and faster and faster than light speed. Bowman ended up at the monoliths planet. Finally, he finds himself in a large neoclassical bedroom where he sees, then becomes, older versions of himself. A monolith appears at the foot of the bed, and as Bowman reaches for it, he is transformed into a “Star-Child”, advanced being, enclosed in a transparent orb of light, which afterwards floats in space above the Earth.    ----- Please Pass On -----

The editing must've been crazy

"Universe" - This is the film that Kubrick viewed in 1960 and inspired him to make "2001: A Space Odyssey".
It includes the man's voice who later played the voice of the HAL 9000, Douglas Rain.

Universe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48gIN4hGOdI&t=1435s

It has been stated that Douglas Rain was picked to voice HAL-9000 from this film, yet Stanley Jackson is "commentary", so perhaps Kubrick bumped into Mr. Rain while connecting with the film makers & cast/crew. HOWEVER, near the end of the film the commentator's voice sounds much, much more like Douglas Rains'. Perhaps a voice-over re-edit was needed & Rain stepped up.

Douglas Rain's final comment and the last statement of the "Universe" film. Notice how this is the voice of HAL.

spoken at time mark 25:30

"In all of time, on all the planets of all the galaxies in space, what civilizations have risen, looked into the night, seen what we see, asked the questions that we ask?"

Yes.

It's "The Blue Danube".  Sometimes known as "The Strauss Waltz".

Who doesn't know that the opening and closing music is the famous classical piece Also Sprach Zarathustra?? Evidently a lot of people don't.