History YMMV / TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey

* BrokenBase: The film is very LoveItOrHateIt. Some see it as one the greatest examples of visual storytelling and immersively awe-inspiring in its depiction of how [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale enormous space really is]]. Others, however, view it as a very meandering project whose plot trugs along at a snail's pace with few memorable characters outside of [=HAL=] and an ending that's mostly a mishmash of unexplained psychedelic surrealism.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Most people who watch the film and do not know its age believe it to have come in the wake of Star Wars or thereabout - i.e., the late 1970s. Part of this is the impeccably accurate portrayal of modern spaceflight, technology, et al, and part because of the gorgeous quality of the cinematography and special effects, which rival Franchise/StarWars and make it appear as though it were made in the late 70s.

* MainstreamObscurity: There are way more people who know about the monolith and the HAL 9000 than the amount of people who have seen this film, especially thanks to the WeirdAlEffect, and the fact that it's status as the first real sophisticated science-fiction film was usurped later on by the likes of ''Franchise/StarWars, Film/BladeRunner'' and ''Film/TheMatrix''.

* BrokenBase: The film is very LoveItOrHateIt. Some see it as one the greatest examples of visual storytelling and immersively awe-inspiring in its depiction of how [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale enormous space really is]]. Others, however, view it as a very meandering project whose plot trugs along at a snail's pace with few memorable characters outside of [=HAL=] and an ending that's mostly a mishmash of unexplained psychedelic surealism.

* BrokenBase: The film is very LoveItOrHateIt. Some see it as one the greatest examples of visual storytelling and immersively awe-inspiring in its depiction of how [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale enormous space really is]]. Others, however, view it as a very meandering project whose plot trugs along at a snail's pace with few memorable characters outside of [=HAL=] and an ending that's mostly a mishmash of unexplained psychadlic surealism.

** And the technique used to create the "Beyond the Infinite" sequence -- a {{camera trick|s}} known as "slit-scan" -- was impressive enough to be reused well into the early CGI era, and still holds up excellently more than half a century later. So impressive was the sequence that it inspired a bevy of similar slit-scan sequences in other media, including Creator/{{ABC}}'s "this is the place to be" ads of the early 1970s, the title sequence for ''Series/DoctorWho'' from 1974 to 1980 (which became iconic enough over the years to serve as a template for later title sequences in the show from 1996 onwards), the WhooshingCredits for ''Film/{{Superman}}'' in 1978 (which improved on ''2001'''s techniques by using an animation stand, rather than the room-size contraption ''2001'' used), and a whole bunch of other pre-CGI motion graphics work in TheEighties.

** And the technique used to create the "Beyond the Infinite" sequence -- a {{camera trick|s}} known as "slit-scan" -- was impressive enough to be reused well into the early CGI era, and still holds up excellently more than half a century later. So impressive was the sequence that it inspired a bevy of similar slit-scan sequences in other media, including Creator/{{ABC}}'s "this is the place to be" ads of the early 1970s, the title sequence for ''Series/DoctorWho'' from 1974 to 1980 (which became iconic enough over the years to serve as a template for later title sequences in the show from 1996 onwards), the WhooshingCredits for ''Film/{{Superman}}'' in 1978 (which improved on ''2001'''s techniques by using a computer-controlled camera), and a whole bunch of other pre-CGI motion graphics work in TheEighties.

* BrokenBase: The film is very LoveItOrHate it. Some see it as one the greatest examples of visual storytelling and immersively awe-inspiring in its depiction of how [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale enormous space really is]]. Others, however, view it as a very meandering project whose plot trugs along at a snail's pace with few memorable characters outside of [=HAL=] and an ending that's mostly a mishmash of unexplained psychadlic surealism.

* JustHereForGodzilla: It is very common for people to only watch the movie for HAL's scenes.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: When Hal detects the fault on the AE-35 unit, Dave requests a hard copy of the information. Hal produces a ''punched card''.

** Not only is HAL a one letter shift from IBM, we now have the sophisticated AI Watson, who successfully defeated the two most successful Series/{{Jeopardy}} contestants ever WITHOUT being connected to the internet.

* CantUnHearIt: Try to hear "Thus Spake Zarasthustra", "The Blue Danube" or "Atmospheres" and not think of this film.

* MagnificentBastard: Floyd. He was genuinely surprised to see Elena and Dr. Smyslov at the space station, but he decided to tell Smyslov he was heading to the Clavius Base. Then, without actually giving ''anything'' away, Floyd is able to make sure that the cover story about the epidemic is holding up, and even strengthens it a little.

* CantUnHearIt: Try to hear "Thus Spake Zarasthustra" or "The Blue Danube" and not think of this film.

* CantUnhearIt: Try to hear "Thus Spake Zarasthustra" or "The Blue Danube" and not think of this film.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: There are no truly ''bad'' special effects in the movie, but when seen on the big screen some shots are easy to identify as matte paintings or still images being manipulated rather than actual footage of the models. In any other movie, these would go unnoticed, but because the other effects in ''2001'' are ''so good,'' even minor imperfections jump out.

* BrokenBase: ''2001''! One of the greatest, most scientifically realistic films ever made! Has one of the most memorable villains and most-referenced endings in all of cinema! Assuming you can look past those several long long ''long'' sequences of monkeys hanging out for about half an hour. And ships silently flying from one location to another. And a guy flying through technicolor splurge for about fifteen minutes. And... wasn't there something about big black rectangles in there?
%%* ContestedSequel: ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' is frequently criticized for being more of a conventional action movie compared to the avant-garde style of ''2001''. Yet at the same time many fans actually like it as much if not more BECAUSE it is a more traditional movie.

** The film was passed over for an Honorary Oscar in Makeup in favor of ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'', despite the makeup in ''2001'' being arguably superior. Many joke that the ape makeup in ''2001'' was snubbed because the Academy thought that the film used real apes rather than superior makeup. It's probably more likely that the Academy wanted to honor both films, and/or thought giving this film an award for its ape suits would have been redundant seeing how it had already won the Best Visual Effects award.

* {{Padding}}: Done for [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools artistic]] rather than budgetary reasons, but still, let's not kid ourselves: this is a veerrry looong and veerrry sloooowwww movie, one that's 140 (or in some versions, ''160'') minutes long but only has about 70 minutes worth of actual plot. The movie's length is pretty much a litmus test for how big a Kubrick fan you are: true believers will most likely find the [[LeaveTheCameraRunning glacial editing]] thought-provoking, [[MindScrew unsettling]], and [[NothingIsScarier suspenseful]], everyone else is likely to find the pacing [[SlowPacedBeginning boring]], [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny uninteresting]], or [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible pretentious.]]

** As to the ''design'' of Kubrick's space liner...something about a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_orbiter winged orbiter with stubby delta wings]] with a [[http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Glasscockpit.html cockpit of centralized computer displays]] that can rendezvous with a [[http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/index.html large space station]] should be a little familiar. Either NASA had big fans of this movie, or Kubrick's movie was based on those early designs...

* ContestedSequel: ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' is frequently criticized for being more of a conventional action movie compared to the avant-garde style of ''2001''. Yet at the same time many fans actually like it as much if not more BECAUSE it is a more traditional movie.

* {{Padding}}: Done for [[TropesAreTools artistic]] rather than budgetary reasons, but still, let's not kid ourselves: this is a veerrry looong and veerrry sloooowwww movie, one that's 140 (or in some versions, ''160'') minutes long but only has about 70 minutes worth of actual plot. The movie's length is pretty much a litmus test for how big a Kubrick fan you are: true believers will most likely find the [[LeaveTheCameraRunning glacial editing]] thought-provoking, [[MindScrew unsettling]], and [[NothingIsScarier suspenseful]], everyone else is likely to find the pacing [[SlowPacedBeginning boring]], [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny uninteresting]], or [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible pretentious.]]

* HypeBacklash: Arguably a poster child for this trope. People who don't like this movie tend to hate it all the more for the praise it receives. The film has ''breathtaking'' visuals and a good story, but it's [[LeaveTheCameraRunning sluggishly paced]] and [[MindScrew deliberately unexplained]].

* ReCut: In the early 2010s, Creator/StevenSoderbergh released a edit of the film online as part of a personal project to teach himself how to edit (for those scratching your head, not every film director directly edits their footage into the final film, and may leave the assembly of shots and angles primarily up to the film editor, with only the occasional direction afterwards). His edit trims about half the length of the film off, and notably inserts HAL's eye frames into monolith-oriented scenes.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: Many ccuse the film of indulging in this trope, which isn’t an unreasonable conclusion. Though to be fair there aren’t many other ways anyone could convincingly portray an alien race millions of years more advanced than us.

** And the technique used to create the "Beyond the Infinite" sequence -- a {{camera trick|s}} known as "slit-scan" -- was impressive enough to be reused well into the early CGI era. It was later used for Creator/{{ABC}}'s "This is the place to be" ads of the early 1970s, as well as the WhooshingCredits for [[Film/{{Superman}} Superman: The Movie]] (which improved on ''2001'''s techniques by using a computer-controlled camera) and a whole bunch of pre-CGI motion graphics work in TheEighties.