Happy Birthday HAL !

[rprosperi]

If you're a fan of the book, HAL is 23 today.

But if you've only seen the movie, HAL is 28.

I have never seen a suitable explanation of the gap; maybe 1997 seemed too far away from 1968 when Kubrick made the film. Perhaps Clarke told him the year should be change to 1997 and Stanley replied "I'm sorry Arthur, I'm afraid I can't do that".

[pinkman]

(01-12-2020 02:46 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  Perhaps Clarke told him the year should be change to 1997 and Stanley replied "I'm sorry Arthur, I'm afraid I can't do that".

I vote for this explanation!

[Valentin Albillo]

(01-12-2020 02:46 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  If you're a fan of the book, HAL is 23 today.

But if you've only seen the movie, HAL is 28.

I have never seen a suitable explanation of the gap; maybe 1997 seemed too far away from 1968 when Kubrick made the film. Perhaps Clarke told him the year should be change to 1997 and Stanley replied "I'm sorry Arthur, I'm afraid I can't do that".

The script had zillions of rewrites of all kinds (the black monolith was originally a glass pyramid, which was unfilmable, they arrive at an alien world with oceans tilted 90 degrees, etc, etc) so the birth date gap is el chocolate del loro in comparison.

If you're a fan of the book and/or the movie (like me) get ASAP a copy of this 1972 book, which makes the most awesome reading for any fan. Lots of inside facts about the interaction between Clarke and Kubrick, lots of alternate versions, the works !

The Lost Worlds of 2001

Get it ! It'll make your day, your week and your month.

Have a nice weekend and regards.
V.

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

And if there really is someone here who does not know (yet) why HAL is called HAL try to figure it out for yourself before asking Siri, his younger sister :-)

Regards
Max

NB: 2001 is the only movie ever during which I fell asleep in the cinema. So I can not even say if I liked it or not. This slowly rotating space-ship taking forever to dock to the space station whilst some Walzer music was playing just kicked me out...

[toml_12953]

(01-12-2020 04:53 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  Hello!

And if there really is someone here who does not know (yet) why HAL is called HAL try to figure it out for yourself before asking Siri, his younger sister :-)

Regards
Max

NB: 2001 is the only movie ever during which I fell asleep in the cinema. So I can not even say if I liked it or not. This slowly rotating space-ship taking forever to dock to the space station whilst some Walzer music was playing just kicked me out...

Clarke went to his death denying it had anything to do with IBM! Of course no one believed him.

[Geoff Quickfall]

Max!

That is too funny. For me ( a pilot) that was the best scene in the movie! That and the reintroduction of Kirk to the USS Enterprise in the first Star Trek movie back in the late 70’s!

Cheers!

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hi Geoff,

(01-12-2020 08:29 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  For me ( a pilot) that was the best scene in the movie! That and the reintroduction of Kirk to the USS Enterprise in the first Star Trek movie back in the late 70’s!

Which shows that there are pilots and pilots ;-) I get desperately bored on flights which last for more than one hour, especially this time of the year when there is nothing to be seen but clouds, and it is dark half of the time ... Recently I had a day when we had to do 8 hours and 20 minutes block time (luckily distributed over three legs) and after that I seriously considered handing in my resignation. So for me, an approach and landing which takes longer than three minutes (as in "2001") will not see me awake at the end.

Happy landings
Max

[Geoff Quickfall]

Came home from Delhi to Vancouver over the pole (13:43 min air time).

Nonstop excitement through the “Stans” heading north from India; Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan... then onto Murmansk were we lost all communications and had to piggyback through Magaden control CPDLC.

Then we lost Magaden and never got hold of Iceland (BIRD) so: no VHF, HF, ACARS, CPDLC and SAT capabilities. All this before coasting out at Murmansk to the pole. Did get a hold of a United flight on emergency VF 121.5 MHz and they relayed a position report to BIRD via HF but we had no contact with BIRD for clearance to proceed or position reports v is CPDLC or HF!

And into Canada via the North Pole. So for the first time in 30 years of overseas flying I coasted out without oceanic clearance and in no-communications for 3 hours. Rather unusual these days to be no comm’s.

Air Safety Report and a new name for the Murmansk to Canada Polar Operations: “the Polar Triangle”. Wooooooo. Wooooooo. Cue Twilight Zone music.

The departure was Low Vis with CAT III approaches into Delhi (which I did the night before RVRS a,b & c 200/400/200.

So in thirty years my first CAT III arrival, first LOW VIS departure, first lost of coms for 3 hours and first no Oceanic clearance.

That kind of excitement I can do without but it does give one a sense of accomplishment when you land at destination safely and the passengers are completely oblivious.

Cheers

[teenix]

(01-12-2020 10:48 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  Came home from Delhi to Vancouver over the pole (13:43 min air time).

Nonstop excitement through the “Stans” heading north from India; Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan... then onto Murmansk were we lost all communications and had to piggyback through Magaden control CPDLC.

Then we lost Magaden and never got hold of Iceland (BIRD) so: no VHF, HF, ACARS, CPDLC and SAT capabilities. All this before coasting out at Murmansk to the pole. Did get a hold of a United flight on emergency VF 121.5 MHz and they relayed a position report to BIRD via HF but we had no contact with BIRD for clearance to proceed or position reports v is CPDLC or HF!

And into Canada via the North Pole. So for the first time in 30 years of overseas flying I coasted out without oceanic clearance and in no-communications for 3 hours. Rather unusual these days to be no comm’s.

Air Safety Report and a new name for the Murmansk to Canada Polar Operations: “the Polar Triangle”. Wooooooo. Wooooooo. Cue Twilight Zone music.

The departure was Low Vis with CAT III approaches into Delhi (which I did the night before RVRS a,b & c 200/400/200.

So in thirty years my first CAT III arrival, first LOW VIS departure, first lost of coms for 3 hours and first no Oceanic clearance.

That kind of excitement I can do without but it does give one a sense of accomplishment when you land at destination safely and the passengers are completely oblivious.

Cheers

After a 5 hour survey flight in PNG normally at 100ft AGL, then trying to get back through valleys at tree top level dodging power lines and towers trying to stay under the cloud and haze and finally landing on minimal fuel with a storm that's already passing the threshold at the other end of the runway is a wee bit exciting too :-)

cheers

Tony

[Geoff Quickfall]

That reminds me of the first 10 years of my flying career in northern Canada.

As someone said to me:

You are out to kill yourself,
The aircraft manufacturer is out to kill you
Air traffic control is out to kill you
Mother Nature is out to kill you.

So keep the shiny side up (that saying doesn’t work for float pilots)!

[teenix]

(01-13-2020 01:26 AM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  That reminds me of the first 10 years of my flying career in northern Canada.

As someone said to me:

You are out to kill yourself,
The aircraft manufacturer is out to kill you
Air traffic control is out to kill you
Mother Nature is out to kill you.

So keep the shiny side up (that saying doesn’t work for float pilots)!

As an instructor I like to teach otherwise :-) One of my favourite little sayings is... Height is like money in the bank. Spend it wisely because you don't get credit.

2001 - still one of my favourite movies especially on a big tv in a dark room :-)

cheers

Tony

[Geoff Quickfall]

It was the first LP I purchased as a kid. The movie was so fantastic that I had to have the soundtrack.

Also this adage “there are bold pilots and there are old pilots but there are no old bold pilots:.

Geoff

[toml_12953]

(01-13-2020 04:35 AM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  It was the first LP I purchased as a kid. The movie was so fantastic that I had to have the soundtrack.

Also this adage “there are bold pilots and there are old pilots but there are no old bold pilots:.

Geoff

It was my first LP, also! As for the adage, Chuck Yeager might disagree!

[Geoff Quickfall]

Chuck Yeager is the exception that proves the rule. Secondly he got to “play” without consideration for 480 other lives while he played.

He never pylon raced at 300 Feet over the trees in marginal VFR and blowing snowin a mountain valley with 120 passengers at 150 miles per hour with no autopilot. Not a comparison of skills but a completely different type of flying when it comes to the adage; “there are...”

Completely different thing to test pilot an aircraft. I lived with an airforce test pilot (dad) and he also flew transport category aircraft with passengers. He never ported the test pilot attitude to transport aviation.

Also i think bold is poetic license!

Cheers!

[Valentin Albillo]

(01-12-2020 04:53 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  This slowly rotating space-ship taking forever to dock to the space station whilst some Walzer music was playing just kicked me out...

On the other hand I think this is one of the best scenes in a movie choke-full of them, and also one of the most memorables scenes in any movie, period.

I used it to great effect at the time to explain my 10-yo daughter what the moon shuttle was doing to try and dock: the space station was orbiting the Earth at great speed (low orbit, a circular motion) while simultaneously turning about its axis at a relatively slow speed, so the shuttle had to match all those different movements and speeds simultaneously.

You see how they first match the orbital speed, so the station now appears to stay put in front of them but still gyrating, then they match the rotation. From the outside view, the station is seen moving and rotating with a much smaller shuttle going next to it in a weird, unnatural fashion. But then the viewpoint changes to the inside of the shuttle "cockpit" and you see that for the pilots the station is now absolutely motionless, no rotation, and docking there is now trivial.

She understood it all and then we proceeded to simulate the whole docking maneuver in "Celestia", an awesome (now-defunct) free space simulator, which included models for the station and shuttle. We manually controlled the shuttle and after a few attempts we managed to dock successfully. We even recorded videos as seen from the outside and as seen from the cockpit.

That teached her more about such mechanics and about relativity of movement than any book lessons could. We both love this movie and will remember that docking forever. And the music is *perfect*. Para gustos hay colores.

Regards.
V.

[Thomas Okken]

(01-13-2020 04:02 PM)Valentin Albillo Wrote:  On the other hand I think this is one of the best scenes in a movie choke-full of them, and also one of the most memorables scenes in any movie, period.

I couldn't agree more! This movie blew me away when I first saw it back in 1976, and I still come back to it today. For me, no other movie has stood the test of time as well as this one.

Of course it does help that I generally prefer slower-paced movies over faster ones.

[toml_12953]

(01-12-2020 04:53 PM)Maximilian Hohmann Wrote:  NB: 2001 is the only movie ever during which I fell asleep in the cinema. So I can not even say if I liked it or not. This slowly rotating space-ship taking forever to dock to the space station whilst some Walzer music was playing just kicked me out...

"...some Walzer music..."?!?!

That's like calling La Gioconda (Mona Lisa), "some broad sitting there with a stupid smile on her face" The Blue Danube is one of the greatest waltzes ever written!

[Jeff O.]

Obviously, I have soft spot for this movie (see avatar at left <--)

Douglas Rain could have made a (possibly small) fortune had he given his voice for a GPS announcer before phones took over that function. (I still prefer a dedicated GPS so google is not tracking me everywhere I go, but that's another rant.) If you could replace your Alexa/Siri/Google home voice with a custom voice, how many of us would choose Douglas? (It’s possible you can do so, I don’t know because I use none of these service because of you know, not wanting them listening to everything that goes on in my house.) I know, Majel Barrett would be a close second if not first. Unfortunately, we have lost both Douglas and Majel.

[toml_12953]

(01-13-2020 05:51 PM)Jeff O. Wrote:  Obviously, I have soft spot for this movie (see avatar at left <--)

Douglas Rain could have made a (possibly small) fortune had he given his voice for a GPS announcer before phones took over that function. (I still prefer a dedicated GPS so google is not tracking me everywhere I go, but that's another rant.) If you could replace your Alexa/Siri/Google home voice with a custom voice, how many of us would choose Douglas? (It’s possible you can do so, I don’t know because I use none of these service because of you know, not wanting them listening to everything that goes on in my house.) I know, Majel Barrett would be a close second if not first. Unfortunately, we have lost both Douglas and Majel.

Do you use a camera on any of your monitors or TV? Voice activation on any device that's connected to the Internet? If so, they're listening and/or watching with or without any subscription service.

I'd like Douglas Rain's voice, of course or Robert Vaughn, voice of Proteus IV in Demon Seed or even Bud Cort, voice of Edgar in Electric Dreams.

[ijabbott]

I'd like the voice of Zen, but not the voice of Orac, even though they were played by the same voice actor (Peter Tuddenham, d. 2007) in the same TV series (Blake's 7).