Mysteries of the universe

In their unheralded attempt to put the "science" back into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Academy Sci-Tech Council had a presentation last Wednesday night about the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey. The title of the program was chosen by Tom Hanks who is clearly one of the all-time biggest 2001 nerds. He was joined by Doug Trumbull who was the visual effects supervisor (all of 24 years old) on the film. (Little known fact: Doug was Rob's boss when Rob and I were first engaged. Rob worked for Doug's effects company, EEG, while they were doing the effects on Blade Runner.) Doug didn't work on a ton of films, but his credits include Andromeda Strain, Silent Running, and Close Encounters. Not a bad list.

 Tom Hanks announced that Buzz Aldrin was in the audience (insert standing ovation here) and then said, "Buzz Aldrin is the one man in the room that can watch 2001 and say, 'Now that looks fake!  Earth's too big! And those mountains are too pointy!'"  When a scene appeared where we were told the actress was wearing velcro shoes, Tom would say, "Hey Buzz, why not velcro shoes?" Or when one scene had tables with ashtrays, Tom called out,  "Buzz? Ashtrays in space? Really?"

2001 was done in the olden days before computers were used for special effects. I guess that's what was most amazing. Every "computer screen" on the spaceship was actually a small film being projected. The "vector graphics" were actually wire models that were filmed to look like computer images. To build the Discovery spaceship model, Doug would order 1000 M-1 tank model kits and "kit-bash" the parts, repurposing them from earth to space. On the other hand, the way Doug figured out to create the planet Jupiter was a process so complex that Rob is absolutely giddy with joy that he now understands a fraction of it. We walked away in complete astonishment of Doug's creativity and engineering skills. And he was only 24.

Tom Hanks was the ultimate fan-boy when 2001 came out (1968) and knows every frame of the movie backwards and forwards. He (like many in the audience, including Rob) built the model of the Orion spaceship (Rob ordered his kit off the back of a Chips Ahoy box), and he (like many in the audience, including Rob) listened to the soundtrack "800 million times."  And then he told what it was like being a 14 year old trying to explain the "starchild" to his sister's stoner boyfriend... Yep. Definitely a fan. In the company of fans.

Afterwards we talked with/fawned over Doug and then oogled the memorabilia on display in the lobby. I met a fellow (shown below) proudly carrying a 2001 doll. I asked him where he got it and he said that an Italian company made only 500 of them and he got his at an auction at the Playboy Mansion. The incongruity of a grown man standing in the Academy lobby, holding a doll he won at the Playboy Mansion, will just have to remain one of the mysteries of the universe.