Recently, my wife and I watched the wonderful Star Trek: Legacy, a mash-up of Star Trek: The Motion Picture with the soundtrack from Tron:Legacy. Afterwards, my wife suggested that it might be worthwhile to create a mashup using the Tron: Legacy soundtrack (it is one of the best soundtracks ever created) with 2001: a space odyssey. So, I did.

It mostly tells the same story as 2001: a space odyssey, but condensed down to twenty-six minutes (compared to two-and-a-half hours of the original). Plus, it has that outstanding soundtrack. Also sprach Zarathustra and Blue Danube are great, but I prefer Daft Punk.

So here it is (if it isn’t then Peertube embeds are broken – or you need to activate javascript) :

spectra.video/videos/embed/eTs…

Table of Contents

• The Process
• 2001: a space odyssey
• Fun

The Process

I didn’t make this movie as I normally would. Ignoring using existing footage and music (as opposed to crafting my own), this project was very much bootstrapped.

Firstly, all I had was my old Linux Machine – which proved to be more than capable for the job. I used kdenlive to do all the post work, and it was about as good as I remember Premiere Pro being back when I last used it. In other words, it was ideal for this kind of work, despite my unfamiliarity with the software.

I'm incredibly rusty when it comes to video editing

Secondly, I’m incredibly rusty when it comes to video editing. It’s been more than ten years since I did anything truly serious (and it’s closer to fifteen years since I made anything this long). While editing is a bit like riding a bike (you never really forget the basics), it’s the nuances in the film language that can get missed – especially when using new software.

For instance, initially I had trouble zooming into the frame level on the timeline. The interface allowed me to get to 3-4 frames, but nothing narrower. As a result, some of my cuts were off. That might not be something that most people would notice, but when I’m in editing mode I can see right down to the frame level (I can see a single black frame, or something out of alignment by just one frame). Sometimes I don’t even immediately notice it at a conscious level, but it bugs me. When cutting to music, you cut to the beat (usually the main one, but not always), and so I found that difficult. Until I worked out how to zoom all the way in.
Space Liner from 2001
In any case, my rustiness and unfamiliarity with the software are the main reasons why it took me three weeks, working part-time on it, to complete the video. All up, probably sixty hours. In the past, something like this would have taken less than half that. For instance, my Blade Runner Inception Trailer only took a few hours, and that was with an overheating machine that kept crashing. I think I lost the work twice because of the issues I was having.

Lastly, I didn’t have the storage space to transcode, so I used the original format. Which worked out mostly fine, but it made cutting to the music more difficult.

2001: a space odyssey

WARNING
Spoilers ahead

2001: a space odyssey is such an oddly structured film. It begins in black for several minutes with just Also sprach Zarathustra playing. Then it spends the next twenty or so minutes showing the story of the apes, and only at the end of which we see the star of the movie: the Black Monolith.

We next have a section where Heywood Floyd travels to the Moon and accidentally activates the Monolith, which is followed by the main story of Dave Bowman and Frank Poole dealing with the HAL9000’s insecurities. Then, right as HAL realises Bowman and Poole plan to disconnect him we get an intermission. I don’t know how long this was during the cinema showings, but on the home video it’s about two minutes long.

Then, we continue, with Poole bing murdered, and Bowman eventually disconnecting HAL Bookending the movie, is another twenty-minute section that reeks of 60s surrealism, but which mostly works in this case. Alien monoliths aren’t meant to be understood, only idolised.

Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?

Essentially, this makes 2001: a space odyssey a five-act movie (most movies a told in three acts). However, a very unbalanced five acts. The midpoint occurs – not at the middle- but at the end of the third act. Apart from the long, ponderous takes and Kubrick’s insistence on foregrounding the banality of space travel (both to the Moon and ultimately all the way out to Jupiter, as well), I feel it’s this unfamiliar structure that makes this film feel odd to many. 250 people walked out of the New York premiere and at the LA showing Rock Hudson reportedly left muttering, “What is this bullshit? Will someone tell me what the hell this is about?”
2001: The apes
However, I couldn’t use the same structure for my version. I certainly couldn’t begin with the apes (although I managed to sneak them in briefly at the end). I needed to start with Floyd Heywood. He’s really the linchpin between the Moon story and Dave Bowman’s journey.

In case you’re wondering, Floyd also delivers the recorded briefing when HAL is shut down. I missed it the first eight times I watched the movie, and only realised it when I did this edit (I think my brain was already asleep by the time we reached that point).

I’ve watched several interviews with Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. At the time of the 2001: a space odyssey’s release, they were criticised for not emoting enough. Yet, I found their performances an absolute dream to work with. The moment when Bowman realises he has to abandon Poole’s body in order to save himself, is played so perfectly. It’s wonderful to be able to work with top performers again, even if it is unofficially.

Something I did find difficult, was some of the key moments in 2001: a space odyssey were covered strangely. The most egregious is where Poole is murdered. We never actually see what Hal makes the pod do. We just see it looming towards the camera, and then there’s a shot of Bowman noticing Poole’s body floating away on the monitor.

This wouldn’t have been so bad, but the shots of the pod approaching Poole feature jump cuts, which didn’t really match the beats to the soundtrack, I was using. I battled for quite a while with that, but could never make it fit as well as I would like. There’s also the shots of Africa at the beginning, which were either too long and ponderous or not enough.

We editors are such a fickle bunch. We’re never entirely happy.

I don't hate it, but I also don't love it.

I have to admit, 2001: a space odyssey is not one of my own favourite films. I don’t hate it, but I also don’t love it. I feel that Kubick made some odd and unnecessary choices, while still managing to create some absolutely stunning imagery and elicit brilliant performances. It’s the latter two reasons why 2001: a space odyssey works so well with the Tron: Legacy soundtrack.

Fun

All up, I really enjoyed this process. I had fun, and I feel the end result is some of my best work. I’m very proud of it. I might do some more in the future, but I really need to score some more storage space so I can transcode properly.

Until then,

Enjoy!

skribe

2025-10-20 01:41:42

Blade Runner Inception Trailer

I made this mash-up fifteen years ago, on a laptop that kept crashing due to the heat. It still holds up, imo.