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I just caught the last part of [I]2001: A Space Odyssey[/I] on TCM -- hadn't seen it in years, but just read a few days ago (The Astro Boy Essays, again) that director Stanley Kubrick (who was "very impressed with Astro Boy") wrote Osamu Tezuka to ask him to help in Art Direction/Design of the film. But Tezuka was too busy with Mighty Atom and other animation to accept the offer.

Can't help but wonder what impact he would have brought to the film -- and, in turn, what effect that experience would have had on his manga/animation.



Astro: "Quit acting like an AI out of control, Hal!"

Hal: "I'm sorry Astro, I can't do that!"

We will never know. But incidentally, Tezuka considered 2001 to be one of his favorite films. You can see his influence on the set designs and general look of it. Keubrick was a master, and took influence from a master. We lost them both too soon. But you are right, if Astro were there the ship would be in less of a spot.

I think Tezuka would've added a greatness to a the film. Too bad he was too busy to take it on. O.O in fact Tezuka was constantly busy, they said he was the fastest drawer too! XD

I don't think Astro would've appeared in A Space Odyssey s a character, but I would've like to see him appear on a coffee mug or something. XD Maybe a fridge magnet or T-shirt.

I'm learning new things about Astro Every day now. It's awesome.

2001: A space odyssey made a much larger impact on me after I watched its sequel, 2010: The Year We Made Contact (got both of 'em from the web), when the "truth" about HAL was revealed, it wasn't evil or such, it just got confused because it was asked to contain a secret that was not to be told to the astronauts until he got there, the real purpose of the mission was to study a monument on Jupiter. And in the ending where HAL sacrificed himself to save the russian spaceship - !

I think it's a bit scary how Tezuka's Phoenix Future chapter, written two years earlier than 2001: A Space Odyssey, also told of two super computers that had never been wrong, fighting each other over an answer. The ensuing war that happens at the hands of technology and not humans echoes another Kubrick film "Dr. Strangelove" which came out a couple years before the manga. The main character's transformation as his soul is taken away from his body is also very reminiscent of the next phase of evolution as shown in 2001. Of course, the manga was only in Japanese at that point in time...