2001: A Space Odyssey - The Abridged Cut

Been a while since I've seen the original, but this was very well done. Most of what I remember of the film is there, only shorter. I noticed one audio transition near the beginning that seemed a bit iffy, but visually my only complaint is the fade transitions. These may have been in the original, I'm not sure, but a couple felt out of place to me.

Quality was as good as you'd expect from a dvd. The film in general looks fantastic for its age.

The narrative is kept well intact, despite having an hour shaved off. Although, it does feel a little odd having such an epic film fly by so fast.

Overall, a very impressive edit and much enjoyed. It doesn't replace the original, but nor do I think that was the editors intention. This evening I wanted to stick something short on - whoever would of thought I'd watch 2001?

This was a really enjoyable edit. The editors definitely accomplished their intention, which was to reduce the tone poem elements and make a lean cut of 2001 which retains the narrative of the original. I'm really surprised they were able to get it as short as they did while not sacrificing much in the way of narrative. I definitely missed a lot that was cut but that's because I love the long, slow burn of the original. This is a really cool alternate way to view the film and I would recommend this to others.

The editors did a great job, keeping the tone and feel of the original intact, while providing a much shorter and in my opinion less plodding version of the film.

both gatos and neglify perfectly summed my feelings towards this edit, this is indeed a leaner take on 2001 while managing to retain the essence that made 2001 one of the great films of all time. it's been a while since i've seen the original 2001 film and only two scenes stood out from being cut (the air hostess and the birthday message scene) they are a number of times the fade to black transitions is used though i couldn't say if this is what the editors did or if it was in the original cut.

in summary this edit is well worth checking out while it may not be an edit that will replace your original copy of 2001 it serves as a strong alternative and i'll be interested in any future edits you guys work on.

It's been a looooong time since I've watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember the first time I watched it was my sophomore year in college. I watched the DVD on my computer. I remember going "WTF?!" and (this was still back in the days when people used AIM) I put up an away message that said "Anyone who has watched 2001, please explain to me wtf it is about!"

Well I've rewatched it several times since then. I appreciate it and understand it a bit more. I'd say I have a pretty good attention span and sometimes actually find action sequences in movies boring! But I still always feel that some parts drag on in the movie. Most notably the Dawn of Man section.

So with that in mind, I just finished watching the Abridged Cut. This is a very good firstling. As I said, its been awhile since I've seen the original so for the most part I couldn't tell what had been cut. But I was aware that stuff was missing (and I have to say I was a little disappointed that the iconic jogging/shadow boxing scene was cut). So it is a bit difficult for me to judge the visual editing but there were no flash frames or harsh cuts that I noticed. Audio editing was good as well (and this is something a lot of editors have trouble with, firstlings, veterans etc., myself included).

This is definitely a faster-paced cut of 2001, and while definitely not a replacement, if I ever feel like watching 2001 but not wanting to kill 2 and a half hours, I'll be watching the abridged cut.

I watched the SD mp4, audio and visual quality seemed good.

So job well done to Livinginoblivion and Silentpete!