Did Disney inspire Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey

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Rumpelstiltskin
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Did Disney inspire Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Odyssey

Post by Rumpelstiltskin »

I haven't heard about it before, but some Disney historian claim this on his blog:

http://disneyandmoremovies.blogspot.com ... s-and.html
Today the first article is all about the great TV series aired in the 50's "Man and the Moon" and "Mars and Beyond". These series were done with the help of future NASA scientists and Walt, always visionary, asked Wernher Von Braun - who will designed later the Saturn 5 rocket for the Apollo missions - what could be his vision of the future space travels. It's also thanks to the series that President Ike Eisenhower after a private screening became more interested in the conquest of space, and then launched the space program...which finally will send a man on the moon!

What is less known is that genius movie director Stanley Kubrick took a lot of inspiration out of these series when he did ten years later his legendary "2001, A Space Odyssey" movie. Kubrick even paid a tribute to Disney animator Ward Kimball Director of the TV series. In the second part of "2001" some astronauts are sleeping "frozen" in a kind of sarcophagus during the long trip of the spaceship Discovery. And the name of one of them - written on the cryogenic coffin - is "Kimball", a tribute of Kubrick to Ward Kimball.
"Mars and Beyond" even has a pretty psychedelic part when they speculate about life on Mars.

Sadly I have not been able to find any further information about it, but it would be great if there was an old interview with Kubrick or something where it is mentioned.
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Clindor
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Re: Did Disney inspire Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Ody

Post by Clindor »

Wow :shock: never heard of this before either.. sounds interesting !
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Rumpelstiltskin
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Re: Did Disney inspire Stanley Kubrick and 2001: A Space Ody

Post by Rumpelstiltskin »

Alain Littaye is from France, so perhaps there is some info about it in French?

(And Disney should do a remake of Mars and Beyond cartoon, adding new ideas about life on the red planet even if we know by now that the surface is lifeless)
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