I first heard about the “Universe” documentary from the biography book “Kubrick” by Robert P. Kolker and Nathan Abrams.
Stanley Kubrick credits “Universe” with being major inspiration for how he created “2001: Space Odyssey”.
Kubrick was “struck” by the film’s panning shots of “slowly revolving planets, asteroids and growing gas nebulas.”
Fun fact: Kubrick later recruiter the “Universe” narrator Douglas Rain to become the voice of “2001’s” HAL 9000 computer.
Watch the “Universe” Documentary
You can watch the documentary “Universe” for free on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48gIN4hGOdI
Note: This documentary has nothing to do with the universe documentary on Netflix called “Our Universe” — that can be watched at https://www.netflix.com/title/81243961).
Ratings:
- My Rating: 95/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: na (User); /100 (Critics)
Review of “Universe”
This hyper-realistic space doc is hard to describe. It feels like you’re just cruising through space.
Probably a doc that many have gotten high to.
And, as you feel like you’re traveling through space, the doc’s narrator Douglas Rain gives you some cool factoids like:
“By day the sun’s heat would boil water if there were water” (on the moon)
“On Mercury, the temperature is hot enough to melt lead”.
The “Universe” doc creators had a huge impact on the future of the film industry.
In addition to Rain being the voice of HAL, Kubrick also hired special effects cinematographer Wally Gentleman from the “Universe” team (he went on to build the model spaceships for “2001”)
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc