It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Space Odyssey

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Space Odyssey

In space, no one can hear you because sound doesn't travel through empty space (d'uh).

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Space Odyssey (MGM, 2001) is a major science-fiction-comedy epic film, co-produced and co-directed by Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) and Stanley Kramer (1913-2001). With a total running time of nearly four-and-a-half long and gruelling hours, it depicts a highly complex synthesis of humanity's lofty courage and inept foibles, during the early years of the exploration of the Outer Solar System (according, at least, to the simultaneously-written paperback novelization).

Pre-pre-production

The original idea was weakly inspired by Jews in Space (Mel Brooks, 1987), which was a thinly disguised allegory of the horrors of antisemitism and genetic engineering set to early 1980s pop music. Kramer was fascinated by the potential of the medium for exploring the themes of Jewish financial struggles in a heartless universe filled with overbearing ambivalence, but lacked the technical expertise to pull it off in an emotionally convincing way. And thus he turned to Kubrik, whose marginal success with Space 1999: The Motion Picture (Kubrik, 1989) spurred an unlikely corroboration of the two giants of sub-Hollywoodish fame.

Pre-production

Kramer and Kubrik did not initially take to working well together at first, but things promptly deteriorated thereafter. Kramer was continually pushing for the inclusion of more blatantly-Jewish themes expressed in lengthy Yiddish dialogues and more giant friendly robots and more explosions; whilst Kubrik opted for reality-based depictions of deep space, such as immensely-long periods of utter silence in vast featureless voids, only occasionally punctuated by the odd explosion or short burst of electromagnetic static. For many years, the two directors argued like cat and dog, sued and counter-sued each other multiple times, hurled nasty epithets at each other, and finally came to severe blows over which director should have the sole honor of priority billing (Kramer desperately wanted Kubrik to take it, and vice-versa). It was only then that they temporarily reconciled their differences and settled on a heavily-revised format that both could still barely stomach.

Production

The cast of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Space Odyssey was, up to that time, the most sexually-diverse assemblage of sub-Hollywoodish talent the world had ever known. Famous porno stars from all over Southern California and Tijuana, such as Milton Burlesque, Ethylene Mermaid, Johnny SuperStud, the Smothers Brothers, and Meryl Streep participated at some point, even if for only an insignificant unpaid cameo. The unionized construction crews spent untold millions on the lavish outdoor sets and millions more on extended coffee-and-danish breaks. Many important scenes were filmed aboard one of NASA's orbiting space shuttles to simulate the surreal effects of artificial gravity.

Synopsis

The primitive cave dwellers of the prehistoric Serengeti behold a strange sight...

The opening scene (which takes up the overwhelming bulk of the film) depicts a small gathering of paleolithic Jews living in the depths of the Serengeti, dealing with the day-to-day struggles of sustenance hunting and gathering and working out compounded interest rates without even so much as an electronic calculator on hand. A minor side-plot involving a hilarious mad-cap chase across the barren landscape to locate a hidden stash of clam shells ends with bitter disappointment and grievous bodily injuries.

Suddenly, the elder of the tribe, Grog-berg, spots by chance a gigantic letter "K" descending from the heavens with a host of singing archangels and thousands of adorable naked little cherubims, which subsequently crushes a gigantic letter "W" into the primeval dust (which had coincidentally landed in the exact same spot only the previous day before).

Within a matter of seconds, all of future history is revealed to the dazed and confused Grog-berg.

Grog-berg, stunned and bewildered by the apocalyptic site, picks up a handful of moldy wildebeest cheese, forms it into a rough ball, and flings it at the "K", which widely misses the intended target and inexplicably transforms itself into a thousand-mile-wide Death Star™ screaming through the endless depths of outer space, armed to the teeth with mega-laser turrets and antimatter torpedo launchers and x-wing squadrons, and manned by thousands of singing and dancing stormtroopers in futuristic Rabbi garb. Two minutes later, the Death Star is engulfed in a horrific nuclear fireball for no apparent reason. It is precisely at that point that Grog-berg unexpectedly regains consciousness in an ultramodern hotel suite, revealing that it was all a dream. As the credits roll, the audience is treated to a techno-pop rendition of the plaintive wails of those stone-age Jews of the distant past, lamenting their severely injured comrades and deep financial losses.

Post-production and release

Many years after the primary scenes were filmed live on VHS, only one special-effects house could be found (namely, Hanna-Barbera Productions) that would even consider attempting to produce the shock-and-awe-inspiring animated sequences that the late Kubrik's last will and testament requested. Upon reviewing the final cut integrated with HB's submitted visuals (just barely in time for the scheduled release), Kramer became enraged and disgusted at the inferior quality and collapsed of a massive lethal stroke. MGM, hoping to partially recover substantial financial losses and funeral costs, at the last minute changed the working title (from Swindler's List) and went ahead with the film as such for the summer-blockbuster-season release of 2001.

Critical reception

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Space Odyssey received major accolades and rave reviews from almost nobody. Roger Ebert called it "A meager slice of week-old balogna on a stale bagel" and a host of other incomprehensible metaphors. Rotten Tomatoes called it a "37%". Jay Sherman didn't like it at all. The film grossed a disappointing $925,000,000 in its first weekend, just barely being edged out by Warner Brothers's animated feature cartoon Harry Potter and the Cheese-Wheel of Glastonbury Shire.

Freakish cult recognition

During the long uneventful years following 2001, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Space Odyssey has become something of a freak cult classic amongst various religious cults, such as Landover Baptist and Jews for JFK. It is often shown late night on the SciFi Channel and HBO, heavily-edited for less excessive running time and more offensive language.