The Rewatchables · June 1, 2026

2001: A Space Odyssey

year 1968 decade 60s director Stanley Kubrick genre Science fiction

host Bill Simmons guest Steven Spielberg host Sean Fennessey producer Craig Horlbeck format Filmmaker guest

What aged best: HAL 9000
Needle drop: The opening use of Also sprach Zarathustra

All 22 categories

Who won the movie Stanley Kubrick
Scorsese or Spielberg Spielberg

Most Rewatchable Scene · 1:14:30

HAL reading the astronauts’ lips

Bill Simmons: Dawn of Man, including the apes and real-leopard encounter, is nominated.

Bill Simmons: The ape discovering the bone as a weapon and the ensuing rival-gang fight are nominated.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson · 2:13:06

Never close your mind to an impossible possibility.

Bill Simmons: The agreed lesson is to remain open to impossible possibilities.

The film

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick · Science fiction

139 minutes

IMDb Find on JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Keir Dullea Dr David Bowman

Gary Lockwood Dr Frank Poole

William Sylvester Dr Heywood Floyd

Daniel Richter Moonwatcher

Leonard Rossiter Dr Andrei Smyslov

Margaret Tyzack Elena

Robert Beatty Dr Ralph Halvorsen

Sean Sullivan Dr Roy Michaels

Douglas Rain the voice of HAL 9000

Frank Miller mission controller

Edwina Carroll lunar shuttle stewardess

Penny Brahms stewardess

Heather Downham stewardess

Ed Bishop Aries 1B lunar shuttle captain

Alan Gifford Poole's father

Ann Gillis Poole's mother

Maggie d'Abo stewardess (Space Station 5 elevator)

Chela Matthison Mrs Turner, Space Station 5 reception

Vivian Kubrick Floyd's daughter, "Squirt"

Kenneth Kendall BBC announcer

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

Sources

The episode

Episode identity, air date and credited participants come from the official podcast listing. Of the producers, only the show's lead producer is credited.

Official episode Podcast feed

Conversation notes

These are paraphrased notes from a machine transcript, not recording-verified quotations. Unidentified speakers stay unattributed. Transcript review does not guarantee every topic or category was captured.

Playback times may shift because of ads and edits.

Read the source transcript

Movie facts

Release year, director, runtime and selected cast credits are gathered separately from the discussion. Genre tags are editorial browsing labels.

Film reference IMDb