2010: The Year We Make Contact

The custom-detailed model, built around a metal armature, features  the command sphere with viewport (aged due to space weathering),  simulated bay doors and hatches, surface detailing (extensive panels,  scribe lines and greeblies), boom with extendable antenna array, which  in the film separates the spherical crew habitat from the simulated,  gaseous nuclear fission reactor and propulsion unit thrusters at the  rear of the miniature. The model was initially painted akin to the  original Discovery One's fabricated for the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey and then enhanced for the production of 2010.
 

In the motion picture the U.S. Government, in a joint space mission with  the Soviet Union, travel to the far-off planet of Jupiter on the  Russian spacecraft Leonov, to seek out the last known location of the  U.S.S Discovery One - which after its failed mission nine years prior,  had ceased communications - In the hopes of finding out what actually  happened to those aboard the spacecraft.
 

In one particularly memorable and haunting scene, the crew of the Leonov  approach the eight-hundred-foot-long derelict ship, spinning end over  end, still in orbit around Jupiter where it has been floating in space  for nearly a decade.
 

Legend has it that following the principal photography of 2001: A Space Odyssey,  the original filming miniatures constructed for the movie were ordered  to be destroyed by director Stanley Kubrick. Only one miniature from 2001 is known to have survived; the Aries 1B Trans-Lunar space shuttle. Both  versions of the original large-scale Discovery One miniatures  constructed for 2001 are believed to have been discarded and  destroyed, making this scratch-built model the only known example of a  filmed large-scale U.S.S Discovery One model to exist.
 

THE U.S.S. DISCOVERY ONE
The fictional nuclear-powered deep space research spacecraft, the U.S.S.  Discovery One, consisting of a five-man crew and an on-board A.I.  computer system named HAL 9000, first appeared in the 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey authored by best-selling science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. The  novel was developed and written in tandem with the development and  writing of the screenplay for the classic motion picture of the same  name, produced and directed by the brilliant Stanley Kubrick.
 

The spacecraft returned to cinema sixteen years after the original theatrical release of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sequel film 2010: The Year We Make Contact directed by Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, Outland) who also collaborated with Clarke on the development of 2010 and wrote the screenplay.
 

According to Clarke's published novel adaptation of 2001, the  spacecraft is nearly four-hundred feet long, with its sphere-shaped  flight command center and crew compartment, measuring forty feet in  diameter, attached to a long fuel tank boom, leading to a nuclear plasma  powered engine module and thrusters. However, in the sequel film 2010, the Discovery is indicated as being a staggering eight-hundred feet long.
 

The spherical section of the Discovery One contains the spacecraft's  flight control cockpit, HAL 9000 mainframe computer, crew quarters with  kitchen, interspace communications center, medical analysis and  treatment bay, space pod inspection & repair craft bay and an  optional, spinning, carousel-like deck, which rotates at approximately  five rpm within the crew quarters, creating a simulated moon-level  gravity via the use of centrifugal force. In addition, Hibernation  chambers are located within the carousel.
 

THE FATE OF THE 2001 MODELS
Two Discovery One miniatures were constructed for the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey,  one measuring fifteen-feet and an immense model measuring  fifty-four-feet. Both were considered quite large for filming  miniatures. The scale of the models were this large in order to keep the  entire spacecraft in focus during photography, which would not be  possible with smaller miniatures. When shooting smaller scale models,  cameras move in closer and, in many cases, focus changes would reveal  the actual size of the miniature.
 

After the principal photography was completed on 2001: A Space Odyssey,  director Stanly Kubrick instructed that all of the miniatures created  for the film, along with all of the original construction plans &  schematics rendered for the production, be immediately trucked to a  local junkyard and destroyed. This was done so that the models could  never be used again in any science fiction film productions and/or  television programs. Photos are known to exist showing 2001's  large scale cylindrical rotating wheel Space Station V miniature sitting  in a field of grass adjacent a dump in the UK, before being taken apart  by local children who played with pieces of the model.
 

RETURN OF THE DISCOVERY ONE
For 2010, like its predecessor 2001, a twelve-foot model of the  Discovery One was required and custom-built for the production. The  model was made from scratch by the talented artisans at the acclaimed  EEG (Entertainment Effects Group), the celebrated U.S. based visual  effects company founded by visual effects guru and filmmaker Douglas  Trumbull, who as a young man had worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 

Four time Academy Award winner, visual effects maestro Richard Edlund,  following his leave from George Lucas's ILM (Industrial Light &  Magic) where he produced special visual effects on many motion pictures,  including the first Star Wars Trilogy (Lucasfilm Ltd., 1977-1983) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (Lucasfilm Ltd., 1981), acquired EEG's Marina Del Rey facility through  his Boss Films visual effects company. There he and his team began  working on two major productions simultaneously 2010: The Year We Make Contact, and Ghostbusters (Columbia Pictures, 1984), serving as the visual effects supervisor of 2010.
 

Kubrick's decision to destroy the original filming miniatures custom-built for 2001 resulted in a difficult challenge for the miniature effects crew of 2010 during the movie's pre-production phase. Due to 2001's original blueprints & schematics also ending up in a landfill, the model makers for 2010 did not have any easy access to reference materials for the fabrication of the models for 2010 and had to resort to blowing-up frames of film depicting the Discovery  One from various angles from an actual 70mm movie theater film reel  print of 2001.
 

The challenge was heightened by the fact that many of 2010's model builders considered 2001: A Space Odyssey a landmark achievement in filmmaking which had raised the bar in  miniature visuals effects production. For some of the miniature makers,  the movie even inspired them to get into the film industry in the first  place. Their tireless efforts ultimately resulted in 2010 being nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Visual Effects."
 

The twelve-foot miniature fabricated by EEG/Boss Films skilled model  builders was primarily utilized during the production's motion control  visual effects cinematography. There was a smaller model fabricated for  the spacecraft's eerie end over end sequence and a command sphere  section fabricated for the scene where the Leonov meets with the  Discovery One.
 

This Discovery One large scale model is a testament to the  craftsmanship, artistry, skill, and ingenuity of its makers and a prime  example of 1980's practical visual effects and miniature construction.  Which is fast becoming a truly lost art as digital technology continues  to replace the practical effects industry.
 

PROVENANCE
The Discovery One was stored at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank,  California under the stewardship of Turner Classic Movies who acquired  it directly from MGM Studios.
 

THE RESTORATION
After four decades, the model has been painstakingly refurbished for  this first ever auction. The refurbishment was conducted by the skilled  specialists and artisans of the company "Blok4," a team of creative  designers, artists, and fabricators with over 25 years of experience in  restoration, replication, and manufacturing of specialty props,  costumes, and art pieces. Some previous work includes the restoration of  the Stillsuit from the original DUNE movie, and an exact replica of the  red space suit from the film, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY for a collaboration  between Gucci and the Stanley Kubrick Film Archives.
 

Preservation work included:
1.) Cleaning the model of dirt & dust
2.) Rebuilding the original internal structure
3.) Reassembling the model
4.) Fabricating a custom stand with rolling casters
5.) Fitting the model to the stand
6.) Fabricating a custom foam-lined wooden storage crate