This ones been in the files for a long time, almost from the very beginning of this blog but for whatever reason its taken several years to generate its own post. Well here it is at last; the king of 2001: A Space Odyssey-looky-likey suits, as featured in TV and general press adverts as well as appearances at trade shows. Unlikely-ladies and gentlemen may I present to you; the IBM Codernaut spacesuits...
It's been suggested that there were 6 of these suits made; two for the adverts, as above, and a further two pair for the trade show appearances with the latter being somewhat lighter and more suited for a longer wear time. The backpack is also larger and more like the original film props
Of course there is a similar light blue suit seen in the original film although the IBM one is a closer match to the silver moon suits....
...than the one seen hanging up in the pod bay of the Discovery.
The suits were made by Global Effects Inc, who have made a great number of other spacesuits over the years and have a rather nice web site found here...
That's it, so, enjoy the rest of the gallery.
Steve
I guess this shows the power of that iconic (and odd) 1968 movie. So, IBM was betting that 2001 spacesuit are that iconic that most people will get the reference? BTW, were the spacesuits from the sequel from "2010" vintage stock or new creations?
ReplyDeleteNew re-creations, I believe. Which then went on to be recycled in Babylon 5. Select Babylon 5 from the sidebar and then follow the link in the first comment which leads to a JMS interview where he says:
Delete"The One's suit was very similar to the suits in "2001."
Re: the suit...that wasn't an intentional 2001 nod...we went to Modern Props to get a space suit for Babylon Squared, and the only one they had on hand that would work for us was one left-over from 2010, which I asked the folks in costume to change as much as possible...though it was pretty much what it was regardless. So that one wasn't intentional."
These IBM suits were built by Global Effects in 3 weeks for a series of commercials and photo shoots. They have been at Global Effects ever since. The suits for Babylon 5 where different suits.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the new info Chris, 3 weeks is an impressive turn around time! Otherwise, it looks like your info matches mine so we're in agreement there.
DeleteThe Babylon 5 blue suits were indeed recycled from 2010, as stated in above quote and comments reply to William. I don't think either he or I make the assumption that it was ever one of the IBM suits.
Enjoy the rest of the blog