Alain Fournier wrote:
Pat Flannery wrote:

I think that the story comes first, and the special effects are there
to support the story, not the other way around.

You still don't get it. I think you still think of it as a science fiction
film. It isn't. It is in a genre all by itself. If one has to put a genre
on it, it is usually put in the science fiction category just because there
was a space ship in it, but it is in a genre all by itself. If you really
want to compare it to something else, it should not be to Star Wars it should
probably be to Thriller by Michel Jackson. Nobody says that Thriller was
a flop because the Zombies didn't look real and the story line was poor.
It isn't about a story line. Think of 2001 as a the result of breading
Thriller with a Picaso. Forget the story line, just listen to the music
and watch the colors.

It's true that most people watched 2001: A Space Odyssey for the special
effects and the music. Few have any idea at all what the story line is
about. It's part of why I think the movie Gattaca, almost completely
lacking special effects, is a better science fiction story.