Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey turned 50 years old this year, and, though there’s already been a ton of celebrating by nerds everywhere (we hope you got the chance to see the “Unrestored” 70 mm print that was making its way around the country earlier this summer), this might be the coolest commemoration yet. The Master Replicas Group, spun off from the classic creators of Star Wars and Star Trek prop recreations, took to Indiegogo at the end of July looking for financial help realizing their craziest goal yet: To make working bluetooth replicas of Hal 9000, the “evil” computer from Kubrick’s film.
Their project has been approved by Warner Bros., so you don’t have to worry about the campaign getting cancelled already after you’ve plunked down your dough (and we are talking a pretty large amount of the green stuff here), and good god, is it incredible. They’ve got two variations: a standalone Bluetooth speaker that’s compatible with all of the virtual assistants out there, retailing for $499 ($419 if you order early), and a limited edition wall-mountable command console edition for $999 ($889 for early bird buyers), which features an HD screen, an array of buttons, and Alexa integration built right in. You can even play chess with it!
Take a look at this video the company produced for the campaign:
The Master Replicas Group hopes to get these in buyers’ hands by March 2019 at the latest (potentially earlier!), but you’ll need to hurry if you want one. The Indiegogo campaign ends on August 31 — again, you can find it here — which means you’ve got three weeks to sell as much blood plasma as you possibly can. Who needs beer money when you could have a malevolent artificial intelligence? Much like Dr. Frank Poole, who Hal condemned to a cold death in the vacuum of space, you really don’t want to be left out in the cold on this one.
Featured image by Warner Bros via MoviestillsDB.