What blew me away is how real it was, (space is dead silent, the only thing astronauts hear is their own breathing) so real that that the flat screen PDAs were actually used in the Apple/Samsung case to demonstrate prior art. They also enhanced realism by using real products (GE-Whirlpool, IBM, Pan-AM) that were household names at the time.
Pick up a copy of the book and read the description of the "news pad" device they were using, keeping in mind it was written in the late 1960s. You could dial an electronic code for iany newspaper in the world, which had headlines that would update every few minutes on a tablet like device. Sound somewhat familiar? When have you ever seen a 40 year old movie nail technology that accurately? I look at a lot of old movies and find even their near future predictions quite laughable.
Another thing I find interesting and somewhat sad about the movie, (released during the heyday of Apollo) is they fully expected there to be large scale manned bases on the moon by 2001 and at least a few examples of computers exhibiting true human like artificial intelligence. Someone jumping in from that time would be very disappointed at how little we have truly progressed in these areas.
