Something always happens when I watch Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I’ve now seen more than 50 times.

I’m age 13 again, sitting with my dad, John Peter Howell, inside Toronto’s long-gone Glendale Theatre on Avenue Rd., a cherished widescreen Cinerama palace. It’s Jan. 22, 1969, and we’re there on my birthday to see a film I’ve been dying to see for months.

I was transfixed and enchanted. The film continues to work its magic on me with its amalgam of science fact and fancy — although it seemed very real back in 1969. There’s a moon landing in 2001 of a spindly-legged lunar module called the Aries, a more elegant version of the Eagle lander that was used for the historic Apollo 11 mission that same year.

This is the film that made me want to become a movie critic. I never get tired of seeing 2001, and I always discover something new in it every time I watch.

The film’s story of mankind being nudged towards progress by mysterious extraterrestrials opened my eyes to the power of cinema to tell a story mostly through visuals, without ponderous words explaining what it all means — although some viewers (and MAD magazine) did complain about being left in the dark.

Allow me to share my obsession with you. In honour of the film’s 50th anniversary this year, I have compiled 50 fascinating facts about 2001: A Space Odyssey. In doing so, I promised my colleagues not to write about my favourite film anymore … you know, just like HAL 9000 had promised to be infallible.

Open the pod bay doors, and prepare to geek out.