Which version of the end credits did you see, humdingers? The "opening day" version with the "tight" John Williams spacing, and the text at the end being spaced out really far apart, or the more familiar version that's always showed up on video?

I don't think I would ever have been able to notice the shadow if it weren't pointed out. (In fact, if one version didn't have the shadow, I'm wondering if it's even there on the starfield credits on any version, since only the scrolling section was revised, and appended onto the existing starfield section by putting in a new dissolve about half a second before the original one.)

Incidentally, while watching 2001 on Blu-ray, I noticed that the opening credits to that film also have a slight drop shadow I never noticed before.