Has anyone seen the film in 70mm?
I'm not sure as to how the timing was done. All prints I've seen look like the old editions, and the MGM LD had to be corrected to match the Criterion. The initial widescreen MGM Laser looks quite dull.
I don't think the new timing is wrong by any means, it comes from a better scan of higher generation materials. Yet it doesn't quite resemble theatrical.
Take a peek here at the MGM DVD shots. http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview/2001.htm
It's a very subtle difference overall, almost giving a feeling of a baked appearance. This is a over sharpened DVD of the CAV set they did, but you get the idea. On film, 2001 looks like this but with the far greater detail and clarity found on the BD. All that really needs to be done I think is some general tweaking here and there perhaps to mimic printing processes of the time.
On the audio, the 5.1 should work just fine as it is supposedly the same original track. The new 5.1 mix is very good and shouldn't be jettisoned but loses the original sound design with directional dialogue panning meant to go across all five front channels. It really sounds different spatially to the original mix,especially when I've A/B ed with the Criterion PCM. Perhaps a hybrid track is in order where we could take the matrixed surround and combine it with the LFE channel?
The big issue is Smilebox; how to do it correctly, how to properly distort the image to create that sense of true depth, and also not infringe upon any rights because I'm pretty sure the process is copyrighted. Plus this isn't three strip Cinerama, but the more common single strip version where it was only projected onto the curvature instead of being technically designed for it.
BTW it's pretty much understood that the nearly 20 minutes of 2001 footage found in the WB underground vault in Kansas is the 12-20 minutes Stanley originally cut after the initial premieres. And of course in addition to killing Douglas Trumbull's innovative documentary, WB is sitting on absolutely priceless materials. And if someone is doing similarly with the original lost Strangelove ending (which there is evidence of!) I will find you and give you a cream pie. ;)