Last Friday I wrote that the existence of those 17 minutes of cut footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey, sitting in a vault in Hutchinson, Kansas, has been known to Warner Bros. for the last 42 years, and is therefore no discovery, and that re-integrating the footage into the standard 139 minute cut that’s everyone’s familiar with would probably be a bad idea.

This morning a statement from Warner Bros. arrived: “The additional footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey has always existed in the Warner vaults. When [director Stanley] Kubrick trimmed the 17 minutes from 2001 after the NY premiere, he made it clear the shortened version was his final edit. The film is as he wanted it to be presented and preserved and Warner Home Video has no plans to expand or revise Mr. Kubrick’s vision.”

Okay, fine…but what about including the unseen footage being included on an extras menu on a subsequent Bluray down the line? Where would be the harm?