The Black Hole (1979) Review

[@moonsofmadness8850]

_The Black Hole,_ for all its warts, has that special little something that has been missing from Hollywood for years: Fun. It was just a fun movie.

[@yourdogsnews]

Oh I don't think this movie is fun at all, I rewatched it about 2 years ago and it is one of the most boring movies I have ever seen.

[@erikhawkke4861]

@@yourdogsnews Yeah.. we know.. no splosions every 35 seconds, no big flashing lights and no loud audio cues to hand hold signal you to look up from your phone for the big action sets.. blah blah blah.

[@tstahler5420]

Originality is the word you're looking for.

[@LordFalconsword]

They (hollyweird) doesn't know how to make fun anymore with it having to be woke.

[@yourdogsnews]

Erik Hawkke Nonesense, my dinner with andre is a fun movie, and its 2 guys at a dinner table.

[@kamandi1362]

I don’t think Disney played it safe at all with this film. It blew my 9 year old mind at the time. It was dark and sinister throughout, “heroes” were brutally dispatched, and that ending!

[@Thane36425]

That one guy taking the spinning blades to the guts was pretty awful for a Disney movie at the time. And the woman about to get brain fried was likewise pretty tense. As for Borgnine's character, a lot of people thought he got what he deserved.

[@MsGhoulz]

Always preferred the darker Disney films like this and Return to Oz.

[@tedytarrify]

Sorry about your Grandad Kamandi. :-(

[@leebrewer7394]

I was 6 when I saw this at the theater, loved it.

[@planetdisco4821]

I was the same age when I saw it at the cinema too. Disney actually used to take risks then, Tron came out a bit later

[@iG34RH34D]

The 'Hell' scene truly terrified me as a kid. More than anything else the music sold the whole thing.

[@syntaxusdogmata3333]

Absolutely, same here. The music was so impactful, in fact, it stayed with me through the years. It's still quite apocalyptic to me.

[@jmorton201]

The music was by John Barry

[@eon14873]

Yeah got the soundtrack record when I was a kid. Bought the cd a few years ago. Lots of extras. Superb

[@dcallaway1]

Milton and Dante would have approve

[@jdsiv3]

It gave me nightmares

[@murphinators7589]

“It felt like Disney was just cashing in on the popularity of Star Wars.” 🤔 how the times haven’t changed lol

[@stanlee5465]

If you can't beat them, buy them!

[@renaissancenovice7202]

Yep

[@wrath2501]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@andrewwoodhead3141]

The Black hole is a so so movie ( I liked the Zombie element , I still find it disturbing and , also , unique in a SiFi movie ) but it is a million times better than TLJ

[@seanwoods5943]

their desire to sanitize potentially good movies into child-friendly fodder hasn't.

[@MidnightatMidian]

I think ''Event Horizon'' was deeply inspired by this film.

[@jcstalesoftrails9249]

30 seconds in, and I am thinking the same thing.

[@MidnightatMidian]

@Khorne Pop I would say Hellraiser instead of Warhammer, but I don't have a deep knowledge on the Warhammer universe.

[@Rendell001]

@@MidnightatMidian Warhammer 40K has as one of it's central premises the idea that traveling through "The Warp" is basically traveling through Hell. It can be done if the ship is properly shielded etc but if anything goes wrong... You're going to get an "Event Horizon" scenario.

[@KM-dk5gn]

Yeah, I was thinking, if they did a reboot of The Black Hole they could make it more of a horror movie like give it the feeling of Event Horizon...

[@DocWolph]

@Khorne Pop You know you are making an assumption that the makers of "Event Horizon" actually knew about WH40K at a time when WH40K was NOT a big thing at all, if it existed at all, outside of Great Britain. Besides the visuals of "Event Horizon" have a LOT more in common with Hellraiser.

[@brianstewart23]

The set design for the bridge of the Cygnus was amazing.

[@Lennis01]

The Black Hole was one of the last films to make heavy use of matte effects, as well. It has a very unique visual quality throughout.

[@rollogic2988]

This movie was on repeat when I was a kid. I was always fascinated by it. I just watched this movie, again, a couple of days ago. I think you nailed correctly calling it a "Haunted house" in space. There is an eerie atmosphere from the mystery of missing crew/mirrored robots to the persistent ominous score.

[@JasonAdank]

It was kinda like a conceptual precurser to Event Horizon which would come out 20 years later

[@Sensorama2000]

Next to StarWars this was also massively impressive on me as a kid. Very good story and Maximilian scared the shit out of me for weeks.

[@rtstrong]

Ernest Borgnine was a great actor. He could play an every man, your best friend, a complete amoral weasel and play them all well.

[@spacedinosaur8733]

Yep he was the best in AirWolf.

[@AnnusMirabilus]

Many years ago I attended "The Hollywood Show" in L.A. every few months. He attended almost every Hollywood Show during the years prior to his death. It was awesome just to see him there. But I never got his autograph.

[@georgeorwell4534]

That’s a great point. From the jovial captain to the scheming menace. Thumbs up for noticing that.

[@tinman1843]

When I was a kid in the 80's I was in a Hollywood lot & they were filming Air Wolf. He came over & talked to the visitors for a few minutes. He was very cool.

[@HuntingTarg]

​@@spacedinosaur8733Respectfully, I disagree. I hsven't seen many of his movies, but I think he was at his best in Ice Station Zebra. He played a complex, nuanced, well-written character and gave him a wide range.

[@eon14873]

Remember that famous scene with the massive meteor crashing through the ship. This was 2 years before raiders of the lost ark was released. Love it

[@williamcurry4868]

Was very spooky to see Reinhardt when he seems to plea with Kate to protect me from Maximillian, and makes you wonder who was in charge at times.

[@Very_Angry_Citizen]

Not 2 years ago we cleaned out my mothers attic and found my Black Hole toys. They were pretty beaten up from childhood so I doubt they are worth anything. The memories they rekindle are worth more than any dollar value you can attach. I used Battlestar Galactica toys and Black Hole toys to create my own weird mashup. I would give anything to go back to a little 6-7yo me.

[@Zerofightervi]

I'd check ebay, those 'worthless' Black Hole toys could be quite valuable.

[@Very_Angry_Citizen]

@@Zerofightervi nah bro, already did. I was a rough kid and my old toys prove it.

[@Zerofightervi]

@@Very_Angry_Citizen Most toys are only worth big money if they're in original packaging, what kid keeps the box?

[@Very_Angry_Citizen]

@@Zerofightervi I considered selling them but there is nothing in my like that would change for the better if I had a few hundred bucks. I'd rather stare at them and try to remember every detail of my youth stoking that warm feeling inside that yearns to return to simpler times.

[@Zerofightervi]

@@Very_Angry_Citizen We had a collection of The Real Ghostbusters Toys between my brother and I, we ended up giving them away to a family friend. I almost don't want to know how much they might be worth now.

[@david-spliso1928]

The final scene is incredibly scary and memorable, especially as a child. Great sci-fi film for Disney!

[@erikhawkke4861]

Three things to consider when you watch The Black Hole. #1 The score is a masterwork of setting the mood in each scene. #2 The robots Vincent, BoB and Maximilian are basically the "stars" of the movie. Slim Pickens and Roddy McDowall gave those bots life with their excellent voice acting, and the design and menace of Max alone is it's own "life" #3 The ending will throw some people off I know, but after some thought I've come to just take it as the robed figure going down the pearly hallway was Kate's father freed of his prison inside Max when Reinhardt needs to take to survive in that "hellscape" of the wrecked ship. I thought if Reinhardt was able to get at least part of himself inside Max (the human eyes) I could also see him putting Frank McCrae inside Max to begin with as a perpetual punishment for starting the mutiny. And just as Kate couldn't read the humanoids with her ESP because they were lobotomized to the point of being automatons., same would apply to Frank inside the Max "suit." I'll tell you one thing.. That scene of Old BoB's death still sometimes makes me misty eyed. Between the voice work and seeing how even the eyes of Vincent tell his feelings, if you take it at face value, it's probably the best scene in the film in terms of acting and emotion.

[@Hiraghm]

I guess I'm simple-minded; I took the ending straightforward... Reinhardt ended up in hell, and an angel came and guided them through the Einstein-Rosen bridge, skirting heaven on the way through. (reminds me, I was quite amused when Reinhardt said, "There may be an Einstein-Rosen bridge to consider"... and every time I see that scene I have to say, "You darn well better HOPE there's an Einstein-Rosen bridge; that's the only way to get through a black hole".)

[@georgeorwell4534]

Good points. And yes I felt it when BoB “died”. If they could have explored greater the mutiny, perhaps even a flashback scene in some way. The movie was only 90 minutes, there was plenty of time. Makes me wonder if there’s a “director’s cut” floating somewhere in the Disney archives.

[@erikhawkke4861]

@@georgeorwell4534 I kind of like how they left the mutiny vague, It left room for you to imagine it. I see people say they want to see a prequel and I want nothing to do with that. That would actually be a really.. overkill to see the crew put in "the hospital." The implications did a perfectly fine job of illustrating just how twisted by his obsession Reinhardt had become.

[@georgeorwell4534]

Erik Hawkke great points, Erik.

[@Lennis01]

​@@erikhawkke4861 I would actually like to see a prequel using modern effects and as a way to revitalize the franchise. I would call it "Cygnus". It would be both a celebration of the pinnacle of manned space exploration and a cautionary tale to the realities of deep long-term spaceflight. Cygnus is the largest and most advanced spacecraft ever built, designed and commanded by that era's most legendary scientific figure: Hans Reinhardt (think of a cross between Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking). It is believed by all involved in the project that Cygnus cannot possibly fail in it's mission, but that is exactly what happens. Years pass without any habitable planets being found or colonized. This failure causes the normally unflappable Reinhardt to slowly lose his mind and his empathy. First Officer Frank McCrae has to perform a delicate balancing act between serving his commander, the mission, and the crew, but Reinhardt's declining mental state and the crew's plummeting morale forces him to go over the commander's head and report Cygnus' status to Earth against orders. Earth issues a recall order, and Reinhardt goes nuts. The ship's robots are turned against the crew, and McCrae leads a handful of senior officers to try and take control of the ship before all is lost. He fails. I envision "Cygnus" as a tragic and cerebral tale, just as haunting as the original film.

[@sanchoodell6789]

There's a visual pun in this film. 4:47 Maximilian Schell (playing Dr Hans Reinhardt) gets trapped in Maximilian's Shell!

[@fabspartan95]

Yeah, it's just a fun movie, although the ending was truly dark for a Disney flick. The score by the great John Barry is always worth listening to.

[@trublu71]

Saw this movie in December 1979. It has been a sci-fi favorite ever since.

[@LeChave]

I remember being absolutely shocked at the death of Dr Durant (Anthony Hopkins) and haunted at the scene prior to the 'robot' funeral where Pizer is looking through the crew quarters when watching it at the cinema back in 79.. Yes, I am old!

[@enricoflor3601]

Anthony Perkins, rather, or Norman Bates of Psycho. Hopkins, Hannibal, equally deadly, but a different serial killing universe altogether 😊

[@Taggart00]

I was hoping the plot twist in The Rise of Skywalker would be that Maximilian was the main villian.

[@ShrekWallBee]

i rememeber watching this my self i cryed when old BOB died leaving Vincent to go on with out him :(

[@notpc48]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5OqgKaHe7J4mNU

[@Rdeboer]

Computing Forever Reviews: Dark City would be awesome; such an underappreciated film.

[@Temeraire101]

The USS Cygnus is a wonderful looking ship both outside and in. And Maximilian is just effing cool.

[@Its__Good]

"Maybe they wanted to play it safe by making it derivative, incorporating similar concepts and ideas that were already familiar to sci-fi audiences." Well - at least Disney doesn't do that any more . . . . . . .

[@moonsofmadness8850]

😂

[@gpalmerify]

Loved seeing Ernest Borgnine and Roddy McDowall in this, definitely not high theater just fun and fanciful. Much better than the woke indoctrination crap in modern Hollywood cinema.

[@Vulpine407]

Roddy McDowell voicing Vincent was genius on someone's part. While the writing for the film in general wasn't stellar, Vincent's rapier wit was entertaining as hell.

[@Halbared]

You couldn't get a cast like that today.

[@billyb4790]

If this was remade in 2023, Maximillian would have been a back lesbian trans in a wheelchair, fighting against the "patriarchy", and the "black hole" would have been a symbol of black female "empowerment".

[@ishtarhernandez8406]

"Woke indoctrination crap?" You mean, representing historically unrepresented peoples in media?

[@basanistes359]

It's not supposed to intellectual. It's a kids movie. I was a kid when this came out and I loved it. I still do.

[@jim22277]

@Joe Blow A time when Hollywood didn't patronise their audience.

[@robertbeckman2054]

It's not a movie for kids. It's a movie, similar to Star Wars that takes darker or horror elements and "PG's" them, suitable for most children, with parent around to explain the scary parts to the 8-year-olds.

[@ShamWowProphet]

Indeed, this movie was made with both kids and adults in mind...but as a kid, when I watched this I was in love!

[@danieljackowitz2343]

I remember seeing this film as a kid and thinking, "It's not very good, but those ships look amazing!" Also, "That ending is weird, and did that evil guy merge with his superbad robot? And are they in hell?" Pretty trippy for an 8 year old.

[@TheChadWork2001]

This is one of those timeless excellent films, like The Andromeda Strain, that you can watch over and over and never tire of seeing.

[@lesigh1749]

I had Black Hole wallpaper all over my bedroom when I was six. This movie has so much Nostalgia for me :)

[@3ThingsTulsa]

As a young child this film was permanently impressed upon my mind.

[@desperatemohammedantheworl5833]

My big memory of this film is watching it one afternoon on Channel 5 (UK) almost 20 years ago while eating a cheese and brown sauce sandwich only for one of my teeth to randomly fall out.

[@darrenoconnell2891]

This movie is way better than Disney Star Wars and infinitely superior than anything Kurtzman can offer.

[@sternencolonel7328]

I see some influences reappear in Warhammer 40k (also influenced from StarWars), like the gothic design of the Signus, the lobotomised humans (aka servitors) and the hellish landscape at the end (aka the warp).

[@archstanton9073]

Cygnus. It's Greek for "swan".

[@firstcynic92]

I'm a bit surprised you didn't also note that this was Disney's first movie that wasn't rated G. Probably because you have different ratings in Ireland and that one fact isn't anywhere near as shocking as it was then.

[@LordFalconsword]

As much as it loathes me to say this (especially a a bestselling writer of NEW fiction), but I'd love to see this given a modern treatment. Both in special effects as well as actually deep character development. Of course, since The Mouse owns it, it would be a woke mess, so I'm glad it is what it is.

[@PaulHosler]

could make a good netflix series, sort of like Lost in Space... which wasn't too terrible, although Dr. Smith as a woman didn't really click for me, she didn't play the role to terribly.

[@90lancaster]

@@PaulHosler Did they have her do a Creepy Grand Mother act instead of Creepy Grand Father act then ?

[@trhansen3244]

I would hate to think what liberals would do to 'improve' The Black Hole. Based on everything else they have done, they will destroy it.

[@simongarrettmusic]

Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy, Top Gun Maverick) was attached to a reboot a few years back but then it all went quiet. Yes, it needs to be redone. Much like Alien and Blade Runner it created a memorable sci-fi setting that was then plundered so many times that people forgot the source material. The score is fantastic, except for that terrible 'triumphant' theme but without that it's quite unrelentingly bleak.

[@SDNate760]

Watching Vincent take down Maximilian was awesome.

[@RetroRobotRadio]

This film was actually in development long before Star Wars, and it was an attempt to make a space version of disaster films like Poseidon Adventure. Early drafts of the film were mostly centered around a space station that was being hit by meteorites and people had to survive and escape.. the plot about the black hole and humans being enslaved was added later.

[@kangkong6795]

40k prequel? Huge gothic ship, loads of lobotomized cyborg servitors and a trip through hell at the end.

[@kenjett2434]

I remember when The Black Hole first came out it was kinda it's own genre at the time. It was both good and not so good however I did overall enjoy it. Since then I have rewatched it a couple times as said it is a decent popcorn movie that will entertain. The music score I think is what really makes it. Once you watch and hear the music you don't forget it for awhile, it's very dramatic.

[@samanthaadams619]

Very much agreed. Whatever problems the movie itself had, John Barry was very much on top of his game for it, and really sold that foreboding, sinister vibe.

I thought everyone forgot about this movie. I remember seeing this at the theater when I was a child.🤩

[@spacedinosaur8733]

They played it in our town hall...I don't remember when they stopped doing that, probably about the time Albertsons & Safeway started their video rental sections.

[@tvmasterc]

I saw this in the theater when I was a child (yeah I am old), and still have fond memories of it.

[@logicplague]

Maximillian can be found in Netherstorm in World of Warcraft.

[@facepalmmigraine9509]

I had a t-shirt of the USS Cygnus when I was a kid.

[@carter358]

The music in this movie is nothing short of brilliant. I still don't understand the ending, but I can watch it over and over all day because of the music.

[@darthbretticus9951]

I haven't seen this in a long time and but after hearing your discription I just realized how many elements Event Horizon shares with it interesting

[@robertbeckman2054]

An underrated film with beautiful cinematography. Yes, it's cheesy in places. Visually, it's almost a masterpiece, with the flowing and uneasy score that elevates the experience. I love the storyline of the bullied and battered robot whom is taken revenge upon by the newer model. I always get watery eyes when that little robot "dies".

[@Sargonarhes]

Maximillian Schell did this because he believed the kiddies would love it, and he was correct as a kid I loved this movie. Still do in spite of it's flaws. There's another video on KZbin that talks about the planning for this film, it might copy some elements of Star Wars but it's funny because the planning for this movie started way before Star Wars was even released. It was originally going to be titled Space Probe One until one of the production committee said "What this movie needs is a black hole." And that's when it started to get more interesting.

[@StealthDonut1]

I saw this on the feed and was like, "Oh no...Dave's going to slaughter one of my favorite sci-fi movies from when I was a little kid". Thanks much for giving the flick credit where it deserves it. It is far from a perfect film but it has its pro's too. I love the set design, and the Cygnus is a masterpiece of spacecraft model design that hearkens more to the design of a futuristic cathedral than a spacecraft. Do Tron next! :)

[@archstanton9073]

I have a soft spot for this movie. When I was a kid, I had a record and accompanying storybook and I would listen to it all the time. I don't think I actually saw the movie until it was released much later in the late-90's on VHS. When I finally did get to see it I quite liked it even though it was a bit cheesy and as Dave says, derivative. There's a fan theory that Maximilian is Kate McCray's father who lead the rebellion against Dr. Reinhardt and it's a theory I tend to agree with and makes the ending with the two of them in the Hell Dimension work a little better, I think. That said, I love the design of the Cygnus. It's all weird spires and utilitarian girders. It's one of the coolest and spookiest looking spaceships in cinema history. The costumes and matte paintings are also top notch as is the score. You can tell Disney spent money on this movie for sure. I would like to see this movie remade. I think you could beef up the script, the scares and the character motivations and have a pretty great movie. Event Horizon is similar to this one but amps up the horror angle. The Black Hole isn't a forgotten classic but it is a fun movie.

[@spacedinosaur8733]

I miss the records and storybooks. Had those for several Disney movies.

[@libertypills5580]

My big sister took me to see it when it came out. I was 5 yrs old! Amazing soundtrack! Overall epic movie in my opinion. Psychedelic ending that full of wonder.

[@Jesse12489]

This movie scared me as a child. I have recommended this movie to my friend just for the effects and robots.

[@Sionnach1601]

"I recently re-watched the Black Hole from 1979... ...and realised I am in it now in The World 2020"

[@Tomfoolery1972]

I wonder if Frank McCrae was trapped inside Maximillian and when Reinhardt took his place in hell that was McCrae that we saw finally going to heaven 🤔

[@AndrewJamesWilliams]

A sequel comic revealed that the Black Hole transported them to an alternate reality where orbiting the planet they found another version of the Gygnus with Dr Reinhardt and Frank McCray aboard her.

[@djcjr1x1]

Wow really?

[@syntaxusdogmata3333]

As David Draiman says: Get down with the Cygnus!

[@DanieleMulas-up7np]

Dave, will you also consider watching other obscure Disney live action flicks from the same period, such as The Watcher in The Woods or Something Wickee This Way Comes ? They all show a side of Disney they disgustingly try to hide.

[@churchhymnsandpsalms]

Loved this movie when I was a kid!

[@cripcrackattack6291]

Me too!! The toys were really unique. I wish I still had some of them still

[@Lennis01]

It was the first movie I remember going to see in the theater. (I saw Star Wars two years before, but was too young to remember.) I was obsessed by this film for years afterwards, getting action figures, lunchboxes, school folders, and the like. The visuals and the music made a lasting, indeed lifelong, impression on me.

[@williamjameshoffer4405]

I was such a fan of this movie as a kid that I got the full set of action figures. I was desperate to get the ships but we weren't well off at the time so that dream came out of cardboard boxes and tape. Thanks for bringing it back for me!

[@johnn.4407]

1979 was a banner year for non-digital SPACE movie visual effects: The Black Hole, Alien, Moonraker and Star Trek-The Motion Picture, all done by the different visual effects houses (and FX masters) of the day. I love how all four of these films have their own look (the FX) and are a true feast for the eyes. A great tribute to the craftsman who clearly put so much hard work into these films.

[@samanthaadams619]

1979 was a great year for sci fi, for sure. =)

[@evad7933]

We certainly know more about pink and brown holes than we do about black holes.

[@djcjr1x1]

But do we really?🤪

[@nodarkthings]

Man, I loved this as a kid. I had all the action figures! Really wish I still had them. They're quite collectable

[@pterosaur5245]

"Disney was cashing in on the popularity of Star Wars." Good to know that nothing has changed.

[@brutalhonesty3372]

Thank you sir, was looking for a review for this. And look, one of my subscriptions had my back.

[@Angl0sax0nknight]

Was one of my favorite movies as a child.

[@Outrider74]

One of my favortites, even when I saw it as a 5 year old in the theatres. One of John Barry’s best compositions.

[@paulkane2391]

I've never seen it, but I am a sci-fi fan. Back when it was released, I was neck-deep in Star Wars Mania, and it took RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to break me out of that. I had talked to a few friends who HAD seen The Black Hole, and the opinions were pretty much unanimous: "It doesn't really end - it just kind-of stops." After a while, it faded from view and I never really looked for it. Thanks for this glimpse.

[@michaelmartin5995]

I have really enjoyed watching these "recaps" or re-reviews of classic movies and shows. I love the content of your channels and I am a big fan. Keep up the good work!

[@dasparado]

This was my fav movie as a little kid, age 45 now. Great video.

[@IvorMektin1701]

You didn't see Empire Strikes Back?

[@alancheatley4378]

I wish Disney were like how they were back then, they made some cutting edge scifi movies like this and Tron

[@thecaptain6730]

One of my favorite films. The soundtrack (with echoes of Holtz's Saturn--a song about aging and death) was great. The movie does have several sybolic points (even though primarily an action film) the script makes it clear that the film opens on Christmas day (in the original opening scene which was filmed, but did not make the final cut--the crew references the fact that it takes place on Christmas day). Also the scene in Reinhardt's dining room shows a painting of the German writer Goethe on the wall (who wrote a play about Faust making a deal with the devil to exchange his soul for knowledge) which is symbolic of what Reinhardt himself has done. So there are a lot of symbols of good and evil that made its way into the film.

[@Malbeefance]

The Overture and Main Title music pieces are epic! I felt the design of the Cygnus was unique.

[@trhansen3244]

Not a very diverse cast, though.

[@Malbeefance]

@@trhansen3244 Good. Diversity is for people who live to hate anything good.

[@trhansen3244]

@@Malbeefance Diversity never works, either. The United States is proof of that.

[@gregorymoore2877]

@@trhansen3244 And that matters... why?

[@dbsommers1]

@@gregorymoore2877 It matters to the modern leftist, who defines people by their skin color, and not the content of their character.

[@GodPikachu]

The novelisation of the film has a slightly different ending, however it does explain the psychadelic sequence a lot better.

[@erikhawkke4861]

Here you have an interesting thought experiment.. Disney produced The Black Hole in 1979 with a ship filled with a crew of lobotomized humanoid robots.. 40 years later in 2019 through today Disney seems to have it's ultimate wish.. a fan base full of them. Though it does seem in 2023 finally a few of them are regaining their sentience and getting away from disney, proper good news.

[@bachabaziboyscout4077]

This was Disney's "StarWars".

[@Stevarooni]

And then The Mouse got his hands on the _actual_ Star Wars and screwed it all up.

[@etrangray-mane8610]

And it was better than the stuff with the actual brand.

[@Arinacat]

In my opinion, one of the most overlooked lines in the whole movie is Reinhardts whispered plee: "Protect me from Maximilian!" His own, right hand.. What if.. a force from the black hole was actually holding him hostage in a way? Sure, he seems to be the one, pulling the strings but.. maybe he has no other choice for some reason. It makes the whole situation even more creepy and mysterious, i love it! Who ever implemented this scene, is a genius in my book.

[@TheNightBadger]

This always felt more like Star Trek the Motion Picture to me than Star Wars. I'd love to have heard the pitch meeting for this at Disney... _"We know Star Wars has been massive, well we can totally take some of that audience with this slow-moving very wordy space movie with a cast all aged over 45, about a mad spaceship Captain who lobotomised his crew and uses his killer robot to murder members of another ship's crew and winds up entering his own personal hell in a black hole!"_ _"This works for kids how?"_ _"Kids? Wait... this is Paramount, right?"_ _"Disney."_ _"Oh, ok, sorry, thanks for your time."_ _"Wait. Mad Captain you say? Slow and wordy you say? Lobotomies you say? Murder you say? Sucked into nightmare of a personal hell you say? Is there any way you can maybe make this kid friendly?"_ _"Uh... we can add a big-eyed friendly robot without changing anything?"_ _"So nothing else changes but the addition of a big-eyed robot?"_ _"Uh... yeah?"_ _"Sold!"_ Personally, I think Disney - losing their footing with the family audiences at the time - was one of the most experimental studios between '78 and '83. And while not everything they did worked, it was usually interesting: Black Hole, Dragonslayer (seriously, about as much a 'for kids' fantasy as Black Hole was a 'for kids' sci-fi), Tron, Condorman, Watcher in the Woods (horror for kids - no really), Something Wicked this Way Comes, etc. All interesting stuff.

[@O0kalā]

I remember buying the Maximilian robot at the toy store. Been a very long while since I've seen the movie. Your review touched on aspects that I didn't comprehend as a child. Thanks for the review.

[@TheMarcodiator]

Scared me to shit when I was a kid, especially the ending. And it has an amazing soundtrack.

[@ProfessorThascales]

I enjoy your reviews more than your end of the world vids! Much more upbeat!

[@oafpolitics179]

I had The Black Hole on the Viewmaster. I don't suppose anyone else here remembers them...

[@psCargile]

Sure do remember Viewmaster.

[@les4767]

Born in 1968...yeah, I had one too :)

[@caulkins69]

It actually amazes me that someone thinks Viewmaster is something people wouldn't remember.

[@djcjr1x1]

Lota old dudes watching this so we remember. I would love to see those slides again since I'm pretty sure I remember looking at them Viewmaster style.

[@HuntingTarg]

​@@caulkins69When music bands and DJs 'rediscovered' vinyl records in the 2010s, it doesn't suprise me at all.

[@ukmediawarrior]

I loved this movie as a kid and the theme still sends chills through me. On listening to it again I thought it very similar to the music from another of my favourite movie's made a year after this called 'Raise the Titanic', but then I remember John Barry did both sets of music. He REALLY borrows a lot from Black Hole for his music in Titanic, almost note for note at times.

[@stanlee5465]

Always loved the design of the smaller floating robots!

[@jeremymenning56]

Another space "haunted house" film suggestion: *Sunshine* by Danny Boyle. Excellent movie, plot, and script. And the cast is greater than the sum of it's parts.

[@lv2465]

You could do a triple. The Black Hole first, Sunshine then Event Horizon.

[@trhansen3244]

Alien is the ultimate haunted house in space.

[@vyctordraco948]

Dude, this movie was literally 20000 leagues under the sea in space.

[@HuntingTarg]

No, there's no Nedry-analog, and no space-monster, and no moment of moral decision for the captain, just a deepening descent into complete madness.

[@willpeony5534]

I always liked the Anthony Perkins character and his hero worship of Dr Reinhardt . Was it a love of science or of power ?

[@BenjoC8632]

Loved this movie growing up but I certainly remember it getting mixed reviews!

[@jaxkommish]

Saw this in a drive in- 9 year old me loved it. Ah good times

[@HerbertFilby]

5:57 - The character Charles Muntz in the Disney/Pixar movie "Up" (2009) I think finally gets that treatment done quite well if I remember correctly.

[@hitmixhyepock9405]

I rewatched it a couple of years ago and I couldn't believe how real I thought the black hole looked when I was a kid.....it looked so real when it came out. But now you can tell it's not even close to blended into the background. I'm getting the mpc model kits of Maximilian and V.I.N.C.E.N.T, they are like 150 dollars each now...they made one run of them and that was it, very rare.

[@wilemelliott]

one of the few I would not mind a remake of...though I guess in a way [besides the end of Earth sub plot] we got that with Interstellar...

[@TANKTREAD]

Such an awesome and haunting score composed and conducted by John Barry, which was the 1st film score ever recorded digitally. One of the first scores I owned and still have on vinyl. So glad Intrada Records finally released it on compact disc.

[@MoonjumperReviews]

We must be working on similar wavelengths, because I just recently ordered the DVD on a whim and rewatched it. The last time I saw it was as a little boy at the movie theater some forty years ago. Rewatching it, it struck me what a classic “Forbidden Planet” kind of vibe it had in both its tone and even set design to a degree. It’s interesting that the idea of a black hole (or wormhole) tunneling through space, also serving as a gateway to a heaven and hell, is a concept that would actually be revisited years later by “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” The Bajoran wormhole which opened a portal to the Gamma Quadrant as well as served as a gateway to the Celestial Temple. Coincidence?

[@MrKnacker74]

I watched this movie when it originally came out and would love to see it again. My brother and I also had the 45 record with story book along with some of the toys you could get from Cheerios or Shreddies boxes.

[@mahatmarandy5977]

There is an interesting religious subjects to this film. When they first see the black hole, booth describes it as being like something out of Dantes inferno. Reinhardt says at one point that he believes physical laws will be different on the other side of the black hole, and the death will not exist there, and there may be the ability for a limitless creation. Durrant describes the passage through the Black hole as "a pilgrimage to what may be the mind of God. " The lobotomized crew are monks, of course, and when Holland goes through the cruise quarters, they are all small, identical, and clean, much like a monks cell. The Cygnus it's self is very much like a cathedral, with all those huge windows and pretty lighting and Steeple like Towers and antennae. Very Gothic. So what I think is going on here is that Rhinehart want to be God and sees the black hole as a way of a plunging into the afterlife, storming the gates of heaven. I think that we are supposed to believe that he is in sane, and then, big surprise, it turns out that the black hole actually is a gateway from the physical universe to the supernatural realm. I think this is supposed to be a shock, and there is plenty of foreshadowing there, but they never quite nail it home. I presume that was because of a lack of nerve on Disney's part. Particularly since the original draft of the script ended with Kate in the Vatican looking up at the mural of gods creation of Adam. So it turns out that the black hole is like something out of Dantes inferno, it is a gateway to hell, Not heaven, and Reinhardt does not become a god, rather he becomes a devil, damned for all eternity. Then an angel shows up and rescues the crew of the Palomino, taking them through a cathedral-like tunnel of light, and returning them to the physical universe, to the abode of the living, because they alone have not died. They do not belong in heaven or hell yet. The planet at the end is intended to be earth. The angel took them home. Again: Vatican scene at the end. I admit I am rather unclear as to why the lobotomized crew ended up in hell since they didn't do anything wrong, but whatever. Bottom line, while they were definitely copping a lot of stuff from Star Wars and 2001, it is at Root really clever Story that was hamstrung find Disney's desire to remain inoffensive, and their general lack of nerve.

[@michaelciugulam7241]

this is almost an event horizon prequel

[@magicmulder]

The novelization ended with the surviving Palomino crew members fused into one being, leaving it unclear where they ended up (there may have been a "they reached a new universe they could explore together final sentence but I don't remember).

[@funnypicturescomics]

I completely agree with your first statement....This isn't Star Wars, it's a haunted house movie in space. I've always though that.

[@tomsadventures1001]

I remember watching this when I was 10. Brings back great memories.

[@sillyhead7441]

Thank you for this. At 50 the BH was one of those films that came out on the shoulders of SW, it was one of the better ones to see while we waited for ESB.

[@derek9063]

Really enjoyed your fair and honest review.

[@TKA001]

Thanks for doing this review. To be honest, I was disturbed on a few levels when I saw the movie as a kid, but I also enjoyed it, and think it had an influence on my imagination. I hardly ever say this about anything I consider a kind of classic, but part of me wishes 'The Black Hole' would be remade. If the people doing it really appreciated and preserved what made the original memorable, but could also make the characters a little deeper and take out the silly, derivative stuff with the robots, I think it would be fantastic.