The Black Hole (1979)

Recorded this a week or so ago, but only just get round to watching it.

If I tell you that it's a sci-fi film from 1979, you might jump to the conclusion that it's a Star Wars cash in. And you would be right, but put that to one side for the moment because it is important to realise that after Star Wars, everyone was churning out space movies* and most of them were just dire. Even some of the "purer" sci-fi moves were abysmal. However this is a Disney movie, their first to get a PG certificate and the last they made under the old classic model of film making, in which the studio produced all the models, props and special effects, so you know it's going to be the best they could achieve at the time. It was certainly a very expensive movie to make.

Story: A survey ship, The Palomino, discovers a giant black hole and a bit of a mystery. Sitting next to the black hole, impossibly holding its position against the most powerful force in the universe is a derelict starship, the USS Cygnus, missing for twenty years. Suddenly the ship lights up, and forced to dock after being damaged, they discover a ship run by robots and commanded by Dr. Hans Reinhardt**, who claims the crew abandoned ship years ago.

But incongruences start to appear in the story. Captain Holland sees one of the robots limping, and Lt. Pizer witnesses a "funeral" for one of the robots.

For me, the most memorable part of this film from my childhood was the robots. An uncredited Roddy MacDowell plays the voice of V.I.N.CENT remarkably well, with Slim Pickens taking the voice of B.O.B. You might be forgiven for thinking that South Park stole the look and feel of them to create their characters.

Score: C+ Good film, but time has not been kind to it. Well worth a watch to see one of the better Star Wars cash in movies.

OQ:

V.I.N.CENT: To quote Cicero: rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valour.
Lieutenant Charles Pizer: Vincent, were you programmed to bug me?
V.I.N.CENT: No sir, to educate you.

To film the special effects, Disney originally wanted to rent the Dykstraflex camera system (the first computer-controlled camera) from Industrial Light & Magic. However, the price and rental terms were unacceptable so Disney went to its acclaimed engineering division to come up with its own version. What resulted was Disney's A.C.E.S. (Automated Camera Effects System), which was radically superior to the Dykstraflex system; the Mattescan system, which enabled the camera to move on a matte painting (that was previously impossible); and a computer-controlled modelling stand. At the time, this put Disney technologically ahead of ILM.

At the time of its release, the movie featured the longest computer graphics sequence that had ever appeared in a film.

The character of V.I.N.CENT. was originally to have more elaborate electronic eyes (based on electronic stock ticker-type billboards), which would have given him a greater range of facial expressions. Unfortunately, the electro-mechanical eyes simply didn't work properly and the effect was abandoned at the beginning of principal photography.

The laser pistols originally had light up tips that would activate when the actors pressed the trigger, thus giving the animators cues as to when someone was actually firing the guns. This proved to be a problem however because the actors would unconsciously press the triggers when they were not supposed to often times inadvertently shooting cast members.

During the climactic escape from the Cygnus, the survivors scramble out into the vacuum of space to board the probe ship without any protective suits. Pizer even needs to be rescued from flying away into space, but no one asphyxiates from lack of oxygen. Reportedly, space suits were indeed designed for the sequence, but the cast refused to wear them because of how they looked.

*Not sci-fi, you understand. These were mostly just movies set in space.
**You just know with a name of Hans, he's going to be evil.