The black hole
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The black hole |
| Original title | The Black Hole |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1979 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gary Nelson |
| script |
Jeb Rosebrook , Gerry Day Story: Bob Barbash , Richard H. Landau |
| production | Ron Miller |
| music | John Barry |
| camera | Frank V. Phillips |
| cut | Gregg McLaughlin |
| occupation | |
| |
| synchronization | |
| |
The black hole is a science-fiction film of Disney Studios from the year 1979. It was in the wake of Star Wars produced with twice the budget, 20 million US dollars ; however, the success was far less. The film, which was produced in 14 months and is unusually dark for Disney, falls, like the later Tron , in a strategically critical phase of the Disney group. After Walt Disney's death , the company, under the leadership of CEO E. Cardon Walker, also got lost in productions that were clearly outside the previous Disney product portfolio . The Black Hole was one of the first Disney films to be rated . The film started in Germany on September 18, 1980.
action
The research spaceship USS Palomino with five crew members and a robot is on the search for colonizable planets in space . The crew consists of Captain Dan Holland, Lieutenant Charles Pizer, Doctor Alex Durant, Doctor Kate McCrae and the journalist Harry Booth. The VINCENT robot . LF396 (Vital Information Necessary Centralized Labor Force 396) serves as a kind of on-board computer, but can simulate human emotions and communicate telepathically , which makes it much easier to use.
The research ship unexpectedly encounters a huge black hole , in whose gravitational pull the spaceship USS Cygnus , which has been missing for 20 years, is drifting, strangely enough, unaffected by the black hole's pull. Doctor McCrae's father was a crew member and first officer on the ship. The team decides to investigate what appears to be the ghost ship .
The eccentric scientist and captain of the Cygnus , Dr. Hans Reinhardt. Apart from him, only artificial life forms seem to be on board: guard and combat robots and mute androids with black cloaks and mirror surfaces instead of a face, as well as Reinhardt's latest and superior prototype Maximillian. According to Reinhardt, the human crew was evacuated many years ago because of earlier severe damage to the ship by meteorites and wanted to return to Earth. He has therefore been alone on board for many years, since Dr. McCrae's father died, who allegedly decided, like him, to stay on the damaged ship. Despite a successful repair, Reinhardt refused the order to return home in order to be able to achieve higher scientific goals. He is clueless about the fate of the missing crew.
The crew of the Palomino is initially received and entertained by Reinhardt, while the very convinced scientist talks about his research successes to date and his plans to maneuver the Cygnus through the nearby black hole to explore unknown dimensions. However, the guests observe strange things in the further course, such as a limping android and a memorial service for another. After short forays through the huge ship, the robot VINCENT finds an old, run-down robot of a similar design, called BOBLF28 (Bio sanitation Battalion Labor Force 28), or BOB for short, who told him about the terrible machinations of Dr. Reinhardt reports. This tells the crew that the androids were in truth once the crew members of the Cygnus and that Reinhardt transformed them into mindless creatures 20 years ago after a mutiny led by McCrae's father against Reinhardt's refusal to give the order to return home, and McCrae was killed by him. After this comes to light, the horrified crew want to flee with the Palomino , but Harry Booth is shot down with the Palomino while trying to take off and escape on his own, ramming the Cygnus . Reinhardt, who now seems to have completely succumbed to his madness, incites his robots on the guests. Alex Durant, who originally wanted to stay with Reinhardt on the Cygnus , is killed by Maximillian when he learns the truth about the androids from Kate and wants to flee with her.
During the escape, while Reinhardt initiates the flight of the Cygnus through the black hole, VINCENT can incapacitate the attacking Maximillian. The Cygnus is hit by a meteor shower and is badly damaged. The other members can escape with a research probe, but use it against their will on the course into the black hole that Reinhardt had previously programmed. Reinhardt is trapped by a falling video panel, and none of the androids are mentally able to recognize his situation and help him. The Cygnus also races uncontrollably into the black hole. During the journey through the black hole, the survivors of the palomino in the probe have visions , among other things of Reinhardt's corpse drifting through space, which is caught by Maximilian and merges with him into a kind of hell planet. Eventually the ship enters normal space at an unknown location and flies towards an earth-like planet.
Special effects
The bar for special effects was very high after Star Wars . For the production of The Black Hole , they wanted to borrow the first computer-controlled camera system Dykstraflex from ILM . However, the conditions were unacceptable, so they quickly developed their own system called ACES (Automated Camera Effects System). Curiously, it was technically superior to the ILM system, as ACES could also work with a moving camera in front of matte images. With a length of 3.66 m and weight of 80 kg, the model for the spaceship Cygnus was one of the largest ever built for a science fiction film . The helmets from Dr. Reinhardt's STAR Life Guards were very heavy and could hardly be moved. The actors who played the robots could not take stage directions from the director. Therefore, everything had to be discussed with the actors and the stunt coordinators before a scene. Until the robot VINCENT. seemed realistic enough, the creators had to try out several effects. Among other things, he was hung on threads, which, however, did not give him any freedom of movement. In several scenes, however, the threads are still clearly visible.
Reviews
"Simple story of the brave team plus robots that fight and shoot, framed by a colorful fireworks display of tricks and special effects."
"Maximilian Schell acts as an all-ruler of German origin named Dr. Hans Reinhardt [...] not diabolical, but ridiculous. "
"Moderately exciting science fiction film, which, due to its accumulation of elements from other films, turns out to be a synthetic product constructed from a sales point of view."
"Director Gary Nelson equipped his space shocker with a lot of foreign bonds: from Kubrick's ' 2001 ' to ' Star Wars ', and after all, something really exciting can be tinkered with it."
Awards
In 1980 the film received two Oscar nominations. Frank V. Phillips was nominated for Best Cinematography , Peter Ellenshaw , Art Cruickshank , Eustace Lycett , Danny Lee , Harrison Ellenshaw and Joe Hale for Best Visual Effects .
The film received further nominations as early as 1979 for the Saturn Award in the categories of Best Science Fiction Film , Best Screenplay , Best Music and Best Special Effects .
The film also received a nomination for the Hugo Award in 1980 as best dramatic presentation .
media
- Super 8 release
- The black hole was released as a 120 m / color / tone cut version by Piccolo Film . The full version of the film was only released on Super 8 in Italy.
- DVD release
- The black hole. Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2002.
- radio play
- At the start of the feature film in Germany, the Karussell company and Disney released a radio play of the film on cassette and LP .
Soundtrack
- John Barry : The Black Hole & Howard the Duck . Original motion picture soundtracks. Mask Records, Rome 1999, MK 703.
- The titles of the English soundtrack
- Overture (2:27)
- Main Title (1:46)
- The Door Opens (3:38)
- Zero Gravity (5:53)
- Six Robots (1:59)
- Durant Is Dead (2:31)
- Start The Countdown (3:51)
- Laser (2:15)
- Into The Hole (5:00)
- End Title (2:34)
On August 23, 2011, the complete soundtrack by John Barry was released on CD for the first time on the US label Intrada in collaboration with Disney .
- Track list
- Overture (2:28)
- Main Title (1:49)
- That's It (1:43)
- Closer Look (2:02)
- Zero Gravity (5:48)
- Cygnus Floating (2:06)
- The Door Opens (4:09)
- Pretty Busy (: 48)
- Six Robots (1:57)
- Can you speak? (1:19)
- Poor Creatures (1:41)
- Ready to Embark (: 44)
- Start the Countdown (3:47)
- Durant Is Dead (2:31)
- Laser (1:01)
- Kate's OK (2:49)
- Hot and Heavy (2:43)
- Meteorites (1:31)
- Raging Inferno (: 54)
- Hotter and Heavier (1:59)
- Bob and VINCENT (: 54)
- Into the Hole (4:56)
- End Title (2:34)
- In, Through ... And Beyond! (2:46)
Comic
In the United States, the film was accompanied by a four-book comic book series (Whitman Comics, published in 1980). Originally, however, six issues were planned. From the US no. 4 there is only a print run of around 200 copies, which is accordingly expensive. The first two issues tell the story of the film. The other two tell how the characters in the film fare on the other side of the black hole. Issues 5 + 6 never appeared in the United States. The comic series was published in German in three issues in 1980/81 by Egmont Ehapa Verlag . The US issues 1 + 2 (film adaptation) have been combined in this country to volume 1 of the issue series. Parts 3 to 6 with the title Beyond the Black Hole have been combined here to form volumes 2 and 3. The German edition is complete, in contrast to the US series.
literature
- Alan Dean Foster : The Black Hole. The book about the film. (OT: The Black Hole ). Schneider, Munich / Vienna 1980, ISBN 3-505-07266-4 .
Web links
- The black hole in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Information on the movie's marketed toys
- The black hole in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rating: 2½ stars = above average; Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , pp. 727-728.
- ^ Lexicon of international film (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997