The Black Hole Blu Ray Exclusive

The first time i saw this movie was when it came out. I was 9 years old and me and my familly saw it on december 22,1979. It was part of a double disney movie day at the local theater in Corpus Chrisiti, TX. The theater was two blocks from the bay. It started off with The cat from outer space. Well seeing that one before i was being a 9 year old. Well the main feature, the black hole started at 715 pm. And for the next 98 minutes i don't think my back touched the seat or my elbows left my knee's, or my hands left my face. From the ever popular opening music score to the heaven and Hell ending i was completely taken away by the movie. From giant spaceships to flying robot's. This was at the time the largest, most costly movie Walt disney had ever made. And i still think it is the only movie with Walt Disney on it that still carries a PG rating. And for me this was what i called an open movie. Unlike "Star Wars" that had everyone running around corners the whole movie, unless they were in a desert. The Cygnus had long open hallways and huge rooms and sets. The Part were they come out of the elevator on the bridge, and the camera pulls back as the crew of the Palomino walks out. Truly an impressive set.Ok Looking at it threw a 39 year old's eyes. The visual impact was still there, it still had me going about how they could do something like this in 1979 but not in 2010.This whole movie had around i think 3 minutes of computer generated graphics, as a warm up for Tron that came out next year i have read. everything was model and live action. The cast was there, Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine, and the robots voiced by Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens, and for what ever reason there names appeared no were on the credits. One thing is for sure, you can not mistake Slim Pickens voice! The big hang up sadly was the plot. It was a as cheesy as cheesy can be. This i was suprised in. Guess i did not remember it like that the first time around or when it was shown on HBO years later. Another thing i am still impressed with in this movie is the fact that it was what is now called the old studio way of doing a movie. Nothing, not one single set, or anything about this movie was done out side of the walt disney studio. There are rumors flying around that they wanted Lucas's new Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) to do the special effect's. But ILM was booged down with the second star wars movie the empire strikes back. And the other rumor states that Lucas wanted to much money. I think these are just that, Rumor's.The film is directed by Gary Nelson. Who had done a lot of the Disney live action movies we all know and love. He also played the part of the unhooded robot. Producer Peter Ellenshaw had his way when it came to Walt Disney movies. He had been with them for a long time and had a proven track record. In a book on him that is long out of print, it was released in mid 1980, there was a long chapter about the black hole. He said more than once that the studio had what he needed to make the movie in house. He said the only thing they never planned right was the budget, it went far beyond anyone's wildest dream's to recreate everything that they once had to make the movie, and the people they had to pull out of retirment that knew what was needed to be done, Peter Ellenshaw was one who got pulled out of retirement for the film. The Budget for this one movie was 26 Million dollars. 6 million of that was for advertising the movie. So 20 million on a movie was a big jump in 1978 when it was being made. Star wars had a 3 million dollar budget. ANd i think the Black Hole earned over 50 million in it's release. Probaly a lot more since being on TV, VHS and DVD. Wish Disney would do a blu ray version and fix some flaws of the original, Lucas did it was his re release of the star wars movies on DVD. And that went over with fans pretty good.I Still give it 5 stars for the "WOW" factor. And i give the "Overture" opening music composed by John Berry 5 stars as well.

While I am one of the rare people who LOVE The Black Hole and have the 5-star rating because it is one of my favorite childhood movies, I do NOT give Amazon's service 5-stars here. Just 1.I could not get the movie to stream at all. I own both versions of the DVD and tried buying it on Amazon to watch it in HD (just wanted to watch it feeling nostalgic about my childhood at the birth of my daughter, which happened the same day I decided to get it), but the stream failed. My internet admittedly sucks and I should have just waited. It was HD in short bursts, mostly DVD quality in others, which is related to my internet (Im sure most can stream it in full HD). They let me download it, but in quality inferior to a standard DVD. That's not why I bought it... I wanted it in HD!Unfortunately, there is no way to be refunded. I looked all over the Amazon website and found nothing. Perhaps I have to call, I don't know. Wound up getting Showtime JUST to DVR it in HD. At least until Disney gets off their butts and puts it out on Blu-ray. Hopefully not as long as it took them to release the entire score on CD. Sad.As for the movie itself, I know it gets much scorn -- including from overrated, self-important "scientists" and "critics" -- but since when did ANY movie get all the science right (most of the time, movies can be laughable for science holes, BUT, we still love them anyways) and how many live up to Star Wars? It's one of the greatest of all time, so not a hell of a lot can. This poor movie gets lambasted because of the timing more than anything. It's a sci-fi movie that came out right after Star Wars! Well, screw the critics, I LOVED this movie as a kid and still enjoy it as an adult.Maximillian Schell's performance as the mad genius scientist/tyrant is brilliant. The good robots, VinC.E.N.T. and Old B.O.B. are fun. The bad robots, and Maximilian and the Sentries, are spooky enough for a kid to get the chills. The rest of the cast also did a fine job in their roles. The plot may have been highly derived from a certain literary classic, sure, but who cares?! Like that's never happened? John Barry's score is dark, moody and foreboding at times, pure fun in others. The ending was vague and open-ended, but like that also never happened before.And, please, people, it wasn't Disney trying to cash in on Star Wars (which I also love), it was written and started production before Star Wars (although, admittedly, the robots and laser fights were likely kiddied-up to appeal to the Star Wars craze of the day). The effects, although now dated, still were cool back in the day. The ships and sets were gorgeous... again, simply lost in the conversation and overshadowed by Star Wars and Star Trek, which have more fanfare and interest.Plus, if anybody thinks that NOBODY likes the movie, just try to collect the entire set of action figures made for this movie. Despite only having 11 produced, you will have plenty of rabid cult fans bidding you up higher than most action figures will ever go, including right up there with the rarest of the rarest Star Wars figures! Take that, comparison-mongers! ;)(And, in closing, more entertainment here than in Tyson DeGeek's entire program. And some would say... more science! Lulz. Ooohhh... @n@l science trolls will probably get butthurt. Sorry, no offense intended, go back to your scientist-worship and let me enjoy m childhood guilty please movie!).