ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, one of these days you're going to post a rave review of a movie I dislike, and I'm going to shout, "Hey, who is this imposter and what has he done with the real Pow!?"

Yes, The Black Hole was aptly named, because that's what it was for Disney — a bottomless pit, into which money was thrown that could have been used for better projects.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin.

Disney's share of the U.S. and Canadian film market was eroding year by year---from 6 per cent in 1977 to 5 per cent in 1978 and 4 per cent in 1979. The film division's contribution to overall corporate profits fell even more sharply during the 1970s.

Disney executives were painfully aware of these statistics, and realized that something had to be done.

There was a lot riding on the studio's 1979 Christmas release.

Budgeted at a record $20 million, The Black Hole was the studio's answer to Star Wars and the flurry of interest it had generated in outer-space adventure.

For the first time, the studio shone its spotlight on its special effects wizard Peter Ellenshaw, promoting him as if he were the star of The Black Hole---which in a sense, he was. He designed and supervised the elaborate visual effects for this story.

That Christmas The Black Hole appeared---only to be greeted by a collective sigh of disappointment. For an epic film it seemed awfully flat, with dialogue left over from a 1950s B-movie.

The film as a whole was reminiscent of Disney's own 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, except it wasn't as entertaining. Worst of all, the climatic trip through a black hole was notably unexciting.

The film did boast superior special effects, by and large.

For some people, the saddest part was that Disney was jumping on a bandwagon instead of leading the parade. To others. it was a blow to find that the Disney team couldn't match the entertainment and expertise of its young competitors.

The Black Hole, released at the same time as another space saga, Star Trek---The Motion Picture, didn't fare that badly at the box office, taking in some $25 million domestically. That would have been a bonanza for a (typically) less expensive Disney film, but in this case it wasn't enough to recover costs---and it was many millions behind the outer-space competition.

Sidebar: Age old story, let's dazzle the audience with stunning special and visual effects while the story can be just average.

Sidebar: I'm also assuming that Disney was not talking to hotshot young writers and directors, such as Spielberg, and involving their much needed collaboration. Companies can become self-isolating within their culture that they oppose any new breaths of fresh air. And that can be the death knell for any business.

[Pow]

Author Alan Dean Foster did a terrific job on The Black Hole novel adaptation from the movie. Firstly, he's the fine writer who adapted the episodes from Star Trek: TAS to a series of books. He really develops the characters & expands the storylines. Secondly, Foster thoroughly delves into the real science of science fiction. He fixes the incorrect science, or no science at all, in his books. He does it so well that you'd think he was a scientific consultant to NASA.

"The Cygnus had been designed to carry out any imaginable scientific mission deep-space exploration might require. Its research capabilities far outstripped those of a dozen ships the size of the Palomino. That those extensive facilities, incorporated into the Cygnus's design, might never be used was something few gave thought to in the heady days of her planning and construction.

She had been built to be completely self-supporting, able to recycle air and food and water for hundreds of years if necessary, able to travel the length of the galaxy as long as the children's children of her original crew retained the knowledge to man her. Nothing like her had been built before. It was likely nothing like her would be built again. Not when smaller, less costly vessels like the Palomino and her sister ships could do the same work and cover far greater reaches of space for the same expenditure of time and personal."

Foster really fills in the story with a depth & richness that the feature film simply cannot given its 98-minute running time. Foster improves so much upon the movie in his book, that it it is a good read of a mediocre movie.

[Bud Brewster]

[tmlindsey]

I think this movie had the same problem as Dino's Flash Gordon; the desire to cash in on the Star Wars SF craze but a lack of understanding why that film was so popular (or understanding SF in general). Executives always assumed it must be the SPFX people went to see, but it was the simple, direct story of good vs evil. The SPFX were just icing on the cake. Like decorating a cake to look like a building or shoes; it's still a cake, just with a flashy presentation.

Disney including the cartoon-y eyes on the hero robots and the silly mannerisms of the bad robots was a misguided attempt to appeal to kids since the actions of the antagonist were ghoulish and disturbing.

This film could be remade, perhaps as a (very) limited series and be done much better.

And now I have that f&@#ing theme music stuck in my head.
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"Have you never wondered what it would be like to walk between the ticks and tocks of Time?"

[Pow]

I recently watched TBH again on FB. Initially, when the movie first came out in 1979 & I saw it with a bunch of friends, I felt it was not a very good film. And to be sure, I'm definitely not nominating it as one of the all-time great science fiction films ever made. However, I did find it more interesting this time around in spite of its flaws.

The basic storyline of a spaceship traveling through a black hole is certainly an intriguing one. The mistake was not happening until the very last few minutes of the film. The adventure needed to be having a crew enter a black hole early on, and then seeing what they found at the other end.

A friend of mine said to me just the other day that one of the issues was it was a Disney family film and therefore it was constrained as to just how darkly dramatic they could go. That's a fair statement but not an entirely accurate one for this movie. The former crew of the Cygnus are ruthlessly transformed into zombie-like versions of themselves; Anthony Perkins character gets a spinning drill ripping into his chest; Ernie Bognine dies when the Palomino he is piloting is fired upon and crashes into the Cygnus. Throughout the film there is an unease about Dr. Reinhart that creates an underlying tension for the Palomino crew. So while this is a Disney movie to be sure, they did not play it entirely safe by introducing so many forbidding & grim elements to it. I have give the producers points on their introducing more adult and nerve wracking scenes into the movie.

I believe that Disney was attempting to change their family-friendly image with the choices they made for TBH. I think they realized that the times had changed but Disney hadn't changed with them. The knew that they would still produce their heartwarming family films and comedic films. However, they also knew they had to appeal to a more sophisticated audience by going in a different direction by doing other types of movies. If TBH wasn't a success, we must give producer Ron Miller (Walt's son-in-law) credit for seeing that the company had to grow and try new frontiers in complicated times.

[Bud Brewster]