The Black Hole (DVD)

If you haven't seen The Black Hole and you are a sci-fi fan then shame on you. While this movie doesn't really compare to the story created in Star Wars, which released 2 years prior to The Black Hole, it certainly has some cool effects for the time and offers up some fun for an hour and a half of your day.

Telling the story of the U.S.S. Cygnus, now run by a madman hell bent on solving the mystery of the black hole, and exploring the universes that are rumored to lie on the other side. His plans are soon interrupted by the U.S.S. Palomino, but a madman never let uninvited guests get in his way.

Starring such names as Anthony Perkins, Maximilian Schell and Ernest Borgnine this movie managed to capture the attention of audiences in 1979 and is still just as fun to watch now. For me there is just something about the anticipation of waiting for that meteor to go rumbling down the main hull of the Cygnus that gets me every time.

In order to watch this movie though, you do have to keep an open mind and remember that movie production was not yet up to today's standards as wire work could not be digitally removed and George Lucas isn't an employee of Disney to come and clean up what the past couldn't "perfect".

There is, however, a substitute for the dated nature of the special effects on this DVD and that is the 16 minute featurette on all the visual effects for The Black Hole with Harrison Ellenshaw the Matte Effects Supervisor for the film.

Ellenshaw goes into detail on everything you could possibly wonder about the effects in the film. He is the first to admit that the effects are certainly dated, as there was no way to digitally remove wires used to make people and robots float, but he lets you know what types of workarounds they had to make sure you saw them as little as possible. By the way, did you know the black hole in the film is actually a mixture of paint, water and who knows what else? And you have to admit that hanging Ernest Borgnine from wires would probably be difficult in this day and age as well.

While The Black Hole may not be an average movie lover's favorite film, it is an good buy for sci-fi fans, as it is an excellent example of early miniature work and after watching the Ellenshaw featurette you will notice a couple of extra goodies that you may have even missed before listening to what he has to say.