There are probably three things that The Black Hole is remembered for: Norman Bates getting skewered by an evil robot; the movie’s’ brilliant and utterly bonkers ending; and John Barry’s absolutely fantastic score.
Ah, back in the days where you had an overture. This one is great, leading into a terrific title sequence. What has happened to presentation? This is how you introduce a movie.
So did I, I believe it was Christmas of 1979, the movie had me totally mesmerized, it was kind of dark for a Disney movie but I thought it had good special effects and I enjoyed the music.
One of the most bizarre movies. A Disney "Cute-Robot"-Splatter-Zombie-"Christian-Hell-and-Heaven"-Movie? Whew! Even today Brexit and Middle-East seems easy to resolved compared to that script!
This film was released in 1979, the same year as Ridley Scott's "Alien", and two years after "Star Wars". No offense, I love the design of the Cygnus, but I'll take the Nostromo any day of the week. And Dr. Kate McCrae ain't no xenomorph-slaying Ellen Ripley. The film wasn't underrated, it was one or two decades too late.
@@BrokenCurtain The design of the Cygnus is very underrated and even almost forgotten from most of the people nowadays. Cygnus looks less familiar as spaceship... because of the 'glass-hull' ... We all like to think of spaceships with metal hulls. I like Nostromo too... it has also an unusual design with those four towers.... But it doesnt look like a ship... more like a building... I like it anyway.. But maybe the Cygnus a little bit more ? I cant decide...because i like both ships for their own reasons/properties. When we talk about the movie.. The black hole, is .. hard to judge. A lot of things were nicely done. The cuteness of Vincent wasnt necessary in my opinion. Kids love robot in general. I remember, i even loved Maximilian a lot, and drew it a lot as kid - because : 'Coool strong robot ! roaaawr' xD But the plot of the movie was a bit to slowly paced... a lot of things which happens between the beginning and the end, are quiet boring - and even was as kid for me. The end of the movie looks more like art... which disturbs, because the rest of the movie didnt prepare the viewers for this artistic expression. Thats a difference to Stanley Kubriks '2001' , because that movie was Art from the beginning - so the viewer is kind of 'brought' into the right mindset for it. Something is missing about the movie Black hole... Its somehow not complete, even if i dont know exactly what i miss.. In opposite: Alien , is in my opinion the BEST science-fiction-movie ever made. Its simply a perfect composition of all of its ingredients... missing nothing.
Truly an outstanding movie, I don't think that Disney was trying to compare or compete with Star Wars, The Black Hole has its own plot and storyline. I think it was a great sci-fi thriller.🤖🤖🌕☀️⭐👾🌟
@@NavySharkz Dear Navy Sharkz ,🦈 First of all, if you served or are serving in the Navy, thank you for your service, unless that's your online handle. Yes , Hollywood was making science fiction movies at that time, space is quite fascinating and Hollywood wanted a piece of it. But I still say that each sci-fi movie had its own storyline. I think" The Black Hole" had one of the best storyline,if not the best storyline in science fiction movie history.👾👽🤖🚀🛸
@@debonyangelgirl6497 Oh no doubt. That's why I think that movie doesn't get anywhere near the recognition it deserves, because it was it's own thing and not one of the hundred Star Wars rip-offs that were popping up at the time. I also think that it's ironic that this was a Disney movie but to me it seems way more mature than Star Wars. 👍
This played at Disney's Hollywood Studios during the opening sequence of "Disney Movie Magic" which is the show right before the Star Wars Fireworks. As soon as this started I said outloud "OMG The Black Hole" and people turned and looked at me weird. Ha! Way to go ol' Bob!
That's awesome. Don't feel bad, as a lot of people don't remember this movie or choose not to remember it for some reason. This track alone is one of the best things that came out of the film IMO.
Out of all the brilliant and classic scores that John barry composed like all the bond scores to the Roger mooer films,Howard the duck,Game of death and the sizzling score to Timothy dalton's bond film The living daylights i would have to say that The black hole score is his best. Every note of music from this score keeps you on edge of excitement every minute!!! Its brilliant themes are extraordinary and perfectly displays the talents of a true music composing master,like John barry!!!
Will anyone join me in a moment of silence for the spectacular, yet tragic, destruction of the USS Cygnus, the most fantastically impracticable, yet impressively beautiful spaceship ever imagined? No way NASA would ever construct the Crystal Palace in outer space, but the decorous way the set designers applied vast-proportioned spaces, relentless structural X-bracing, and expansive gridded glass panels is utterly marvelous, even magnifying the melancholic, gothic gloom of the movie atmosphere.
The Cygnus is up there with Harlock's Arkadia in Space Gothic Design. Plus, old Adama would have been horrified at the Satanic AI able to roam freely through this good ship.
"THE BLACK HOLE ", Straight away to me is sound and SFX at its best in it's time. Forget the little s---s these days that expect the damn creature's to literally howl their bad breath at you in theaters. This was magic in its time and I enjoyed the effects regardless of compared CGI today.
Yes. I tend to imagine this particular song possibly being connected to whatever space agency commands the Palomino, being their anthem. Sort of the Black Hole verse's answer to the Air Force song.
That is because it is.. John Barry scored a military movie and wrote this piece , but they didn't use it. He didn't wish his work would be for nothing. So he used it in The Black Hole...
I first saw this movie when it was new during Christmas of 1979 when I was 13 and it left a lasting impression on me. I have the VHS and DVD version of it and might get a blu ray version also if they have it.
This was part of my childhood along with Star Trek the Motion Picture,Battle Beyond the Stars,Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,Battlestar Galactica,and Flash Gordon
This tune and the Turbine alley shoot out it appeared in (like a silent mini movie) and the 'Into the Hole' Hell and Heaven scene just locked themselves into my mind and even to this day keep appearing in dreams and half-awake dreams. But then I did go and see it at the cinema 12 times throughout the summer of 79
Funnily enough, my memory appears to have completely excised the ending - for me it has always ended with the protagonists tumbling into the Black Hole and an uncertain outcome. Perhaps - now hearing and seeing the ending (and alternative one) - that might have been a better ending. Having said that, I remember this movie being populated by some wonderful characters, visually stunning and deeply unsettling. And I loved every minute of it! (Well, except for those final few minutes which I seem to have completely erased! :D)
+Beau74 It certainly wasn't a good idea to give a scientist with both a Captain Ahab AND a Victor von Frankenstein complex command of the bloody mission! The best flag captain around (Like Dr. McCrae's father) is going to have problems if the commanding admiral equivalent is a raving would-be Messiah. Or worse. As here.
I was gonna look for a movie to watch on demand and idk y but this movie caught my eye and I decided to watch it for movie hwk and then as soon as the overture starts my comes rushing into the living room and is like wow it's the movie he never got to see as a kid ... very memorable moment. For him and me
definetly my favorite song :> I would watch this on video just for this song :> Funniest how one movie can have both one of the SCARIEST and beautiful songs on it :>
Happy 45th Anniversary Moonraker, Time After Time, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and The Black Hole (1979-2024) I always loved Moonraker, Time After Time, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and The Black Hole so much from 1979. Moonraker along with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Black Hole are the most underappreciated sci-fi films of all time, Time After Time with Malcolm McDowell was a great time travel film, and John Barry as well as Jerry Goldsmith both did brilliant music scores for Moonraker, The Black Hole, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Moonraker along with Time After Time, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and The Black Hole are all way more better films than any Star Wars film made after 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, I stand by my thoughts that The Empire Strikes Back from 1980 was the last excellent Star Wars film ever made by Irvin Kershner, and Star Wars as a Franchise was never the same when Gary Kurtz left in 1980.
Loved the film back in the day ,79 (?) my friends preferred other movies of the time, the newly reinvigorated Star Trek film, but I always liked this.... As a adult I was surprised to see it was a Disney movie.... It sure didn't/hasn't had the lavish DVD restoration (I think), it's rarely on TV (UK) and seems to almost be erased from the Disney cannon.....
+Steven Stratton i prefered this to star trek myself back than. didnt care for star trek the first one in fact not untill wrath of khan dis i even start getting interested in the star trek world myself.
I was there in 1979 to catch the last two movie overtures on the big screen: this and 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture'. Is that the Blaster Beam at the very end (2.15)? If so, another link between the two scores.
A little late however yes, as far as I know that is the Blaster Beam playing a role at the very end. I think I can hear it blended in very subtly throughout the track as well
so apparently if you play the newly just released bluray edition on a BD drive - the overture is there, but on an actual bluray player, it's inaccessible (ugh Disney Home Video)
Jonathan Goeldner rumor has it that a replacement is in the works. The Disney club has an available date of 10.14.19 now so seems plausible. I think enough people complained about it.
El Abismo Negro juntamente con Condorman Bernardo y Bianca me gustan bastante por la música incidencias que conllevan al espectador a sentir la emoción y el drama que lo hacen vibrar y lo tienen al borde del asiento y lo hacen ser otro protagonista en el mismo filme y que bueno que existan películas como El Abismo Negro son lo mejor que hizo el Señor Walt Disney y le doy mi más sincero agradecimiento por hacernos felices con todas sus grandes creaciones Gracias Señor Disney desde MEXICO Baltazar CarmonaJuarez
The Black Hole ranks as one of favorite films. I hope they remake or reboot it. As for overtures this right up there with John Williams and Hans Zimmer.
Tolland huh? Too dark for a Disney flick? It already is a Disney flick. I will give you that it is dark for Disney. Like 'Something wicked this way comes' and 'The Black Cauldron' are dark Disney flicks. Both of which are fantastic by the way. But yeah, it's both Dark and Disney.
+橋爪萌 It certainly is a big tonal shift, going from this Williams-esque triumphal march to the dark, scary main theme. But in a way, that juxtaposition captures the strange nature of this movie well: it could never quite decide whether it was a dark adventure verging on horror, or a lighter action movie for the kids.
+Matt McIrvin I think this theme is as great as Williams`STAR WARS, if not better, because after all is epic Space Opera, it evokes very well heroic adventure as well an eerie sense of facing the unknown, kinda the impression that gives you the cover of the old sci-fi pulps
+橋爪萌 Actually, it has always reminded me more of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Simultaneously heroic and yet with a distinctly sinister air. Like the theme that immediately follows it, it tells you that the universe you are about to enter is much darker than either the cotton-candy Star Wars galaxy or the self-important Star Trek version. Around here, mistakes can get you killed- and so can human weaknesses, especially hubris. And paybacks are more that just a (rhymes with witch). We're not in Kansas any more, Toto.
Tweedle Bong though I grew up with both STAR WARS and STAR TREK, i deffinitely root for a Space adventure with the kind of approach of this one. FIREFLY was a great "Western" in Space, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was exciting but goofy, nothing wrong with both takings, but I think we need a Space Opera "with muscles", and some creepy flavor at the same time
Still love this film. I can still remember going to watch it at the pictures, and I really enjoyed it.There were some great sequences in it,although I thought the ending could have been a bit better, but the music was fantastic.
I've thought for years that the original Battlestar Galactica theme was actually written by John Barry. Of course the BG theme was written by Stu Phillips, supposedly. The problem is that the BG theme sounds _nothing_ like, Phillips' other scores - _Knight Rider,_ _The Fall Guy,_ or even _Buck Rodgers._ Whereas it sounds a _lot_ like some of John Barry's other scores. But why would Barry compose a _Star Wars_ type of theme, and then just give it to an American colleague for use on an ABC _Star Wars_ ripoff? Well . . . I don't know, but look at the timing. The original _Star Wars_ exploded onto the scene in 1977, and suddenly every ambitious film composer wanted to score the next science fiction blockbuster. John Barry wasn't a sci-fi guy before that, or after that; but in '77-'78, he was probably already jotting down ideas for _Moonraker,_ so he thinks, hey, I'll give sci-fi a.try. So he signs up for _The Black Hole,_ does a great score - and watches as Disney's film is instantly forgotten, completely swamped by _Empire Strikes Back_ (John Williams again) and, ironically, _Moonraker,_ which was the highest-grossing Bond film ever. (All three films came out in 1979.) At that point - or more likely just before that, when everybody could more or less see the writing on the wall for _The Black Hole_ - Barry gives up on the idea of becoming the next John Williams. "I told my agent, prestige projects only; no more science fiction!" Barry might have told his drinking buddy Stu, as they quaffed Guinness in a faux-British pub on Sunset Boulevard. Stu, a grubby American TV composer, is unsympathetic. "What about me?" he grouses. "Glen's rushing out a new _Star Wars_ ripoff series on ABC, and he just asked me for a theme for it". (Stu Phillips, the "Stu" in this purely hypothetical conversation, was the go-to composer for Glen Larson, producer of the oroginal _Battlestar Galactica,_ which, amazingly, _also_ came out in 1979.) "Well, I've got this draft theme for the _Black Hole_ sequel, and _that's_ not going to happen," Barry points out. "Here, take it. _I'm_ never going to use it, so at least this way it'll do some good." So maybe that's how it happened. Just idle speculation; except for something interesting that happened in 2010. John Barry died in January 2011. Later that year, Intrada Records released a deluxe commemorative four-album set containing all the music Stu Phillips composed (supposedly) for _Battlestar Galactica._ This included a new, hi-def, all-digital, no-expenses-spared recording of the original _Battlestar Galactica_ theme, conducted by Stu Phillips himself. I can't remember the exact details (I looked this up a few years ago), but Phillips conducted that re-recording, in 2020, in a studio that was like a 90-minute drive from where the elderly John Barry was then living. (When he died in January 2011,he was in Oyster Bay, New York.) Nothing was made public at the time, and maybe nothing ever will. Compared to most composers, John Barry didn't care that much about getting proper credit. He famously kept coming back to work on the James Bond films even though Monty Norman took sole credit for the main James Bond Theme. So it _could_ be true. I'm not saying it _is_ true. But I like the idea of Phillips trying to convince the dying Barry that they should come clean about who really wrote it . . . Barry just tells him not to worry and enjoy his royalties . . . and Phillips setting up that session just to pay respect to his friend, conducting a personal command performance of Barry's own work, to an appreciative audience - of one. Who knows, it could be true.
@@donweatherwax9318 If it were true it would be an incredible departure from Barry's other works around the same time: 'The Black Hole', 'Moonraker' and 'Raise the Titanic'. Those three sound so similar that if you've heard one then you either instantly recognize the other two as Barry's work or you highly suspect that they are. The 'Battlestar Galactica' theme is so different from those three that I'd never imagine that John Barry had anything to do with it.
@@blazerocker1734 I agree with you about the other two films, but I personally think the _BG_ theme is somewhat reminiscent of the "Overture" of _TBH,_ though it's hardly a slam dunk. My half-baked "theory" (if you can even call it that) owes more to the _BG_ theme's total (IMO) _dissimilarity_ to any of Phillips' other themes. But that's not much to hang a theory on; in fact, it seems to just be how these "one-hit wonders" often work. I mean, what other song by Modern English resembles "I Melt With You"? And I could come up with a dozen other similar examples; sometimes an artist just gets a one-time random inspiration.
@@donweatherwax9318 After another listen I see what you're saying. This overture doesn't sound like Barry's following work. Could be he just got in a groove with 'The Black Hole', 'Moonraker' and 'Raise the Titanic'. I'm going to have to admit my lack of experience with much of his prior work so I really can't say if this overture was typical for him.
You say you loved it? Okay you definitely need to see crocodile Dundee 2, any questions you have about the relationship will be answered with an all new adventure .....Great reaction guys :-)
Thanks for putting these up, as much as I enjoyed the film as a child I enjoy the music now. Great stuff. It does amuse me how a subtle James Bond soundtrack seems to slightly bleed through many of these pieces.
So much better than Frozen and this song sounds like Star Wars but a bit different, Sci-fi movies from the late 70s and early 80s are the best like E.T, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Alien, Star Wars and The Black Hole great classics!
Martys theory of this Overture; John Barry is given the task of composing the score for a WWII film 'Force 9 fromTwickenham'. Film is never made, Barry is asked to do a Disney Sci-Fi trying to cash in on the Star Wars gravy train and pulls this out of his files for a quick buck (or pound being English). I do like this music but always invokes images of a commando raid with John Mills and David Niven.
Always loved this music. This was the last movie to be released with an overture that played before the movie proper began. I always thought this wold be good "play on" music for a concert, ya know, like the music that plays over the PA to herald the band's arrival on stage.
@bumblebert ....Thx for your response, but i would like to add that there was a CD released in 1990 "Fantastic Journey"; a collection of themes of SF movies. Tracks 4 & 5 are a pretty good rendition of the Black Hole..Track 5: "Through the Black Hole (SFX), has some terrific sound effects included, but not from the film. I actually thought this was the bonus track...that's why i was asking..Thx again.
That's called a "blaster beam". It's a musical instrument with a long wire inside a tube. It saw use in this movie and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".
Estoy un tanto molesto con You tuve porque cuando deseo ver un video me ponen estúpidos mensajes comerciales que no me interesan en lo absoluto háganme el favor de no ponerme comerciales sobre vacaciones o el mal mentado buen fin gracias
WOW...it's finally released on CD...the complete score..gonna get it soon. Thx for the preview...but where's track 24 "In Through and Beyond". I bought the LP back in 1980...and it's all scratched up from endless playback. Now, on CD it wil never get scratched up unless i spill pizza on the thing..LOL!
