An Earth exploratory ship, the USS Palomino, discovers a black hole with a lost ship, the USS Cygnus, just outside its event horizon. Deciding to solve the mystery of the Cygnus are: the Palomino's Captain, Dan Holland; his First Officer, Lieutenant Charlie Pizer; journalist Harry Booth; scientist and ESP-sensitive Dr. Kate McCrae, whose father was the Cygnus's First Officer; Dr. Alex Durant, the expedition's civilian leader; and the robot known as V.I.N.CENT. The Palomino attempts a dangerous fly-by of the darkened ship. As they come within close range of it, the buffeting they experience (due to the black hole's gravity) suddenly ceases. They bring more instruments to bear on the derelict, but do not even realize the gravity-free zone is artificial; slipping outside it, they are almost drawn into the black hole, an abyss from which no one can escape. Matters worsen when Reinhardt holds the crew captive, after realizing that they can help him reach his goal. The squad must now figure...Written by
Anthony Pereyra {hypersonic91@yahoo.com}
When the film was broadcast on ITV in the UK in the late 1980s during the daytime. There is a scene removed: after it cuts from Reinhart on the mountain-top in Hell, the removed sequence is of an angel is flying through the arches, the to the Palamino crew heading to an unidentified planet having apparently survived. See more »
Goofs
When Vincent first head butts into Maximillian's torso, you see visible scratches in the maroon paint revealing the fiberglass beneath. In the following shots the scratches are gone. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
V.I.N.CENT:
[beep]
2130; day 547. Unscheduled course correction due at 2200. Pre-correction check: rotation axis plus three degrees. Nitrous oxide pressure: 4100 rising to 5,000. Quad jet C and D on preselect. Rotor ignition sequence beginning in 3-0. Thruster line reactors on standby.
Captain Dan Holland:
V.I.N.CENT, notify me with 15 to go. Alex?
Dr. Alex Durant:
Yes, Dan?
Captain Dan Holland:
Have you determined a difference in ETAs with and without our correction?
Dr. Alex Durant:
Working on it. You know, we shouldn't be needing a correction at this time. V.I.N.CENT, ...
[...] See more »
Alternate Versions
A broadcast of The Black Hole on daytime British television in the mid-eighties omitted the scene of the Angel flying through the arches, instead cutting from Maximillian on the mountain-top in Hell to the shot of the Palamino crew heading for the unidentified planet, having apparently survived. See more »
Not only is The Black Hole beautifully made from a technical aspect, it has marvelous performances. Robert Forester (Jackie Brown), Anthony Perkins (Psycho), Ernest Borgnine, Maximillian Schell. It does get a little campy but it is a Disney movie after all and it can be forgiven its attempts at comic relief. This is a very unlikely sort of film for Disney, were it made today it would have been made under the Miramax header rather than Disney, and like another unlikely Disney film, Tron, it is tragically underrated. The special effects and set design are breathtaking, but it is the script which is the best part. The ending is one of the most surreal and haunting in any science fiction film (and especially bold for a Disney film) The characterizations are wonderful and the robots, especially Maximillian (in my book the greatest cinematic robotic villain to date), are unforgettable.
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Not only is The Black Hole beautifully made from a technical aspect, it has marvelous performances. Robert Forester (Jackie Brown), Anthony Perkins (Psycho), Ernest Borgnine, Maximillian Schell. It does get a little campy but it is a Disney movie after all and it can be forgiven its attempts at comic relief. This is a very unlikely sort of film for Disney, were it made today it would have been made under the Miramax header rather than Disney, and like another unlikely Disney film, Tron, it is tragically underrated. The special effects and set design are breathtaking, but it is the script which is the best part. The ending is one of the most surreal and haunting in any science fiction film (and especially bold for a Disney film) The characterizations are wonderful and the robots, especially Maximillian (in my book the greatest cinematic robotic villain to date), are unforgettable.