WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: The Black Hole 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.400 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:14.880 Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.480 This is Rob Lamb, and this is Joe McCormick. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.280 Today's film is I guess, kind of a convergence of things. Joe, 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.680 you were wanting to cover another film that comes in 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.200 the wake of Star Wars nineteen seventy seven. Star Wars, 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:31.000 so many films angle in for a slice of that success. 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.520 Well, yet there are so many films you could call 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:38.040 Star Wars ripoffs. I think it's kind of interesting to 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.680 study the many different ways that one can rip off 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.800 Star Wars. Sort of a genre of study within its 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:49.280 own Star Wars ripoff studies. But I'd say, of most 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.920 of the movies we've watched that have come out in 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.760 the wake of Star Wars to ride on its coattails 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:58.360 for marketing purposes, this one is one of the least 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.000 like Star Wars in terms of narrative content. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.040 Yeah, yeah, this is This was Disney's answer to Star Wars. 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.120 Now Disney's answer to Star Wars thirty three years later 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.959 would be just to buy lucasfilm pretty much. But at 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.200 the time you can kind of get a sense of 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.960 the swagger here. It's like, oh, Star Wars has done 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.800 very well, but you know, we're we're We're the Walt 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:26.160 Disney Company. We've got imagineers, gosh darn it, and you 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.320 should see the kinds of things that they can design. 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.720 We've got this long history with with TV and film. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.320 Let us take a crack at this general area, at 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.480 this this kind of science fiction, and you know, I 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:41.639 bet we can create something that will connect just as well, 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:43.240 if not better, with the audience. 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.160 Now, that didn't quite come about, but I do think 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:48.800 what they produced is interesting, if not quite on the 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:50.000 level of Star Wars. 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:54.520 I agree. I agree. This is a film that I 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.360 remember quite fondly from my own childhood. I drew a 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:02.000 lot of like crayon at of the robots from this 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.440 film back in the day, especially Maximilian, who will describe 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.240 here in a bit. But I do have to stress 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:10.480 as well that while I saw this film, and I 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:13.400 guess maybe it was like you know, VHS rentals or something, 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:15.920 or maybe they would occasionally show it on TV or something, 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.320 but my main connection with the film was not from 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.480 the movie itself, but from the twenty four page read 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.639 along book and record that was put out with this 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.119 that I have, and I think my mom probably still 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:30.520 has a copy of this, but just a little flip 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.040 book and it comes with a little record that you 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.200 play and it reads along and has all these sound 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:36.280 effects from the movie. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:38.680 Well wait, so if it's a record, does it play 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.040 that scary string theme? 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.480 I think so. Yeah. Like when I was rewatching the 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.840 movie for this episode, and it's the first time I've 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.919 seen the black Hole in Gosh, I mean at least 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:53.600 ten years, probably much longer, the music instantly resonated with me. 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.000 So yes, it definitely had some of the score on there. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.799 I've actually never seen it before. This was my first time, 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.080 though you've talked, You've made reference to it a number 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:05.200 of times, and listeners have written in recommending we cover it, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:10.480 so this is partially a listener suggested episode from multiple listeners. 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:12.840 But I was kind of surprised to find that in 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.680 a way, despite this being a movie from nineteen seventy nine, 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.680 it is a very traditional, almost old fashioned space adventure 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:26.040 movie where a crew of astronauts with defined roles encounter 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.840 something frightening deep in the heart of space. Except it 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.400 was made in the late seventies with at the time, 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:36.760 cutting edge special effects, especially computer effects, and the thing 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.360 the astronauts encounter is not a spaceship full of green aliens, 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.080 but a black hole, which of course is a real 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.839 type of object in the universe. Still mysterious and awe 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.960 inspiring today, but at the time it would have been 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.360 a much more recent entry into the public consciousness, a 0:03:54.400 --> 0:04:00.160 more baffling and unfamiliar concept to the general audiences. And 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:04.400 in fact, the original trailer for the movie spends almost 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.000 the entire trailer basically just explaining the concept of a 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.600 black hole to the audience, like, isn't this scary? 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.160 Yeah, I mean, if not for the fact that there's 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.800 a big budget picture, it's almost like black hole black 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.280 hole exploitation cinema, right, just getting in there first to 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.279 capitalize on it, but then also, yeah, having to do 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.480 the legwork of explaining why this is important now. 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.880 I sort of couldn't help but compare this film to 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.080 some other ones. One that kept coming to mind to 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.200 contrast with The black Hole is Tron, which came out 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.559 three years later in nineteen eighty two, maybe because both 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:40.599 films made use of what were at the time cutting 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:45.680 edge and what were considered very impressive computer effects, though 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:50.840 I think Tron's computer effects are able to establish a 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:55.160 more unique visual style than the computer effects in this movie, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.400 which I do really like some of the visual effects 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.960 in the black Holes more than others, And the computer 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.240 effects in The black Hole, really I think are just 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.280 they're not very exciting to modern audiences. 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.880 No, but certainly there are a lot of shots in 0:05:11.920 --> 0:05:14.560 the film that are really beautiful and colorful to look at. 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.440 I don't think i'd seen black Hole in this quality 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.960 before you streamed it off Disney Plus one of the 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.120 main places to watch it these days. So a lot 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:26.680 of the time I was just watching the screen, just 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.760 really taking in these beautiful like I kept thinking about Epcot. 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.360 You know, it's like you can see the imagineer's fingerprints 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:37.040 on this picture. You know, there's a lot of gorgeous, 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:41.440 like seventies style to it. I think the comparison to 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.520 Tron is apt, except I would say infinitely more watchable 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.800 than Tron, like that, Tron really really goes after the 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:53.679 cutting edge special effects in a way that this film 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.240 thankfully doesn't. Like. One of the taglines for black Hole 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.960 is a place beyond man's vision, but not beyond his 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.520 reach and I feel like Tron is a movie beyond 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.160 man's reach, but not beyond his vision, you know, for 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:12.440 that period of filmmaking. I don't know, folks can disagree, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.880 but I have not been able to really get into 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:16.560 a rewatch of the original Tron. 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.479 Oh, that's interesting. I wonder I have, But I wonder 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.719 if it's mainly powered by nostalgia. It could be that's coloring. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.520 Another thing I would say that's a difference, though, is 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:30.680 that I think Trons is a little bit more quotable 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.520 and maybe has more compelling characters, or at least for 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:36.960 the first half of the movie or so with regards 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:40.040 to the black Hole, because after I picked this, I mean, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.120 I was enjoying watching it, but I'd say maybe not 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.800 the first half. The first third or so, I was 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.200 feeling a little disappointed because it seemed something about it 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.520 felt kind of sterile like, even though it had some 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.240 good visual effects, I thought the movie kind of was 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:59.160 kind of lacking in humanity and personality. And it got 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.880 a little bit better in that regard about a third 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.840 of the way in. And this kind of matched up 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:07.560 with something I'd been reading about how there were early 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.080 scenes in the movie that were cut that were basically 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:14.160 all character development scenes with our main characters, Like when 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.080 we start meeting them, essentially all they're doing is like 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.960 giving technobabble lines. They're on the ship saying like, you know, 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:24.000 shift to manual, coming up three point four degrees. Oh, 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:24.840 it's a black hole. 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:25.360 You know. 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.320 There's very little humanity in the beginning of the film, 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:29.440 or at least it seemed to me. 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.080 Yeah, it is. It's remarkably slow at the beginning, and 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.600 I'm I'm glad I wasn't watching it with my son 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.400 because I think I would have had to have done 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.880 a lot of handholding through the dryer portions leading up 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:44.440 to anything really cool going on. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.960 But I thought that once they actually get on board 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:52.120 the Reinhart's ship and they start kind of like noticing 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.240 all of the strange goings on there, it became a 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:56.360 lot more interesting to me. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.480 Yeah, because ultimately, like this film, it's interesting. This is 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.800 kind of the comparison to Star Wars is I think 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.640 essential in terms of the time period, But while Star 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.440 Wars is his sweeping adventure epic, this is more of 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.320 a haunted house movie in the same way that another 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.040 certainly more famous and successful science fiction movie, from the 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.960 same year was and that, of course is Ridley Scott's 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.640 Alien That was very much I've heard Scott and others 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.000 speak of it as a haunted house film, like that 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.600 was how they sort of put it together originally. So, yeah, 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:33.400 people wind up somewhere out in the Boonies, in this case, 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:35.600 near the edge of a black hole, and here's this 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.480 old Kookie house and there's an old Kookie man in it, 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:40.640 and Shenanigan's Unfold. 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:43.640 Another movie I couldn't help but compare The black Hole 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.920 too is the much later film from the late nineties, 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.959 Event Horizon, which in some ways seems to be a 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:54.560 low brow, R rated adaptation of Disney's The black Hole. 0:08:54.600 --> 0:09:00.240 Would you agree, Yeah, in some respects, certainly The black Hole, 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:03.920 but with maybe worse workplace dynamics. I'm not sure. Yeah, 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.120 there's some pretty bad workplace dynamics in this. We'll get 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:08.479 into when we get into spoilers. 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:13.400 But like the heaven hell things like the religious connotations 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.240 with the black Hole and somebody who wants to go 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.400 in to we have such sights to show you, well, 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.160 I guess that's hell Raiser, but we won't need eyes 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.800 to see where you're going. There's a lot of similar 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:26.640 stuff going on. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:32.320 Yeah, absolutely, yeah, Yeah, Event Horizon is a solid comparison. Now, 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:35.040 this is definitely one of those films. We talk about 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.719 a lot of B films on Weird House Cinema, but 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.840 we also talk about occasional blockbusters and higher budget films. 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:45.600 For sure. This one definitely is a selection that had 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.040 a heftier price tag. 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.319 And a haltier price tag attached to things that, as 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.400 I already said, but we'll stress again, don't look super 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:58.000 impressive when you see them today, not like they look bad. 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.640 They're just like very simple, because that's what computer graphics 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.559 were capable of at the time. And so I was 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:07.760 reading about this in an article for The New York 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.719 Times from December sixteenth, nineteen seventy nine by John Colhane 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.480 called The black Hole casts the computer as movie maker. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.360 So it begins by describing the opening credits of The 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:25.000 black Hole, in which we see a grid of green 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:28.000 lines intersecting so it looks like graph paper, you know, 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:32.800 it's just a flat square grid floating in space, and 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.880 then we zoom over it and then we realize there's 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.000 like a funnel in the middle of it. It's a 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.319 it's a hole and you plunge down into it. Colhane 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:45.120 writes computer graphics are expensive. Those seventy five seconds of 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.560 animated grid movement in The Black Hole costs Disney fifty 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.720 thousand dollars. Nevertheless, the fabulous success of Star Wars, a 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.440 movie costing eleven million dollars in nineteen seventy seven and 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:00.000 with worldwide grosses now exceeding four hundred and twenty million, 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:03.880 has inspired producers to loosen the purse springs for special 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:08.480 effects of all kinds. The black Hole, Disney's costliest movie ever, 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:13.080 which will run about twenty million dollars, and Paramounts Star 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:16.200 Trek the Movie, which cost forty million, are the two 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.640 most expensive productions to open in New York this Christmas. 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:22.640 Oh wow, you know that center. I never really thought 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.520 as much about Star Trek the movie being also something 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.599 that comes about in the wake of Star Wars and 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:29.760 because of Star Wars. 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.840 Oh yeah, I mean whether or not the movie itself 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.920 was a direct ripoff of Star Wars or was heavily 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.200 comparable to Star Wars in some way. I think a 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:42.040 lot of people secured funding for their movies by saying, like, 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.240 it'll be like Star Wars, it'll be that big of 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:45.319 a money maker. 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:47.560 Yeah, or just like the basic proof, it's like, look, 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:50.199 look what kind of money. Well, let me speak your language. 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.440 Look how much money a science fiction movie with the 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:57.000 with great effects can make. And you know that gets 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:58.679 through to the industry. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.160 So this article is of interesting if you want to 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:04.840 look it up, because it provides a snapshot of what 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:08.440 people were thinking was possible with computer effects in nineteen 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.319 seventy nine and talks about the idea far down the road. 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.520 They say it'll be a ways off, but the first 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:18.080 movie completely animated by computers, and it's obviously a very 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.120 exciting prospect to them. So but this is another example. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:23.560 I think this has even come up on the show 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:30.439 before about like early CGI being super compelling to people 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:34.080 at the time, but something that just has not aged 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.400 very well at all, Like it doesn't look that cool now. 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.160 I mean some of it does, but most of the 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.560 time it doesn't. But at the time people were just 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:45.000 in awe of it. And an example would be this 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.280 like grid of green squares that just looks like graph 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.560 paper and then eventually it turns into a funnel. That's 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.000 the black hole, you know, that's the bend in space 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.319 time caused by the singularity the and you get to 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.320 go down the hole. That's sounds pretty simple now, but 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.640 they originally had that made for a trailer for the 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:09.880 black Hole, which is essentially just explaining what a black 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.320 hole is, and then they were so impressed by it 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.920 they ended up using it in the movie itself, so 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.440 now it's the opening credits of the film as well. 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.520 I think one of the most interesting examples to sort 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.160 of put all this in the frame of reference for 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:30.200 where we are now is John Carpenter's Escape from New York, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.880 which has that computer. It seems to be a computer 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.679 animated like you know, readout of New York of Manhattan 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:41.600 in the opening of the film. It's made to look 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.800 like computer graphics, but it's not. It's an actual physical 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:48.320 model that they use like tape and contrast of dark 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:52.079 and light to create this effect. Because at the time 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.720 like this was the far more affordable way to go 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.720 about it is actually build the thing. Nowadays it's definitely 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.680 pushed on beyond that to the opposite. It's it's almost 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.640 always cheaper to create the digital version of it no 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:10.559 quality now standing, but still like to create the physical 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.960 version of a thing is generally far more expensive. 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.280 In the original Star Wars, there are a number of 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.440 animations that look like they're supposed to be computer screens 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.000 or computer animations, but they were actually done by hand, 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.000 like the targeting computer and the X Wing is an 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.680 effect done by hand, but it's made to look like 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:29.760 a computer effect. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.760 All right, well, do you do you have an elevator 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:34.160 pitch for this one? Oh? 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:36.480 I didn't think of one. What do Yeah, I don't know. 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:38.800 You go to space to find life, but sometimes you 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.000 just find a black hole. 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.280 I guess. I guess you could make some argument for 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:46.560 it's it's Captain Nemo or it's you know, Captain Ahab, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.800 one of the two in space. Strong elements of that. 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.800 Yes, definitely the Captain Nemo thing. Do you think that 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.720 Disney World was working on a ride tie in and 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.320 they just never did it? 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.200 If my memory is correct on this, I watched a 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:05.600 documentary about it. I believe Star Tours at Disney that ultimately, 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.400 you know, is a Star Wars themed ride. I believe 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.120 it was originally going to be a black hole ride 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.200 but oh and ended up not working out. And I 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.760 don't remember all the reasons there, but I mean, the 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.760 obvious reason would be, why have it themed around the 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:22.600 black hole when you could do Star Wars actual Star Wars. 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.520 Okay, should we hear some trailer audio, let's do it. 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:39.440 There is an inexorable force in the cosmos where time 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:46.440 and space converge, a place beyond Demand's mission watch not 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:51.160 to his reach, which is the most mysterious and awesome 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:51.680 point in the. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:16:00.920 Universe where they're here and now maybe forever. It is 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:11.120 unavoidable moving through space, swallowing everything in its power, radio waves, light, 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:13.600 even planets and stars. 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:27.480 Are you programmed to speak? Gravity is a maximum? Damn Like? 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:28.680 All right, I think it's got us. 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:31.960 We gotta way here too. 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:41.840 Now, man, it's about to enter the black Horn. 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:00.880 Journey that begins where everything end. 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.080 All right, well, let's let's go into that black hole. Now. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.320 If you want to watch the movie for yourself before 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.959 proceeding through the rest of the episode, well, it's widely 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:17.480 available Disney Plus subscribers. Subscribers will naturally find the film 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.840 there and after stay. Quality looks really great. I really 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:23.000 was drawn in by it. I wasn't expecting to be 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.679 as drawn in by the visuals of it. It has 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.200 also been released on DVD and Blu Ray as well, 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.560 if you prefer physical media or want to you know, 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.040 rent it at an actual rental store, if you have 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:44.479 one of those in your area. All Right, the people 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.399 who brought this film together, the main ones anyway, that 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.359 we tend to reference on the show. Let's start at 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.959 the top with the director. It's Gary Nelson, who lived 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.080 nineteen thirty four through twenty twenty two. Mostly known for 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:58.719 his TV work, but he worked on some pretty big 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.959 TV shows of the nineteen six followed by such films 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:05.400 as seventy three's San Tea, eighty one's Nighthawks, eighty two's 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:09.040 Jimmy the Kid, and eighty six's Alan Quatermain and The 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.400 Lost City of Gold, and also a number of TV 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:16.120 movies in mini series as well. He was Judy Meredith's husband. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.399 We of course recently talked about her she was in 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.440 Queen of Blood. So that's the director. And then when 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.160 it comes to screenplay and story credits, they're three individuals referenced. 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:31.280 There's Jeb Rosebrook who lived nineteen thirty five through twenty eighteen, 0:18:31.400 --> 0:18:35.080 has a screenplay story credit. Mostly a TV writer, mostly Westerns, 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.639 wrote not one but two Kenny Rogers Gambler movies. 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:41.320 I didn't know that was the thing. They made Gambler 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:42.680 movies after the song. 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:45.200 Oh yeah, there was a whole I forget how many, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.520 but there's like a whole franchise of Kenny Rogers the 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.639 Gambler movies. I don't think I've ever seen them, but 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.680 like I remember seeing the TV ads for them, because 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:57.359 they're going to play the Gambler in the ads, of course, 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.280 and you can't help but pipe up and start watching 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:03.720 the trailer, and then you know. I never watched them, though. 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:05.439 I don't know if I've done my bit on the 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.719 Gambler on the show before, but I've always found that 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.359 song to beat the Poker advice is not specific enough. 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:14.960 You gotta know when to hold him and know when 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.159 to fold them. Yeah duh. Like what are the rules 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:19.919 for when to hold him and when to fold. 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.720 Him, or when when to walk away, when to run? 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:23.920 I don't know. I guess he's saying, like, I can't 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.680 teach you to do this. It's all gut instant. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:29.160 But that's not advice. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.640 He's just a gambler. He's not a teacher. Yeah, all right. 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:38.560 Another story credit is just a story credit goes to 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.840 Bob Barbash who lived nineteen nineteen through nineteen ninety five. 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.760 Once again, mostly TV, mostly Westerns, but in this case 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.159 no Gambler movies, Bummer. So you might be wondering, what 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:53.320 does anybody in this have any like sci fi genre history. 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.160 Yes there is one, and that is Richard H. Landau 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.280 who lived nineteen fourteen through nineteen ninety as a screenplay 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:04.119 story credit, a writer with credits going back to the 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:06.840 early forties, and certainly there are a bunch of Westerns 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.320 in there because that was the time period, but also 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:12.920 the nineteen fifty three sci fi movie Space Ways directed 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:17.560 by Terrence Fisher, fifty five's The Quartermass Experiment, fifty seven's 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:22.160 Pharaoh's Curse, fifty eight's Frankenstein nineteen seventy and he also 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.040 wrote one episode of the original Outer Limits series. After that, 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.480 it's mostly TV credits, but it includes episodes of The 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:34.200 Six Million Dollar Man, The Incredible Hulk, and nineteen eighties Beyond. 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.280 Westworld, Pacific Ocean World. 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.119 All right, getting into the cast at the right at 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:47.200 the top playing doctor hanns ryin Hart, our deranged Black 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:52.200 Hole Scientists, basically our Captain Nemo character for the flick 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:56.640 is Maximilian Shell, who lived nineteen thirty through twenty fourteen, 0:20:56.840 --> 0:21:00.159 Austrian born Swiss actor whose family fled the Nazis during 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:03.439 World War Two. His German and European credits go all 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:05.359 the way back to the mid nineteen fifties. I believe 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.080 his earliest film credits, Sons, Mothers and a General, actually 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:13.400 featured both Shell and Kloskinski in small roles as soldiers. 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:15.600 They're like way down in the cast, but they both 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.280 pop up there. He ascended in German language TV and cinema, 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:22.000 and then made the move to Hollywood and almost immediately 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.479 won an Academy Award for Best Actor in nineteen sixty 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:29.439 one's Judgment at Nuremberg. Subsequent credits include seventy fours, The 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:33.200 Odessa Phile, seventy seven's Cross of Iron, eighty one's The Chosen. 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.439 There's an nineteen eighty six Peter the Great mini series 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:40.960 and ninety two Stalin mini series, John Carpenter's Vampires and 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:43.360 Deep Impact, both of those from nineteen ninety eight. 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:46.040 He's in John Carpenter's Vampires. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.800 Who is he? In that he's like a Catholic church 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:58.639 representative who hires the Vampire Slayer James Woods. It's a 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.800 film I've only seen once. It's probably gonna remain at once. 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.080 Yeah, my god, I love John Carpenter. I could not 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:08.440 finish that movie. Just awful. 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:11.640 The book. The book was pretty good, as I recall, 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.440 it's based on a novel that's uh, that's pretty terrifying 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.520 in places. But the movie, yeah, I'm not not top 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:20.320 tier Carpenter. 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.239 But Maximilian shell is a is a great pick for 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:26.160 for this kind of villain. He's, uh, you know, he's 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:30.560 he's kind of complex. Uh, he is a little bit refined. 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.639 He's egotistical and of course you know, has has the 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:37.880 right touch of madness. He also he has he has 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:41.280 a good hair and beard for this role. He seems 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:43.480 like the sort of person who could have played resputant 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:44.159 if he needed to. 0:22:44.800 --> 0:22:47.000 Yeah, great wild to hear and beard in this and 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:48.560 just I think it. I mean, I don't want to 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:51.639 oversell it because it is what it is. In this film, 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.239