Posted by boyo on Feb 9, 2011 20:10 (Feb 9, 2011 20:10)
The beauty of writing for a retro site is that with such a title, its writers are not confined to exploring a single retro genre. Some retro fanzines and sites limit its reading audience to a single theme such gaming or emulators or a single computing/console platform. With Retro Fusion we can explore a bit more of our past and what made it such an enjoyable, nostalgic, retro place to be.
So lets go back to the cinemas of yesteryear, sit back, relax and with the obligatory popcorn in one hand and pepsi in the other, it’s movie time…
In 1977 a certain film called “Star Wars” was released onto an un-suspecting public and effectively overnight redefined the standard for SCI-FI movies. Star Wars was at the time groundbreaking and gave us something we had not seen before. Sure it was in the tradition of those old matinee serials like “Flash Gordan” but Star Wars was directed in such a way that made it unique, fresh, dynamic and different to the tested formula of the 1950’s space opera movies that came before it.
Roll forward a couple of years to 1979 and Disney released it’s own SCI-FI film called “The Black Hole”. This was a movie made specifically to cash in on the Star Wars craze at the time and featured a list of talented, well known acting talent such as the like’s off Anthony Perkins, Ernest Borgnine and Maximilian Schell. With a huge budget and the name “Disney” behind it, how could it possibly fail?
In 1979 I was an impressionable 9 year-old that played with my tonka toys in between watching episodes of Dr Who and Planet of The Apes on the TV. For whatever reason Star Wars passed me by without even a blip on the radar screen. Now the reason for this maybe because I was only 7 at the time and therefore too young to appreciate the enormity and popularity of the film or the fact that I lived in the sticks in West Wales, the nearest cinema being 20 miles away featuring films some 12 months after their premiere else where. Anyway Star Wars was a movie that other kids had seen at the cinema, over 10 times I recall in some cases, but not me.
So there I was innocently watching Blue Peter on the family TV and a feature presented on the show that evening was on a new film by Disney called “The Black Hole”. Now being a young lad, everything done by Disney was a big deal. There was no VHS, DVD or even Video2000 at that time so no home versions of any of the Disney movies existed. Unless you went to the cinema to watch the Disney classics, the only main exposure you got of the films was on the Bank Holiday weekend compilation TV programs that entertained you with a couple of minutes of action from a number of the many Disney backlog of films.
My fist reaction to seeing the clips from “The Black Hole” was pretty conclusive. I was hooked. The film featured space, spaceships, robots, good guys, mean baddies and a stirring soundtrack. I had to see it!!
“The Black Hole” came to the nearby shopping town some 6 months after my first knowledge of it. During the 6-months build up to that point I had collected an enormous amount of memorabilia items for the film including figurines, colouring books, chewing gum cards and even pyjamas (more about the Disney Black Hole merchandise machine later). So my anticipation for the film was at an all time high as I walked into the local cinema with my father for the Saturday matinee. I remember being in the up stair stalls looking down at rows and rows of cinemagoers below. The cinema was a one-stage affair with long golden curtains covering the screen ahead. The film had attracted a packed out audience.
I can't remember much about it except I really wanted one of those cute flying robots. The film didn't really have much impact on the 6 year old me compared to James Bond and Star Wars.
Absolutely love this film. As a similarly impressionable 7 yr old in 1979 I remember first seeing The Black Hole at the cinema in Cardiff - an annual treat which I looked forward to all year long!
At the time, Disney was very much the "cutesy, kid-friendly, wrap 'em up in cotton-wool" stalwart that it still shows signs of today - but it had yet to grow any gonads. It simply didn't cater to the "older kids" / teen market... until this film came out.
The Black Hole's soundtrack alone is enough to give any under-10 sleepless nights, so imagine the relentless insomnia I experienced after an hour and a half of MAXIMILLIAN.... who is surely one of the all time greatest screen villains, and hearltessly under-rated and overlooked he is too!
In these more grown up Disney days that gives us Tron Legacy, we shouldn't forget that 30 years ago it was a gutsy move to end a Disney film in the flaming depths of Hell itself.... no Mickey Mouse required.
Mar 8, 2011 22:39:39 (
Mar 8, 2011 22:39
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. Anyone else? 
