If you watched every single science fiction movie released between December 1979 and December 1984, you would have been confused. Not only did many of these sci-fi films kinda look similar, but they sounded somewhat similar, too. 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) both tried to assert that pew-pew Star Wars action was out, and ponderous, slow-moving space mysteries were in. After adding some massive starships and a dash of ominous music, complete with a cosmic BRAAAM, the recipe was complete. And on December 21, 1979, the there was the strangest Disney movie of all: The Black Hole.
But just like 2010 and The Motion Picture are very different movies once you get down to the details, The Black Hole is also a vintage sci-fi snowflake. It’s long been derided and mocked for its tonal incongruity and scientific inaccuracies, but lurking underneath its problems is a great movie that’s quite literally one of a kind. Forty-five years after its release, it's worth another look.
