There are very few landmark films in the history of science fiction that don't have a robot-in-residence. Fritz Lang's silent classic Metropolis (1926) featured an erotic robotrix; The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) presented the menacing robot policeman Gort; Robby the Robot shared star billing in Forbidden Planet (1956). Since then, we've been treated to the talking ship's computers of TV's Star Trek and 2001. A Space Odyssey (1968), the diminuitive "droids" of Silent Running (1972), the robotic Laurel and Hardy act of R2-D2 and C-3PO in Star Wars (1977) and the evil robot Ash of Alien (1979). But no previous SF production can hold an electric candle to the variety and sheer number of robots to be found in <>The Black Hole, Walt Disney Studio's $20-million entry in the field of big-budget science fiction.
Perched on the lip of the fearful power of The Black Hole is the USS Cygnus, a half-mile long spaceship ruled over by the mad genius Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell) – and populated by one of the most varied collections of robotic characters to ever grace the screen. The sinister, all-powerful Maximillian; Vincent, well mannered and heroic servant of the crew of the exploratory ship Palomino; Old Bob, Vincent's timid but loyal friend; a full compliment of sentry robots; and the mysterious humanoids (which, in the final analysis, are not robots at all). The Black Hole has them all. Robots that think. Robots that don't think. Robots that rule. Robots that serve. Robots that hate. And robots that love.
Like any other film, The Black Hale is a collective work resulting from the sustained efforts of many talented individuals. The Walt Disney Studios have long been recognized as having one of the top special-effects teams in the industry; their work on The Black Hole will in no way diminish that reputation. Peter Ellenshaw, veteran matte painter (and world-renowned as a landscape artist), is the film's production designer and director of special effects. But the imaginative design and variety of the film's mechanical men fell to two other veterans of Disney Studios – robot designer George McGinnis and Danny Lee, the film's director of mechanical effects.
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