The Black Hole (1979)

Barely remembered now, this big-budget space opera was an enormous hit when it was released in 1979, spawning a plethora of consumer memorabilia along with both an adult and a children's novel, and level-pegging with 'Alien' for cinema audience ratings. With an all-star cast including Robert Forster, Yvette Mimieux, Maximillian Schell, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, it won two Academny Awards and remains one of the highest-grossing movies of the 1970s.

In the year 2130, the deep-space research ship USS 'Palomino' is returning to Earth after a routine mission, when it is alerted to the existence of a previously undetected Black Hole and ordered to use it's zero-gravity generators to fly in close and gather data on the newly discovered entity. Upon doing so, the astonished crew find the long-lost USS 'Cygnus' hovering on the edge of the hole- undamaged and in superb condition, this magnificent mile-long vessel had disappeared decades previously under the command of the brilliant scientist Dr.Max Reinhardt, and has become the stuff of space legend ever since. The father of one 'Palomino' crew member Dr.Kate McCrae, was lost along with the rest of the crew of 100 when the mighty 'Cygnus' vanished. The crew soon make contact with this inter-stellar Flying Dutchman and are welcomed aboard by Dr.Reinhardt himself- much older but charming, hospitable and eager to show his visitors around. But all is far from well- Reinhardt's menacing robot bodyguard Maximillian is a sinister presence, the 'Cygnus's human crew have all vanished to be replaced by submissive cowled technicians in faceless metal masks, and Reinhardt himself is obsessed with the theory that Black Holes may be the gateway to parallel Universes. And he means to make the 'Cygnus' the first vessel to fly through one....

Roddy McDowall provides the voice of the 'Palomino's irritating robot technician V.I.N.Cent (a floating pedal-bin with a smug demeanour). Made by Disney, this was their first film not to be released under the Universal label due to some mild swearing content.