I won't be able to check out my new THE BLACK HOLE DVD for a day or two, so I'm curious if someone can assuage the following fears:

1) Does the new BLACK HOLE disc from Buena Vista Home Video retain the overture section as featured on the old Anchor Bay disc's widescreen presentation of the film, or does it just go right into the opening credits?

2) Are there any (and, as an anal collector, I mean ANY) differences, no matter how slight, between the trailer on the Anchor Bay disc and the so-called extended trailer on the new Buena Vista version?

3) When the Anchor Bay version was first released, it had problems with a dead surround channel, which was later rectified--does the new Buena Vista version retain that original mastering defect, or does it use the corrected audio mix? I don't trust the review sites like DVDFile on this issue because they've all overlooked countless audio glitches with past DVD releases before...

Thanks!

More information here:

According to the thread, the overture is present.

The differences in trailers are not discussed as far as I can tell.

The 5.1 audio issue is mentioned but I don't think there is confirmation that it is fixed on the Disney release, however the reviewer gave the audio a reasonably good grade, and I would think they would have noticed a missing channel ... but not 100% confirmed.

Is the new release anamorphic? I know the Anchor Bay version wasn't.

yes.

i seem to remember going to the theater and seeing a teaser trailer for this film that only featured the green grid- no movie scenes.

the trailer that was on the AB disc, iirc, started out the same as the teaser but then included scenes from the film-

the 'extended trailer' according to the reviewer on HTF does include the grid and the scenes from the film, so it could very well be the same trailer on the AB disc.

Other than the new transfer, are there any differences between this release and the Anchor Bay version? And is it a whole new transfer, or simply an anamorphic encoding of the Anchor Bay transfer?

Edit: I just realized the Anchor Bay release doesn't have the documentary. For some reason, I thought it did. Looks like I'm going to be upgrading. This was a childhood favortie of mine -- I even had Black Hole wallpaper in my bedroom!

watched mine last night. it's a great version. haven't checked out the doc yet, but i will do so very soon.

Okay, I ended up being lucky and was able to check my copy last night. The answers to my own questions (for anyone who shared them) are:

1) The overture still exists, but the still frame of a starfield that the overture music played over on the Anchor Bay disc has been replaced with a title card reading THE BLACK HOLE (in white) OVERTURE (in red), over a black background. Frankly, I prefered the way Anchor Bay did it, because the new title card looks too "new" somehow, but it's a tiny gripe.

2) There is absolutely no difference in any way, shape or form between the two trailers as offered on the Anchor Bay and Buena Vista discs...in fact, they're even both 1.33:1.

3) I don't have the most rock-n-roll audio setup on the planet, but to my ears, audio appeared to be originating from all speakers, so this seems to good-to-go.

Do be aware--anyone looking to change discs will sacrifice only a dull and short still gallery on the Anchor Bay disc, but will pick up an anamorphic version of the film and a new documentary on the Buena Vista disc. Usually, I won't part with any disc if it has an exclusive extra, but even someone as anal as me won't suffer if I part with the rinky-dink still gallery on the Anchor Bay disc, so away the old disc goes...

Thanks for what help was offered...

Thanks for answering the questions, I will pick this up today. I didnt own the old version and havent seen this film in years so am looking forward to a bit of nostalgia

Too bad they didn't include any deleted scenes on this (the android funeral, I think, was the one I remember reading about in Starlog years ago). Of course, the elements might not exist, but I'd say Disney simply couldn't be bothered.

There were deleted scenes? yeah its a shame they weren't included.