''Hubble'' (also known as ''Hubble 3D'', ''IMAX: Hubble'', or ''IMAX: Hubble 3D'') is a 2010 American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
about
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
missions to repair and upgrade the
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ver ...
. It is narrated by the actor
Leonardo DiCaprio.
Content
''Hubble 3D'' is an IMAX and Warner Bros. Pictures production, in cooperation with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The film reunites the 2002 documentary ''
Space Station 3D'' film making team, led by producer/director
Toni Myers. ''Hubble 3D'' opened at IMAX and IMAX 3D theaters on March 19, 2010.
The film takes the viewer past
Saturn's aurora, the
Helix Nebula in the
constellation of Aquarius, the ''
Pillars of Creation'' in the
Eagle Nebula, the
Andromeda Galaxy, and the
Butterfly Nebula. The HST has provided data and imagery so detailed that scientists and film technicians have been able to put viewers "inside" the images during two extended
CGI fly-throughs. In one sequence, gaseous clouds billow while million-mile-an-hour stellar winds blow through a cloud canyon in the
Orion Nebula some 90 trillion miles across. These data-driven animations were created by the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Advanced Visualization Laboratory at the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Filming
Footage seen within the movie was compiled from multiple sources, including IMAX cameras taken into space on Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Missions by the Space Shuttle. This allowed the camera to shoot footage of the satellite close-up and during maintenance. IMAX cameras were taken to the Hubble Space Telescope on
STS-61 (Servicing Mission 1 in December 1993) and on
STS-125
STS-125, or HST-SM4 (Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4), was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the last solo flight of the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''.
The launch of the Space Shuttle ''Atl ...
(Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009) which carried an IMAX 3D camera. The IMAX 3D camera contained a mile of film, though this allowed for only 8 minutes 30 seconds of footage to be recorded.
Critical reception
The film has received positive reviews. Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
reports that 86% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 37 reviews, giving the film a positive review. The site's consensus reads "Offering a stunning, expansive viewing experience, ''Hubble 3D'' takes advantage of IMAX and 3-D technology like no other film." Review aggregation website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
reports a score of 79 out of 100 from 13 critical reviews, indicating 'generally favorable reviews.'
''New York Times'' critic
Neil Genzlinger largely concurred, but added "... such ponderous, cliché-heavy narration. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers it, which might lead you to expect something moderately hip; instead it’s that same old leaden drone, which back when space flight was new perhaps conveyed suitable awe but these days just makes you feel as if you’re in a junior-high civics class."
References
External links
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Hubble's Last Visit To Be Relived in 3-D
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubble 3D
2010 films
Documentary films about the space program of the United States
Hubble Space Telescope
IMAX short films
Warner Bros. films
2010 3D films
American documentary films
2010 documentary films
American 3D films
3D short films
Films directed by Toni Myers
IMAX documentary films
Documentary films about outer space
Films scored by Maribeth Solomon
Films scored by Micky Erbe
3D documentary films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films