''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 film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...
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 versa ...
. 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
''Space Station 3D'' (simply known as ''Space Station'' in 2D format) is a 2002 Canadian-American 3D short documentary film about the International Space Station written, produced, edited and directed by Toni Myers. Narrated by Tom Cruise, it ...
'' film making team, led by producer/director
Toni Myers
Toni Myers (29 September 1943 – 18 February 2019) was a Canadian film editor, writer, director, and producer, best known for her 3D IMAX work. Her most recent film was 2016's '' A Beautiful Planet''.
Selected filmography
*'' Blue Planet'' (1990 ...
. ''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
The Helix Nebula (also known as NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63) is a planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest of all the bright planetary neb ...
in the
constellation of Aquarius, the ''
Pillars of Creation
''Pillars of Creation'' is a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, in the Serpens constellation, some from Earth. These elephant trunks had been discovered by Jo ...
'' in the
Eagle Nebula
The Eagle Nebula (catalogued as Messier 16 or M16, and as NGC 6611, and also known as the Star Queen Nebula) is a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745–46. Both the "Eagle" ...
, the
Andromeda Galaxy
The Andromeda Galaxy (IPA: ), also known as Messier 31, M31, or NGC 224 and originally the Andromeda Nebula, is a barred spiral galaxy with the diameter of about approximately from Earth and the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way. The gala ...
, 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
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) is a state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale computer infrastructure that advances research, science and engineering based in the United States. NCSA operates as a ...
.
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
STS-61 was the first NASA Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, and the fifth flight of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission launched on 2 December 1993 from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The mission restored the spacebor ...
(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, Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''.
The launch of ...
(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 Wang ...
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 review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
reports a score of 79 out of 100 from 13 critical reviews, indicating 'generally favorable reviews.'
''New York Times'' critic
Neil Genzlinger
Neil Genzlinger is an American playwright, editor, book reviewer, and theatre and television critic who frequently writes for ''The New York Times''.
Family
Genzlinger is a grandson of the late '' The Philadelphia Bulletin'' columnist Don Rose. ...
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
*
*
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