Universe

1976 Documentary 27 minutes Directed by Lester Novros

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About Universe

William Shatner narrates Lester Novros's NASA short as it moves from the solar system out through the lives of stars. Smaller stars blow off their outer layers and leave white dwarfs. Larger ones explode as supernovas and leave neutron stars. The largest collapse into black holes. The asteroid belt is shown as nearly empty, one rock at a time. The close poses two ends: if expansion goes on, every star goes dark; if gravity stops it, the universe falls back on itself.

Cast & crew

More about Universe

Novros wrote, directed, and produced the 27-minute short for NASA. Graphic Films made it. NASA distributed it, and Benchmark Films is also listed as a distributor. David Elliott edited. The images mix NASA footage with cel animation, matte paintings, and miniatures.

Themes

  • scale from planets to galaxies
  • how stars die
  • an empty asteroid belt
  • expansion or collapse
  • NASA
  • stars
  • supernova
  • black hole
  • asteroid belt
  • narration

Making

Novros's Graphic Films shop built the picture for NASA from animation and agency footage rather than from a staged story.

Look

Ray Bloss and James Connor shot the live material. The cosmic passages are cel animation, matte paintings, miniatures, and NASA footage.

Music

Paul Novros composed the score under Shatner's narration.

Preservation

The short survives, including a copy on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 49th Academy Awards in 1977. Number Our Days won.
  • Paul Novros wrote the music. Ray Bloss and James Connor are the cinematographers.
  • Shatner narrates without playing a character. The film is not the 1960 National Film Board of Canada short of the same title.
  • A line of narration says that if expansion continues, the light of every star will in time be extinguished and the galaxies will disappear into infinite darkness.

Scenes

  • A single rock stands in for the asteroid belt.
  • Stars of different masses end as a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (Universe (1976).webm)

Quotes

If it continues to expand indefinitely, the light of every star will in time be extinguished, and the galaxies will disappear into infinite darkness.