So Black Hole is officially being remade by Disney?

No, I definitely would not call The Black Hole a kid's movie...not that kid's can't enjoy it. Hell, when I was a kid I liked Logan's Run -- but that clearly was not a kid's movie either...

 

I definitely approve of a remake! I'd rather the story dealt more with the black hole itself and what it represented than the story of a mad scientist.

RAMA

 

I remember reading some online review of the movie where the writer goes into the film's religious symbolism says the Palimino represents the true path to god. Or some craziness...I mean...way too read much into a somewhat crappy movie.

Yvette Mimieux was not very appealling. NUMBER #4 RULE OF SCI-FI MOVIES: The chick has to be appealling.

Actually on some level THE BLACK HOLE was intriguing, because Star Wars revolutionized space fantasy by borrowing pop culture sources and making them seem fresh. THE BLACK HOLE, even though pretty dark, was a Forbidden Planet-esque 1950's throwback in structure. Star Wars was an intro to the future of sci-fi films; The Black Hole was kind of dated even before it was released.

 

What the frak, I don't even know what the ending is supposed to be!

I vaguely remember this movie...I must have fallen asleep...pretty sure Disney can do better...

 

I LOVE the Black Hole. Admittedly the cutesy robots have dated a lot but I was a big fan of VINCENT and BOB when I was a kid - and I loved the action figure line too. The opening scene when they first discover the derelict is my favourite - with a fair bit of science and that really somber music.

The crew would be more interesting if made more 3D like the crew in Firefly and Dr McCrae was meant to be a scientist but was pretty much just 'the girl'. She evidenced no real scientific knowledge at all, which wsa why nobody noticed any difference after her brain got turned to swiss cheese. I liked the fact that some of the crew got offed as well. Dr Durant's death was pretty grim for a children's movie.

I read the novel years ago. The ending was a bit more abstract - more 2001 - the crew are crushed by the Black Hole but they somehow live on as a collective consciousness. Not much room for a sequel in there...

 

Oh yes. I hope they keep the music. I think it was absolutely perfect for that movie. I wouldn't change that one bit, and I hope they don't.

As for the rest of the movie, I love it despite it's faults. Maximillian Schell is just brilliant as Reinhardt, and Maximilian the robot is crazy evil and STILL sends shivers up my spine.

And who doesn't love Ernest Borgnine? Who I ask you?!

J.

 

In that case, who's the flowy guy in the heavenly cathedral? In 1979/80, I assumed that Reinhard's shaggy-haired evil side had gone to Black Hole Hell*, but his shaggy-haired good, de-crazified side had gone to Black Hole Heaven.

* Which doesn't really work: we see the Cygnus' robotified crew in "Hell," but why would they be there?

 

Whatever the pace, The Black Hole was like being trapped in a theater showing Event Horizon.

...or was it vice versa?

 

Very true...

I didn't get that scene:

Was Reinhardt and Maxmillian made into one being? Or....what?

 

In any case I hope they don't change the design of Maximillian, there's no other robot so damn sinister looking.. also Cygnus was a magnificent design.

 

Shelly Winters.<Scratch that. I mean Ethel Merman

 

It was Frank McCrae (Kate's father), who had - in life - been trapped inside of Maximilian; Frank's brain was used as the "A.I." for the big robot. Reinhardt did this because Frank led the Cygnus crew in mutiny against him, and Reinhardt wanted revenge.

The angelic being we see is actually the soul of Frank being released and sent to his final reward in Heaven.

Part of Reinhardt's punishment, most likely. The humanoids aren't really there, probably just the bodies wandering around mindlessly (the souls having passed on to Heaven like Frank did). So Reinhardt gets to 'rule' over a 'kingdom' of empty shells.

Again: part of Reinhardt's eternal punishment. In life, Reinhardt trapped Frank McCrae inside Maximilian because the robot needed an A.I. So in hell, Reinhardt is forced to spend eternity in the same 'prison'. And since Reinhardt's ambition was to wield power (in life), his punishment in hell is to stand on top of the mountain and only watch - not be able to actually DO anything.

Or, to put it another way: Maximilian Schell plays a character who, at the end of the film, is trapped...in Maximilian's shell.

 

^^

Very interesting...!

 

A remake of Computer might actually be fun. I'd watch it.

 

I always looked upon that as Maxxy actually finding what he wants, since his arms were outstretched in triumph, it looked like.

You just described the Star Wars films there.

 

I loved The Black Hole as a kid and ranked it up there close to Star Wars at the time (I even remember getting all the action figures and both the photo and audio storybooks).


I thought the ending was pretty neat, although a lot of the symbolism was lost on me until I saw it again many years later.

Any kind of remake is likely to crank up the action quotient several degrees with the worst-case scenario being a PG-rated "Die Hard In Space," IMO...

 

^^ Yippee ki-yay, robof#cker?


LOL

 

The Black Hole is one of my not-entirely-guilty pleasures. It's not an especially good movie, but there's still a lot to admire about it in terms of production design, effects, cool (if scientifically ludicrous) imagery and overall concepts. Considering some of the real-life robots we've seen coming from Japan, the 'cutesy' designs of Vincent and Bob now seem perfectly reasonable. If you're going to be cooped up in a tin can for months on end with a robot, would you want it to be small and friendly and rounded like Vincent, or hulking and scowling and equipped with sharp blades like Maximillian?

It also had great wirework (out of the entire film, the number of shots where wires are visible on the robots is literally a handful), and I always loved the neon laser effects - the glowing aesthetic of the animation as a whole, in fact. The film had a very distinctive, non-Star Wars-y look... which was rather ironic, since Disney were hoping it would be their Star Wars.

 

They BETTER keep the Cygnuss looking the same, that ship was quite a piece of work, inside and out. Maxmillion was a ansty robot, in a good way, he had no legs, but could move about anywhere, so having to fight that monster would be difficult, to say the least.

I'm just curious how Reinhart got into Max's body, anyhow. We just saw him holding the robot in his hands, and then we see his eyes in the visor.

 

That scene either a) took place in Hell, so that it was a supernatural merging of Reinhardt and Maximillian, or b) was a hallucination, so that the merging was symbolic.