#SFFilms -
Watched "The Black Hole" (1979) last night. This is a weird mish-mash of tone.
"Star Wars was a big hit! We need a big, fun, space opera hit of our own!"
"I know, let's mash up our success with '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' with 'Faust' and use astrophysical black holes as a metaphor for death, despair, and possibly being dragged down to Hell itself. THE KIDS WILL LOVE IT!"
"Needs fun Disney sidekick companions..."
"ROBOTS!"
"Roddy McDowell! Slim Pickens! Ernest Borgnine!"
🤯😎
Nemo was a depressive, idealistic revolutionary, who gave into despair. Reinhardt was a full-on psycho who sold his soul, based on a kind of death wish, and a belief that the black hole was some kind of gateway to immortality. Dark stuff for a Disney movie!
Also, our plucky heroes may have miraculously survived crossing an event horizon, but where the hell are they? Supplies are going to be an issue.
Before, they were searching for "habitable life" [sic]. Now, the same, but much more URGENTLY!
So we need, like, a "stargate sequence", but we've got to play to the evangelicals. Also, we can that Faust thing literal. "Maximillian" sounds a LITTLE like "Mephistopheles", right...?
Also, this movie finally gives us some interesting computer graphics effects on screen. They're wireframe and monochrome green!
Technically, "Alien" had some computer graphics before this, but they were kind of texty.