I have recently watched the 1979 American science fiction film The Black Hole for the first time in about thirty years. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, the robot characters are voiced by Roddy McDowall and Slim Pickens The music for the film was composed by John Barry.
It begins In 2130, the spacecraft USS Palomino is on a mission to explore deep space. The crew consists of Captain Dan Holland, First Officer Lieutenant Charlie Pizer, journalist Harry Booth, ESP-sensitive scientist Dr. Kate McCrae, the expedition’s civilian leader Dr. Alex Durant and the diminutive robot V.I.N.CENT. (“Vital Information Necessary CENTralized”). As it is returning to Earth, the Palomino discovers a black hole with the apparently abandoned and long-lost USS Cygnus nearby, which disappeard 20 years previously. The Palomino decide to investigate and finds that there is a null gravity field surrounding the Cygnus that allows it to defy the massive gravitational pull of the black hole. The Palomino docks with the Cygnus and crew soon encounter Dr. Hans Reinhardt Who explains he has been alone on the Cygnus since it encountered a meteor field and was disabled He ordered the human crew to return to Earth without him. To replace the crew, Reinhardt built faceless, black-robed drones, sentry robots and his sinister bodyguard robot, Maximilian. Reinhardt says he intends to fly the Cygnus through the black hole.
However, the rest of the Palomino crew start to suspect that Reinhardt is not as friendly as he seems. while exploring the Cygnus Booth sees a drone limping, while Holland witnesses an android funeral and discovers personal items in the Cygnus crew quarters. V.I.N.CENT. Meets another robot named BO.B. (“BiO-sanitation Battalion”). BO.B explains the drones actually ARE the crew, who were lobotomized and “reprogrammed” to serve Reinhardt after they mutinied. Durant is horrified and attempts to flee with Kate, Holland Pizer, V.I.N.CENT. and BO.B. Aboard the probe ship, however Rheinhardt and Maximillian have other ideas and They soon find themselves, hurtling directly into the black hole instead….
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