Just when you think Hollywood has run out of ideas, they prove they have really run out of ideas: Disney is planning to remake “The Black Hole”.
Yes, that Black Hole, the 1979 weirdfest with Tony Perkins, Maximillian Schell, and Slim Pickens as the voice of the annoying robot (no, not that robot with Roddy McDowall’s voice, the other one). I watched it again back in 2008, to see if there was anything I could use for the black hole chapter of my book, and amazingly felt the same way I did when I saw it in the theater when it came out: well, that’s two hours I won’t get back.
Actually, there are some good parts to the movie, but it suffered from a split personality; they tried to make it accessible to both children and adults, and unless you’re a Bugs Bunny or Spongebob cartoon, it’s a difficult task. It was too dark and scary for kids, but the robots were too twee for adults. And the ending… well, my vision of hell is not exactly being trapped in a robot’s body. And not just because my namesake went partway successfully.
Anyway, a remake might be interesting, though I’m not sure why they don’t just start from scratch. There are plenty of plots you can use centering on a black hole (whatever happened to the movie version of Greg Benford’s Eater?). But what the heck. I’m happy they’re making a movie about black holes at all.
I wonder if they need a science advisor?
Tip o’ the accretion disk to Rob Tarr.
