History Film / TheBlackHole

* IncrediblyLamePun: [[spoiler: "Maximilian Schell in Maximillian's shell in Maximilian's Hell" in the "Hell" scene]].

* AllStarCast: Two Oscar-winners in Creator/MaximilianSchell, and Creator/ErnestBorgnine, two Oscar-nominees in Creator/AnthonyPerkins and (retroactively) Creator/RobertForster, as well as Creator/JosephBottoms, Creator/YvetteMimieux, and even uncredited voice work by Creator/RoddyMcDowall and Creator/SlimPickens.

* AndroidsArePeopleToo: The opening scene makes it clear that the Palomino's crew consider V.I.N.CENT a full friend and colleague, but they don't extend the same courtesy to any of the ''Cygnus's'' robots except B.O.B., who is the same model as V.I.N.CENT. In fairness, the cloaked robots appear nonsentient [[spoiler: (in fact, not only are they sentient, they're ''human),'']] the Sentries are mute and [[SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence ambiguously self-aware at best,]] and Maximillian is a monster even Reinhardt is scared of.

** The opening of the movie is full of inconsistencies about gravity. The crew is shown floating around from deck to deck during the whole sequence. This might make sense in the beginning and makes for a cool visual effect, but when the Palomino passes out of the Cygnus anti-gravity field it is being pulled in by the gravity field of the black hole, a gravity so massive that it damages the ship and the ship's engines can barely escape it. People shouldn't float at this point, they should in fact have clear problems with the effects of such gravity, especially as the ship is spinning and hence gravity should at times pin them to walls or ceilings.

'''Dan''': yep.

---> ''[S.T.A.R. approaches V.I.N.CENT. and B.O.B. in the shooting gallery]''
---> '''B.O.B.:''' Oh, Lord! He wants a rematch!
---> '''V.I.N.CENT.:''' As an old navy hero once said, Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
---> '''B.O.B.:''' He also said something about going in harm's way.[[note]]To be pedantic, that would be two different old navy heroes--"Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" was Admiral David Farragut while "I intend to go in harm's way" was Captain John Paul Jones.[[/note]]

* DefeatEqualsExplosion: Captain S.T.A.R. blows a fuse after V.I.N.CENT. beats it in a shooting contest, though that ricochet shot V.I.N.CENT. 'accidentally' put in its chest can't have helped.
* DevilInPlainSight: Dr. Reinhardt. If the crew of faceless cloaked humanoids lead by a floating red killbot with blender blades wasn't enough of a giveaway, the man himself gives you another big hint by wearing bright red outfits for many of his scenes. The ending ''explicitly'' has him fusing with Maximillian and standing over a very Hell-like wreckage of the Cygnus like a devil.

* EvilPlan: Actually averted, at least initially, with regards to the Palomino and its crew. As Reinhardt explains to Alex and Kate, he knows the trip through the black hole is a one-way journey; all he wants is for the Palomino to observe and record as much as possible, with no indication of keeping the visitors with him. It's not until Alex decides to stay on board and Reinhardt is made aware that Holland, Kate and the others have discovered the fate of the original crew that things escalate.

* {{Homage}}: Apart from the obvious similarities to ''[[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey 2001]]'' and ''Franchise/StarWars,'' there are definite hints of ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet'' and ''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea.''

* IdiotBall: Reinhardt would've avoided so much trouble if he had just remembered to keep [=B.O.B.=] out of reach from the Palomino crew instead of letting it become pals with [=V.I.N.CENT.=] and telling it what actually happened to the crew of the ''Cygnus''...no one else on the ship could have told them anything, since they're all robots without speech capability. In the novelization, B.O.B. explains that Reinhardt and Maximillian missed reprogramming him to be obedient, as they did all the other robots on the ship, because he was deactivated [[spoiler: during the mutiny]], and he has survived with his personality intact since then by acting like he had been reprogrammed.

** The ''Cygnus'' was the vessel Kate's father was stationed aboard. Harry Booth met Reinhardt and was well aware of the scientist's history re: the ''Cygnus''. Yet no one recognizes the vessel at first sight, forcing Vincent to scroll through several wildly incompatible options (including space stations, not voyaging craft) before finally confirming it to be the Cygnus. That's like the daughter of the captain of a space shuttle mission not being able to recognize the shuttle[[note]]On the other hand, Kate may well have recognized the ship to begin with, but didn't say anything until Vincent made the identification official, precisely because it was her father's ship and she didn't want to appear over-eager to board it and find out what happened[[/note]].

-->'''Kate:''' There are people in there. I ''know'' it. I ''feel'' it!
-->'''B.O.B.:''' You and your friends are in GRAVE danger.... This is a ''death ship''.

-->'''[[TheCaptain Dan Holland]]:''' It's only dinner.
-->'''V.I.N.CENT:''' "... said the spider to the fly."
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Booth steals the ''Palomino'' before the others can get back to it, but ends up doing them a favour as Reinhardt was intending to blast the spaceship the moment it got clear. Alarmed by Booth's inept piloting, Reinhardt orders the ''Palomino'' blasted out of the sky but the wreckage still crashes into the ''Cygnus'', heavily damaging it.]]

* OurDoorsAreDifferent: The requisite hatches that slide up, down, apart and sideways. In one scene a door slides up halfway from the deck, providing cover for the {{Killer Robot}}s' lower half while they fire over the top.
* OurWormholesAreDifferent: The movie treats the eponymous black hole as a wormhole, even going so far as to have the characters travel through it and come out "unharmed" on the other side, though the journey itself is pretty [[NightmareFuel trippy]]. This is averted in the novelisation.

* OhCrap: Charlie's reaction when [[spoiler: he figured out the probe ship they're using to escape the Cygnus is actually programmed to go into the black hole.]]

* RageHelm: Maximillian has a bright red eye with a furrowing brow sculpted/painted above it, making it look like he's permanently scowling.

* SequelHook: The ending left the door wide open for a follow-up movie featuring the Palomino crew's adventures through the black hole, but no sequel was ever produced. However there was a comic book adaptation by Whitman Comics that did this.
* ShipTease: The film is virtually devoid of romance, however, the film surprisingly provides ship tease moments between not only Kate and Holland (who at one point gives Kate a chaste kiss after saving her life), but also Kate and Durant. Possibly not surprising given she's the only female on board the Palomino. (In the novelization, and in earlier screenplays, Holland and Kate were in a relationship.)

** The end sequence can possibly be considered a major one to Dante Alighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', with Dr. Hans Reinhardt and Maximilian joining the Cygnus's ruins in Hell, the remaining voyagers journeying past the Cygnus's wreckage and through the black hole as Purgatory, and meeting the angelic figure as they journey through bright, luminescent cathedral-shaped doors as they approach a planet as their journey towards Heaven.

* VisualPun: Looks like Reinhardt [[spoiler:ended up wearing Maximilian, that is, Maximilian Schell is inside ''Maximilian's shell'']] [[note]][[https://www.youtube.com/user/LeanderNadeltanz [=A YouTuber=]]] noticed this first.[[/note]]

-->''(Holland stops Pizer leaving his post to rescue V.I.N.CENT. who is DramaticSpaceDrifting)''
-->'''Pizer:''' What if it were one of us out there?
-->'''Holland:''' V.I.N.CENT. ''is'' one of us.