What's with the bad guys wrapping Kate in tin foil?
Seriously, were they turning her into a robot or a TV dinner?
It's evil medicine from the future!! Our unevolved ape minds can't wrap themselves around the wonders of tomorrow's technology. Who knows what prodigies will scientists discover with tin foil in days yet to come...
WMG here, but you can clearly see an electrical arc from the "medical equipment" to Kate's head. Presumably, the foil acted as an electrical conductor. You can see Kate whimpering in pain during the process.
It's to ensure the rest of her body is protected in case the machine doesn't line her up with the electrical outlet properly.
Why the Cygnus is so close to the black hole
I'm talking 'bout the novelization, that expands the movie -which I've noted to search for and rewatch again-. Reinhardt's plan there is to use the Cygnus, that has been upgraded with far more powerful matter-antimatter engines and a field that attenuates a lot the black hole's gravity, to plunge into it hoping to warp out in another Universe helped by both the boost of said engines and the compression of said field by the black hole, that will give her an extra boost of speed. So far, so good. Wouldn't have been a better idea to start not from so close to the hole but much farther away, so the spacecraft would have plenty of space to accelerate to a respectable speed, helped also by the collapsar's strong gravity?. The dozens of solar masses it has according to the book are not something to mess with.
Maybe Reinhardt is somehow tapping the Hawking radiation from the black hole and storing it in the form of antimatter fuel he can utilize later. So he considers the speed boost from the gravity assist of lower importance.
Another explanation is Rheinhardt's ego. Of course he's going to park the Cygnus as close as he safely can: every moment they continue to survive at that range is another testament of his mastery of the forces of gravity and, ultimately, his genius.
Was Death Really Their Only Release?
B.O.B. makes it clear that, "Cap'n, the damage is irreversible. Death is their *only* release." Since they all perish horribly at the end anyway it doesn't really matter, but the zombified crew was apparently coherent enough to conduct their own funerals, begging the question why would Rheinhardt allow this if nothing of them was truly human anymore? Was he afraid that they'd riot if they weren't given their Sundays off?
The crewmembers may have had just enough individual will left to mourn the deaths of their own, but not enough to feel anything more. As for Rheinhardt, he either just didn't care what the crew did when he didn't need them or maybe he had some small shred of human decency left. Just enough for him to generously permit the crew to conduct funerals for their fallen friends.
Who Else Was In The Hospital?
At one point V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B. enter the hospital and observe two bodies being re-programmed. B.O.B. tell us, "These poor creatures are what's left of the crew. Kept alive by means I don't pretend to understand ... more robot than human." Wasn't the mutiny 20 years ago? Why would Rheinhardt keep these people unzombified for such a long time?
Possibly they need periodic rebooting and upkeep?
What's so great about anti-gravity, anyway?
Reinhardt's anti-gravity field is praised as revolutionary, but even the outdated B.O.B. can hover! So anti-gravity technology must have been common enough on a small scale when the Cygnus departed many years ago to have at least one hovering crewmember. While his entrance looks ominous, nobody is impressed by Max's ability to hover, either. So what exactly was so genius about Reinhardt doing the same on a bigger scale?
There's nothing indicating that the robots hover using antigravity. They could be using magnetism since the ship is largely made of metal.
And if robots can use anti-gravity, why do crew-members aboard the Palomino experience zero gravity? Is this not covered by the same tech?
How did the Cygnus survive previous asteroids?
Are the asteroids being sucked into the black hole the first ones to occur, ever, or was Reinhardt too distracted or the Cygnus too damaged for an evasive maneuver? Even though we know now that black holes may not "eat" for long periods, the script writers certainly did not.
We know the Cygnus has laser cannons, but they can't do more than damage part of the Palomino. How would they handle something like the big rolling ball meteor we see later?
