Disneys Black Hole, the vintage 1979 Star Wars competitor, was by all accounts a box office flop. The tale of a giant mile long spaceship discovered after being lost at the edge of a massive black hole, predates current discoveries and knowledge about the strange anomalies which exist in the outer cosmos. Disney cooked up a melodramatic and generally silly concoction with all the classic elements of mad scientist, weird science, subjugated humanoids and a band of interfering busybodies intent on thwarting the maniacs plans to enter the black hole. Most of the film is standard disney fare, cartoonish sets and wooden acting, punctuated by a pair of clownish, gaily coloured robots in a pale imitation of Lucas' creations. Where it completely deviates from the standard Disney fairground ride is by the introduction of the villains robotic henchman, Maximillian. Easily one of the most menacing and impressive robots to grace the screen, Max is silent and crimson armoured, hovering on the periphery and occasionally swooping down to glower sadistically with his single red eye. For most of the film Max is held in check by Dr Hans Rheinhardt, whos harsh words restrain the robot from intimidating the crew of the Palomino, a deep space probe. Eventually, things get out of hand and Maximillian uses one of his many arms to spectacularly shred the Palominos commander with a drilllike blade. The film rapidly goes into surreal overdrive from there as the Cygnus, the main ship plunges into the singularity and Dr Rheinardt is seen in a rather strange scene, apparently fused into Maxs armoured body as the two watch over the fiery pits of hell.
Meanwhile, a series of toys and models appeared, a huge model of the Cygnus appeared from MPC together with a passable model of Vincent and rather good version of Maximillian with articulated arms (all six of them) and a 'hovering' display stand. Action figures to beat the stiff Star Wars offering appeared,
Mego made them fully articulated and poseable, although not desperately different in appearance amongst the human characters, apart from Ernest Borgnines paunch. The Sentry and S.T.A.R figures, were excellent though, taking cues from Megos Micronauts range. Vincent was suitably silly with huge cartoon eyes and a head unit which would never completely retract into the body. Maximillian was presented, but is a very static fashion, with unmoveable silver arms and the only points of articulation being his neck and repulsor 'flippers'.
In a further appearance by the robots and with another connection to the Micronauts range, came the italian magnemo figures, made by Gig-Italy.
these larger figures, on average about 5 inches high, were well constructed and highly detailed. The limbs were held in place by strong magnets, like
Baron Karza et al.
Nabisco prepared a range of pencil holder cereal premiums and more recently, a Max necklace and jewellery has been created. CS from Canada kindly sent me a shot of his Kubrick, 3 inch model of Maximillian, which manages to finally capture the air of menace this iconic machine posseses. It remains to be see what the remake of the film will make of this fine design.
STOP PRESS: Arto has just sent me this photo of a special Danish promotion for the Black Hole, a vintage Vincent Bottle Opener and Max Keyring! Behold!
These cool transparent items were made in Denmark as a special nordic promotion and did not appear anywhere else.
