The initial plan was to compose a soundscape that would nicely complement our Twin Black Lodges soundscape. But the sounds slowly drifted away during the composition process, like that spaceship drifting into the black hole. Though the final result sounds more like an interstellar soundscape, it still plays nicely along with Twin Black Lodges. Have a try!
As it is returning to Earth, the Palomino discovers a black hole with the apparently abandoned and long-lost USS Cygnus nearby, the same ship that McCrae's father was aboard when it vanished 20 years ago. (Cygnus X-1 is the first-known black hole, discovered in 1964, after which this scientific vessel is presumably named.) The Palomino decide to investigate and finds that there is a mysterious null gravity field surrounding the Cygnus that allows it to defy the massive gravitational pull of the black hole. The Palomino briefly strays outside the field and is damaged by the intense gravity, forcing it to emergency dock with the Cygnus, which no longer appears abandoned.
The cautious Palomino crew soon encounter Dr. Hans Reinhardt (one of Earth's most brilliant scientists, according to Durant). Reinhardt 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, but Kate's father chose to remain aboard and has since died. 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 because 20 years of study has shown that it's possible. Only an enamoured Durant believes him and asks if he can accompany Reinhardt.
Reinhardt orders his robots to lobotomize Kate, but just as the process begins, she is rescued by Holland, V.I.N.CENT. and BO.B. Harry Booth tries to escape alone in the Palomino, but is shot down and fatally crashes into the Cygnus. A subsequent meteor storm and the explosion of the ship's overstressed main power plant cause the anti-gravity generator to fail. Without its null-gravity bubble, the Cygnus quickly starts to break apart under the black hole's huge gravitational forces.
Reinhardt and the Palomino survivors separately plan their escape in the probe ship used to study the black hole. Reinhardt orders Maximilian to prepare the ship for launch, but then a large viewscreen falls on Reinhardt, pinning him to the deck. His cries for help aren't acknowledged by the lobotimized crew nor Maximilian, who ignores his master and pursues the Palomino crew as they attempt to escape.
Meanwhile, the crew near the probe ship before being confronted again by Maximilian. He fatally damages BO.B. before battling with V.I.N.CENT as McCrae, Holland and Pizer continue to the probe. V.I.N.CENT defeats his opponent by drilling into Maximilian's armor, disabling his system and sending him hurtling into the black hole. Holland, Pizer, McCrae and V.I.N.CENT. launch the probe, which they soon realize has a pre-programmed flight path, taking them directly into the black hole.
Within the black hole, the Cygnus completely breaks apart. The drifting Reinhardt and Maximilian merge together above a burning, hellish landscape populated by dark-robed spectres resembling Cygnus drones.[7] Meanwhile, the probe ship is led through a cathedral-like arched crystal tunnel by a floating, angelic figure. After the ship emerges from a white hole, Holland, Pizer, McCrae and V.I.N.CENT. fly towards a planet near a bright star.
In the wake of several successful disaster films such as The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and The Towering Inferno (1974), writers Bob Barbash and Richard Landau approached Disney Studios executive story editor Frank Paris with the idea for a space-themed disaster film tentatively titled Space Station One.[8] The writers showed Paris a preliminary sketch of their idea, and the idea was later pitched to Ron Miller, who assigned longtime studio producer Winston Hibler to help develop the project. An idea of Hibler was for a black hole to be featured in the story. After nearly a year of work on the project, Hibler was not satisfied with the later story drafts, so William Wood was added to rework the script. Ultimately, Hibler retired from the Disney studios. The project was later shelved until late 1975 when development resumed on the project now re-titled Space Probe One.[8] In 1976, Hibler returned from retirement, and suggested to Miller to hire conceptual artist Robert McCall to create some pre-production visuals to help focus the story and explore some possible ideas.[9]
Hibler died in August 1976, but with the amount of work already invested in the project, Miller took over the project. In October, writer Ed Coffey was added to rewrite the script. By February 1977, Jeb Rosebrook was included to restructure the story, in which the script was then changed to focus on a small core group of astronauts who would encounter a black hole, which was a phenomenon that had been a growing discussion within the scientific community.[9][14][3]
A separate comic book adaptation of the film published by Whitman Comics in 1980 bypasses the whole issue of what happens inside the black hole by having the crew enter the black hole on one page and emerge apparently unharmed on the next page into a parallel universe where they encounter alternate versions of Reinhardt, BO.B., Maximilian and even Frank McCrae, Kate McCrae's father. Four issues were published. The first two issues adapted the film and the second two issues continued the story introducing a race of people called Virlights, whom they end up aiding against a rising tyrant. The rare fourth issue concludes with the promise of a fifth issue but the series was canceled before it was released. In Mexico, Editorial Novaro S.A. published the first four Whitman issues, including the fifth issue, but also released a sixth issue before the series ended.[36] Other comic adaptations released in Europe have the crew emerging into another galaxy, thus confirming Reinhardt's theories. While wondering if they will ever return to Earth, they decide to explore this new universe.
In the official Disney Read-Along recording and illustrated story book, the crew in the probe ship emerge safely on the other side of the black hole, while the Cygnus is "crushed like an eggshell." The story ends with Captain Holland saying, "We've been trained to find new worlds. Let's go find one for ourselves!"[37] The children's book line, Little Golden Books, released a book entitled The Black Hole: A Spaceship Adventure for Robots. The story involves V.I.N.CENT. and BO.B. exploring the Cygnus, visiting its gardens, encountering the "humanoid robots", and escaping detection by Maximilian.[38]
Science fiction historian John Clute dismissed The Black Hole as "a silly concoction" where "the story disappears down the hole".[56] Phil Hardy, writing in The Aurum Film Encyclopedia, also gave the film a negative review, saying The Black Hole featured "the most heavy-handed dialogue imaginable" and added that the film's climax "has no dramatic power at all".[57] Author John Kenneth Muir wrote an extensive review of the film that delved into some of the nuances and metaphysical ideas which marked The Black Hole as more adult-oriented fare than Disney had previously been involved with.[58] In 2014, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson deemed the film to be the least scientifically accurate movie of all time. Criticizing the film, he noted, "They not only got none of the physics right about falling into a black hole, had they gotten it right it would have been a vastly more interesting movie."[59]
In the old days, a YouTube black hole could help you find everything you could possibly need. But that required a lot of effort, and who has the time these days? When you listen to music, most of the time it's probably on your mobile device, so what better way to discover new music than with apps?
I can't see the need for black hole rules, usually. They are just a setting justification for your pick of environmental rules. "This entire star system is a High Radiation zone. Why? Because its got a black hole at its center, that's why." Stuff like that.
After doing some checking of numbers, if I were to houserule the pull of a black hole, it'd be something around 23 hexes per turn pull. This is because the highest (I think) speed you can get in 1 starship turn is 28 hexes. And it feels like escaping from a black hole should require the best ship and crew.
That'd depend on how far away the black hole is surely Dr Cupi? A stellar-mass black hole wouldn't pull in hexes per turn if you were a few light-seconds out, though you might still be in danger from the radiation at that distance.
I appreciate minutia as much as the next person, especially if it has to do with physics. However, I was merely addressing the pull per the mechanics of starship combat. Now that I have the maximum number (28) of hexes per turn that is possible in the system, one could surely derive a series of zones emanating from the epicenter of the black hole with reasonable pulls based on the distance from the epicenter and based on the decided pull of the closest zone. How far a GM wants to delve into this is up to them, but my former post was mostly to inform those who cared what the maximum distance per turn is possible in Starfinder.
Now, if you wanted to really give yourself a lot of work you could attempt to derive Y based on both the quality of the armor and/or shields on the ship. After that derivation you then decide the relationship between X and Y. If you wanted to make it even more interesting, you could have the radiation slowly eat away at the ship's shields at either a single Z quantity per T time, or Z quantity per T time, where Z is multiplied by V value based on how close you are to the black hole. OR EVEN, Z isn't a set value but a percentage of their total shields, likely taking into account their ability to replenish their shields with engineering.
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