Forgotten Villains: The Black Hole’s Maximillian

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

To this day, Disney’s The Black Hole remains one of my favourite movies. Released in 1979, the whole thing is still a visual feast from the robots to the black hole visuals. It is let down only by the bizarre ending when the crew go through into the black hole itself. it’s all very metaphysoical and makes little sense but everything before hand is great.

This is truly a big name cast including Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins, Maximilian Schell as Doctor Hans Reinhardt, Yvette Mimieux as Kate McCrea and Planet of the Apes star Roddy McDowall as the voice of Vincent. The effects were in response to the success of Star Wars and this truly is a visual feast. For the droids of the galaxy far, far away we have a range of delights but in the Black Hole we meet the scariest robot of them all. Built and commanded by Dr Hans Reinhardt, Maximilian does not obey the three laws of robotics at all. Maybe this is how Reinhardt programmed him to protect the mission but Maximilian is the ultimate bodyguard. He has arachnid like appendages with a drill shredder and weapons. With all his appendages extend the robot looks demonic which fits in with the final image of him in the movie. In many ways Maximillian reflects the dark side of Reinhardt’s nature insofar as the mission to take their research ship the USS Cygnus into the black hole is all consuming requiring sacrifice beyond the normal. This could also be why Maimillian was not given the ability to speak as Reinhardt only requires action not a debate especially in the form of any doubts he hrbours. But what Reinhardt has done using Maximilian is murderous.

When the crew of the Palamino discover the Cygnus anchored on the edge of a black hole, there is initially no response to their communications. Boarding the ship, they meet Reinhardt and Maximillian’s initial on screen appearance is scary. He is built like a tank, coloured red like the Devil with armaments that we will see can shred anyone he targets. He cannot walk but hovers so he floats down from an upper gallery almost like an angel of death. Unlike the movie’s other good guy robots Vincent and Bob, Maximillian’s tank like appearance is one of threat and ill intent. Despite Reinhardt’s reassurances of his robot’s good intentions, Maximillian is far from welcoming taking an instant dislike to Vincent. Vincent meets an earlier model of his type, Bob who warns him about Maximillian. Bob is not in great condition and needs repair but Maximilian is in perfect shape. His ability to fly gives him an advantage that only Vincent and Bob have which may be why he dislikes them. The other drone troopers are the standard two legged ones. Maximillian can swoop and wipe them out from above. He is powerful and relentless as Anthony Perkins’ character Dr Alex Durant tragically discovers when Kate McCrea tells Durant that the robots are in fact what is left of the crew. Reinhardt turned them into mindless zombies with the simplest of basic actions. When they try to flee, Maximilian, listening to their conversation from above swoops down with his drill like shredder active. Durant futilely holds a book in front of him but Maximilian uses his drill shredder to rip through and tear his chest open. This is against the robot directives in regards to causing harm to a human but Maximilian’s cold silent murder is terrifying because of the lack of emotion. Reinhardt scolds the robot for killing a good man and asks McCrea to protect him from his own creation. Maximillian backs off like a child caught with his hand in a cookie jar beneath the wrath of his disapproving parent.

Totally out of his mind, Reinhardt orders Kate to be surgically turned into a drone as he aims the Cygnus into the black hole. Meteors pummel the ship as they move toward the event horizon. Rescuing Kate the remaining crew of the Palamino along with Vincent flee to a probe ship before they too are sucked into the black hole but are pursued by Maximillian. They are all marked for death. Bob is killed when he is shot by Maximillian in one of the best robot death scenes ever.

What ensues is a battle between David and Goliath as Vincent takes on the behemoth. Their ariel fight is beautifully done and Maximilian realises he has underestimated the little robot. He tries to electrify Vincent burning out all his circuits but Vincent is able to drill into Maximillian’s stomach area destroying his circuitry. His damaged shell loses power and floats into space only to be sucked into the hole along with everything else.

Helpless against the massive gravity forces of the hole, everyone is sucked inside. Almost like fate itself intervenes, Reinhardt finds Maximillian’s shell and clings to it. Somehow he merges with his robot, his eyes peeking from Maximillian’s visor. Beyond the black hole is another reality. the last we see of the robot is of hin perched atop a massive boulder with Reinhardt’s eyes looking out from inside. The robot has all his appendages extended as he stands over a fiery landscape. As I said at the start of this article, there is something demonic in his design. There is more when we see this image as the camera pans back to reveal the flames brning all around them. Could this be Hell and now Reinhardt is now king in th shell of his robot which now loks like it has horns like the Devil? As I said the end makes no sense but the impact of the imagery cannot be denied.

Maximilian lives; long live the King of Hell.