ST. LOUIS – The Black Hole is a movie set in St. Louis that tells the story of a scientific project gone awry, and the havoc wreaked by a mysterious creature. You may have missed this feature starring Kristy Swanson of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Judd Nelson from The Breakfast Club, but you can now watch it on YouTube.
The real stars of this campy film may be St. Louis landmarks, including the McDonnell Planetarium, which stands in for the fictional Midwestern Quantum Research Laboratory. It opens with a discussion among a panel of nuclear physicists about the possibility of creating a black hole.
In the movie:
The movie’s opening scenes prominently feature St. Louis landmarks such as the Martin Luther King Bridge, Eads Bridge, and the Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge. As the opening sequence continues, viewers catch glimpses of the Gateway Arch and the old courthouse building. The camera then soars over Busch Stadium, newly constructed in 2006.
The story unfolds at the Quantum Research Laboratory, where a team of scientists conducts an experiment that goes awry, resulting in a radiation leak. To investigate the source of the leak, an unlucky employee is sent out, only to encounter a swirling mass that symbolizes a black hole, from which a mysterious creature emerges.
The movie introduces an hourly countdown as scientists observe the creature causing havoc within the laboratory before breaking free. Simultaneously, the black hole escapes from the lab, engulfing parts of St. Louis. While the scientists attempt to lure the creature back into the black hole, the military wants to use a nuclear bomb. Eventually, the creature voluntarily enters the black hole, causing it to collapse, and the nuclear bomb is not deployed.
The Reality:
According to Scientific American, creating a black hole on Earth has never been accomplished. However, even if such a feat were achieved, it would likely not pose a significant threat. Black holes are intimidating primarily because approaching them too closely makes escape impossible.
In the movie, a creature emerges from the black hole. In reality, if a black hole were to appear on Earth, it’s more likely that it would swallow the planet up rather than produce anything. A Forbes article suggests that, ultimately, we would become part of the black hole, contributing insignificantly to its mass. Our fates would all be the same in the last 21 minutes of our lives, when gravity would be the only force acting on us.
In summary, if a black hole opened on earth, we would die.
