Fictional Media Containing Holes
(Black Holes, Wormholes, and White Holes, that is)


Black holes have captured the imaginations of fictional writers years before scientists took the subject seriously. This list includes not only novels, but movies, TV shows, magazines, cartoons, and even video games. With each entry is a paragraph or two, part summary, part review. Enjoy!



Title: As She Climbed Across the Table
Media Type: Novel
Author: Johnathan Lethem
Published: 1997 by Doubleday (New York-London-Toronto-Sydney-Auckland)

Several particle physicists, including Alice Coombs and her colleagues, have created a strange black hole they have named "Lack." What's strange about this particular black hole, however, is that it doesn't swallow everything. It has its own little preferences, which baffles the pioneering scientists. In addition to this, all of Alice's time is taken up by this new creation, which leaves her loving boyfriend Philip not-so-happy. For more information see boldtype: Johnathan Lethem.
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Title: The Black Hole

Information from:
Title: The Black Hole Storybook
Story adapted by: Shep Steneman
Based on: the Walt Disney Productions film
Screenplay by: Jeb Rosebrook and Gerry Day
Story by: Jeb Rosebrook and Bob Barbash & Richard Landau
Directed by: Gary Nelson
Published: 1979 by Random House (New York)

The crew of a spaceship happens on a crazy old scientist, long thought dead. What's he been doing in his spaceship all these years? Studying the local black hole, of course! In a thoroughly unbelievable ending, he coaxes some of them to join him on his maniacal journey to the center of the fascinating monstrosity. For more see The Black Hole Tribute Page.
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Title: Commander Toad and the Big Black Hole
Media Type: Children's Book (targeted at primary grade readers)
Author: Jane Yolem
Illustrator: Bruce Degen
Published: 1983 by Coward-McCann, Inc. (New York)

In this 64-page children's book, Commander Toad and his crew encounter a black hole in their spaceship Star Warts. It turns out to be the mouth of a giant E. T. T. (Extra Terrestrial Toad). Their ship then gets stuck to this giant toad's tongue and starts getting pulled in to the animal's mouth (note the metaphor to a black hole's gravity pulling matter in). Commander Toad eventually saves them, and all is fine.
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Title: Contact
Media Types: Sci-Fi Novel and Movie
Author: Carl Sagan
Published: 1987 by Pocket Books (New York-London-Toronto-Sydney-Tokyo-Singapore)

Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey star in the fabulous movie version of the hugely popular novel of the same name. Jodie Foster travels 26 light-years to the star Vega through a machine built from the plans aliens from a planet around the star sent them. In the movie, the machine whisks her there through a wormhole, although I believe it's a black hole or naked singularity of some sorts in the book. The special effects are amazing in this movie--you've got to see it! For more information, hop on over to the official movie web site.
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Title: Earth
Media Type: Sci-Fi Novel
Author: David Brin
Published: 1990 by Bantam Books (New York-Toronto-London-Sydney-Auckland)

In this detailed and engrossing novel, a microscopic black hole has fallen into the center of the Earth, the result of an experiment gone awry. If all goes unchanged, the entire Earth will be gone within two years. A frantic investigation of the hungry monster is started, but can they save the planet in time? Set in the year 2040, this futuristic novel, with many perspectives, will keep you tied up for all 682 pages.
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Title: Earthworm Jim
Media Type: Animated Cartoon Show
Air Time: SHOW CANCELED

In Earthworm Jim (the cartoon show, first season) Earthworm Jim and Peter Puppy ran into the greatest threat in the universe. No, not a gym teacher, the other one, a black hole. To escape, Peter realized that Earthworm Jim's gun is set to the same polarity as the black hole, so if he shot it at the black hole, they would come flying out. For lots of Earthworm Jim-related stuff, check out the official cartoon site.
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Title: The Far Side
Media Type: Cartoon Strip
Artist: Gary Larson

There is a quite funny Far Side cartoon with a black hole in it. The caption reads: "Suddenly, through forces not yet fully understood, Darren Belsky's apartment became the center of a new black hole." You see everything in the tiny apartment flying out the door, including a chicken coming in through the window.
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Title: Goof Troop
Media Type: Animated Cartoon Show
Air Time: The Disney Channel, 6:30-7:00 P.M. Monday-Friday

In an episode of Goof Troop, Goofy told the people at NASA, whom he was talking with over the phone, that he was "workin' on the ol' black hole," and they thought he was a genius, for they got the impression that he had created a black hole in his laboratory. He was really just unclogging his sink. To get Goofy see http://www.disney.com/DisneyChannel/GoofTroop/
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Title: The Hideaway
Media Type: Juvenile Book
Author: Rusty Hallock
Illustrator: Dan Spiegle
Published: 1985 by Western (New York)

The evil GoBots are determined to conquer the Earth. What do they do? Put an artificial black hole above the United States. Aah! Read it to find out if they succeed.
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Title: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Media Type: Comedical Sci-Fi Novel
Author: Douglas Adams
Published: 1980 by Ballantine Books (New York)

This hilarious novel begins when the Earth is about to be demolished to clear the way for an intergalactic freeway. Seconds before its destruction, Arthur Dent hops on a spaceship with his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for an all-encompassing book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hitchiking their way across the galaxy, they eventually come across the planet Magrathea, where planets were custom-built in ancient times using matter transported through white holes. You'll be laughing through all 216 pages of this book, which is the first in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy (which currently contains five books!). Here's an excerpt from the book from pages 115-116, part of an entry from the encyclopedia Ford is editing (this particular entry is speaking of the ancient past):

For an online Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the encyclopedia of the galaxy, not the novel) and more, jump over to http://www.vogon.com/.
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Title: Nintendo Power
Media: Monthly Magazine
Issue: Issue 96, May 1997

In issue 96 (May '97) of Nintendo Power, there's a photo on page 74 of Mario getting sucked into a black hole. It was created by a reader using the opening sequence of the Mario 64 video game where you can manipulate Mario and stretch his face.
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Title: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Media Type: Comedical Sci-Fi Novel
Author: Douglas Adams
Published: 1980 by Ballantine Books (New York)

Continuing where The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy left off, this equally funny book (the second in the five-book Hitchhiker's Trilogy). It starts off with the zany gang getting into trouble with the Vogons once again, and continues with a quest to meet the man who really controls the universe (not the President of the Galaxy, who has no real power). There are three references to black holes in this book. It starts with the mention of the Shoe Event Horizon on page 72, the point beyond which it is no longer economically possible to build anything besides shoe shops. This isn't a really a reference to a black hole, but it borrows some black hole terminology. Next comes the reference on page 133, where Zaphod and Ford are looking at some little star trolleys, which are used for the dangerous sport of riding solar flares, that each have a heat sink with a mass of 2,000,000,000,000,000 tons (that's four thousand trillion pounds!), located inside an electromagnetic field about halfway through the ship's length. Finally we come to the large-scale billiards game, where you hear the tale of how a planet was shot into a black hole as part of a macroscopic game.
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Title: Sliders
Media: Sci-Fi TV Show
Air Time: Sci-Fi Channel

In Sliders they travel from world to world using something that creates a black hole or wormhole. The device was designed to be an anti-gravity device, but instead of reducing gravity, it increased it until a black hole was formed, thus an Einstein-Rosen-Podolsky (the thing that links alternate dimensions) is created. For more info see http://www.xtc.net/~lucast/sliders/sliders.html, which as I understand will soon have information on the sliding device.
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Titles: Space Quest III - The Pirates of Pestulon; Space Quest VI
Media: DOS Adventure Games
Publisher: Sierra Online, Inc.

There are wormholes in both of these games. In the end of Space Quest III Roger Wilco (the main character and the character you control in the game) was sucked into a wormhole into the Alpha Quadrant when the Two Guys from Andromeda “fixed” the warp drive. He ended up near Earth. Roger then dropped off the two guys, who then made games about him.

In Space Quest 6 Roger hijacked a shuttlecraft, and, when he didn’t take Commander Keilbasa’s advice to return the ship to Deep Ship 86, got sucked into a different wormhole. A couple of jumper cables later, he was ready to continue with the game. For more info see http://www.wiw.org/~jess/roger.html
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Title: The Straight Dope
Media Type: Compilation of Newspaper Coloumns (in a book)
Author: Cecil Adams
Edited and with an Introduction by: Ed Zotti
Illustrated by: Slug Signorino
Published: 1984 by Ballantine Books (New York)

"The Straight Dope" is a weekly newspaper coloumn by Cecil Adams in which readers write in with questions ranging from very important to downright strange, and Cecil Adams will answer them. This book is made up of the best of these questions and answers. On page 200, the first page in Chapter 11: Death Threats, we come to the following question: "Please, Cecil, answer my questions and put my mind to rest. (1) What would happen theoretically if the earth were swallowed by a black hole?  (2) How would we, i.e., mere mortals, experience this? Would we know it was coming in advance or would it just zap us? Please, our very lives might depend on this! --K.C., Los Angeles. Cecil goes on to answer the question on pages 200, 201, and a bit of 202, and includes a very funny picture of a little space dude in a "Cosmic Cadillac." There's a black hole right in front of him. He can't see it, though, because it's a black hole, and is looking the other way. It's a cool picture.
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Title: Through the Black Hole (Choose Your Own Adventure #97)
Media Type: Choose Your Own Adventure Book (targeted at ages 10 and up)
Author: Edward Packard
Published: 1990 by Bantam Books (New York-Toronto-London-Sydney-Auckland)

You're the star of this adventure where you choose your path as you and your best friend embark on a dangerous mission -- to the center of a black hole! Will you return alive? This has never been attempted before, and scientists have no clue what will happen. You can either fly in the Athena, which will take you into the heart of the black hole, or the Nimrod, which will monitor the Athena's progress on the edge of the black hole. With 15 exciting endings throughout 116 pages, you're sure to find one you'll like.
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Title: The Tick
Media Type: Animated Cartoon Show
Air Time: FOX Channel 5, 11:30 A.M.-12:00 Noon (New Episodes); Comedy Central, 6:00-6:30 P.M. Monday-Friday (Repeats)
Episode: "The Tick vs. The Big Nothing"

In the episode of "The Tick" entitled "The Tick vs. The Big Nothing" the Tick battles a race of aliens who look exactly like Tick’s ex-accountant sidekick, Arthur, who are trying to destroy the universe by putting one black hole into the one at the center of our own galaxy. There's a really cool scene where the Tick reaches his arm out to stop the infinity ball, their weapon, from entering the black hole and his arm is stretched by the gravitational forces. It's hard, but the Tick overcomes it and saves our galaxy. For more info see http://www.cs.rose-hulman.edu/~stinerkt/Tick.html
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