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Raumpatrouille - Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion - Angriff aus dem All
episode 1
Space Patrol 1
West Germany 1966
produced by
Hans Gottschalk, Helmut Krapp for Bavaria, WDR
directed by Michael Braun
starring Dietmar Schönherr, Eva Pflug, Wolfgang Völz, Claus Holm, Friedrich G. Beckhaus, Ursula Lillig, Benno Sterzenbach, Charlotte Kerr, Liselotte Quilling, Thomas Reiner
written by Rolf Honold, W.G. Larsen, music by Peter Thomas, special effects by Werner Hierl, Jörg M. Kunsdorff, Theo Nischwitz, Vinzenz Sandner, Götz Weidner
Raumpatrouille/Raumschiff Orion
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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The year 3000: Man has long gone to and settled in outer space, but up
to now has not encountered extraterrestrials.
Against this background, ace spaceship-commander McLane (Dietmar Schönherr)
of the Orion and his crew (Claus Holm, Friedrich G.Beckhaus, Wolfgang Völz,
Ursula Lillig) are degraded to outer space patrol duty due to McLane's
perpetual insubordinate behaviour. Plus, a watchdog, Lt Jagellovsk (Eva
Pflug) is sent on patrol with them.
On their very first assignment though, the Orion encounters a
spacestation that seems to be unmanned - and when two of the crew, Hasso
(Claus Holm) and Atan (Friedrich G.Beckhaus) fly over to investigate, they
find everyone on the station dead and the station completely devoid of
oxygen ... and they find an extraterrestrial who seems to be impervious to
their rayguns. Plus a forcefield prevents their shuttle from leaving ...
And as if that wasn't enough, the extraterrestrial soon gets company, as a
small-scale invasion fleet has chosen the space station as their hub - and
McLane and the Orion are unable to help Hasso and Atan ...
It's only eventually that Hasso and Atan figure that the aliens - which
they dub Frogs for no apparent reason - are allergic to oxygen, and once
all the aliens are on the station, they just explode an oxygen tank
killing them all.
But what will the Frogs' next move be ?
Sci-fi television, the German way: Much of this episode's running time
is spent with the depiction of bureaucratic procedure and endless
discussions between McLane's superiors, between McLane's crewmembers, and
between McLane and Lt Jagellovsk (who came up with this name for the
female lead by the way ?) - but in a way, that's all strangely endearing,
as are the sets that prove to be an entertaining mix of unrestrained
imagination and big ideas on one hand, and household appliances (including
a flatiron featured prominently on the Orion's bridge) and bathroom
fittings on the other. Plus the not-so-special special effects (including
the alien spaceships that look like paper planes and the Orion's launch
sequence that was achieved with an Alka Seltzer dissolving in water) are
nothing short of charming. And for some reason, despite or even because of
all its shortcomings, this series as a whole still stands the test of
time, first and foremost probably due to its high camp factor, and is
nowadays widely considered a cult hit.
(Apart from the series' shortcomings, it should also be mentioned that
Peter Thomas' soundtrack is simply flawless.)
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