First Spaceship on Venus / Voyage to the Fantastic Planet

First Spaceship on Venus / Voyage to the Fantastic Planet


Starring:Yoko Tani, Oldrich Lukes, Ignacy Machowski, Julius Ongewe, Michail N. Postnikow, Kurt Rackelmann, Günther Simon, Tang Hua-Ta, Lucyna Winnicka, Eva Maria Hagen, Ruth-Maria Kubitschek, Fritz Decho, Gertraud Kreissig, Eduard von Winterstein, Basil Rathbone, Faith Domergue, Marc Shannon, Christopher Brand (II), John Bix, Lewis Keane
Director: Kurt Maetzig, Curtis Harrington, Pavel Klushantsev
Studio: Diamond Ent. Corp.
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In a utopian future of universal peace and brotherhood--1985 to be specific--a mysterious artifact found in Siberia is discovered to be a message from Venus. While the recording is studied, an international team of scientists is rocketed off to make contact with the mysterious planet. It takes the film some time to get going (worldwide harmony makes for a beautiful future but pallid drama when everyone gets along so nicely), but things begin to cook once they land on the misty wasteland of Venus. Swarms of metal bugs hop from glassy mutant trees and bubbling black mud oozes after our astronaut heroes, but no Venusians can be found amidst the geodesic architecture and buzzing power plants. What they discover instead is a terrifying conspiracy wrapped in an anti-war parable. Based on a novel by Polish science fiction legend Stanislaw Lem (whose work also inspired Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris), this German science fiction adventure is a visual treat, from the sleek, grand, silver spaceship and a funky purple Venus landscape of alien ruins and crystalline bubbles. Decently (if prosaically) dubbed and trimmed down to a brisk 78 minutes, it's an entertaining triumph of psychedelic art direction and desolate alien weirdness presented in all its brightly colored, widescreen glory. --Sean Axmaker
First Spaceship on Venus / Voyage to the Fantastic Planet
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • GREAT DVD FROM IMAGE!!!
  • Worth watching
  • It's Uncut!!!!!
  • Cheesy fun-not quite
  • A true classic
 First Spaceship on Venus / Voyage to the Fantastic Planet
Starring: Yoko Tani , Oldrich Lukes , Ignacy Machowski , Julius Ongewe , and Michail N. Postnikow
Director: Kurt Maetzig , Curtis Harrington , and Pavel Klushantsev
Manufacturer: Diamond Ent. Corp.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

GeneralGeneral | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video
Domergue, FaithDomergue, Faith | ( D ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Rathbone, BasilRathbone, Basil | ( R ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Tani, YokoTani, Yoko | ( T ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video
Harrington, CurtisHarrington, Curtis | ( H ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00004WGA2
Release Date: 2000-05-16

Amazon.com

In a utopian future of universal peace and brotherhood--1985 to be specific--a mysterious artifact found in Siberia is discovered to be a message from Venus. While the recording is studied, an international team of scientists is rocketed off to make contact with the mysterious planet. It takes the film some time to get going (worldwide harmony makes for a beautiful future but pallid drama when everyone gets along so nicely), but things begin to cook once they land on the misty wasteland of Venus. Swarms of metal bugs hop from glassy mutant trees and bubbling black mud oozes after our astronaut heroes, but no Venusians can be found amidst the geodesic architecture and buzzing power plants. What they discover instead is a terrifying conspiracy wrapped in an anti-war parable. Based on a novel by Polish science fiction legend Stanislaw Lem (whose work also inspired Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris), this German science fiction adventure is a visual treat, from the sleek, grand, silver spaceship and a funky purple Venus landscape of alien ruins and crystalline bubbles. Decently (if prosaically) dubbed and trimmed down to a brisk 78 minutes, it's an entertaining triumph of psychedelic art direction and desolate alien weirdness presented in all its brightly colored, widescreen glory. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars GREAT DVD FROM IMAGE!!!.......2007-06-17

I have so many copies of this film on vhs & dvd... but I've always liked this sci-fi mini-classic so much that I kept looking for the perfect print...Look no further, this is IT!!!
IMAGE has given us a pristine, color-adjusted gem!
Yoko Tani heads a multi-national/racial cast that blasts off in search of life on Venus and encounters many dangers and several deaths. Intelligent script, fine acting & astounding set pieces make for great sci-fi viewing.
And it's all so beautiful to look at!
Great print. Great price!
Recommended viewing.

4 out of 5 stars Worth watching.......2007-03-10

Surprisingly good for an old sci fi movie. The budget for the sets wasn't real big, but the whole premise of the movie was entertaining. Worth having for the collection.

4 out of 5 stars It's Uncut!!!!!.......2007-01-23

When I first saw The First Spaceship on Venus I had heard it was oringally A East German film. I heard many lies about the film. It ran 2 hours and 10 minutes, It had rearanged scenes. Then in July 2006 I heard that The First Spaceship on Venus was released uncut as The Slient Star. I got the DVD In Dec 2006 and found differences between the American version and the uncut version. This version ran 95 minutes instead of 130 minutes. It also had much better image quality with not as many signs of print damage and contrast not tooooo high. It was also slighty faded. Buy this DVD...

As for The First Spaceship on Venus. Buy it after this DVD for a comprassion.

2 out of 5 stars Cheesy fun-not quite.......2006-08-04

This movie is below par 60's sci-fi . Though Stanislaw Lem stories have been brought to the big screen successfully, ie Solaris, this movie falls short of mark. Poor dubbing and bad special effects are hindered by even worse story development. However, if you are looking to relive the days of quarter matinees, make up some popcorn and grab your JuJuBees.

4 out of 5 stars A true classic.......2006-07-16

This movie dates from the height of the Sputnik era. Despite that, or maybe because it wasn't made by one of the then-superpowers, it avoids the panicky, militant tone of so many movies back then. It starts with an artifact found in Tunga (would that be Tunguska, in English?), determined to be of alien origin. An international research team forms to analyze the recording in the object, then to visit its source on Venus. In flight, it is decoded as an invasion plan - but saying much more than that would lead to spoilers. The plot as a whole tends toward the predictable, but has enough novelty in it, even now, to hold the viewer's attention.

The international crew looks strikingly like that on Roddenberry's initial "Star Trek" series a few years later: no two from any one country, one black, one woman (two different people this time), etc. The woman, Sumiko, is the medical officer - nurse - and is somewhat stuck in the female stereotype. Her makeup is always impeccable, if heavy, and she's the one allowed to have visible emotions. One of the other characters gives her the "you should be having babies" talk at one point, with the clear implication that he's offering the biologically necessary help. And yes, she has to be saved at least once. Outside of that, she has a postive role, and represents an interesting mid-way point between Flash Gordon's ineffectual Dale Arden and the wholly capable Ripley character from the Alien movies.

The movie does have a few cheesy moments, like visible strings bouncing the alien bugs around, wobbly ground carts, obligatory meteor storms, and 50s/60s optical effects. For its day and budget, though it's surprisingly good. This, like the Solaris movies, is said to be a film version of one of Stanislaw Lem's books, but I don't recognize which one. I'll be interested to find out which book it's from and to see what the adaptation did to it. That's just an aside, though. The movie stands by itself, and well above many others of the time.

//wiredweird

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