Test pilota Pirxa (1979)

The movie is about "finite nonlinears," robots that closely resemble human beings but are even more perfect than humans. They are intended to eventually replace human beings in space ... See full summary »

Director:

Marek Piestrak

Writers:

Stanislaw Lem (story), Marek Piestrak (screenplay),

Stars:

Sergei Desnitsky, Boleslaw Abart, Vladimir Ivashov

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sergei Desnitsky	...	Commander Pirx (as Sergiej Desnitski)
Boleslaw Abart	...	Jan Otis
Vladimir Ivashov	...	Harry Brown (as Wladimir Iwaszow)
Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy	...	Tom Nowak (as Aleksandr Kajdanowski)
Zbigniew Lesien	...	John Calder
Ferdynand Matysik	...	Green (UNESCO Director)
Igor Przegrodzki	...	McGuirr
Tõnu Saar	...	Kurt Weber
Zygmunt Bielawski	...	(as Z. Bielawski)
Janusz Bylczynski	...	Juge (as J. Bylczynski)
Adam Cieslak	...	(as A. Cieslak)
Edmund Fetting	...	(as E. Fetting)
Józef Fryzlewicz	...	(as J. Fryzlewicz)
Marek Idzinski	...	(as M. Idzinski)
Mieczyslaw Janowski	...	Mitchell (as M. Janowski)

Storyline

The movie is about "finite nonlinears," robots that closely resemble human beings but are even more perfect than humans. They are intended to eventually replace human beings in space flights. Somewhat apprehensive about their usefullness, the United Nations sets up a space flight to determine their reactions to the human beings who also make up the crew. Pirx is selected as a commander of the flight, although the identity of the robots is not revealed to him...

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Plot Keywords:

space | robot | future | soviet | android | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

Poland Soviet Union

Language:

Polish Russian Estonian

Release Date:

25 May 1979 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Pilot Pirx's Inquest

Filming Locations:

Moszna, Opolskie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dovzhenko Film Studios, Tallinnfilm, Zespol Filmowy

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

The rings of Saturn are actually only a few meters thick and are not solid. The spaceship would pass through the Cassini division in less than a second, not (as in the film) take minutes through some kind of ice gorge. This error does not occur in Lem story the film is based on.

User Reviews

old good sci-fi in style

When viewers smile even at Star wars' hyper-real space views, that became old-fashioned just after the movie was over, one should be rather suspicious over such films as Test pilota Pirksa. This movie is luckily of other kind. That is, the effects are very unrealistic and in some places simply elementary, but nonetheless they do not harm the film. They on the contrary create a feeling of a whole and the film is so to call viewer-friendly. Of course the film offers specific play rules, but it is a common feature of most sci-fi films, if not of a film as such.

I saw this film because of Aleksandr Kajdanovskyj, but I do not doubt that those who do not know him, can enjoy the film without any problems. One of the reasons could be that the film is based on Lem's story and the problems of relations between the androids and people are a theme still exploited in films today. So this film could be seen by those viewers, who would like to compare it (or, if more exactly, the way it treats the problem) to f. ex. Spielberg's A. I.