(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 (2004)

Hundreds of years after humans have settled on Mars, Regulator Rogul and Lord Jens Maul, lead a force of Martians to Earth in order to conquer the planet. Queen Metaphor looks to the gay ... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Herbig

Writers:

Michael Herbig, Alfons Biedermann,

Stars:

Michael Herbig, Rick Kavanian, Christian Tramitz

10 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Herbig	...	Brigitte Spuck / Abahachi / H2O2 / Winnetouch (as Michael Bully Herbig)
Rick Kavanian	...	Jens Maul / Schrotty / Pulle / Putzmann / Zeitungsvoiceover / Santa Maria-Ansager
Christian Tramitz	...	Käpt'n Kork
Anja Kling	...	Königin Metapha
Til Schweiger	...	Rock Fertig Aus
Sky du Mont	...	William der Letzte / Santa Maria (as Sky Du Mont)
Hans-Michael Rehberg	...	Regulator Rogul
Hans Peter Hallwachs	...	Konsul Kanon
Reiner Schöne	...	Senator Bean
Christoph Maria Herbst	...	Berater von William
Siegfried Terpoorten	...	Jim
Tim Wilde	...	John
Herman Van Ulzen	...	Senator Davis
Gerd Rigauer	...	Senator Terry
Heidrun Bartholomäus	...	Senatorin Lea

Storyline

Hundreds of years after humans have settled on Mars, Regulator Rogul and Lord Jens Maul, lead a force of Martians to Earth in order to conquer the planet. Queen Metaphor looks to the gay heroes aboard the spaceship Surprise -- Captain Kork, Mr. Spuck, and first engineer Schrotty -- for help.

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Plot Keywords:

time travel | year 2004 | 14th century | spaceship | 24th century | 

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Taglines:

Freistilschweber! (Free style floater!)

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Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Site [de]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

22 July 2004 (Germany)

Also Known As:

A zűrhajó

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

€9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$7,191,303 (Germany) (30 July 2004)

Gross:

$58,610,809 (Europe) (27 August 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

herbX Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The time machine's scheduled destination date is the movie's release date in Germany.

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Goofs

At the end of the movie after they returned home a piece of confetti lands on the princess's cleavage. In the next shot this confetti is gone.

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Quotes

Offizier Internationale Allianz: [checks Rock's ID] I can't read this.
Rock Fertig Aus: Eh..."Rock".
Offizier Internationale Allianz: Rock who?
Rock Fertig Aus: Nothing who; Rock, that's it.
Offizier Internationale Allianz: What do you mean "that's it"?
Rock Fertig Aus: My ex-wife's name is Thats, mine is It: Rock Thats-It.

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Crazy Credits

Spezieller Dank an ... Unsere Wählerinnen und Wähler - Oma (Special thanks to ... our female and male voters - grandma)

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Connections

Spoofs Das Boot (1981)

User Reviews

More than one surprise.

I picked up a copy of this film based on a friend's recommendation. And whilst what I watched was a Chinese translation, with English subtitles over a German film I still found it funnier than Either of the well-noted American spoofs, Spaceballs or Galaxy Quest.

Set in a Sci-Fi Universe that's visually a lot like Star Wars, but structurally much like Star Trek the plot sees the (Emporer Plapatine-like) Martian Regulator blockading the Earth with aspirations of conquest.

Earth's only hope? The crew of the Dreamship Surprise - most notably it's camp command crew, Captain Kork, Spucky and Schotty. As they travel to Earth to make a journey back in time to save the future they acquire the assistance of Earth's beautiful young queen and a Taxi Driver.

The plot manages to skewer both Star Wars and Star Trek quite effectively, whilst somehow maintaining the looks of both (The sets on the Surprise are very sixties-Trek, most everything else seems Star Wars inspired). The journey in the past takes detours through Medieval Europe (Allowing a few Knight's Tale style moments) and the Wild West before ending up at Area 51 (which is foreshadowed in the opening).

I'd seen a brief clip of the film before watching but was surprised at how consistently amusing it was. Yes, there's a few cheap gags, and more gonad jokes than I'd expect from it's American counterparts but it's still darn funny. Some nifty sight gags lurk in the background and some of the puns are meticulously set up and had me groaning out loud (in the manner of someone who appreciates a bad pun).

If you like or hate sci-fi, there's many a reason to track this down. Some of the 'gay' gags may not be up everyone's street (and may cause a little offence to some - but it's hard to say) but that's par for the course with any parody.

The soundtrack echoes it's inspirations very effectively, and a few times I thought it was actually going to take the plunge and rise dramatically into a John Williams soundtrack. Not only that, but there are actually a handful of brief musical numbers thrown in as well (Most often from the crew of the Surprise).

The performances are pretty over-the-top for the most part, this is not a film that requires much in the way of subtle acting, but again isn't that another shot at it's targets? And before I sign out, Kudos must go to the special effects team, who managed to succeed in making a film that looks worthy of the huge effects budgets on the Star Wars prequels, presumably for a fraction of the price. The film is visually stunning in that regard, The Surprise, The Battleships, The Taxi and even the time-travel sequence (Which takes place on a sofa - surely a nod to Douglas Adams there) all look incredible and the film's one big action scene looks every bit as good as the Pod Race or space battle from the Star Wars prequels.

My opinion, it may not be perfect, but there's no way I'll regret buying it. There were enough laughs to keep me occupied through it's entire run-time even though the pacing could have done with a minor trim.

As a fan of Science Fiction in general I enjoyed it a great deal and would recommend it to most.