Strange New Worlds

STRANGE NEW WORLDS: SCIENCE FICTION AT DEFA is not only a must-have box set for fans of Sci-Fi but the four films included were all produced at the DEFA studios in former East Germany between 1960 and 1975. Hugely imaginative (and often with a ‘socialist’ twist), these films are an eye-opener in the truest sense of the word.

After the division of Germany between East and West in the aftermath of WW2, the German Democratic Republic established its own state-owned film studio DEFA in 1946 which, until its dissolution in 1992, produced countless feature films including thrillers, Westerns and adaptations of various fairy tales, including ‘The Singing Ringing Tree’ (1957), one of the most widely known East German fantasy films. It would be fair to say that up until now, East German Sci-Fi output remained relatively obscure and really, only four films were made which fall into this specific category. All the more interesting that we finally get a chance to see them.

First film in the 3-disc Blu-ray set is THE SILENT STAR (DER SCHWEIGENDE STERN) from 1960, an East German-Polish co-production directed by Kurt Maetzig and based on the novel ‘The Astronauts’ by Stanislaw Lem. That said, among the cast (who mostly hailed from Eastern bloc countries) we have French-Japanese actress Yoko Tani thrown into the mix, here playing Japanese medical officer Dr. Sumiko Ogimura. Not only was ‘The Silent Star’ a huge hit on its native soil but also did well when it was released in the US as part of a double feature (although references to the bombing of Hiroshima had been removed, shortening the running time). The film won the ‘Golden Spaceship Award’ at the 1964 Festival of Utopian Films in Triests and it’s easy to see why: impressive production values, in particular inspired set designs and a complex plot make this an outstanding space adventure. Set in the near future (well, we’re talking 1985…), engineers involved in an industrial project stumble across an odd looking object in the Gobi Desert, resembling a spool. All that digging is not always a good thing… Stranger still, the spool seems to be made of a material not known on our planet and is initially linked to an asteroid explosion which happened in the Russian Tunguska river in 1908. However, and because we are talking Sci-Fi, it is assumed that said explosion was caused by a UFO and that the spool, a leftover relic from the alien spaceship, was used as a flight recorder.

At least this is the theory of Professor Arsenjew (Mikhail Postnikov) after members of his team manage to partially decode the message. The team agrees that the initial alien spaceship was Venusian but when radio greetings to Venus remain unanswered, an international team is quickly assembled to journey to the far away planet in a Soviet spaceship called the Kosmoskrator. The team includes German space pilot Raimund Brinkmann (Günther Simon), US nuclear physicist Professor Hawling (Oldrich Lukes), medical officer Dr. Ogimura (Yoko Tani), African communications officer Talua (Julius Ongewe), Polish chief engineer Professor Soltyk (Ignacy Machowski), Indian mathematician Professor Sikarna (Kurt Rackelmann), Chinese linguist Dr. Chen Yu (Hua-Ta Tang) and the aforementioned Professor Arsenjew. Oh, in good old Sci-Fi tradition, there’s also a robot called Omega! So far, so good. Of course, Sci-Fi buffs will know that it won’t be long before things go pear-shaped and indeed they do, once the Kosmokrator approaches Venus and radio interference cuts off the crew from planet Earth. That’s only the start of the ensuing nightmare because although the Venusian inhabitants appear to be gone, their machines still function. Enter insect-like devices, force-field generators and other threats. This is gripping stuff with a warning about atomic weapons!

Disc 2 offers two films: SIGNALS - A SPACE ADVENTURE (1970) and EOLOMEA. The first one (SIGNALE - EIN WELTRAUMABENTEUER; directed by Gottfried Kolditz) is once again an East German-Polish co-production and is based on the novel ‘Asteroidenjäger’ by Carlos Rasch. Set around the middle of the 21st century, it concerns the disappearance of a research vessel called Ikaros. When the crew of the spaceship Laika, under Commander Veikko (Piotrs Pawlowski), decide to continue to search for the missing Ikaros, they have to be careful how to go about it because officially, the Icarus is deemed lost. Therefore, the crew of the Laika needs to pretend that the rescue operation is nothing more than maintenance work on unmanned space stations. Meanwhile, Pawel (Jewgeni Scharikow), a young pilot, has an additional interest in tracing the Ikarus: his girlfriend is among the missing crew. While traveling through a meteoroid belt shortly before the wreck of the Ikaros, the Laika receives strange radio signals, suggesting a foreign civilisation. Does this mean potential danger? While Commander Veikko attempts to remain positive, the other question of course is whether there are any survivors to be found in the Ikaros…. This space adventure is interspersed with playful scenes back on planet Earth, especially Bikini-clad beauties and children playing on the beach (yes, they are playing with flying saucers). This is a poor man’s version of Kubrick’s A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) but captivating nonetheless.

In EOLOMEA - an East German, Soviet and Bulgarian co-production from 1972 - we get a fair bit of romance on top of space technology. The film, directed by Herrmannn Zschoche, is based on the book of the same name by Bulgarian writer Angel Wagenstein. Here, Professor Maria Scholl (Dutch actress Cox Habbema) takes centre stage and is increasingly at loggerheads with Professor Oli Tal (Rolf Hoppe), as she rightly assumes that he knows more about the mysterious disappearance of several spaceships and their crews over the short space of just three days. As a result, the Institute of Space Research doesn’t allow any further flights from Earth into space, at least not for the time being. After further probing, Maria learns about an unexplained phenomenon discovered in the 19th century, namely a strange light which happens to appear every 24 years in the so-called Cygnus constellation. Other scientists have a very different theory, which is that the ight is in fact an artificial signal. Enter senior researcher Pierre Brodski (Peter Slabakov) who comes up with an even stranger theory, namely that said signal might come from a ‘clone planet’ of planet Earth, which he baptises ‘Eolomea’ or ‘Eternal Spring’. Intrigued by these findings, Prof. Tal is eager to embark on a mission, although he also has a personal reason which so far he has kept secret: his daughter is among the crew members in one of the missing spacecrafts. The same goes for Brodski, though in his case, it’s a missing son. Confused? It gets considerably more confusing, not just because Maria and her love interest, space pilot Daniel Lagny (Ivan Andonov) have their very own theories but the space opera is interspersed with romantic scenes of Maria and Daniel played out somewhere on the Galapagos islands (Daniels favourite place ever, as he assures everyone who cares to listen). There’s too much going on here while at the same time, things are going nowhere fast. The acting is fine on all fronts, but the plot is all over the place.

On Disc 3 we have the final film, IN THE DUST OF THE STARS (IM STAUB DER STERNE) from 1975, a purely East German affair directed by Gottfried Kolditz and quite a camp one at that. Yes, really! It’s incredibly visual with outlandish dance sequences (a nod to Western decadence), costumes, nudity and snakes galore. Although an East German production, it was shot entirely in Romania, in particular at the Berca mud volcanoes, which provided the perfect backdrop for an alien landscape. When the spaceship Cynro under command of Akala (Jana Brejchova) receives a distress signal from planet TEM 4, the crew literally crashlands and is introduced to TEM’s leader Ronk (Milan Beli). Oddly, he claims that the distress signal was a mistake and as an apology for having wasted their time, he invites the crew of the Cynro to an outlandish party. Only Suko (Alfred Struwe), the spaceship’s navigator, smells a rat and urges his colleagues, in particular Akala, not to accept the invitation. They all go anyway and seem to have a great time but as it turns out, Suko was right in his suspicions because his fellow crew members are treated with weird hallucinogens while partying, which causes them to forget there ever was a distress signal. Meanwhile, Suko ventures out on his own and discovers a subterranean mine where the real inhabitants of TEM 4 are treated like slaves and are forced to work. Should the Cynro crew stay and help the enslaved men to regain their freedom, or should they simply just fly away, pretending that nothing has happened? The decision is made even more difficult thanks to the meddling of eccentric and tyrannical ‘Chief’ (acclaimed Brechtian stage actor Ekkehard Schall). A nail-biting climax ensues, albeit one with a rather open ending. Out of this world and possibly ahead of its time, it’s a rather obscure Sci-Fi classic.

The Bonus Material is as manyfold as stars in the galaxy: from audio commentaries to short films, from insightful interviews, featurettes, video essays and original trailers: take your pick! STRANGE NEW WORLDS is presented as a limited edition box set (2000 copies) containing 3 Blu-ray discs, plus a 60-page collector’s book.