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MISSION STARDUST
(Muerto 4-3-2-1-0/Orbito Mortal)
Rating: 
West Germany. 1968.
Director – Primo Zeglio, Screenplay – Primo Zeglio, Sergio Donati & K.H. Vogelman, Story – K.H. Vogelman, Based on the Perry Rhodan Stories Created by Walter Ernsting, Producer – E. von Theumer, Photography – Manuel Merino, Music – Anton Garcia Abril, Art Direction – Jamie Perez Cubero. Production Company – Altor/DEA/Theumer.
Cast:
Lang Jeffries (Major Perry Rhodan), Essy Persson (Thora), Luis Davilla (Captain Bull), John Karelson (Kress), Gianni Rizzo (Arkin), Pinkas Braun (General Rotkin)
Plot: Mission Stardust, with a four man crew commanded by Major Perry Rhodan, is launched to the Moon. But the rocket is pulled off course by a ship containing two female aliens from the planet Archon who are looking for another humanoid race to breed with. One of the aliens is diagnosed with leukemia so Rhodan arranges a rescue mission to obtain an experimental cure from a doctor in Mombassa. But the mission is endangered by the Kenyan army and international criminals
who want to get their hands on the Archons plentiful supply of diamonds.
The German Perry Rhodan novels, begun in 1961, of which there have been more than 2000 weekly novellas published to date (making it the longest running sf series), are in many fan circles representative of all that is bad science-fiction writing. They are without any denial popular. Their literary merits notwithstanding, the stories are no more than free-ranging and colourful juvenile space operas. Their popularity inspired two films during the 1960s – Perry Rhodan – SOS in Welthall (1967), which has been little seen outside of Germany – and this which was more popular and released in the West. There does seem to be some confusion about the two films, whether in fact there were two – the Internet Movie Database insists that SOS in Welthall and Mission Stardust are the same film; a slightly more reliable source like The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction (1984) lists this as a sequel originally titled Orbito Mortal (1968), although the plot descriptions it offers between both films do seem very similar.
Co-written by one of the series’ authors, the film is reasonably faithful to the basic Rhodan characters – the story is set at the start of the series rather than the more interesting period after Rhodan’s formation of the Solar Empire and the ensuing intergalactic adventures. It’s not a particularly good film – it is incredibly drab in terms of direction, photography and acting. Heroes Lang Jeffries and Luis Davilla are rather like blocks of wood uttering nobly resolute epithets. The action and substandard effects hardly work up any excitement. The film has a juvenile sort of chauvinism to it which the principals play with an embarassed deadpan – upon meeting a beautiful doctor Davilla comes out with lines like “Doctor what disease would put me in the hospital under your care?” and the end has the alien woman succumb to Rhodan’s charms. But after awhile the film attains a sort of colourful amusement with the models, the sets and costumes all having a sort of juvenile innocence.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1993
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