Over nine million viewers saw the most successful German science fiction film ever, which relied on wit and numerous references.
After the success of Der Schuh des Manitu, expectations were high for Michael Herbig’s next film. After an audience vote, he decided against a sequel. Instead, Herbig simply changed genres and ventured into realms rarely visited by German filmmakers: outer space. Traumschiff Surprise – Period 1 was released in summer 2004 and attracted over 9 million people to the cinema. This made it the most successful German science fiction film of all time.
This is what Michael “Bully” Herbig’s sci-fi comedy is about
In the year 2054, mankind has successfully colonised Mars. After 250 years, the descendants of the original settlers return to Earth, but with a disturbing intention: they want to conquer the planet and destroy the people living there. The invasion has already begun and the situation seems hopeless. In this critical situation, Queen Metapha gives the order not to lose heart and to fight on.
Traumschiff Surprise
But there is still one last hope: the crew of the spaceship Surprise (Michael Herbig, Rick Kavanian, Christian Tramitz) must undertake a time journey to undo the colonisation of Mars. However, the crew has a much more urgent mission in mind: they are preparing for their dance number for the Miss Waikiki pageant and are therefore hesitant to embark on the time travel to Earth, even though it is the only way to save humanity.
References to Star Trek, Star Wars and many more
Herbig wrote the script together with co-star Rick Kavanian and Bullyparade regular Alfons Biedermann. Their love of great science fiction finds its way into it with countless references to Star Trek, Star Wars, E.T. Total Recall and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. From today’s perspective, some of the gags seem dusty and Traumschiff Surprise rarely achieves the freshness of Der Schuh des Manitu. On the other hand, Herbig’s ambition to revive a genre that is virtually dead in German cinema with his own Spaceballs is still impressive.
Whoever is curious about further German-German science fiction entertainment should make a note of productions such as The Silent Star, Operation Ganymede, Welt am Draht and Es ist nicht leicht, ein Gott zu sein beyond the usual suspects like Metropolis and Raumpatrouille Orion.
