(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 (2004)

"(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1" is the most successful movie in Germany from 2004 in terms of box office. It also won a Bambi, one of the highest decorations here. Behind the film, there is the team from the TV series "Bullyparade" again, including Michael Herbig, Christian Tramitz, Alfons Biedermann and Rick Kavanian. These also worked already on another mega-successful film from 3 years earlier, "Der Schuh des Manitu". This one played in the Wild West with Indians and Cowboys, while this new movie here plays in the endless width of space. Or well... actually it doesn't. One of the film's central points is a time machine. So the film plays in the wild west again, in the Middle Ages with knights, in the future with modern spaceships that look like male genitalia, in the now etc.Other actors include Til Schweiger, who plays a funnier version of his usual very masculine characters, Anja Kling as the love interest to Schweiger and Sky du Mont as the villain again like in the last movie. There is some more with very little screen time like Christoph Maria Herbst (lead actor in Germany's version of "The Office"), but he is hilarious in his scenes as always. And I have to say that Kavanian as a third crew member is entirely forgettable I thought. Tramitz and Herbig are enough and Kavanian was also more interesting as the Nazi villain. The humor in this film works very well occasionally, isn't too funny at times and is sometimes downright cringeworthy. One scene I liked was when the politicians said the protagonists won't be stupid enough to beam them up and then the camera shows how they do exactly that. Anja Kling did not work well for me either. I don't know if she is simply not a great comedic actress or if it was just this movie, maybe a mix of both.So yeah, sometimes the humor in this film is a bit over the top, but for the most part especially Tramitz does a very good job. Apart from that you will find spectacular costumes, many wordplay jokes about intercourse from behind (as the main characters are a lot on the gay side) and even more Star Wars (and a handful Star Trek) references. The film runs for only 75 minutes (without the closing credits) and you could maybe say that there was almost too action in there to fit into such a short duration. I don't think this is a great film to watch if you are getting new into German cinema. I would suggest maybe something really dramatic instead of a comedy, possibly with historic background. However, "(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1" is not a bad film at all and despite certain weaknesses I recommend it. The title suggests that there may be a sequel, but despite the huge commercial success it has not happened (yet) ten years later.

I absolutely loved this movie. I didn't know exactly what to expect, probably some very under-the-waist gay-jokes (the fact that I still bought this DVD proofs that I'm not really above THAT). But this turned out to be much better and different! In fact there's hardly any actual sexual connotation (okay, the outer form of the spaceship DID remind me of something familiar and at one point there's some sexual innuendo concerning a gravely mistaken shadow!). But otherwise the gay premise is not exploited in nudity, or in provocative gay variations on tits-and-ass jokes, it's mostly limited to the being gay of the three protagonists, which colors their attitude, their actions and their conversation, in a very tongue-in-cheek way. This gives this parody of Star Wars and Star Trek (and probably Back to the Future) an extra dimension that's very original, to say the least, and to me it worked completely. There were more surprises: the FX of this non-American movie is absolutely stunning, as was the sound on this DVD, which at times blew me out of my chair! The whole story develops in a very high pace, we get time-traveling, space trekking, medieval jousting, everything in a hilarious way yet enough believable to get yourself involved into the story and with the characters. The actors do a great job and are all very funny, especially of course the two bickering and ad-libbing male leads Michael Herbig (also the director) and Christian Tramitz. And Till Schweiger, although past forty, is still a treat for the eyes, I remember him from "Der Bewegte Mann", another German gay classic some ten years ago that's among my favorites: equally entertaining but with a bit more of a serious message underneath the very comical surface. I guess that many hard-boiled gay-rightists will find that a movie like this is stereotyping gays, but not I (and being one myself I think I have a right to speak). On the contrary, I actually find it a treat to witness (albeit in a movie) a world in which gay characters (even such "extreme" ones) are considered by everyone around them as just an exotic variation of the human species and in every other aspect as valuable and worthwhile as anyone else. Notice for instance that no-one in the movie makes fun of the gay characters just for being gay or ridicules their all too obvious homosexuality. Alas: up until now such a world still is a fantasy! All in all, I rank this movie 9 out of 10.

"(T)Raumschiff Surprise" is sometimes funny, sometimes hilarious but it is also embarrassingly stupid at times. It has some new jokes but what I found shocking is that some of the jokes were "borrowed" (from Austin Powers; Loriot,...). So really you have creative ideas and funny and original jokes but in the same scene you have old or plagiarized jokes and gags that are complete misses.I like Bully and I think he is funny, loved "Der Schuh des Manitu". There was a huge hype around this movie and when I finally saw it I was disappointed as the movie did not deliver. About a year after watching it the first time, I watched it again and I laughed about 5 times and smiled maybe another 10 times. I remember laughing quite a bit the first time I watched it but even back then I found it disappointing.This movie is not quite as bad as the IMDb-rating (5.4) suggests but way worse than the hype around it makes you believe it is. (Most of the time my ratings for a movie are below the IMDb-average so me rating it the same as the average voter while saying it deserves a higher score is not a contradiction. Hope you can follow.) ** 5.5/10 **

Yeah, so, I'm not German (though I do speak it)...The humour is not inherently German (i.e. there is some!), but it is funny. Very, very funny. Bully started with "Der Schuh des Manitu", and that was a poor German ape of Blazing Saddles... but this is different. For a start the special effects make you wonder how Star Wars I-III managed to spend their significantly larger budget. They're good. There's something almost British about the comedic understatement and dead-pan delivery. A knowledge of colloquial German is useful though.The "icon" of the movie, the gay trio of Kirk (Kork), Spock (Spuck) and the other one (it isn't clear which Star Trek character he's meant to be), is the weakest point of the flick, but fortunately it is a minor intrusion. There is plenty of wit, spoofing and entertainment besides. Til Schweiger is excellent - a German Bruce Willis, maybe? Perhaps, as an Auslander, I find this movie more endearing than I should, but I highly recommend it.Mopsgeschwindigkeit!