(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1
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| (T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 | |
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 Movie poster of (T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1. |
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| Directed by | Michael Herbig |
| Release date(s) | 2004 |
| Country |  Germany |
| Language | German |
| IMDb profile | |
(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 is a German movie made in 2004 by Michael Herbig. It is a spiritual successor to Der Schuh des Manitu. Though it has a totally unrelated story, many characters from the first movie reappear.
Raumschiff is the German word for space-craft, while Traumschiff literally means "Dream Ship", which was the name of the German TV series "Das Traumschiff", which was based on the Love Boat. The joke implies that the spacecraft in the film is merely a folly - a "dream" ship.
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[edit] About the movie
The movie is based about the skit "Unser (T)Raumschiff" from Herbig's TV show Bullyparade, as was Der Schuh des Manitu before it. The movie is a science fiction parody, which often references Star Trek and Star Wars (particularly The Phantom Menace), as well as The Fifth Element, Back to the Future, The Time Machine, Independence Day, and A Knight's Tale.
As in Bullyparade and Der Schuh des Manitu, the main characters speak with a very strong Bavarian accent in the German version of the movie. Both Captain Kork (Christian Tramitz, a take on Captain Kirk) and Mr. Spuck (Michael Herbig, a take on Spock; the name means "spit") and to some degree the engineer Schrotty ("Trashy") (Rick Kavanian, who also performs Jens Maul) act very stereotypically homosexual. Herbig once described the movie as "a group of girl-roommates on adventure".
[edit] Story
The movie begins at a place which appears to be Nevada's legendary Area 51. A visiting general is led down into an underground complex where he is shown a captured alien. The alien resembles a chubby Vulcan in a cowboy costume, and greets the general with a "Hey, what'cha looking at?".
The next scene opens 300 years later, in 2304, as a large starship comes onto the screen. A sudden explosion causes the ship to break apart. The wreck drifts into a large-scale starship-battle near Earth, which is under attack by the fleet of the Mars Regulator and his right hand Jens Maul, who suffers from asthma. With most of Earth's forces destroyed, the Queen Metapha (from "metaphor", played by Anja Kling) of Earth and her secretaries debate their last options. They decide to call for the crew of the Surprise, Earth's last aviable ship, to travel 300 years back in time. Their mission is to destroy a UFO which had crash-landed in Nevada in 2004. Its technology had enabled mankind to colonize Mars in the first place, hence its destruction would prevent the attack 300 years later.
On the Surprise, (which resembles a slightly more phallus-shaped version of the Voyager from Star Trek), Captain Kork, Mr. Spuck and Schrotty are in training for the Miss Waikiki Contest 2304. Captain Kork is at first very reluctant to follow the order to return to Earth immedeately but changes his mind instantly as the navigator tells him that cancelled leave is the standard punishment for disobedience. Because of "weasel damage" in the engines they can't reach Mops Speed, so they decide to beam only Kork and Spucky back to Earth. The system breaks down because Spucky proves too heavy, however, and Kork orders Schrotty to just call a space taxi.
The taxi is driven by Rock (played by Til Schweiger), who is immediately admired by both Kork and Spuck. He agrees to try to break the Martian blockade. The taxi is immediately attacked by several Regulator fighters ("Kampfkekse" or "battle biscuits"). After trying to shake them off between the fleet's capital ships, the taxi reaches Earth and the chase continues through a maze of canyons. Rock eventually manages to get rid of all the attackers, though his taxi ends up severely damaged.
The taxi crashes beside the Queen's palace. Kork, Spuck and Schrotty are advised of their mission and are equipped with a Swiss Army Laser with which to destroy the UFO. The three are then seated into the time machine, which lookes exactly like an old sofa. Rock, who stubbornly refuses to leave until his taxi is replaced, falls in love with the Queen at first sight.
However, the process is disrupted by an attack on the capital city. In the confusion, Schrotty unbelts to get the time machine's manual, said to be essential for returning to the future. To save the queen, her chancellor puts her into Schrotty's now empty seat. Immediately before the time machine starts, Rock also squeezes between the three. Despite having been unable to seize the queen, Jens Maul manages to acquire the time machine's manual from the ruins of the palace, build his own from his time machine and follow the foursome back in time.
When the travelers wake up, they find themselves in 1304 Britain, in the middle of a jousting tournament held by Lord William the Last (Sky Dumont). After a short fight with the attending guards, they are overpowered and the men thrown into prison; William takes a fancy to Metapha, and wishes to marry her. Rock is sentenced to fight in a jousting competition the next morning because the original champion was killed the previous day in a Crusade.
The next day, Spucky and Kork are set onto the sofa, and the sofa onto a pyre to have them burned as warlocks. Rock competes as the Knight of Behind (in a shockingly pink armor suit, courtesy of Spucky) at the joust. But the expected adversary is missing; in his stead appears Jens Maul as a Black Knight. When Rock loses and is sentenced to join the others on the pyre, Metapha impulsively persuades William to have her go along. Maul, as the hero of the competition, is unable to prevent them from activating the time machine as he is being hoisted into the air by the celebrating crowd.
The time machine takes them next to the Nevada of the Wild West era, and upon arrival the time machine is immediately wrecked by a speeding train. Kork – who is in need to relieve himself – and Spucky – because he is still chained to the captain – go into a wooden box, which seems to be a privy. It turns out to be the wardrobe of the new sheriff, who remains absent for the scene. While inside, the two quickly change clothes. They have an argument about their attitudes towards Rock, which is broken up by the arrivals of Jens Maul – still in his black full plate – and the most notorious bandit in the area: Santa Maria (Sky Dumont in a cameo reprisal of his role in Der Schuh des Manitu).
Santa Maria goes off to sell a pub for a “Stammlokal” (thereby connecting this storyline to that of Der Schuh des Manitu). In the meantime, one of his henchmen takes on Spucky and Kork. He accidentally severs the chain connecting the two, just before Metapha knocks him out from behind. In the meantime, Jens Maul tries to steal the group’s Swiss Army Laser and escape on his time moped, but fails. Rock is able to catch up with him on horseback and capture the laser and the moped. The group uses the moped to escape the era. While in the timestream, they realize that they cannot properly control the vehicle. In the brief moment in which it returns to reality, they jump off, and the moped vanishes once more in time.
Just as the quartet is about to take their bearings (as it turns out, it is finally 2004 Nevada), Jens Maul shows up once more, having painstakingly re-assembled the pieces of the smashed time sofa with the help of the manual. He and Rock come to blows with their Swiss Army Lasers, and just when Maul is ready to deliver the coup de grace, the UFO crash-lands on his head, knocking him out. The UFO turns out to be no bigger than a large book, and its occupant no taller than a human hand. The beer-guzzling alien emerges, and in its haste to consume more alcohol, it begins to choke. Spucky tries to help by offering Maul’s asthma spray; but the pressure created by the device blows up the creature.
Rock disintegrates the UFO with the laser, and the group scrambles onto the sofa just as the local military arrives. But the control panel shows that it is overloaded with exactly 76,375 kilograms – just as much as Spucky happens to weigh. With a heavy heart, Spucky decides to remain behind. The story switches back to Area 51, where Spuck has just finished telling his tale. The government officials are not convinced - until Spuck provides proof in the form of a futuristic piece of technology: a thermometer with a vibrating alarm which he had inserted just before departure.
As Kork, Rock and Metapha get back to the future, Spuck and Schrotty, who was never captured by the Regulator's soldiers in the new timeline, are already awaiting them. Spuck has survived because he's a Vulcanette, who have extraordinarily long lifespans, and has been busy re-decorating Earth within the last 300 years (it is now all in pink). With the world safe, the group goes to Honolulu to take part in the Miss Waikiki Contest - but the ever-relentless Jens Maul has to say the last word about this.
[edit] Trivia
- After the success of Der Schuh des Manitu, Herbig had asked the audience in the Bullyparade to decide which was to be his next movie project. Open for selection were: a sequel to Der Schuh des Manitu; (T)Raumschiff Surprise; a movie about Sissi (Elizabeth of Bavaria), which was another regular sketch on the show; a "Movie No One Would Ever Expect" (yes, that would have been its name!); or an advice to Herbig to keep his hands off making movies altogether.
- When Kork and Spuck attempt to beam off the Surprise, they step onto several lighted floor panels labeled 1, 2 and 3 on the transport bay floor. This is actually a pun on a German TV children's gameshow called 1, 2 oder 3; there the panels are part of a triple-choice quiz system, and any children who stand on the correct panel (i.e. with the number of the correct answer) may collect points for their respective team(s).
[edit] Awards
- 2004 - Bambi
- 2004 - Deutscher Comedypreis (Bester Comedian: Michael „Bully“ Herbig)
- 2004 - Deutscher Comedypreis (Beste Kino-Komödie)
- 2004 - Goldene Leinwand mit Stern
- 2004 - Box Office Germany Award (Bogey) in platinum
- 2005 - DIVA-Award - Der Deutsche Kinopreis (Publikumspreis)
[edit] Critical Response
While popular at large with the audience, there has been some negative criticism of (T)Raumschiff Surprise. Some critics complained about the lack of wit which had made Der Schuh des Manitu popular, while homosexual associations criticised its portrayal of gay people, claiming that it would reinforce negative stereotypes.
