Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion

Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion
Genre Science fiction
Created by Rolf Honold
Hans Gottschalk a.k.a. W.G. Larsen
Directed by Theo Mezger
Michael Braun
Starring Dietmar Schönherr
Eva Pflug
Wolfgang Völz
Claus Holm
Friedrich G. Beckhaus
Ursula Lillig
Charlotte Kerr
Franz Schafheitlin
Composer(s) Peter Thomas
Country of origin  Germany (West)
Original language(s) German
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 7
Production
Producer(s) Hans Gottschalk
Helmut Krapp
Cinematography Kurt Hasse
W.P. Hassenstein
Editor(s) Anneliese Schönnenbeck
Johannes Nikel
Running time 60 min each
Production company(s) Bavaria Atelier GmbH
Release
Original network ARD, ORTF
Picture format 4:3
Audio format Monaural
Original release 17 September – 10 December 1966

Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion (literal translation: Space Patrol – The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion), also known as Raumpatrouille Orion, and Space Patrol Orion in English, was the first German science fiction television series. Its seven episodes were broadcast by ARD beginning 17 September 1966. Being a huge success with several reruns audience ratings went up to 56%.[1] Over the years, the series acquired a distinct cult status in Germany.[2]

Premise

In the series, nations no longer exist and Earth is united. Flying saucers, such as spaceship Orion, are flown by humans, whilst the aliens fly fighter jet-like aircraft. The titular ship of the series title, "Spaceship Orion", (German: "Raumschiff Orion") is portrayed as being a fast space cruiser (German: Schneller Raumkreuzer), the newest starship in mankind's fleet and the fastest spacecraft ever created by humans.

The show tells the story of Commander Cliff Allister McLane (Dietmar Schönherr), an Earth starship captain and his loyal crew. He is Orion's commander in the developing war against an alien race called the Frogs. He is notoriously defiant towards his superiors.

Characters

Fictional technology in Space Patrol

Special effects and set decoration

Laser gun "HM-4" as seen in the TV series Raumpatrouille Orion

Many of the special effects seen in the black-and-white series, like the underwater casino and space port, were created by means of the Schüfftan process.

As the series' budget was comparatively low, the set designers resorted to using modified common everyday objects; for instance, electric irons, inverted clock pendulums, washing-machine console parts and designer pencil sharpeners were used as props control panels, sewing thread coils and banana plugs as futuristic machine parts, and plastic cups as ceiling lights. Many panels were produced by the then-newly invented thermoforming process. Lots of designer furniture was also used, notably Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's 258-type couch, Harry Bertoia's Diamond-type armchair, Yrjö Kukkapuro's Karuselli-type armchair, Charles Eames's Aluminium group #EA105 chair, George Nelson's DAF Chair and Eero Saarinen's Tulpe table/chair combo. Joe Colombo's famous Smoke-type drinking glasses were used throughout the series.

Orion's cockpit was a 2.50m high, 10m wide interior set, built within a 28m exterior diameter sound stage. It stood on a 60 cm high metal tube construction to hide the 10,000m cable harness that connected its 3,200 flashing light bulbs to a 40 kg, electric motor-driven pinned-barrel mechanical sequencer.

The stage designer was Rolf Zehetbauer, who later won an Academy Award for his work on Cabaret.

"We had no money available and yet we were instructed to produce an elaborate science-fiction series. We were forced to improvise in all aspects. This ruled out completely manufacturing the spaceship's equipment from scratch. So we used existing things that we could adapt," is how Zehetbauer described the design work of the set.[3]

Production

Rumours about the considerable costs of the series having led to its termination after only seven episodes were denied by the widow of the Orion's original screenwriter, implying that it was planned from the start to have only seven installments. More episode screenplays were written than were filmed. No official reason was given for not producing a second series of episodes, but there are several reasons that were aired in interviews many years later by those involved in the production. According to Hans Gottschalk, one of the executive producers, there was a "lack of exciting script ideas" at the time.[2] Helmut Jedele, then boss of Bavaria Film, the production company, mentioned in hindsight that the company had already undertaken too much for its resources, both in terms of staff and finance.[2]

Another factor in planning for a second series would have been filming in colour instead of black-and-white. While this would have been required for a successful international marketing of an extension, the German production companies were not yet prepared for the necessary investment for the new equipment.[2]

German television started to transmit in colour (PAL) a year later in 1967, but that was a slow gradual switch-over process from black-and-white over a course of several years, until the 1970s.[4]

Yet another impediment might have been that the controllers in charge at the state television channel ARD feared accusations of an excess of "militarism" and a portrayal of a system "akin to fascism". While this might seem far-fetched for Americans, this issue was and is very sensitive in Germany with regards to the past history of the country, and executive producer Helmut Krapp admitted that the issue was considered and taken seriously.[2]

Co-production with French ORTF Television

Originally WDR, headquartered in Cologne, the largest regional broadcasting channel within ARD public TV consortium, was the sole commissioning producer on behalf of ARD group and in that position to provide complete production funding. However, the planned budget of up to 360,000 DM for each episode was considered too high by the WDR controllers. Bavaria Film chief Helmut Jedele looked for a co-producer to share some of the cost and came to an agreement with French national state TV channel ORTF. They contributed about 20% to production funding and some scenes, notably in episode 5, were re-shot for the French audience using French actors. In France the title of the series was "Commando spatial - Les aventures fantastiques du vaisseau Orion".[5]

Novelizations

145 novels based on and continuing the series were published over the years, often with settings which were considerably different from those seen in the series.

Feature film

A movie composed of various scenes from the original series, together with some new footage, debuted in 2003 but did not match the success of the original series. As described by Dietmar Schönherr in an interview, the series had tried to deal with serious issues, a fact appreciated by many of its viewers. The movie's producers tried to replicate the series in trash culture style, however, thereby alienating much of the original fan base. The title of the movie was "Raumpatrouille Orion – Rücksturz ins Kino". The storyline was about the invasion and attacks of the Frogs, the term now becoming an acronym for "Feindliche Raumverbände ohne galaktische Seriennummer" (roughly Hostile Space Combat Units Without Galactic Serial Identification Number). This description appears for the first time in the film and contradicts the series, where Atan Shubashi and Hasso Sigbjörnson, who were the first humans to see the Frogs, called them "Frösche" (German for frogs) first, but later switched to the English translation because "Frösche" sounded too familiar to describe the aliens.

Soundtrack and introduction

The emblematic soundtrack was composed by Peter Thomas.

The voice-over introduction (similar to that used in Star Trek the same year), set both tone and atmosphere of the series.

Voice-over introduction in German:

"Was heute noch wie ein Märchen klingt, kann morgen Wirklichkeit sein. Hier ist ein Märchen von Übermorgen: es gibt keine Nationalstaaten mehr. Es gibt nur noch die Menschheit und ihre Kolonien im Weltraum. Man siedelt auf fernen Sternen. Der Meeresboden ist als Wohnraum erschlossen. Mit heute noch unvorstellbaren Geschwindigkeiten durcheilen Raumschiffe unser Milchstraßensystem. Eins dieser Raumschiffe ist die ORION, winziger Teil eines gigantischen Sicherheitssystems, das die Erde vor Bedrohungen aus dem All schützt. Begleiten wir die ORION und ihre Besatzung bei ihrem Patrouillendienst am Rande der Unendlichkeit."

English translation:

"What may sound like a fairy tale today may be tomorrow's reality. This is a fairy tale from the day after tomorrow: There are no more nations. There is only mankind and its colonies in space. People have settled on faraway stars. The ocean floor has been made habitable. At speed still unimaginable today, space vessels are rushing through our Milky Way. One of these vessels is the ORION, a minuscule part of a gigantic security system protecting the Earth from threats from outer space. Let's accompany the ORION and her crew on their patrol at the edge of infinity."

Episodes

No. Title Original air date
1"Attack from Space"
"Angriff aus dem All"		September 17, 1966 (1966-09-17)
On their first mission after being reprimanded and transferred to space patrol service, the crew of the Orion investigate an outpost gone silent and promptly discover a new extraterrestrial threat.
2"Planet off Course"
"Planet außer Kurs"		October 1, 1966 (1966-10-01)
When the Frogs send a rogue planet on a collision course to Earth, only the Orion may be able to stop it.
3"Keepers of the Law"
"Hüter des Gesetzes"		October 15, 1966 (1966-10-15)
The crew of the Orion investigates a mining outpost not responding to calls and discovers a problem with the robotic workforce.
4"Deserters"
"Deserteure"		October 29, 1966 (1966-10-29)
A human commander tries to defect to the Frogs, later saying he doesn't remember the incident. When the Orion is ordered to the sector where it took place, similar things happen to the Orion crew and loyalties are put to the test.
5"Battle for the Sun"
"Kampf um die Sonne"		November 12, 1966 (1966-11-12)
Variations in the sun's energy output threaten the Earth's climate. The Orion crew investigates and discovers a long forgotten colony of humanity which may be responsible.
6"The Space Trap"
"Die Raumfalle"		November 26, 1966 (1966-11-26)
The Orion takes aboard a writer looking for inspiration for his next novel, which doesn't make things easier when the crew encounter a colony of outcasts with dangerous ambitions.
7"Invasion"December 10, 1966 (1966-12-10)
Unusual behavior by high-ranking intelligence officials makes Commander McLane suspect a conspiracy. No one listens to his warnings until it is too late: the invasion by the Frogs is already underway.

References

  1. ↑ "Science-Fiction aus dem Baumarkt" [Do-It-Yourself Science Fiction]. WDR (in German).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "TV-Kult Raumpatrouille Orion: Deutsche im Weltall" [Raumpatrouille Orion TV Cult: Germans in Space]. Der Spiegel (in German).
  3. ↑ "TV-Klassiker: RAUMPATROUILLE" [TV Classics: RAUMPATROUILLE]. zauberspiegel-online.de (in German).
  4. ↑ "Deutsches Rundfunk-Museum: Farbfernsehen. Patente, PAL, Prof. Dr. Walter Bruch" [German Broadcast Museum: Colour Television. Patents, PAL, Dr. Walter Bruch] (in German).
  5. ↑ Milner, A. "La science-fiction et le champ littéraire" [Science fiction and The Literary Field]. Res Futurae (in French). Translated by Normandin, Julie Stéphanie. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016.

Sources

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