(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1

After having read all postings and comments about the movie in this place up to now I simply want to tell that I love it! Surely the movie cannot be to everyone's taste especially not to the taste of those who run into cinema with a checklist about "will it be better than 'Schuh des Manitu'", "how many gay-jokes will be cracked", "does German comedy still exist" and so on. I myself was skeptical, too, whether Periode 1 will reach Schuh des Manitu but I was disappointed positively. Tonight I watched Periode 1 the second time and, like in Schuh des Manitu, I discovered gags I haven't perceived the first time because there are enough of it in there! Why do most of the commentators put emphasis on the gay-factor? Surely that was the original attention of "Unser Traumschiff" in Bullyparade but in the movie there surely is more! You remember "Men In Tights" (Helden in Strumpfhosen) by Mel Brooks, the Robin Hood-spoof? O.k., there was no gay-topic in it but it was very smug! Enjoy the details! The counselor of "William der Letzte", the rented spy, the taxi and so on - there's so much in it you can laugh about! Michael Bully Herbig surely accepts the inheritance of Monthy Pythons and Mel Brooks, in my eyes!

Simply enjoy it like me!

A year and a half after its premiere in Germany (T)Ramschiff Surprise finally came out on DVD in Russia. I have waited for this movie to be shown down here since I read the first review on it about a year ago. Yes, it happened at last, two days ago I bought the film and this is what my commentary says: The year is 2304, a long and exhausting war between Earth and Mars is nearly over. The Martians are ready to strike the Eath the final blow than will bring the history of the humankind to its untimely end unless.. Unless we use the time machine, travel 300 years back and prevent the people's first encounter with beings from the space.With human resources on the verge of depleting two gorgeous gays are chosen to fulfil the mission (if the first 10 minutes of the movie do not make you laugh, this is definitely not your movie). The film chronicles the fabulous journey of these innocents through time and space during which everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. (T)Rauschiff Surprise is not another stupid parody, when you sit and count on your fingers: this scene is taken from the Star Wars, and that one is from Shrek, etc. etc. Herbig's movie offers you much more: the plot is complicated, the characters are interesting and the dialogues are witty. Unfortunately Herbig could not refrain from poking fun at himself and the film does have some references to his masterpiece Manitu's shoe- if you have not seen it, you won't be able to appreciate it- Santa Maria makes a short appearance and we have a glimpse of Vinnehuch (I dare say the first and so far the only gay Indian ever shown in a movie). These scenes seem to be out of place and could have been left on the cutting room floor. Anyway, it is the only problem I saw in the film. All in all, to my taste, (T)Raumschiff Surprise is awesome, light hearted, the film has everything to leave its viewers in a good mood and with warm memories that will last for a long time. The cast is brilliant: Michael Herbig is a superstar, to see Christian Tramitz playing gay was such an experience!! Til Schweiger is not known in Russia, I have never seen him before but he is a great actor! Recommended

... put in some time travel.

"Traumschiff" could have been a great comedy, if Michael Herbig had decided to stick with the Star Trek/Star Wars theme. Sadly, the "Dreamboat Surprise" from the title only has the part of an extra in this film, appearing briefly at the beginning. The second half of the film is ruined by a time travel story, which is awful because A. it uses the most clichéed settings of time travel stories (the middle ages, the wild west and the presence) and B. it is not funny. Given the title of the film, I expected lots of fun on board of the gay spaceship "Surprise" with its lewd and girlish crew that prefers having "Kaffeekränzchen" instead of exploring the unknown regions of the galaxy (as seen in the great post-credits bonus). The last thing I wanted to see was actors reprising their parts from "Der Schuh des Manitu".

Now that I have expressed my disappointment I want to add that the CGI-effects in this film are exceptional for a German production and are very good (however useless, because this is supposed to be comedy, so we're in need for laughs instead of eye candy) and that three or four scenes really made me laugh - among them the best Darth-to-Luke-I-am-you-father-parody I have ever seen.

Do you know the show this is based on? Well I mean the German tv show Bullyparade - but of course it would also help if you knew the Science Fiction shows and movies this is based on too - actually spoofs would be a better description. Apart from that I was actually surprised to see Til Schweiger in this ... actually not just to see him, but to see him "work" - no pun intended.

Jokes are hit and miss (again with the puns), but you can tell they love the things this is based on. You may take offense because this mixes Star Trek and Star Wars lores and tropes ... but it is not meant to offend. The innuendo throughout the movie on the other hand ... not sure how this will be taken. A fun movie that those familiar with what this means, will be able to enjoy a lot more than others ... also comedy ... can you lower your expectations and just laugh at almost anything? It would help immensely.

Well, to be honest, after watching the first 15 minutes i thought it was the worst German comedy i ever saw... being a fan of Bully (and his TV show "Bullyparade") for some years now i felt the quality of entertainment and humour in the series, as well as in this movie, have decreased a lot and probably won't become again what made the TV series so special when it started. "Der Schuh des Manitu" was a big success, but (in my opinion) it was already made in a way a grandma with her grandson could watch and wouldn't be disappointed, because the jokes were not that strange or unexpected as when the TV series started. I got big sympathies for bully as a person, he's an intelligent and funny entertainer, but i think he should either decide to do movies for kids or stop the whole thing.

And now (T)Raumschiff Surprise... when watching the TV show the Star Trek parodies fitted well into the context, because of the variety of their other parodies on TV shows or movies, but a whole movie about 3 Star Trek guys that are obviously gay is not the big deal in 2004. Humour has developed, nowadays there are a lot of TV series that got similar jokes and characters (and they're not good).

In the movie, the changes of the scenery/time/places could not get me interested in what would happen next. As i mentioned above, i lost interest after 15 min, when having noticed most of the jokes could not even stand the "quality" of the last episode of "bullyparade".

What made the whole thing even worse is the advertising that came with it. There are not-funny spoken word-ringtones, a campaign for a burger restaurant, a pc game...

For me, "Schuh des Manitu" was some kind of funny when watching it the first time, it did not disappoint me. I expected worse with "(T)Raumschiff", asking myself how they would keep the gay-Star-Trek-thing entertaining for over an hour. They just switch time and places a few times, the number of jokes worth to remember is zero, some are not that bad, but i kept thinking they spent most of the time for the computer rendering stuff and tried to focus on the "story".

So if you're under 14, if you liked "Dude, where's my car", if you've never seen any Star Trek or Star Wars parody before , you could get a bit entertained.

I hope Bully finds a way back to his former qualities, he should not end like Christian Tramitz, who got to host his own very unfunny and lame TV show.