(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1

... 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.

German TV gets sillier every day. You must have seen it to believe. The same goes for Periode 1. It is actually a comedy show that runs once e week. Once upon a time these comedians decided to make a movie. It was called `Der Schuh des Manitu' and it became the greatest success in cinema history in Germany. I couldn't believe that. I found it not the least bit funny nor do I find the tv series funny. But both have a huge fan base. Bully, the star of the this whole travesty isn't funny either. The only thing he does, is pretending to be gay. You see this every week in his show you saw this in `Der Schuh des Manitu' and you see it now in `Periode 1'.

I don't know what is going on in peoples minds. The can laugh a thousand times about the same old joke as long as the media tells them that the jokes are good. It reminds me somewhat of Farenheit 451….

Being gay is even trendy now. Thanks to the German TV. They realised to construct e extremely positive stereotype about gays. You see gay dozens of times every day in lots of shows, films and commercials etc. And they do always follow the same stereotype. For example a gay man is always sympathetic, he knows much about fashion, he is the man who understands women, he behaves a little bit over the top in every aspect. But he is always very, very sympathetic. I do not have something against gays but I have something against this stereotype. Here in Germany there are two kinds of gay reactions to the film. The superficial ones that loves the movie because they are shown as most positive, sympathetic and nice guys and who are even influenced in their behaviour by the stereotype shown in the media. And the others, more sophisticated ones, how know that they are all thrown into one an the same pot. They know that gays are individual as every other person on this planet and not only a one dimensional stereotype or a trendy appearance that will be replaced in the future from some other appearances.

After `Der Schuh des Manitu' German people were allowed to vote for a sequel. For example one could vote for another western or a star trek like sequel etc. As you see the star trek parody has won. And so it came to the slogan that this is the first democratically voted movie in history. But most of the movie plays in medieval times. Bully (the main actor and director) said in an interview that he always wanted to make a medieval movie. That said you can mention for yourselves how democratic this movie is. But that doesn't matter because `Periode 1' is on its way to be even more successful than its predecessor.

There are certainly other dim-witted personalities in this movie that are very popular and that every child knows in Germany. For example the not-so-funny Stefan Raab. He made one of the most stupid songs for this movie that will be a number one smash-hit before long.

All these factors: the beloved stereotype, the democracy, the stars and the music in combination with the commercials that you are confronted with all day through and last but not least the pride of the Germans to have created an Hollywood-like movie with special effects and gay slapstick jokes that do not have hide behind American comedies make this movie look like the greatest achievement in cinema history but if you lift the veil a little bit you see that it is only an empty husk of a movie, a wanna-be Hollywood flick and unfunny as hell. The same jokes repeat throughout the whole movie. It is so boring and even worse it is a `positive-gay-propaganda'. Sounds kinda funny but it isn't. Tanks for reading. (2/10)

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

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!