"Raumpatrouille - Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion" or "Raumschiff Orion" or just "Raumpatrouille" is one of the more, maybe most, known mini-series of all time. It was released on the small screen back in 1966 and this means it already had its 50th anniversary last year and at that age nobody can really be surprised that this is a black-and-white production. German film buffs may recognize one or the other cast member still as they also appeared in some other well-known productions from back then. I think the only one really that I recognize is Wolfgang Völz and that is for example for his work on Käptn Blaubär and the comedy remakes of the Edgar Wallace films. He is also one of really not many who worked on this show here that are still alive today, way into his 80s of course. And he appeared in all seven episodes of this mini-series. Each episode runs for approximately an hour, which means that with some patience you can watch this series in one sitting of roughly seven hours. Or you just watch one episode per day for a week.
It is all about science fiction from a time when German film was dominated by Winnetou and Edgar Wallace films, so basically films that are serious at their very core, but also include scenes and characters that deliver a bit of comedy. And you could fit this description also to this mini-series as the crew experience some serious adventures with evil enemies occasionally, but also make sure they crack the occasional joke to lighten things up, especially at the end of each episode when the danger is over basically. There we also have one problem already, namely the way things get solved feels sometimes a bit too much on the forced happy ending side, especially for the very last episode. And there are more problems I had with this series. The ending in general is a letdown with the final kiss scene too and honestly I found the banter between these two annoying throughout the entire show. Or the way the characters somehow make fun of the science-fiction genre in general was not even funny during the very first occasion at the end of the first episode and it stayed that way when they repeated it. And actually, how about an ending where the bad guys (i.e. the Frogs) win and destroy everything and everybody if the series ends anyway. This would have been pretty bold and brave wouldn't it, but courage is nothing really you can attribute to the makers of the series. It all feels painfully generic.
Maybe my dislike for the show also has to do with the fact that I am not a great SciFi fan in general, but then you can also say that supposed quality SciFi (judging from the rating on IMDb here) is something that could get me more interested in the genre, but this one here does not. Still you must say that the effects and sometimes also the plots are not bad for a film from the 1960s. Perhaps this is really the closest (West) Germany has to Star Trek. On another high note, Ursula Lillig is pretty attractive and should have had more screen time. But you see already that if I have to stick to stuff like that, then there really isn't too much quality otherwise here. The Frogs initially sounded like interesting main antagonists, but the ways in which they elaborated on them in the episodes after number 1 took away the appeal more and more from them. The stories about other earthlings (some nice ones, some not so nice ones) weren't much better really unfortunately. Overall, I would say that the only episode I somewhat enjoyed was the one with the writer, but not really because of him but because of the bad guy(s) there. Some solid action and interesting characters there and also a decent kidnapping story. Had the series been on this level (and also with less overacting surely) for its entirety I would certainly recommend it. But I don't think it is anywhere near deserving of the rating it has here on IMDb. I suggest you watch something else instead unless you really really love the genre (like I wrote in the title of my review) and have seen everything else basically (which is pretty impossible though).
It is all about science fiction from a time when German film was dominated by Winnetou and Edgar Wallace films, so basically films that are serious at their very core, but also include scenes and characters that deliver a bit of comedy. And you could fit this description also to this mini-series as the crew experience some serious adventures with evil enemies occasionally, but also make sure they crack the occasional joke to lighten things up, especially at the end of each episode when the danger is over basically. There we also have one problem already, namely the way things get solved feels sometimes a bit too much on the forced happy ending side, especially for the very last episode. And there are more problems I had with this series. The ending in general is a letdown with the final kiss scene too and honestly I found the banter between these two annoying throughout the entire show. Or the way the characters somehow make fun of the science-fiction genre in general was not even funny during the very first occasion at the end of the first episode and it stayed that way when they repeated it. And actually, how about an ending where the bad guys (i.e. the Frogs) win and destroy everything and everybody if the series ends anyway. This would have been pretty bold and brave wouldn't it, but courage is nothing really you can attribute to the makers of the series. It all feels painfully generic.
Maybe my dislike for the show also has to do with the fact that I am not a great SciFi fan in general, but then you can also say that supposed quality SciFi (judging from the rating on IMDb here) is something that could get me more interested in the genre, but this one here does not. Still you must say that the effects and sometimes also the plots are not bad for a film from the 1960s. Perhaps this is really the closest (West) Germany has to Star Trek. On another high note, Ursula Lillig is pretty attractive and should have had more screen time. But you see already that if I have to stick to stuff like that, then there really isn't too much quality otherwise here. The Frogs initially sounded like interesting main antagonists, but the ways in which they elaborated on them in the episodes after number 1 took away the appeal more and more from them. The stories about other earthlings (some nice ones, some not so nice ones) weren't much better really unfortunately. Overall, I would say that the only episode I somewhat enjoyed was the one with the writer, but not really because of him but because of the bad guy(s) there. Some solid action and interesting characters there and also a decent kidnapping story. Had the series been on this level (and also with less overacting surely) for its entirety I would certainly recommend it. But I don't think it is anywhere near deserving of the rating it has here on IMDb. I suggest you watch something else instead unless you really really love the genre (like I wrote in the title of my review) and have seen everything else basically (which is pretty impossible though).