German comedy based upon a German sketch show bit about the Starship Surprise and its gay crew.(The film also references director and star Michael Herbig's earlier films)
Think gay Star Trek. Think funny, in a very wrong sort of way.
Yes, I know "Germany" and "comedy" don't spring to mind as film terms (German art film, German crime drama), but this movie actually works, and when you aren't laughing you find yourself curious enough to want to know how it's all going to come out.
Looking infinitely better than George Lucas' last three Star Wars films and made for a fraction of the budget, this is a scifi spoof that plays like a twisted version of Spaceballs, but where the jokes are not so scattershot and are tied to the plot. The plot has to do with the evil Martian Empire coming to take over or destroy Earth, depending on whether or not we want to surrender. The only hope is the crew of the Starship Surprise which the leaders of Earth want to send back in time to prevent the events at Roswell, New Mexico 300 years before. The crew isn't interested since they'd rather prepare for the Miss Waikiki Contest. Eventually they do go back, but the time machine doesn't quite work right and we end up with knights and armor and western spoofs as well.
If you're a Trek fan it's worth seeing. If you're a Star Wars fan it's worth seeing, and the same goes for all scifi junkies. Yes it's dumb, but it's funny which is all that matters.
If you can get your hands on this movie (I picked it up from Video Search Of Miami) give it a shot, it's definitely worth a bucket of popcorn and a soda.
As I said this film also references director/star Michael Herbig's earlier film Manitou's Shoe , which is a send-up of westerns like the German Shatterhand films. While it's not really necessary to see that film to appreciate Starship, I kind of wish I had seen them in the order that they were made, since there are jokes that only make sense if you see Manitou first.
Both films are on DVD overseas and can be had if you keep your eyes on Amazon e-sellers of places like Video Search. One piece of advice; try to get it subtitled and not dubbed since I've heard the dubbing is horrible.
Found out about this by accident - WONDERFUL film!! I'm surprised more Trek fans don't know about this! I wish I understood German so I could enjoy all the bullyparade skits as well. I downloaded the film and had to really search to find the subtitles. Never could find a dubbed, but I'd like to check it out. I thought this was a great movie and it would be SOO cool if they'd make a sequel! Spucky is favorite character!!
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