The German film and television landscape is famous for science fiction films that are anything but impressive, which is, as we all know, a typical guild of Hollywood cinema. But with Operation Ganymede, director Rainer Erler, who later became best known for the organ trafficking thriller Fleisch, succeeded in 1977
a real classicwhose bitter production can still have an impact today.
On February 22nd, the dystopian sci-fi film about a desperate group of astronauts with a German star cast will be released in high definition for the first time on Blu-ray and can now be pre-ordered from Amazon *. There is brand new and exclusive bonus material on board, including audio commentaries, interviews and a booklet in a slipcase with a reversible cover. Alternatively, there is also a stripped-down DVD version*.
That’s what Operation Ganymede is all about
The most ambitious human spaceflight project ends in disaster when, four and a half years after spacecraft were launched en route to Jupiter, only five of over 20 astronauts return to Earth. On board they have spectacular evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial organisms, but On the blue planet they have no radio contact.
After the emergency landing on the Pacific coast of Mexico, they are not celebrated as heroes as hoped, but instead have to embark on a seemingly hopeless march through the desert in search of rescue. The hardships and hopelessness break the morale of the men in one ongoing battle for life and deathwhile terrible suspicions arise.
German sci-fi classic with a star cast
The film, which was commissioned by ZDF, features a German star ensemble in the form of Jürgen Prochnow, Horst Frank, Dieter Laser, Claus Theo Gärtner and Uwe Friedrichsen and was released in cinemas again in 1980 after its TV broadcast. Operation Ganymede doesn’t rely so much on big effects, but rather thrives on that over the course of the film Fight for survival and the group dynamics of the desperate astronauts.
The latter also poses a lot of pressure due to the team’s composition of three Americans, a Western European and a Russian Explosive material in an earthly hostile world. The ORF says:
Operation Ganymede is a film about the old game of power, aggression and manipulation – and about the turning of scientific projects into propaganda tools.
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