Michael Herbig was most recently seen as a game director on Amazon’s comedy show LOL: Last One Laughing. He celebrated his greatest successes with the figures in the Bully Parade in the early 2000s. The Shoe of Manitu (2001) is still considered today most successful film of the post-reunification period and in 2004 he followed up with the science fiction parody Dream Ship Surprise – Period 1.
The slightly different dream ship couldn’t quite repeat the success of the Western, but with 9 million tickets sold (via InsideKino), it is probably the German science fiction film with the highest audience size ever.
You can still stream the film on Netflix, but not for long. At the December 31 he will be removed from the program until further notice.
The Bullyparade crew shoots the German Spaceballs
The title refers to George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels and the uniforms were copied from Star Trek. Anyone who has ever spent screen time with Captain Kirk and Spock will also recognize this in the characters of Christian Tramitz and Michael Herbig. The science fiction film parodies everything that isn’t nailed down and is therefore reminiscent of Mel Brooks’ films, especially Spaceballs.
Constantine
(T)Starship Surprise – Period 1
The story takes place in the year 2054, when humanity has successfully colonized Mars. The However, descendants of the settlers want to conquer the earth. The crew of the Surprise turns out to be the last hope. Captain Jürgen T. Kork (Christian Tramitz), Mr. Spuck (Michael Herbig), Schrotty (Rick Kavanian) and Co. are supposed to travel back in time to reverse the colonization of the red planet.
The ensemble also includes Manitu cowboy Sky Du Mont, Anja Kling as Queen Metapha and Til Schweiger as Han Solo blend Rock Fertig-Aus.
More science fiction films and series from Germany
(T)Raumschiff Surprise – Period 1 is also available online in the purchase and rental version, but will only stream with a Netflix subscription until the end of the year.
If you’re interested in more German visions of the future, you should make a note of classics like Metropolis, The Silent Star, Operation Ganymede or World on a Wire and take a look at the Space Patrol Orion series.
Netflix customers can find what they are looking for with the streaming film Paradise or tie their brains together with the series Dark.