Cherez ternii k zvyozdam (1981)

User Rating:

2.8/10   

Directors:

Richard Viktorov
Nikolai Viktorov

Writers:

Kir Bulychyov (writer)
Richard Viktorov (writer)

Release Date:

November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

A female creature created in space tries to live on earth and has special (and sometimes dangerous) powers. |

Plot Keywords:

Rescue | Desert Planet | Campy | Environmental Disaster | Evil Man

Cast

Yelena Metyolkina	...	Niya
Vadim Ledogorov	...	Cadet Stepan Lebedev
Uldis Lieldidz	...	Sergei Lebedev
Yelena Fadeyeva	...	Maria Pavlovna
Vatslav Dvorzhetsky	...	Petr Petrovich
Nadezhda Semyontsova	...	Professor Nadezhda Ivanova
Aleksandr Lazarev	...	Professor Klimov
Aleksandr Mikhajlov	...	Dreier
Boris Shcherbakov	...	Navigator Kolotin
Igor Ledogorov	...	Ambassador Rakan
Igor Yasulovich	...	Torki
Gleb Strizhenov	...	Glan
Vladimir Fyodorov	...	Turanchoks
Yevgeni Karelskikh
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
G. Ivchenko
Armen Karapetyan
Vladislav Kovalkov		(as V. Kovalkov)
K. Nikolaev
Lyudmila Nilskaya
Kh. Osipyan
S. Padchenko
Nikolai Timofeyev
Aleksei Vanin

Also Known As:

Через тернии к звёздам (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Humanoid Woman (USA) (dubbed version)
Per Aspera Ad Astra
To the Stars by Hard Ways (USA)

Runtime:

148 min | Russia:123 min (restored version)

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital (restored version)

Filming Locations:

Kiev, Ukraine

Company:

Goskino

Trivia:

The film was restored in 2001 by director's son using film clips, shooting scripts, original camera outtakes, director's notes and surviving 70mm positive print.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When they are in the "weightless" space station, one can see bubbles coming from one of the actors, revealing that the scene was filmed underwater.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Humanoid Woman (#1.11)" (1989)

Terrible foreign import.

I just watched the MST3K-KTMA version of this about 2 hours ago, and I just can't get this oddity out of my mind. For starters, the music is BEYOND terrible, especially towards the beginning. To add to the bad music are annoying sound effects (they're supposed to be futuristic sounds but come off like something from a cheap Atari game). the "plot" (just pretend there's one) is totally confusing, not so much in the first half, but when the Astronauts (or probably Cosmonauts in this case) get to the planet (called Dessa, or something similar), I totally lost track of everything at this point. The dubbing here is B-A-D (after all, it is a Sandy Frank import). Of the entire film, only three things in the entire movie really stand out to me. 1)The music, as previously explained, it's really bad, and rather disturbing when you think it came from the early 80's. 2)That blob-like thing in the pool (I mainly remember this spot because at that point Servo began singing the song from the opening of "The Blob" from '58), plus it was kind of neat looking. 3, and most important)The ending, it's just so 80's-ish, what with the shot of the humanoid standing on the planet as the ship lifts, and the look on that dude's face as the credits roll. It's kind of interesting that Sandy Frank released this. As most of us MSTies know, Frank really only released Japanese giant monster films, mainly Gamera flicks. Although this film was a total waste, I'm pleased that this KTMA actually had some funny bits, with Servo hitting on the blender (this skit was redone in season one), and Joel's song about "Humanoid Woman" during the opening credits (not to mention that except for a slight jumping at the very top of the screen, it was a very good quality copy). All in all, a very good MST3K, a very bad movie.