Ikarie XB 1 (1963)

Ikarie XB 1: Directed by Jindrich Polák. With Zdenek Stepánek, Frantisek Smolík, Dana Medrická, Irena Kacírková. The year is 2163. Starship Ikaria XB 1 embarks on a long journey across the universe to search for life on the planets of Alpha Centauri.

“This is for sf-film completists. It seems to fill a gap between the late-50u0026#39;s style of sf movie and the forever-after effects of Star Trek and Kubricku0026#39;s u0026quot;2001.u0026quot; The only version youu0026#39;re likely to see is the American International release. The Encyclopedia of SF says the original film is in color, but AIu0026#39;s print is Bu0026amp;W, probably to save costs on the number of prints they may have made from a film I suspect they got for little money in the first place.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe story is about a big u0026quot;communityu0026quot; sized spaceship making a long journey to u0026quot;the green planet.u0026quot; Another reviewer said the ship was faster than light, but a couple of references to time-dilation effects in the dialog make it more likely that the ship was a near-lightspeed model. This has an influence on the spooky atmosphere that pervades the whole film, making the crew/community highly insular, as they realize they are cut off completely from the lives they have left behind.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe sfx are slightly better than Dr. Who episodes of similar vintage, with a couple of really good spacesuits and an unusual design for the ship itself. Thereu0026#39;s also a very, very neat shot of the ship in orbit around its destination that is a dead ringer for a similar moment in u0026quot;Alien,u0026quot; and quite effective (in both films), in a way that most movies about spaceships seem to forego.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill, the story rambles and seems kind of shallow. The sets and sfx arenu0026#39;t bad, but donu0026#39;t make up for the weak script. I recommend this for true lovers of the form (as I am), because you just wouldnu0026#39;t want to be left wondering what might have been going on in sf films, even east European ones, in the early u0026#39;60s. Hereu0026#39;s your answer.”