German SciFi series: Raumpatrouille ORION

[Cpt.McLane]

Hi everyone
I don´t know if this short lived b/w German SciFi series has ever been broadcasted in the US, but I wish to talk about it here.

The story:
The year 3000. A fleet of starships is protecting mankind and its colonies in space against alien invaders. As a result of insubordination, the crew of the starship ORION under command of commander McLane has been transfered from front war to patrol duty. The crew of the ORION gets a new supervisor, security officer Tamara Jagellovsk who has to controll McLane and his crew. Instead of doing patrol duties, the ORION detects a new thread, the frogs, longtime enemies of mankind, are lunching an invasion fleet and it seems that someone in earth highest military ranks works for them as a treator.


The series has only 7 episodes with a runtime of 60 minutes/episode.

[Randy_Watson]

This looks interesting, although something seems a little wrong about a German show where the enemy is "the frogs," but maybe that's something that is a little lost in the translation.

[Cpt.McLane]

Well the series was produced in the 1960er at the same time as Star Trek. The series should be selled to europe and the US market, but it was filmed in b/w. At the same time, Star Trek was filmed big budget (in comparison to ORION) and in color, so no one wanted ORION.

The name "frog" is no translation. They were called "frogs" in German.

[Randy_Watson]

The name "frog" is no translation. They were called "frogs" in German.

But does "frog" have the same derogatory meaning towards the French in German? That's more what I meant.

Either way, I don't mind the black and white. Unfortunately, it looks like the only DVD release doesn't have English subtitles, so I won't be able to check it out. Here's to hoping someone picks it up for release over here. I love this old sci-fi and it seems that this one was pretty different.

[Cpt.McLane]

Well the series had very..let´s say interesting probs. The studio had to use what they could get. For Germany it was big budget, but in comparison to the big USA studios it was peanuts.

The series concentrates more on the characters and uses a lot of technobubble. So I think you need to find a DvD with subtitles or a translation to follow the story.

[Acolyte Of Bli'l'ab]

Great series, I so wish there was more German Sci-fi, they do it so well..and give it that dark militant brutality thats similar to the electronic music they make.