Retro Trek -- Raumpatrouille Orion vs Star Trek Movie

Raumpatrouille Orion was a landmark European SF TV series from the mid 1960s. It predated Star Trek. Although Raumpatrouille Orion never premiered in the U.S. it was widely watched in Europe and was a huge hit. The gigantic sound stage and sets were some of largest in TV history at that time and the special effects were cutting edge.

Filmed in Germany in 1965 and 1966, the black and white TV show was released in late 1966. Rumor has it that due to the high production costs and tying up sound stage areas with elaborate sets, the show was cancelled after only seven episodes. Other sources say that it was only scheduled to run seven episodes, but somehow given the reception it received in Europe, I find it hard to believe.

About five years ago a friend of mine showed me the series, which was in German and we did a fansub in English of the first two episodes. I felt like the retro-edgy 60s music fit better with the ST trailer than the typical shock and awe Hollywood nonsense.

Just to put things in perspective, I watched the original Star Trek when it was a new, exciting series and frankly given the period and resources available, it remains one of the best SF series since TV began in the U.S.

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Film & Animation

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• Star Trek Movie
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• German
• aliens
• spaceships
• trailer CoastCon
• CoastConFan
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• Space Patrol
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[LMUli]

the funny thing is: both series had an international crew, which was quite a new idea at the time! clearly raumpatrouille had the better soundtrack ;)

[CoastConFan]

@LMUli The opening sequence of original Star Trek features the theme which sounds a lot like the song Telstar by the British band Tornadoes was released in 1962. I have wondered for years if that was a coincidence.

[combattaskforce]

very good sound and the music is far beyond star trek.

[LMUli]

@CoastConFan i dont hear any similarities