A team of astronauts led by stalwart hero Perry Rhodan (Lang Jeffries) land on the moon only to discover an alien starship captained by a sexy, supercilious woman (Essy Persson) with a crew humanoid robots and a scientist dying of leukemia (John Karlsen). The film starts out as an classic space opera, albeit cheap and poorly acted (I watched a dubbed version with a terrible English script), with an interesting premise and adequate visuals (the alien ship is more imaginative than most) but as soon as the 'plot' requires everyone to go to Earth (to find a cure for leukemia), the film degenerates into a tedious 'Euro-action-thriller' with terrible special effects (notably the shots of things being levitated by Rhodan's alien 3-button do-all gadget). I am not familiar with the vast 'Perry Rhodan' canon but apparently fans have disowned this lackluster cinematic depiction of their hero. The film lacks the entertaining imagery and style common to 1960's Italian science fiction films (such as Antonio Margheriti's 'Gamma One' series) and the lengthy interval spent on Earth undermines what little interest the opening and closing scenes generate. For hard-core genre fans only.
Review of Mission Stardust
