Raumpatrouille – Die phantastischen Abenteuer des Raumschiffes Orion (), also known as Raumpatrouille Orion, and Space Patrol Orion in English, is a West German science fiction television series. Its seven episodes were broadcast by ARD from 17 September 1966. It was the first German science fiction TV series. With audience ratings as high as 56%, it was a huge success and racked up numerous reruns. Over the years, the series acquired a distinct cult status in Germany.
Premise In the series, nations no longer exist and Earth is united. Flying saucers, such as spaceship Orion, are flown by humans, whilst the aliens fly fighter jet-like aircraft. The titular ship, "Spaceship Orion", (German: "Raumschiff Orion") is portrayed as being a fast space cruiser (German: Schneller Raumkreuzer), the newest starship in mankind's fleet and the fastest spacecraft ever created by humans.
The show tells the story of Commander Cliff Allister McLane (Dietmar Schönherr), an Earth starship captain and his loyal crew. He is Orion commander in the developing war against an alien race called the Frogs (so-called also in the German original). He is notoriously defiant towards his superiors.
The seven stories in the TV series are set in the years 3000 to 3003 during the period that the Orion and its crew are demoted to serve in the lowly space patrol sector and are monitored by an onboard security officer.
Throughout the series, reference is made to two galactic interplanetary wars. The first war took place 400–500 years before the series setting (referenced in episode 5 - Battle for the Sun) when Neptune Colony joined the rebels against the Earth's control.
The story posits that there are no nation-states in 3000. In episode 5 - Battle for the Sun, the character Hasso comments that he has "as much chance to be the Emperor of China" when making a comparison on the planet Chroma.
Characters Major Cliff Allister McLane (Dietmar Schönherr) is the commander of the Orion and a friend to most of its crew. He is a daredevil and hero who does not fight for money or glory, but for peace. He has been a member of Earth's space fleet for 15 years and was a soldier in at least one previous large-scale war (in the novels, these adventures of Cliff and his crew were described, too). As a running gag, McLane often has to destroy the spaceship Orion to save Earth, afterwards being awarded command of a better vessel (also named "Orion"). In the TV series it was shown only with the destruction of the Orion VII, though in the novels it went as far as to the Orion X-C. Cliff Alistair (the spelling used in the novels following the TV series) He is of American descent with Scottish ancestry. Lt. Mario de Monti (Wolfgang Völz) is the computer specialist and gunner ("armament officer") of the Orion and a good friend of Commander McLane. He is often shown drinking with his friends and he is a womanizer who likes to flirt with young, attractive women (not even Tamara is safe from him, but she turned him down quite firmly). The de Monti character is of Italian descent. Lt. Atan Shubashi () is the astrogator and star cartographer of the Orion. He is the owner of 264, one of the last 367 poodles that still exist on Earth. This character is of Japanese descent. Lt. Hasso Sigbjörnson (Claus Holm) is the Orion's engineer. He likes to drink and is the only crew member who is married (his wife is named Ingrid and he always promises her to retire from active duty). He is an old friend of Commander McLane who usually helps him to explain to Ingrid why he can't retire after all. Both Hasso and Ingrid are of Scandinavian descent. Lt. Helga Legrelle (Ursula Lillig) is the surveillance and communication officer of the Orion. Like the other members of the crew, she dislikes Tamara Jagellovsk and feels monitored by her. Like Jagellovsk, Legrelle has a secret crush on Commander McLane and reacts very jealously whenever she notices Jagellovsk paying too much attention to him. She is of French descent. Lt. Tamara Jagellovsk (Eva Pflug) is a member of the GSD ("Galaktischer Sicherheitsdienst", German for "Galactic Security Service", the military intelligence service) who has been given the task of keeping McLane under control. Tamara likes McLane, however, and is very amused by his sense of humour. The Crew at first strongly dislike her, but with time they develop a feeling of mutual respect. Tamara can issue "Alpha Orders" which are orders of highest priority that have to be obeyed by McLane at all cost. She is of Russian descent. Frogs are a highly advanced and very intelligent, energy-like race of extraterrestrial conquerors who are attempting to destroy Earth's space fleet and eliminate mankind. They have extremely fast starships and powerful energy weapons. Some of their technological abilities are superior to Earth's, but oxygen is poisonous to them. In the novels, it is finally revealed what they called themselves: Uraceel / Turceed. General Winston Woodrow Wamsler (Benno Sterzenbach) is McLane's commanding officer while McLane is demoted to 3 years of space patrol duty at the TRAV ("Terrestrische Raumaufklärungsverbände", "Terran Space Reconnaissance Division"). His name implies an English or American background. General Lydia van Dyke (Charlotte Kerr) was Cliff's original commanding officer in the year 3000 when McLane was still at the "Schnelle Kampfverbände" ("Fast Battle Cruiser Division") and she expected him "not to go away sulking like a space cadet" when he was demoted, but to return to her fleet after his 3 years of patrol duty. She is also the commanding officer of the space ship Hydra. Given her surname she is presumably of Dutch descent. Oberst (= Colonel) Hendryk Villa (Friedrich Joloff) is the head of the GSD ("Galaktischer Sicherheitsdienst", "Galactic Security Service") and thus the boss of Lt. Tamara Jagellovsk. He is of German descent. Lt. Michael Spring-Brauner (Thomas Reiner) is the aide-de-camp to Gen. Wamsler and has a strong dislike towards McLane and his crew (which is mutual). He is a stuck-up bureaucrat and tries to make McLane's life as miserable as he can. Another character of Teutonic descent. Space Marshal Kublai Krim (Hans Cossy) is the commanding officer of the Earth Space Forces (Kommandeur der Raumstreitkräfte). Her name implies a Ukrainian-Mongolian background. Sir Arthur (Franz Schafheitlin) is the head of the Earth Space Forces, the Supreme Space Authority, ORB (Oberbefehlshaber der Raumstreitkräfte). Sir Arthur's character is obviously of English descent. von Wennerstein (Emil Stöhr) is a representative of the Earth government. Clarence, Tim, and Francois, the far-space station MZ4 station crew. They are all found in a form of statis due to the attack by the alien frogs removing all the air (oxygen) from the far-space station.
Fictional technology Astrodisc (German "Astroscheibe") is a viewing screen that can produce holographic images of space. It has the same function as the bridge screen of the Enterprise in Star Trek. The astrodisc forms the centerpiece of the Orion's bridge. Light-thrower batteries (German "Lichtwerferbatterie") are the weapons most frequently used by Earth's space fleet and the ships of the Frogs. These weapons come in many different sizes, ranging from hand lasers to planet-destructing cannons. Orion was the first German production to feature the English word "laser". Antimatter bombs are bombs containing antimatter and were used in the attempt to destroy the "Supernova" in the 2nd episode ("Planet außer Kurs", Planet off Course). Overkill is a new weapon that was introduced in the 4th episode ("Deserteure"), and that was installed on the Orion as the first Earth space ship. It seems to be a disintegrator-style weapon that is able to cause enormous craters hundreds of kilometres wide and even obliterate whole planets. ASG wrist-worn communication devices (in German: "Armbandsprechgerät") are part of the technology of Earth's space fleet. Robots (German "Roboter") are helpers, guards and even housekeepers in the world of tomorrow. Their use is shown to be problematic, because they are depicted as suffering from frequent malfunctions, making them dangerous to human beings (especially if they are battle robots). They first appear in the series in episode 3 "Keepers of the Law" as saucer-shaped mining machines quasi-levitating on one bow-leg. They are constrained by Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, about which a lecture is given at the beginning of the episode. Later they appear as androids and floating battle robots. Some of the humanoid robots are very similar in design to the modern Vietnamese robot TOPIO. Deep sea bases (German "Tiefseebasis") are giant cities located under water. They are modern, beautiful and have big windows to allow the people to see fish and other underwater life forms. The Orion usually starts and lands at Basis 104 which is located in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Faster-than-light engine (German "Überlichtantrieb") is the main drive that allows the crew to traverse the universe at speeds faster than light. The Frogs use a similar but superior technology, with the result that their spacecraft can outpace the ships of the Space Patrol. Magnet shield (German "Magnetschild") is a protective shield which is used by the Frogs. The Shield appears as a powerful energy bowl that encircles the starship.
Special effects and set decoration
Many of the special effects seen in the black-and-white series, like the underwater casino and space port, were created by means of the Schüfftan process.
As the series' budget was comparatively low, the set designers resorted to using modified common everyday objects; for instance, electric irons, upside-down clock pendulums, washing-machine console parts, and designer pencil sharpeners were used as props control panels, sewing thread coils and banana plugs as futuristic machine parts, and plastic cups as ceiling lights. Many panels were produced by the then-newly invented thermoforming process. Designer furniture was also extensively used, notably Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's 258-type couch, Harry Bertoia's Diamond-type armchair, Yrjö Kukkapuro's Karuselli-type armchair, Charles Eames's Aluminium group #EA105 chair, George Nelson's DAF Chair and Eero Saarinen's Tulpe table/chair combo. Joe Colombo's famous Smoke-type drinking glasses were used throughout the series.
Orion'''s cockpit was a 2.50m high, 10m wide interior set, built within a 28m exterior diameter sound stage. It stood on a 60 cm high metal tube construction to hide the 10,000m cable harness that connected its 3,200 flashing light bulbs to a 40 kg, electric motor-driven pinned-barrel mechanical sequencer.
The stage designer was Rolf Zehetbauer, who later won an Academy Award for his work on Cabaret.
"We had no money available and yet we were instructed to produce an elaborate science-fiction series. We were forced to improvise in all aspects. This ruled out completely manufacturing the spaceship's equipment from scratch. So we used existing things that we could adapt," is how Zehetbauer described the design work of the set.
Production Rumours about the considerable costs of the series having led to its termination after only seven episodes were denied by the widow of the Orions original screenwriter, implying that it was planned from the start to have only seven installments. More episode screenplays were written than were filmed. No official reason was given for not producing a second series of episodes, but there are several reasons that were aired in interviews many years later by those involved in the production. According to Hans Gottschalk, one of the executive producers, there was a "lack of exciting script ideas" at the time. Helmut Jedele, then boss of producers Bavaria Film, mentioned in hindsight that the first series had taken the company to its limits both in terms of staff and finance.