Teens in the Universe

Teens in the Universe
Teens in the Universe
	Отроки во Вселенной
Directed by	Richard Viktorov
Written by	Isai Kuznetsov; Avenir Zak
Starring	Innokenti Smoktunovsky; Vasili Merkuryev; Lev Durov
Distributed by	Gorky Film Studio
Release date	1974;
Running time	84 min
Country	Soviet Union

Teens in the Universe (Russian: Отроки во Вселенной, romanized: Otroki vo vselennoy) is a 1974 Soviet science fiction film directed by Richard Viktorov based on a script by Isai Kuznetsov and Avenir Zak about teenage space travelers. It was preceded by Moscow-Cassiopeia (1973), the first part.

Synopsis

The crewmembers of ZARYa starship supposed to mature during 27-year-long flight, unexpectedly arrive to the Shedar system after less than one year of local time travel. Remote sensing verifies that one of the planets is very much Earth-like. Three of the crew members should land the new planet. They use the reconnaissance capsule and encounter the apparently abandoned planet. But the "extra" member of the crew, a stowaway, Lobanov meets strange more or less human-like creatures that escort him and his mates to the underground city. They become unreachable for radio communications.

During this communications outage the orbiting ZARYa rendezvous with another giant spaceship. The commander of that ship explains that their home planet is populated only by the two kinds of bionic robots - executors and far more advanced rulers. These robots were invented two centuries ago, but after some period of good work, rulers tried to improve humans, as well as the nature of the planet. Unfortunately, this "improvement" led to the total aloofness of the processed people, including suppression of love and reproductive behaviour. After a century and a half all population of the planet was dead. Only the space radio observatory station crew was unreachable for the robotic "care".

ZARYa crew sets up the second capsule to rescue the crew members captured by robots. Agapit, the son of the station commander, will be their guide in the underground city. After some troubles, boys counterfeit the recharging request from the power plant and burn up all robots at the planet, making it free for people from the space station.

Cast

Innokenti Smoktunovsky as I.O.O. (Extraordinary Service Executive)
Lev Durov as academician Filatov
Yuri Medvedev as academician Ogon-Duganovsky

Space ship Zarya crew

Mikhail Yershov as Vitya Sereda
Aleksandr Grigoryev as Pasha Kozelkov
Vladimir Savin as Misha Kopanygin
Vladimir Basov Jr. as Fedya "Lob" Lobanov
Olga Bityukova as Varya Kuteishchikova
Nadezhda Ovcharova as Yulia Sorokina
Irina Popova as Katya Panfyorova

Other cast

Vadim Ledogorov as Agapit
Igor Ledogorov as Agapit's father
Natalya Fateyeva as Pasha Kozelkov's mom
Anatoly Adoskin as Pasha Kozelkov's dad
Aleksandr Lenkov as Robot Executor
Nikolai Pogodin as Robot Executor
Raisa Ryazanova as Ludmila Okorokova
S. Safonov as Robot Executor
Nadezhda Semyontsova as Nadezhda Filatova
Vladimir Shiryayev as Robot Executor
Olga Soshnikova as Irina Kondratievna
Aleksandr Vigdorov as Mikhail Kondratievitch
Mikhail Yanushkevich as journalist
Aleksandr Yanvaryov as brother of Pasha Kozelkov
Aleksandr Zimin as Robot Executor
Arkadi Markin as brother of Pasha Kozelkov before the flight (uncredited)
Mikhail Yeremeyev as Robot Executor

Awards

Prize for the Best Film for Kids and Youth of the All-Union Cinema Festival, Kishinev, 1975
Special prize "Silver Asteroid" of the International Cinema Festival of Science Fiction Films, Triest, 1976
Grand prize of the International Festival at Panama, 1976
Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) in the honour of Vasilyev brothers, 1977.

External links

Teens in the Universe at IMDb
Teens in the Universe is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive