Per Aspera Ad Astra (film)

Per Aspera Ad Astra
Directed by	Richard Viktorov Nikolai Viktorov (restored version)
Produced by	Aleksandr Kazachkov Yuri Obukhov Sandy Frank (English language version producer)
Written by	Richard Viktorov (screenplay) Kir Bulychov (novel)
Music by	Alexey Rybnikov (original score) Sergei Skripka (conductor)
Cinematography	Aleksandr Rybin Sandor Berkesi (restored version)
Edited by	Lyubov Pushkina (ed.) Konstantin Zagorsky (production design)
Distributed by	Gorky Film Studio Goskino (restored version) M-Film (restored version)
Release dates	1981 (1981) (2001)
Running time	148 minutes 123 minutes (restored version)
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

Per Aspera Ad Astra (Russian: Через тернии к звёздам, USA screen name - Through the Thorns to the Stars; Humanoid Woman) is a 1981 Soviet film directed by Richard Viktorov based on a novel by Kir Bulychov.

On December 27, 2001, a new restored version directed by Nikolai Viktorov, the son of the original film's director, was released as the 20th anniversary edition.^[1] The film featured revised special effects by the Paradox company and an all-new soundtrack in Dolby Digital; however, the film length was cut by twenty-five minutes to speed up the dynamics of the plot, but also some episodes with Soviet ideological context were also cut.

A heavily-edited (missing almost an hour of footage), English-dubbed version of the film (under the title Humanoid Woman) was featured on an early episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Plot

In the 23rd century a reconnaissance starship discovers a dead alien spaceship of unknown origin in deep space. The crew are found to be humanoid bodies, made by an advanced cloning process. One humanoid woman appears to be alive but has memory loss and is brought back to Earth. Scientist Sergei Lebedev settles her in his own house and names her Niya.

Some time later, Niya finds out that she has supernatural abilities. Prof. Ivanova finds a special neurocenter in her brain which can be used to control the humanoid clones. Niya suddenly remembers her home planet Dessa, where businessmen eager for easy money destroy nature.

A rescue mission with Niya on board is sent to her home planet. When she arrives there, her brain falls under the control of the neurowaves of local monopolist Turanchoks, who is trying to make the Earth expedition fail.

However, Niya is strong enough to resist the control and saves her civilization from an imminent catastrophe.

Cast

• Yelena Metyolkina as Niya
• Uldis Lieldidz as Sergei Lebedev
• Vadim Ledogorov as Cadet Stepan Lebedev
• Yelena Fadeyeva as Maria Pavlovna
• Vatslav Dvorzhetsky as Petr Petrovich
• Nadezhda Semyontsova as Professor Nadezhda Ivanova
• Aleksandr Lazarev as Professor Klimov
• Aleksandr Mikhajlov as Dreier
• Boris Shcherbakov as Navigator Kolotin
• Igor Ledogorov as Ambassador Rakan
• Igor Yasulovich as Torki
• Gleb Strizhenov as Glan
• Vladimir Fyodorov as Turanchoks
• Yevgeni Karelskikh

Dubbing

Mystery Science Theater 3000

• "Mystery Science Theater 3000" Humanoid Woman (TV episode 1989) at the Internet Movie Database
• Satellite News episode guide: K11- Humanoid Woman
• The Log Book episode guide: K11: Humanoid Woman

References

External links

• Per Aspera Ad Astra at the Internet Movie Database