The Mystery of the Third Planet
The Mystery of the Third Planet (Russian: Тайна третьей планеты, Tayna tretyey planety), aka The Secret of the Third Planet is a 1981 Soviet traditionally animated feature film directed by Roman Kachanov and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. It is based on a children's science fiction novella "Alice's Travel" by Kir Bulychev, from Alisa (Alice) Selezneva book series.[1]
| The Mystery of the Third Planet Тайна третьей планеты | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover (Krupnyy Plan) | |
| Directed by | Roman Kachanov |
| Written by | Kir Bulychev (story & screenplay) |
| Starring | Olga Gromova Yuri Andreyev Vladimir Druzhnikov Vladimir Kenigson Vasily Livanov Rina Zelyonaya |
| Music by | Aleksandr Zatsepin |
| Edited by | Nadezhda Treshcheva Olga Vasilenko |
| Distributed by | Soyuzmultfilm (USSR) Jambre Pictures (U.S. 1981-1985), Touchstone Pictures (U.S. re-release, 1985) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 50 minutes (original version) |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
The movie is considered a cult classic in Russia[2] and was included in various lists of the best animated films[3][4] and science fiction films.[5] A shortened novelisation of the film was written by Bulychev himself; a diafilm and a number of video games were based on The Mystery of the Third Planet; and spiritual successor film Alice's Birthday was released in 2009.
Plot
Captain Zelyonyy (Green), Professor Seleznyov and his daughter Alisa Selezneva set out from Earth aboard the starship "Pegas" (Pegasus), seeking out new animal species for the Moscow Zoo. On the advice of the archaeologist Gromozeka, they turn to Doctor Verkhovtsev, the director of the Museum of Two Captains, for help. But the doctor behaves suspiciously: he refuses to show them the Captains' diaries and starts spying on the expedition. On the planet Bluk they make some valuable purchases, among them a Chatterer — the bird belonging to the missing captain Kim. A suspicious fat man, Merry Fellow Oo, tries to steal a bird. Having listened to the speech of the Chatterer, the crew of "Pegas" heads for the Jellyfish system. On the road, the heroes rescue robots of the planet Shelezyaka from diamond dust, mixed into machine oil.
On the third planet of the Jellyfish system Alisa finds "mirrors" — the flowers which are memorable and displaying everything that occurred before them. By means of mirrors the heroes find out that on the planet there are Verkhovtsev and the Merry Fellow. In attempt to fly in a safe place of "Pegas" falls in a trap. Seleznyov and Green are captured by pirates, Alisa manages to run away.
On the planet the captain Buran, and with him — the real Verkhovtsev lands. Alisa asks them for help. Meanwhile, the Merry Fellow threatening to murder the captives, demands from captain Kim locked in the ship, a formula of absolute fuel. Buran's invasion rescues the heroes. The double Verkhovtsev, Glot, is exposed. The Merry Fellow in attempt to escape falls into the clutches a bird of prey, Krok. The captains and researchers return home.
Creators
| English | Russian | |
|---|---|---|
| Director | Roman Kachanov | Роман Качанов |
| Writer | Kir Bulychev (story & screenplay) | Кир Булычёв |
| Art Director | Natalya Orlova[Note 1] | Наталья Орлова[Note 1] |
| Artists | Alla Goreva Dmitriy Kulikov Igor Oleynikov I. Litovskaya Irina Svetlitsa Victor Chuguyevskiy V. Maksimovich Geliy Arkadyev Gennady Morozov |
Алла Горева Дмитрий Куликов Игорь Олейников И. Литовская Ирина Светлица Виктор Чугуевский В. Максимович Гелий Аркадьев Геннадий Морозов |
| Animators | Marina Voskanyants Marina Rogova Vladimir Arbekov Vladimir Zarubin Aleksandr Panov Violetta Kolesnikova Renata Mirenkova Vladimir Shevchenko Antonina Alyoshina Olga Orlova Joseph Kuroyan Yuriy Batanin |
Марина Восканьянц Марина Рогова Владимир Арбеков Владимир Зарубин Александр Панов Виолетта Колесникова Рената Миренкова Владимир Шевченко Антонина Алешина Ольга Орлова Иосиф Куроян Юрий Батанин |
| Camera | Svetlana Koshcheyeva Teodor Bunimovich |
Светлана Кощеева Теодор Бунимович |
| Music | Aleksandr Zatsepin | Александр Зацепин |
| Editors | Nadezhda Treshcheva Olga Vasilenko |
Надежда Трещева Ольга Василенко |
| Sound | Boris Filchikov | Борис Фильчиков |
| Script Editor | Natalya Abramova | Наталья Абрамова |
| Executive Producer | Ninel Lipnitskaya | Нинель Липницкая |
| Voice Actors | Olga Gromova (Alice) Vsevolod Larionov (Seleznyov, Chatterbird) Vasily Livanov (Gromozeka) Grigory Shpigel (Vesselchuck Oo) Rina Zelyonaya (Old lady with a cake) Yuriy Andreyev (Navigator Basov) Pyotr Vishnyakov (Prof. Verhovtsev, Glot) Nikolai Grabbe (Cpt. Buran) |
Ольга Громова (Алиса) Всеволод Ларионов (Селезнёв, Говорун) Василий Ливанов (Громозека) Григорий Шпигель (Весельчак У) Рина Зеленая (старушка с тортиком) Юрий Андреев (штурман Басов) Пётр Вишняков (доктор Верховцев, Глот) Николай Граббе (капитан Буран) |
- The actress Yekaterina Semyonova, daughter of Orlova, has said that the design of Alice was based on her and that her father served as the prototype of Captain Green.
International broadcast
| Country | Company | Air Date in cinema | Title | Dubbing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
YLE Nelonen |
6 November 1982 | Kolmannen planeetan arvoitus | Finnish |
 |
Touchstone Pictures | 23 May 1987 (first version) 4 December 1998 (second version) |
Alice and the mystery of the third planet (American version) | English |
 |
Tallinnfilm Kanal 2 |
3 July 1987 (cinema) 5 March 2007 (Festival) |
Kolmanda planeedi saladus | Estonian |
 |
TV3 | Mysteriet med två kaptener | Swedish | |
 |
Telecinco Clan TVE |
1998 (Films by Jove version) 2016 (dubbing version) |
El misterio del tercer planeta | Spanish |
 |
TV3 Lithuania | Trečiojo planetos paslaptis | Lithuanian (voice-over) | |
  |
Rai 3 | Alice e il mistero del terzo pianeta | Italian | |
 |
TV3 Latvia | Alice: Sāciet piedzīvojumu | Latvian (voice-over) | |
 |
Мистерията на третата планета | Bulgarian (dubbing version with subtitles) | ||
 |
Polsat | 4 July 2001 | Tajemnica Trzeciej Planety | Polish |
 |
CCTV-6, CCTV-14 | 第三顆行星的奧秘 | Chinese (Mandarin) | |
 |
France 3, TF1, WE Productions, M6 Vidéo | 1982 (first version) 1995 (second version) |
Le Mystère de la Troisième Planète | French |
  |
Barrandov (dubbing production) Markíza |
2016 | Tajemství třetí planety Tajomstvo tretej planéty |
Czech Slovak |
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Nine Network | 2016 | The Mystery of The Third Planet | English |
 |
NCRV | 17 November 2004 | Mysterie van de Derde Planeet | Subtitled |
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RTBF | 2016 | Le Mystère de la Troisième Planète | French |
 |
KBS | 1 August 2005 | 3 번째 행성의 신비 | Korean |
 |
RTL Klub, A+ | 31 October 2005 | Misztériumát a harmadik bolygó. | Hungarian |
 |
TVR2 | 1 January 2006 | Misterul din a treia planetă | Romanian |
  |
DEFA, RTL II (Germany) ORF (Austria) |
Das Geheimnis des Dritten Planeten | German | |
 |
K1 | 2017 | Таємниця третьої планети | Ukrainian (voice-over) |
 |
Kushi TV (Telugu) Disney Channel (Tamil, Hindi) Kochu TV (Malayalam) Chintu TV (Kannada) Sony Yay (English, Hindi) Star Jalsha (Bengali) |
तीसरे ग्रह का रहस्य The Mystery of the Third Planet |
Hindi Tamil Telugu English Malayalam Kannada Bengali | |
 |
Indosiar | 1 January 2008 | Gadis dari Bumi | Indonesian |
 |
Arutz HaYeladim | 8 July 2008 | המסתורין של כוכב לכת השלישי | Hebrew Original (only Russian-speaking Jews in Israel) |
    |
MKRTV HRT Happy TV POP TV |
25 May 2008 | Тајната на Сончевиот систем Медуза Misterija trećeg planeta Tajna treće planete Skrivnost tretjega Planeta |
Macedonian Croatian Serbian Slovenian |
 |
Kanal D, Show TV | Üçüncü Gezegen Gizem | Turkish | |
 |
RTP | 2016 | Mistério do Terceiro Planeta | Portuguese |
 |
Nippon Animation (first version) Toei Animation (second version) |
1985 (video premiere) 2016 |
第三惑星の秘密 | Japanese |
| Middle East | MBC 3, Spacetoon | 20 May 2010 (except Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Syria) | سر الكوكب الثالث | Arabic |
 |
SBT | O Mistério do Planeta Terceiro | Portuguese (Brazilian) | |
| Latin America | Televisa (MEX) Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video, Telefe (Argentina) Canal 13 (Chile) Caracol Television (Colombia) Frecuencia Latina (Peru) Venevisión (Venezuela) TV Total (Uruguay) |
4 November 1997 (Argentina, Films by Jove) 2016 (Latin America) |
El misterio del tercer planeta | Spanish |
Home video and English adaptations
The film was adapted twice for the US market. It was first brought over as a video release in 1987, with dubbed voices. The second time, it was released in the 1990s as part of Mikhail Baryshnikov's "Stories from My Childhood" series. This series consisted of films that were bought by California-based company Films by Jove from Soyuzmultfilm for the international market. Over $1.5 million was spent by this company restoring the prints, adding new music and redubbing the films with American actors. This version of the film was named Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet and has been released on VHS as well as on a 1999 DVD collection with several other films . The film has been released on DVD several times (the latest release, which featured rather misleading cover art, was in October 2005 ). The original Russian version with English subtitles is here:
The Films by Jove version of the film has been criticized by some of those who saw the original for adding many extra dialogue lines, shortening the film, and replacing the unique synthesizer music by Alexander Zatsepin.[6]
The original film has been released on several DVD editions in Russia, including a newly restored one by Krupnyy Plan.
Awards
- 1982 — the State award USSR
Games
- In 2005 an arcade platform game was made by the company Akella based on the film, called "Alice's Space Adventure".
- An adventure game was released in the same year called "Alice's Journey", also produced by Akella (but developed by "Step Creative Group").
Shootings
This was the fourth film using traditional drawn animation directed by Roman Kachanov, who served as the art director and/or animator on over 30 animated movies. Kachanov's best-known works, ("The Mitten", "Gena the Crocodile", "Cheburashka", "Shapoklyak" and others) were shot in stop motion (volume) animation.
The characters were designed by Natalya Orlova. Her daughter, the actress Ekaterina Semyonova, said that Alice was based on her, and her father, (the director Tengiz Semyonov), was the prototype for Captain Zelyonyy.
Music for the movie was written by Aleksandr Zatsepin. According to Zatsepin, original records of music in his record library didn't remain.
The production of this picture took four years.
Hire abroad
The animated film was twice released in the USA. The first dubbing, ("Mystery of the Third Planet"), came out on video in 1987. Alice's name was changed to Christine, and overall the translation had little in common with the original. Consequently, this legally-sourced version is often mistaken for a bootlegged edition.
The second version, ("Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet"), was released in the 1990s by the Films by Jove company. In this version, the translation is much closer to the original, though a large amount of dialogue which was not in the original was also added. In this version, the soundtrack was replaced and about 6 minutes were cut out. Kirsten Dunst was the voice of Alice, and James Belushi — the Chatterer.
"Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet" was released in English, Spanish, French and other languages.
See also
- Guest from the Future
- History of Russian animation
- List of animated feature films
- Alice's Birthday, a 2009 spiritual successor animated film based on another one of the Alice stories
References
- The Mystery of the Third Planet at the Animator.ru
- Mir Fantastiki №123, November 2013
- Названы лучшие советские и российские мультфильмы за 100 лет. СПИСОК "Золотой сотни" (The best Soviet/Russian animated films are named. The "Golden Hundred" list)
- IMDb. Highest Rated Animation Feature Films. 1-50.
As of 2014, Mystery of the Third Planet is #47 - Mir Fantastiki №57, May 2008. Top 100 most important sci-fi/fantasy movies
External links
- Tayna tretey planety on IMDb
- Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet on YouTube (English adaptation)
- VObzor review of the Krupnyy Plan DVD (with screenshots)
- The Mystery of the Third Planet at myltik.ru (in Russian)
Games
- Official website of Alice's Space Adventure (platform game)
- Official website of Alice's Journey (adventure game) (click on first link for English version of official website)