Journey to the Far Side of the Sun

Overview

A previously unknown planet is discovered within our solar system, orbiting on the far side of the sun exactly opposite the position of the Earth, and at precisely the same speed. The European space agency Eurosec, headed by Jason Webb (Patrick Wymark), whose solar probe made the discovery, decides to send a manned mission to investigate, teaming America's top astronaut Glenn Ross (Roy Thinnes) and British astro-physicist John Kane (Ian Hendry). Their voyage aboard the space vehicle Phoenix is supposed to take six weeks, but when the ship returns to orbit in only three weeks -- ending in a crash of their landing vehicle that kills Kane -- Eurosec can only conclude that Ross has engaged in some sort of sabotage. The astronaut is at a loss as to how they could have done a round-trip in just three weeks, until he makes a startling discovery -- that everything that he sees, from the layout of rooms and buildings to all of the writing around him, is reversed, left to right and right to left. It takes Ross, amid his confusion, to arrive at the only possible conclusion -- that he and Kane did, indeed, journey to the new planet, and that world is a duplicate of Earth (and visa versa) down to the last molecule, a perfect mirror-image; and that world dispatched its own mission, with its own Ross and Kane. He and Webb, and Eurosec, scarcely have time to absorb the implications of this discovery -- if true -- as they prepare for a return flight for Ross, despite enormous risks and some potentially very dangerous unknowns in getting him back to the Phoenix.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/07/2015
UPC:	0025192231407
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	G
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	24,379

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Roy Thinnes	Colonel Glenn Ross
Lynn Loring	Sharon Ross
Patrick Wymark	Jason Webb
Herbert Lom	Doctor Hassler
Ian Hendry	John Kane
Loni von Friedl	Lise
George Sewell	Mark Neuman
Franco DeRosa	Paulo Landi
Ed Bishop	David Poulson
Philip Madoc	Dr. Pontini
Vladek Sheybal	Psychiatrist
George Mikell	Actor

Technical Credits

Sylvia Anderson	Producer,Producer
Harry Oakes	Special Effects
Robert Parrish	Director

Editorial Reviews

This science fiction/adventure film was one of the better works in the genre to emerge in the immediate wake of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey -- it was also notable as producer Gerry Anderson's first venture into science fiction involving live actors, as opposed to the marionettes that had previously populated his productions, on television series such as Captain Scarlet and Thunderbirds. The problem is that Anderson and his production team didn't sufficiently change their methods, techniques, or approaches to their work -- so that except for the performances by Patrick Wymark, Ian Hendry, and, to a lesser degree Roy Thinnes and George Sewell, none of what we see is terribly fast-moving or animated; and Herbert Lom is all-but-wasted in what amounts to an extended cameo appearance. Audiences were apparently supposed to be absorbed by the elaborate model work and effects -- especially the explosions that come up mid-way through the movie and at the end -- and in theaters these were probably very impressive; but on the small screen, they lose their impact. Additionally, the basic concept of the plot, an ultimately doomed (indeed, planet-altering) effort to explore a newly-discovered world on the far side of the sun, doesn't hold up under the treatment it receives here. The pacing is lethargic, and long stretches are given over to the quasi-psychedelic effects of suspended animation on the two (or four) space travellers involved. Those languid minutes kill the already shaky momentum behind the story, which is a fascinating idea, about two parallel, identical planets orbiting opposite each other around the sun -- what should have been a good sci-fi thriller ends up being more frustrating than anything else, for the opportunities that that missed. (And, apparently, the execution was so low-key, that the plot and content eluded one television production executive working for Turner Broadcasting in the 1980's -- the idea of two opposite, mirror-image Earths, on which everything is reversed, was achieved by "flipping" the film for the second half of the story; but some genius on WTBS, thinking the print had actually been flipped by mistake midway through, ordered it reversed and "corrected," so that those watching this movie in its early WTBS presentations couldn't see the mirror
eversal of the two worlds that unnerved Roy Thinnes's astronaut, and were almost as confused at home as the astronaut was supposed to be on the screen . . . . ).

All Movie Guide - Bruce Eder