Doppelgänger (1969 film)
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Doppelgänger was a 1969 Science Fiction film directed by Robert Parrish. The English language version was released as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun. The crew of a spacecraft journey to a previously unknown planet far side of the Sun, only to seemingly find themselves returning back to the Earth.
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[edit] Plot
After the discovery of an unknown planet orbiting exactly the opposite side of the Sun from Earth, the European Space Exploration Council (EuroSec) and NASA send British astrophysicist John Kane (Ian Hendry) and American astronaut Col. Glenn Ross (Roy Thinnes) to the new planet.
During their long voyage, they are put to sleep, and are maintained by a pair of on board Heart/Lung/Kidney machines, meaning that they will have no recollection of the journey. When they awaken, they enter orbit of the planet and do an initial survey. They find the planet's atmosphere to be breathable but they see no signs of life. They decide to go forward with a landing and go down in the lander.
As they enter the atmosphere, the ship's controls begin to short out and malfunction. They lose all control of the craft and crash. After getting clear of the wrekage, an air-sea rescue craft picks them up. It appears that the crew have somehow returned to Earth instead of going to the planet. They are discretly returned to the space center, with Kane in critical condition. He later dies of his injuries.
Ross is grilled by EuroSec officials who accuse him of aborting the mission. Ross denies turning back, saying he and Kane actually arrived at the new planet, and could not explain why he is now on Earth.
Soon, Ross puts together the shocking fact that he is not on Earth at all - but on the planet, which is an identical Earth where everything is a mirror image of our own. At first, his own wife Sharon (Lynn Loring) and others at the space agency think he is insane for claiming signs and even the layout of his apartment on the spaceport's base are backwards, but he convinces the director of EuroSec, Jason Webb (Patrick Wymark) that it is true by easily reading documents and written directions shown as a reflection in a mirror. Ross theorizes that everything that is done on his Earth is done on the planet at the same time, but opposite to it. If he tries to go back, he will return as if nothing happened.
Concern over whether the duplicate shuttle craft he and Kane used to come to Earth from the spaceship share the same electrical charge is raised, but Ross decides to try. He takes off in a shuttle he has named "DOPPLEGANGER," meaning "double," (written in our manner of left to right) to dock with the Earth ship he came in to retrieve its flight recorder. But as he docks, the electrical systems short out -- they were wrong, the polarity of electricity is the same on both worlds. He loses contact with the ground base, and his shuttle craft undocks from the ship, hurtling towards the ground with the automatic aproach system locked on. This locks out his controls resulting him having no flight control as he decends into the atmosphere. When ground control realizes his situation, they disengage the system, but too late, resulting in the shuttle crashing into a second mission rocket. He is killed instantly and the crash causes a chain reaction of ecplosions destroying the space center.
The final scene shows an elderly Webb, long ago dismissed as head of the space agency, institutionalized and telling the staff there about what had happened (the disaster had destroyed all evidence). In his dementia, he sees his reflection in a mirror mounted in front of a window, and in an attempt to touch his mirror self, crashes through the mirror and window to fall to his death.
[edit] Crew
The film was produced by Gerry Anderson, who was best known for producing television series using the puppetry technique Supermarionation, indeed utilising many of his greatest techniques, primarily the use of models and pyrotechnics. It also has an innovative score by Barry Gray which, like the earlier Captain Scarlet makes great use of an Ondes Martenot, particularly during the 'sleeping astronauts' scene. Unfortunately, the soundtrack is still unavailable. The success of this film led to Anderson producing live-action series for television, beginning with UFO, which recycled a number of props – and actors – from this film.
[edit] Legacy
Released a year after 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Apollo 11 moon landing, the film has reached 'cult' status, with many Anderson fans viewing the film as a ticket to true Anderson fandom.
[edit] Goof
The film showed Earth as having no moon.
[edit] External links
Doppelgänger at the Internet Movie Database
| Gerry Anderson |
|---|
| Television |
| The Adventures of Twizzle | Torchy the Battery Boy | Four Feather Falls | Supercar | Fireball XL5 | Stingray | Thunderbirds | Captain Scarlet | Joe 90 | The Secret Service | UFO | The Protectors | Space: 1999 | Terrahawks | Dick Spanner, P.I. | Space Precinct | Lavender Castle | New Captain Scarlet |
| Feature Films |
| Crossroads to Crime | Thunderbirds Are GO | Thunderbird 6 | Doppelgänger |
| Companies/Techniques |
| AP Films | Century 21 Productions | Supermarionation |
| Notable Collaborators |
| Sylvia Anderson | David Lane | Barry Gray | Reg Hill | Derek Meddings | John Read | Shane Rimmer |
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