Strange New Worlds : Science Fiction at DEFA – Eureka Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: East Germany/Poland, 1960 (The Silent Star), East Germany/Poland, 1970 (Signals: A Space Adventure), East Germany/Soviet Union/Bulgaria, 1972 (Eolomea), East Germany, 1976 (In the Dust of the Stars)
Directors: Kurt Maetzig (The Silent Star), Gottfried Kolditz (Signals: A Space Adventure, In the Dust of the Stars), Herrmann Zschoche (Eolomea)
Cast: Yôko Tani, Oldrich Lukes, Ignacy Machowski, Julius Ongewe, Mikhail N. Postnikov, Kurt Rackelmann, Günther Simon, Hua-Ta Tang, Lucyna Winnicka (The Silent Star), Piotr Pawlowski, Evgeniy Zharikov, Gojko Mitic, Alfred Müller, Helmut Schreiber, Irena Karel, Soheir El-Morshidy, Karin Ugowski, Iurie Darie (Signals: A Space Adventure), Cox Habbema, Ivan Andonov, Rolf Hoppe, Vsevolod Sanaev, Petar Slabakov, Wolfgang Greese, Holger Mahlich (Eolomea), Jana Brejchová, Alfred Struwe, Ekkehard Schall, Milan Beli, Silvia Popovici, Violeta Andrei, Leon Niemczyk, Regine Heintze, Mihai Mereuta (In the Dust of the Stars)

Release Date: May 19th, 2025 (UK)
Approximate Running Times: 93 Minutes 42 Seconds (The Silent Star), 91 Minutes 41 Seconds (Signals: A Space Adventure), 82 Minutes 19 Seconds (Eolomea), 100 Minutes 7 Seconds (In the Dust of the Stars)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC (The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure), 2.20:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC (Eolomea), 1.66:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC (In the Dust of the Stars)
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Stereo German (The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure, Eolomea), LPCM Mono German (In the Dust of the Stars), DTS-HD 5.1 German (The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £44.99 (UK)

"Following the division of Germany in the aftermath of World War II, DEFA was established as the state-owned film studio of East Germany or the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Active from 1946 until its dissolution in 1992, the studio made hundreds of feature films in a diverse range of genres, from hard-hitting dramas to crime thrillers, fairytale adaptations and Westerns. During the 1960s and 1970s, it also produced a series of colourful and wildly imaginative science fiction films in which courageous cosmonauts attempt to unravel the secrets of the universe: The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure, Eolomea and In the Dust of the Stars.

Based on Stanisław Lem’s The Astronauts, The Silent Star begins as an extraterrestrial object is unearthed in the Gobi desert. When it is found to have originated on Venus, the crew of the spacecraft Kosmoskrator is dispatched to the yellow planet to solve its mysteries. In Signals: A Space Adventure, the Laika and its crew are sent to find a lost research vessel, the Ikaros. But as they draw nearer to the missing craft, they begin to intercept a series of strange radio transmissions. Then, Eolomea sees eight ships dispatched from the space station Margot disappear without trace – and it’s down to science officer Maria Scholl (Cox Habbema) to find out what happened to them. Finally, In the Dust of the Stars follows the crew of the Cyrano as they land on the planet TEM 4 to investigate a distress signal – and find themselves under the psychedelic influence of its bizarre inhabitants." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Eolomea), 4.25/5 (Signals: A Space Adventure), 4/5 (The Silent Star), 3/5 (In the Dust of the Stars)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfers, "Signals: A Space Adventure presented from a new 6K scan of the original 70mm camera negative. Eolomea presented from a 4K scan of the original 70mm camera negative. The Silent Star and In the Dust of the Stars presented from 2K scans of the original 35mm camera negatives."

More information about In the Dust of the Stars' transfer, "Hi all,

We were made aware of the issue being discussed here in relation to In the Dust of the Stars a few days ago and we have since discovered that the master supplied to us has been subject to minimal AI upscaling using the software Topaz. To be clear, this does not affect the other three films in this box set.

As the technology is relatively new, we have limited experience with AI enhancement in general and Topaz in particular, and to our knowledge this is the first master that has ever been supplied to us with Topaz upscaling (though we did recently pick up far more glaring anomalies in another forthcoming master, which was replaced during the production process).

Topaz was clearly used conservatively in relation to In the Dust of the Stars as the master is excellent for the most part (as noted in recent reviews and notably in DVDBeaver’s write up on the set) and the AI anomalies are minimally invasive. With that said, we fully understand and agree that even minimal AI enhancement is not ideal or desirable. We do not endorse the use of AI in the film restoration process.

We will not be issuing a disc replacement scheme for this set as the high initial production costs on this project and its relatively low RRP mean that this is simply not financially viable for us. However, we will now be introducing an internal policy of hyper-vigilance to the use of AI in the masters supplied to us and will be ensuring that any masters that have been subject to AI upscaling are resupplied without it.

We hope that you are still able to enjoy this box set, which is the result of a huge amount of hard work by our production team and brings four innovative and rarely seen examples of world genre cinema to disc in the UK for the first time.

- The Eureka Team."

The Silent Star comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 41.1 GB

Feature: 28.4 GB

Signals: A Space Adventure and Eolomea come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.7 GB

Feature: 20.9 GB (Signals: A Space Adventure), 17.2 GB (Eolomea)

In the Dust of the Stars comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.2 GB

Feature: 28.5 GB

The four films' sources are in excellent shape, and any debris has been cleaned up. Signals: A Space Adventure and Eolomea are the two best-looking, while In the Dust of the Stars is the worst-looking. In the case of the latter, there was some AI used, and it is most noticeable during darker moments. Colors and flesh tones look correct, image clarity and black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 4.5/5 (The Silent Star - LPCM Stereo German, Signals: A Space Adventure - LPCM Stereo German, Eolomea - LPCM Stereo German, LPCM Mono German - In the Dust of the Stars), 4.25/5 (The Silent Star - DTS-HD 5.1 German, Signals: A Space Adventure - DTS-HD 5.1 German)

The audio options are LPCM stereo mixes in German for The Silent Star, Signals: A Space Adventure, and Eolomea; an LPCM mono mix in German for In the Dust of the Stars; and DTS-HD 5.1 mixes in German for The Silent Star and Signals: A Space Adventure. Each film comes with removable English subtitles. All of the audio tracks sound clean, clear, balanced, and robust when they should.

Extras:

Extras on the disc with The Silent Star include a German theatrical trailer for The Silent Star (3 minutes 16 seconds, LPCM stereo German with removable English subtitles), Strange New Worlds : Science Fiction at DEFA masters of cinema promo trailer (1 minute 39 seconds, LPCM stereo German with removable English subtitles), an archival newsreel covering the making of The Silent Star titled A Rocket in the Soviet Zone (40 seconds, LPCM mono German with non-removable English subtitles), an archival newsreel documenting Anthony Asquith’s visit to the set of The Silent Star titled British Filmmaker Visits DEFA (1 minute 29 seconds, LPCM mono German with non-removable English subtitles), an animated short produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film titled The Robot (15 minutes 4 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono German with removable English subtitles), an interview with Soviet cinema expert Claire Knight titled Red Skies (32 minutes 26 seconds, LPCM stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for German film clips), and an audio commentary written by Rolland Man and presented by David Melville Wingrove for The Silent Star.

Extras on the disc with Signals: A Space Adventure and Eolomea include a German theatrical trailer for Eolomea (2 minutes 35 seconds, LPCM stereo German with removable English subtitles), an archival featurette on the making of Eolomea titled Cosmonaut Dreams, featuring special-effects cameraman Kurt Marks, costume designer Barbara Müller-Braumann and technician Jan-Peter Schmarje (19 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM stereo German with non-removable English subtitles), an animated short produced by the DEFA Studio for Animation Film titled Jana and the Little Star (14 minutes 56 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono German with removable English subtitles), an interview with science fiction scholar Mark Bould titled Blast Off, he discusses DEFA Sci Fi and how it fared globally (24 minutes 22 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary written by Rolland Man and presented by David Melville Wingrove for Signals: A Space Adventure, and an audio commentary written by Rolland Man and presented by David Melville Wingrove for Eolomea.

Extras on the disc with In the Dust of the Stars include a German theatrical trailer for In the Dust of the Stars (2 minutes 59 seconds, LPCM stereo German with removable English subtitles), a documentary short on the future of love in East Germany produced by the DEFA Studio for Newsreels and Documentary Films titled Love 2002 (24 minutes 45 seconds, 1.37:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono German with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with Peter Suring, director of photography on In the Dust of the Stars titled Dusting Off After 30 Years (16 minutes 3 seconds, LPCM stereo German with non-removable English subtitles), a video essay by Daniel Jonah Wolpert on In the Dust of the Stars titled Marx Attacks (15 minutes 16 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary written by Rolland Man and presented by David Melville Wingrove for In the Dust of the Stars.

Other extras include reversible cover art, a limited edition hard case, and a limited edition 60-page booklet with cast & crew information for each film, an essay titled Alternate Futures: An Introduction to DEFA’s Utopian Cinema written by Mariana Ivanova, an essay titled Blockbuster to B-Movie: The Running and Breaking of The Silent Star written by Sebastian Heiduschke, an essay titled Space Adventures in 70mm: Signals and Eolomea Counter 2001 and Solaris written by Sonja Fritzsche, an essay titled Deep Space Mine: Experimentation, Liberation and In the Dust of the Stars written by Evan Torner, The Silent Star original film programme and information about the transfers titled Notes on Viewing. Note: The hard case and book are limited to 2000 copies.

Summary:

The Silent Star: An international team of astronauts travels to Venus to investigate the origins of an alien artifact they discover on Earth.

When released in the U.S., The Silent Star was shortened, dubbed into English, and given a new score composed by Gordon Zahler and renamed First Spaceship on Venus. Two additional U.S. releases—Spaceship Venus Does Not Reply and Planet of the Dead—were both recut and given new dubbing. The Silent Star is an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's novel The Astronauts; he is most known for Solaris.

The Silent Star, similar to many Soviet sci-fi films, highlights the theme of collectivism. This theme even extended to the international cats who portray characters from Germany, Poland, Africa, the Soviet Union, the U.S., Japan, India, and China. While no individual performance stands out, the cast effectively contributes to the unfolding story.

The most fascinating thing about watching sci-fi films from around the world is how elements like clothing, spaceships, and other futuristic technology look similar, despite being from different cultures. The Silent Star’s special effects are representative of 1950s/early 1960s sci-fi films; that said, though they are dated by today's standards, some of the miniatures still look impressive.

Set in the near future, the opening setup does an excellent job introducing characters and laying the foundation for what follows. The narrative can be broken down into three parts: the first act takes place on Earth, the middle section showcases the astronauts' routines as they travel to their destination, and the last act takes place on Venus. That said, the moments on Venus are the best and most memorable.

The narrative is well-constructed; it does a superb job building momentum to a very satisfying finale. The production design is exemplary, especially the moments on Venus. Though the score is minimal, it does a phenomenal job enhancing the mood. Another area where The Silent Star excels is the visuals, which reinforce the foreboding atmosphere. That said, watching The Silent Star in its original German version is like seeing the film for the first time for those who watched any of the English-language versions.

Signals: A Space Adventure: A commander and his crew search for a missing spaceship that lost its bearings.

In 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey forever changed sci-fi cinema, and in its wake many films tried to mimic it; case in point, Signals: A Space Adventure. While there are numerous similarities between these two films, one key area of distinction is that Signals: A Space Adventure is rife with exposition, whereas 2001: A Space Odyssey utilizes dialogue sparingly.

The most unusual aspect of Signals: A Space Adventure is its moment on Earth, where characters walk upside down and have fun on a beach. These moments really stick out, and they add nothing to the narrative's main focal point, the search for the missing ship. That said, an area where the narrative is very effective is its use of flashbacks to flesh out characters.

Though the performances support the story that unfolds well, the special effects are the main attraction. The special effects, mostly miniature effects, hold up well considering their limitations. Another area where the production design of Signals: A Space Adventure excels is in the depiction of the wrecked missing spaceship.

The narrative is well-constructed, and despite its deliberate pacing, there are no major lulls. The visuals do a remarkable job creating a credible world, especially when it comes to how they accentuate characters' movements in outer space. Another strength is an exemplary score that does an excellent job of reinforcing the mood. Ultimately, Signals: A Space Adventure's positives far outweigh its few negatives.

Eolomea: When 8 cargo ships go missing and a space station becomes silent, the space council forbids travel to that region of space.

Eolomea is ultimately a film about exploring the unknown life beyond Earth, despite the original mystery being what happened to the 8 cargo ships and the space station. Themes explored in Eolomea are personal sacrifice and collectivism. That said, despite being a film firmly rooted in sci-fi, a significant portion of the narration takes place on Earth, and most locations look modern, not futuristic.

Eolomea is a narrative of two halves; the main focal point revolves around the missing cargo ships, the silent space station, and other moments in space, while the subplot revolves around a professor and an astronaut's romance. The scenes that take place in space do a superb job of holding your attention by piquing curiosity. That said, the scenes revolving around the professor and the astronaut slow down any momentum.

The performances are best described as serviceable. Eolomea is not a film you watch because of its performances; it is all about the spectacle. The production design is solid, and the miniature special effects hold up well. That said, when it comes to robots, this is one area where the special effects are laughably awful.

Despite a few lulls, the narrative never feels overlong. That said, the way in which the narrative shifts from the present to the past is not as seamless. Another shortcoming of Eolomea is its inability to make you care for its characters. Ultimately, Eolomea tries to be a highbrow sci-fi film but comes off as a space opera that’s mildly entertaining.

In the Dust of the Stars: A spaceship and its crew are trapped on a planet after receiving a distress call from its inhabitants.

Despite its futuristic setting, In the Dust of the Stars has many elements that connect it with 1970s disco culture, notably some of the clothing. Also, to pass the time, the inhabitants of the planet Tem 4 like to have Roman-like orgies and perform choreographed dances. Content-wise, In the Dust of the Stars is a campy sci-fi film cut from the same mold as films like Logan’s Run and Flash Gordon.

When it comes to the performances, one thing that can be said is that the cast all give enthusiastic performances. The most surprising aspect of In the Dust of the Stars is how unintentionally funny it is, especially when it comes to Chief, the leader of the planet, and his main henchman, Ronk. Ekkehard Schall’s flamboyant portrayal of Chief is the most memorable performance.

Where Gottfried Kolditz’s previous sci-fi film Signals: A Space Adventure featured wondrous visions of space and the future, In the Dust of the Stars lacks all of these things. The special effects look crude, and even the production design has less to work with this time around. That said, this does not appear to be a case of running out of money but instead just a filmmaker working with limited resources.

Though In the Dust of the Stars deals with social commentary, it is too silly of a film for any of its themes to really stick. There are an abundance of WTF moments, none more head-scratching than a silhouetted nude dancing sequence. And at 100 minutes in length, there are a few lulls, which are fortunately not difficult to look past since the narrative is overflowing with weirdness. Ultimately, In the Dust of the Stars is an outlandish film that lacks the highbrow ambitions of other East German sci-fi cinema.

Despite the transfer shortcomings of In the Dust of the Stars, I still recommend Strange New Worlds: Science Fiction at DEFA. The other films feature solid audio/video presentations, and there is a wealth of informative extras.

                                  Screenshot example of AI.

Written by Michael Den Boer