Teenagers in Space: A Soviet Sci-Fi Film from 1974
“Teenagers in Space” (?????? ?? ?????????) is a 1974 Soviet children’s sci-fi film about evil robots. In the film, a group of clean-cut teenage “pioneers” embark to a distant planet in the Cassiopeia constellation. There, they discover that robots have taken over the planet and enslaved the humans with one intention – to make their masters happy, as the robots understood happiness.
In one memorable scene, stylish robots offer to give the young cosmonauts a “Happiness Makeover.” In the futuristic operating room, sleek white sarcofagi encase the teens while robots calibrate the machine to erase their feelings of love, sorrow, shame and self-doubt. It turns out that their robots’ understanding of happiness is the satisfactions of basic needs, and the elimination of all “disturbing” emotions.
The teens learn that a small group of humans had escaped from the “Great Enhappening” and that their descendants have been orbiting the planet for generations. Together, they figure out a way to bring down the robots’ oppressive regime.
The film is available in its entirety on YouTube, but perhaps the best way for an English-speaking audience to experience the film is through the video below, which combines footage of the film with Kraftwerk’s “Robots.” See below.
May 30th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
YESSSSSS!
That’s all I really can say. YESSSS. I frequently think about this movie. At least twice a year.
June 1st, 2012 at 3:32 pm
These robots are actually quite zen. They have realized that all emotions are divided. Happiness contains sorrow, pleasure contains pain and so forth. What really becomes interesting is when you get in to the meaning of the word. In Slavic languages it relates to heavy labour or even slavery. Ergo, to be a worker means that you have to seek detachment in the meaning of zen. Emotions are for the privileged classes.
June 29th, 2012 at 7:05 am
Apparently the movie is also called teens in the universe. Anybody looking for a imdb link here it is: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071957/
And you can download the movie for free from the internet archive. http://archive.org/details/TeenagersInTheUniverseotrokiVoVselennoj