Star Wreck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Star Wreck is a series of Finnish Star Trek parody movies started by Samuli Torssonen in 1992. The first movie, simply named Star Wreck, was a simple Star Control–like animation with three ships shooting at each other, but later movies featured 3D CGI, animated characters, weird humour and in the latest films, live actors. Often Star Wreck is used to refer to the latest and most popular film Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning.
Star Wreck relates the adventures of James B. Pirk (named after the Star Trek character James T. Kirk), Captain of the starship C.P.P. Potkustartti (English C.P.P. Kickstart). Other characters include Mr. Fukov, Mr. Spook (Finnish: Mr. Spökö), Mr. Dwarf (Wuf), Ensign Shitty and Mr. Info (loosely based, respectively, on Star Trek's Pavel Chekov, Mr. Spock, Worf, Scotty, and Data). The characters speak Finnish, but subtitles in various languages, including Klingon, are available.
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[edit] Films
All Star Wreck films are available for free download and viewing online. They are offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercials -licence.
[edit] Star Wreck I (1992)
The first Star Wreck animation was inspired by the classic computer game Star Control 2 and was drawn frame by frame using Deluxe Paint Animation.
[edit] Star Wreck II: The Old Shit (1994)
This time, Pirk's mission is to go to the Fibula sector and destroy all enemies. This was the first time Star Wreck used rendered 3D animation.
[edit] Star Wreck III: Wrath of the Romuclans (1995)
Having wrecked his ship in the previous episode, Pirk now commands a brand new starship, and is sent to investigate a Romuclan attack plan on a backwater space station.
[edit] Star Wreck IV: The Kilpailu (1996)
The Kickstart is sent to take part in a competition organised by a powerful alien race, the Zarquons.
[edit] Star Wreck V: Lost Contact (1997)
The story was a parody of Star Trek: First Contact. The Korg send a ship back in time to 20th century Earth to stop first contact by assassinating rockstar Jeffrey Cochbrane before his concert attracts the attention of Vulgars.
This was the first Star Wreck to use living human beings as actors, instead of animation.
[edit] Star Wreck 4½: Weak Performance (2000)
Star Wreck 4½: Weak Performance is the sixth film in the series, made after Star Wreck V: Lost Contact.
Captain Pirk goes to the halludeck to play an adventure simulation called "Ändy Bones". Samuli's cousin plays Captain Pirk's enemy in the game. Lieutenant Kynnysmatto takes Pirk's seat while Pirk is in the game. Romuclans attack and almost destroy the CPP Potkustart while Pirk is stuck in the simulation.
In this movie Atte Joutsen appears for the first time as Lieutenant Kynnysmatto. Lieutenant Kynnysmatto is in a small role in Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, too. Atte Joutsen's main role in In the Pirkinning is Johnny K. Sherrypie.
This movie was made because the team wanted to test some effects before they began to make Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. It was also a in-joke meant for other team members; the halludeck scenes are actually taken from Ändy Bones 2, a short film the team made several years before.
While Star Wreck 4½ isn't included in the Star Wreck: Legacy DVD, the original Ändy Bones movies have been included on that DVD. Due to the demand, however, a remastered version of Star Wreck 4½ was also released later on the Internet as a downloadable DVD image.
[edit] Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning (2005)
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is the first Finnish independently-funded feature-length film featuring high quality special effects and space battles. A parody of both Star Trek and Babylon 5, the film begins with Pirk and several of the Kickstart crew members marooned on present-day Earth after the happenings of the previous movie. Growing tired of the inconveniences and lack of respect he encounters in primitive contemporary society, Pirk decides to "assist" humanity by using Federation technology to make himself dictator of Earth and build a fleet of starships. An exploration mission crosses through a wormhole (called a "maggothole" in the film) into an alternate timeline and encounters the Babel-13 space station commanded by Captain Sherrypie. Habitable planets being in short supply, Pirk immediately decides that the logical course of action is to conquer Babel-13's alternate Earth – but soon finds that Sherrypie has no intention of allowing this without a fight.
Production of the movie was started in 1999, and after six years of work it premiered on 20 August 2005 for VIPs only in Kinopalatsi, Tampere, Finland. A DVD was offered, and the first copies were sent to pre-order subscribers on 5 September 2005. Downloadable versions were released on the Internet on 1 October 2005. Both releases are available under a Creative Commons license, although the authors had asked people to refrain from distributing the DVD content until the official Internet release day. It is currently available for viewing on on DivX Stage 6 and Google Video.
[edit] Popularity
Star Wreck has enjoyed a relatively large niche following among sci-fi fans, but it was only the latest movie that really pushed it into the limelight. Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning was downloaded over 700,000 times during the first week after its release [1] and the current estimates by the hosting service, Magenta sites, are between 3.5 – 4 million downloads, including mirror sites. This has been claimed to make In the Pirkinning the most popular Finnish film of all time, topping the movie theatre viewings for Tuntematon sotilas (approx. 2.8 million viewers); the comparison, however, may not be particularly meaningful. Numerous TV and magazine interviews of the film's authors have been published, both in Finland and abroad.
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning has also been shown on Finnish national television, YLE TV2, on the Belgian national television channel Canvas, and Italian TV-channel Jimmy.
A new Imperial Edition DVD has also been released by Universal Pictures in Scandinavia. With Imperial Edition release, all the space scenes with Star Trek or Babylon 5 ship models were removed and completely remade.
In September 2007, a 1-DVD version of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning - Imperial Edition was released also in Japan by AMG & Medallion Media. The version includes a professional dub for Japanese, as well as new sleeve design and a poster/que card inside the DVD case.
[edit] List of movies
- Star Wreck (1992)
- Star Wreck II: The Old Shit (1994)
- Star Wreck III: Wrath of the Romuclans (1995)
- Star Wreck IV: The Kilpailu (1996)
- Star Wreck V: Lost Contact (1997)
- Star Wreck 4½: Weak Performance (2000)
- Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning (2005)
There is also a spin-off animated Star Wreck, created by a different author who has no relation to Torssonen's team, called Star Wreck Asskicker which tells the story of the C.P.P. Asskicker.
[edit] See also
- Star Wreck Roleplaying Game, the licensed roleplaying game based on the film series.
- Iron Sky
[edit] External links
- Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning
- Introduction and downloads of the older Star Wreck films
- Star Wreck forums (English and Finnish)
- Star Wreck teams blog
- IMDb entry for Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning
As of 1 October 2005, Star Wreck: In The Pirkinning is available for download from its official website. The movie is licensed under a Creative Commons license, permitting unlimited non-commercial redistribution.
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