Review: Journey to the Far Side of the Sun
DVD & Blu-ray: Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969)
Written and produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson (Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons), Journey to the Far Side of the Sun was their first major live action production.It’s 2069 and two astronauts are sent to uncover the secrets of a “duplicate” Earth on the other side of the sun. When they crash land three weeks earlier than they had planned, they must embark on a life-or-death mission to determine whether they have arrived back home or on the strange mirror world.
Originally released in Europe under the title Doppelgänger, a telecine operator in the 1980s who was unfamiliar with the film believed that the scenes set on the Counter-Earth had been wrongly reversed. They inverted them to correct the supposed error causing some TV broadcasts of the film to be shown with a flopped picture. The true mirrored Earth is of course shown in this great release from Fabulous Films.
The miniature models which were such an important part of so many of the Anderson’s other projects are present and correct here, with each rocket ship flight taking me back to being a child and thrilled to watch the ingenious effects work.
A very interesting premise that plays out well, especially when you begin to empathise with the astronaut who discovers the truth that he is indeed not where he originally thought he was.
I have no idea how this has passed me by for so many years, but thankfully I can now enjoy it due to this Blu-ray (and DVD) release from Fabulous Films, which comes complete with a double sided sleeve with all new artwork by the great Graham Humphreys.
Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Fabulous Films.
