Ice Planet

This starts with a voice over stating that 30 years earlier there was a world wide war between The Union and The Consortium that left 10 per cent of the Earth's population . This leads to a mental image of a labour dispute getting out of hand . You'll have to use your own mental image for this war because an obvious montage isn't used . Actually there is a vague internal logic for world wide wars happening when mankind has developed interstellar travel because who's going to start world war 3 when everyone is confined on Earth ? There's also a logic to have an extremely cosmopolitan crew on a spaceship . After all China , India and possibly Brazil will be superpowers in the late 21st century so there is a bit of thought given to the future premise . Alas thought doesn't seem to be given to anything else

While watching ICE PLANET I had the gut instinct that I was watching a pilot to some TV show . Everything about the way shots are framed to the not very special effects and the segments where the screen fades to black gave me the impression I was watching a feature length TV pilot . Even the premise of a human colony being attacked by mysterious aliens reminded me of a previous TV series SPACE ABOVE AND BEYOND . I went on Wikipedia and guess what ? This was indeed a pilot for a TV series that was never produced

This leads to a fundamental problem and that is that ICE PLANET never feels like a story in its own right . There's just a basic exposition that sets things up and there's a host of characters who have a backstory just waiting to burst out . Of course if you're going to go to a full series characters and situations will be embellished and built upon but if it doesn't this means you're watching something that is terribly unsatisfying in its own right which is something commentators on this page have mentioned . Perhaps the fact that this pilot didn't go to a series tells you something ?

This is actually very good science fiction. As most of this movie does NOT consist of giant robots fighting each other, stupid people probably shouldn't try to watch. There is lots of plot, although the dialog can be sketchy at times. The whole thing move fast enough that you actually have to think about whats going on. The effects are last generation but the delivery is erstwhile.

This movie does not bore us with endless fighting sequences. It takes the time to develop a complex plot line while sparing us the details of character development. As many of the characters seem to be arch-types one could surmise they would receive further treatment if the series were produced.

This movie is a surprise gem. Far far better than Syfy has ever produced on it's own.

I viewed this last night and it was simply a horrific script, direction, budget and acting. There was almost nothing original in the script, it seemed to take old ideas from about 3 generations of Star Trek and was utterly confusing. It appears by the ending that it was supposed to be a pilot for a continuing series but I don't think any networks would take this up. It could have been promising since the only thing really going for it were the CGI action sequences but the acting was sooo bad that it destroyed the film. The worst actor was the commander. His entire crew were close behind. I'd like to say something positive but I can't. The plot? Basically the earth, and all it's outstations/colonies are under attack by an alien race. They can destroy worlds and earth has nothing that can stop it (kind of like the planet eater in the original star trek or star trek the movie (i think #2 or 3, the one with the dolphins!!). The script had potential right there but tanked from that point forward.

If you want to see a mixture of the '50's and '60's Sci-Fi scripts and special effects with modern techniques, then go see the movie. Probably a low budget movie, since they couldn't afford a better scenario, as it starts with a story of a war (what's new?) between two terrestrial factions and it ends with some 1000 people on a strange planet, starting a new life... The connection between the key elements of the story is weak, the people inside are not interesting (old models of heroes from Star Trek, mostly, some elements of the oldies - "The forbidden planet"; "Time Machine") as well as not original at all, as if the movie-makers discovered the bicycle at the beginning of the 21 century... Sorry to say, no logical story, cheap FX, actors are not convincing at all; and the story is not even funny, to recommend it for kids. If I take into account its complexity, I'd recommend it to 10-11 years old kids. It is one of those movies that made you think why you have spent 2 hours of a lovely night for nothing?

In an undefined future, the human race is attacked by some alien force and Earth planet is destroyed. The military and civilian crew of a space base become the survivals of the human race, escaping before the attack in a state-of-art spacecraft to an unknown coordinates in the universe, following direct orders of Senator Jeremy Uvan (Reiner Schöne). They arrive in a mysterious ice planet through a hyperspace gateway, and they are informed that the project of the spacecraft and the coordinates were informed by an unknown alien race. They fight against the enemy and begin life in a new world. "Ice Planet" is a confused collection of many sci-fi movies. There are battles, like in "Star Wars", the military and civilian humans wear costumes and look like the characters of "Star Trek" and escapes like in "Galactica", a spacecraft is built to get people to a new world, like in "Contact" and so on. The problem is the horrible screenplay, where the characters are badly developed, the situation of the war between humans and aliens is not explained and there is no connection between the most important elements of the plot. This film seems to be a pilot movie of a series, and probably in the middle of the shooting, the budget was cut, becoming a huge patch of scenes already shot. At least this was my impression. In the end, "Ice Planet" is a watchable and forgettable German Sci-fi B-Movie, indicated only for fans of this genre for killing time in a rainy night. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Planeta do Gelo" ("Ice Planet")