Zar

Happily the series is not lost after all. Theatrical versions were released to DVD in France and Italy some time ago.

Now, finally, a Spanish movie magazine has released the complete six-episodes series to limited edition DVD! Bad news for some of us is that only a Spanish language track is included, with no subtitles. (If that is unacceptable to you, well, you'll have track down one of the old VHS releases then - and that'd be of the theatrical version only. No complete release in English is known to exist.) But at least it's available, so get it while you can. I've heard that the initial batch sold out almost instantly, to the complete surprise of the magazine staff.

Anyway, let's hope someone will release an English language version. If necessary, do a brand new dub! (Omar Sharif is still around, after all.)

P.S. Watching the complete series again I marvel at how faithful to Jules Verne the producers were. Well, they did crank up the scifi elements a bit, but then again Verne is considered the grandfather of Science Fiction, isn't he?

I've read about the atrocious English language dub, but my copy of the film is the Dutch rental video with the original German dialogue and it sounds fine. The film itself is gritty and realistic in tone. Five astronauts return from years in space only to find a seemingly desolate Earth. No radio signals, deserted ruins, sparse vegetation etc. At loss at what to do next they decide to head North, but without sufficient food and water supplies, how long will they last? The line between reality, hallucinations due to dehydration (and possible radioactive sickness) and flashbacks to their exploration of Jupiter moon Ganymedes is constantly blurred. Recommended.

DJANGO AND SARTANA'S SHOWDOWN IN THE WEST is unquestionably one of the worst spaghetti westerns ever made. Directed by the infamous Demofilo Fidani on a non-existing budget, with long intervals of absolutely nothing happening and what little does happen isn't anything to write home about either. If you must, watch it for Gordon Mitchell who is genuinly funny as the crazy gang leader who is engaged in a poker play with his mirror image for the most of the film. By the way Django and Sartana doesn't even have a showdown!