Perry Rhodan Neo (Vol I)

 https://youtu.be/ncZbnTF-vPI?si=TbQsEXcw9M5U0RqN

We look at the modern reimaging of the long-running German science fiction series Perry Rhodan. Perry Rhodan Neo.

Perry Rhodan Introduction

Our next step in examining Lemuria in popular culture is taking a look at a German science fiction series, which in fact may be the single longest running science fiction universe still in print... Let's introduce ourselves to the Perry Rhodan universe.

https://youtu.be/HMu9a2aBO1Y?si=w_gbNgavyH_rInJK

Perry Rhodan Volume I: Stardust Enterprise By K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting

 Perry Rhodan Volume I: Enterprise Stardust

By K. H. Scheer and  Walter Ernsting 

 

In 1961, a rather pulpish story was published in novella form in West Germany; it would turn out to be the first issue in a series that has run without stopping to this very day.  There are over 3000 individual issues, and it has been published across the entire world.  We’re talking about the space opera series Perry Rhodan, and today we will review the first novel in the series, Stardust Enterprise. 

The book takes place in the then-future year of 1971, where the West Block, led by the United States, is facing off against a fading Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact, and a rising Asian Federation created by the combination of India and the People’s Republic of China. Cold War tensions are incredibly high, and the world feels like it’s right on the edge of doomsday. The United States is just barely ahead of the Asian Federation in the Space Race and is sending its first manned expedition to the Moon. 

This expedition is led by our title character, Major Perry Rhodan of the US Space Force.  While the liftoff is a success and the ship, named the Stardust, reaches the moon, things quickly go wrong.  While orbiting the moon, their communications with Earth are jammed, and they are forced to land on the moon, miles away from their original landing site.  Worse, it’s on the far side of the moon, so until they lift off, they cannot reestablish communications with Earth, which leads everyone to assume that they crashed and are all dead. 

They did survive, however, and quickly concluded that what happened could only be the result of outside meddling. At first, they blame the Asian Federation, as there was supposed to be an Asian ship launched after theirs, but the crew assumes that it’s very possible that the Asian Federation simply lied. After repairing their ship, Perry and one of the crewmen, Reginald Bell, head out to where they can establish contact with Earth, but a green energy ray destroys their communications antenna.  They follow it back to the source to find an alien ship that has landed on our moon. 

Perry deduces that these aliens could have killed them at any time, but didn’t, so they might be open to talking things out.  He happens to be right here. These aliens, called Arkonides, are an incredibly ancient race that once controlled large chunks of the galaxy.  Their civilization is in a terrible decline, as most of them are addicted to digital entertainment, they call Sims and cannot tear themselves away from their screens long enough to effect even minor repairs.  Worse, the leader of the expedition, a scientist named Crest, is dying from a strange disease. 

Perry then strikes a deal to aid the Arkonides and to attempt to treat Crest’s illness in exchange for their technology.  However, there’s an additional problem.  Perry realizes that if he brings the alien tech, which is over a thousand years more advanced than ours, to the United States, the Soviets and the Asians will launch their nuclear weapons to prevent the US from leaping thousands of years ahead of them.  On the flip side, if he brings his tech to either the Asians or the Soviets, the others will launch for the same reasons!  So Perry decides the rational thing to do is to use the alien technology as a threat to force humanity to unify under a single banner. 

To this end, Perry lands the ship in the Gobi Desert and demonstrates the alien technology on the Asian military.  He chose the Gobi because he didn’t think he could bear to use it on his fellow Americans, even to prevent WWIII.  The Asians, however, are convinced this is a dirty Western trick and the world is brought near to Armageddon.  This, though, is also part of Perry’s plan.  

Because one of the devices that the Arkonides have is something that can prevent fission or fusion bombs from going off.  There are also other terrifying weapons, including one that negates gravity completely in a set area, and a weapon that allows someone to force anyone in range to follow the instructions of the weapon holder. I personally find that last one terrifying, and the sheer casualness that the crewmembers of the Stardust demonstrate in waving that around was very alarming to me. 

This plan does work, and when the Great Powers find that World War III is cancelled, they agree to meet in Cairo to build a common coalition-- against Perry Rhodan and the crew of the Stardust. Meanwhile, the crew and a doctor they’ve recruited have figured out that Crest’s disease is a lot like leukemia. Conveniently, they discovered a cure for leukemia that they refer to as a serum. (I've got to say I really wish we had a serum that could cure even a single form of cancer.)  

I found the story interesting, even if it is a product of its time.  The characterizations of everyone are rather thin, but part of that is because there just isn’t space to cover both the plot and provide really deep characterization.  The premise, however, really caught me and kept me going.  It helps that my copy of the novel came in at 184 pages, which made it hard to overstay its welcome. That said, there are very characters that get any real depth outside of Perry Rhodan himself here, most of them will have a single overriding character trait or two. Perry is also very much the center of this universe. 

Some old-fashioned elements bothered me, though. For example, Crest declares that his species is suffering from physical and mental degeneration and decadence brought about by the species simply being too old.  I have to admit that it’s hard for 21st-century me to believe this since I would think any species with their kind of scientific knowledge would understand enough of their genetic code to find a solution.  

Honestly, the addiction to entertainment rings way more true to me, since I can see that in the real world. Screen addiction is a real thing, and not too long ago, I read a study that tracked teen pregnancy correlated to the release of handheld video games.  The writer then stated that the Game Boy might have been the greatest contraceptive humanity has ever invented. 

I also didn’t care for the hand-waving of the very real differences between the great powers.  Perry grandly declared that ideological differences don’t matter when, well, they very much do, at least in my opinion.  I have no desire to live under an authoritarian system that controls what I read, what I watch, or what I’m allowed to say or write.  Nor do I have any desire to live anywhere where unelected appointees decide everything for me.  That said, I can’t imagine that citizens of the People's Republic of China have a high opinion of democracy, or that they have any desire to live under a system like that of the US, the UK, France, or even Japan.  I would be utterly opposed to giving the Communist Party of China any say in how I live my life, and that’s the unsolvable problem, because coming under a one-world government with dictatorships and oligarchies would mean surrendering freedoms. Also, I kinda have to point out that it’s easy for Perry to say this when he’s holding the only weapons that matter.

These arguments aside, it’s a fun read if you’re willing to put up with 1960s writing, and there are a lot of interesting ideas being played with.  Unfortunately, it would be very hard to catch up to the main series, and a lot of those books were never translated into English as English publishers felt that the stories weren’t mature enough for their audience, never mind that the books that were translated into English actually sold very well. There is, however, the modern remake of Neo Perry Rhodan, and I’ll be trying out volume I next week. 

I hope you enjoyed this review. If you did consider joining my ever-wise patrons at  https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads where you can vote on upcoming topics for video and text reviews as well as watch patron-only videos.  Thank you for reading. 

Lost Tales of Lemuria: Mountains of Moran

 To get a more modern view on how Lemuria is treated, let's look at a graphic novel printed in the 21st century from the Netherlands, presenting Lost Tales of Lemuria. 

https://youtu.be/EoFUA4RM1q4CN089303637JP