The Mystery of the Third Planet

The Mystery of the Third Planet Тайна третьей планеты
DVD cover (Krupnyy Plan)
Directed by	Roman Kachanov
Written by	Kir Bulychov (story & screenplay)
Starring	Olga Gromova Yuri Andreyev Vladimir Druzhnikov Vladimir Kenigson Vasily Livanov Rina Zelyonaya
Music by	Aleksandr Zatsepin
Edited by	Nadezhda Treshcheva Olga Vasilenko
Distributed by	Soyuzmultfilm (USSR) Jambre Pictures (U.S. 1981-1985), Touchstone Pictures (U.S. re-release, 1985)
Release date	1981 (1981) (USSR)
Running time	50 minutes (original version)
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

The Mystery of the Third Planet (Russian: Тайна третьей планеты, Tayna tretyey planety), aka The Secret of the Third Planet is a 1981 Soviet traditionally animated feature film directed by Roman Kachanov and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. It is based on a children's science fiction novella "Alice's Travel" by Kir Bulychov, from Alisa (Alice) Selezneva book series.^[1]

The movie is considered a cult classic in Russia,^[2] it was included in various top list of animated films^[3][4] and science fiction films.^[5] A shortened novelisation of the film was written by Bulychov himself, a diafilm and a number of video games were based on The Mystery of the Third Planet, and spiritual successor film Alice's Birthday was released in 2009.

Plot

Captain Zelyonyy (Green), Professor Seleznyov and his daughter Alisa Selezneva set out from Earth aboard the starship "Pegas" (Pegasus), seeking out new animal species for the Moscow Zoo. On the advice of the archaeologist Gromozeka, they turn to Doctor Verkhovtsev, the director of the Museum of Two Captains, for help. But the doctor behaves suspiciously: he refuses to show them the Captains' diaries and starts spying on the expedition. On the planet Bluk they make some valuable purchases, among them a Chatterer — the bird belonging to the missing captain Kim. A suspicious fat man, Merry Fellow Oo, tries to steal a bird. Having listened to the speech of the Chatterer, the crew of "Pegas" heads for the Jellyfish system. On the road heroes rescue robots of the planet Shelezyaka from diamond dust, admixed in greasing.

On the third planet of the Jellyfish system Alisa finds "mirrors" — the flowers which are memorable and displaying everything that occurred before them. By means of mirrors heroes find out that on the planet there are Verkhovtsev and the Merry Fellow. In attempt to fly in a safe place of "Pegas" fails in a trap. Seleznyov and Green are captured by pirates, Alisa manages to run away.

On the planet the captain Buran, and with him — the real Verkhovtsev lands. Alisa asks them for help. Meanwhile, the Merry Fellow threatening to murder the captives, demands from captain Kim locked in the ship, a formula of absolute fuel. Buran's invasion rescues heroes. The double Verkhovtsev, Glot, is exposed. The Merry Fellow in attempt to flight falls into clutches a bird of prey Krok. Captains and researchers return home.

Creators

International broadcast

Country	Company	Air Date in cinema	Title	Dubbing
Finland	YLE Nelonen	6 November 1982	Kolmannen planeetan arvoitus	Finnish
United States	Touchstone Pictures	23 May 1987 (first version) 4 December 1998 (second version)	Alice and the mystery of the third planet (American version)	English
Estonia	Tallinnfilm Kanal 2	3 July 1987 (cinema) 5 March 2007 (Festival)	Kolmanda planeedi saladus	Estonian
Sweden	TV3 (Sweden)		Mysteriet med två kaptener	Swedish
Spain	Telecinco Clan TVE	1998 (Films by Jove version) 2016 (dubbing version)	El misterio del tercer planeta	Spanish
Lithuania	TV3 Lithuania		Trečiojo planetos paslaptis	Lithuanian (voice-over)
Italy  San Marino	Rai 3		Alice e Il Mistero della Terzo Pianeta	Italian
Latvia	TV3 Latvia		Alice: Sāciet piedzīvojumu	Latvian (voice-over)
Bulgaria			Мистерията на третата планета	Bulgarian (dubbing version with subtitles)
Poland	Polsat	4 July 2001	Tajemnica Trzeciej Planety	Polish
China	CCTV-6, CCTV-14		第三顆行星的奧秘	Chinese (Mandarin)
France	France 3, TF1, WE Productions, M6 Vidéo	1982 (first version) 1995 (second version)	Le Mystère de la Troisième Planète	French
Czech Republic  Slovakia	Barrandov (dubbing production) Markíza	2016	Tajemství třetí planety Tajomstvo tretej planéty	Czech Slovak
Australia	Nine Network	2016	The Mystery of The Third Planet	English
Netherlands	NCRV	17 November 2004	Mysterie van de Derde Planeet	Subtitled
Belgium	RTBF	2016	Le Mystère de la Troisième Planète	French
South Korea	KBS	1 August 2005	3 번째 행성의 신비	Korean
Hungary	RTL Klub, A+	31 October 2005	Misztériumát a harmadik bolygó.	Hungarian
Romania	TVR2	1 January 2006	Misterul din a treia planetă	Romanian
Germany  Austria	DEFA, RTL II (Germany) ORF (Austria)		Das Geheimnis des Dritten Planeten	German
Ukraine	K1	2017	Таємниця третьої планети	Ukrainian (voice-over)
India	Kushi TV (Telugu) Disney Channel (Tamil, Hindi) Kochu TV (Malayalam) Chintu TV (Kannada) Sony Yay (English, Hindi) Star Jalsha (Bengali)		तीसरे ग्रह का रहस्य The Mystery of the Third Planet	Hindi Tamil Telugu English Malayalam Kannada Bengali
Indonesia	Indosiar	1 January 2008	Gadis dari Bumi	Indonesian
Israel	Arutz HaYeladim	8 July 2008	המסתורין של כוכב לכת השלישי	Hebrew Original (only Russian-speaking Jews in Israel)
Macedonia  Croatia  Serbia  Slovenia	MKRTV HRT Happy TV POP TV	25 May 2008	Тајната на Сончевиот систем Медуза Misterija trećeg planeta Tajna treće planete Skrivnost tretjega Planeta	Macedonian Croatian Serbian Slovenian
Turkey	Kanal D, Show TV		Üçüncü Gezegen Gizem	Turkish
Portugal	RTP	2016	Mistério do Terceiro Planeta	Portuguese
Japan	Nippon Animation (first version) Toei Animation (second version)	1985 (video premiere) 2016	第三惑星の秘密	Japanese
Middle East	MBC 3, Spacetoon	20 May 2010 (except Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Syria)	سر الكوكب الثالث	Arabic
Brazil	SBT		O Mistério do Planeta Terceiro	Portuguese (Brazilian)
Latin America	Televisa (MEX) Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video, Telefe (Argentina) Canal 13 (Chile) Caracol Television (Colombia) Frecuencia Latina (Peru) Venevisión (Venezuela) TV Total (Uruguay)	4 November 1997 (Argentina, Films by Jove) 2016 (Latin America)	El misterio del tercer planeta	Spanish

Home video and English adaptations

The film was adapted twice for the US market. It was first brought over as a video release in 1987, with dubbed voices. The second time, it was released in the 1990s as part of Mikhail Baryshnikov's "Stories from My Childhood" series. This series consisted of films that were bought by California-based company Films by Jove from Soyuzmultfilm for the international market. Over $1.5 million was spent by this company restoring the prints, adding new music and redubbing the films with American actors. This version of the film was named Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet and has been released on VHS as well as on a 1999 DVD collection with several other films . The film has been released on DVD several times (the latest release, which featured rather misleading cover art, was in October 2005 ). The original Russian version with English subtitles is here:

The Films by Jove version of the film has been criticized by some of those who saw the original for adding many extra dialogue lines, shortening the film, and replacing the unique synthesizer music by Alexander Zatsepin.^[6]

The original film has been released on several DVD editions in Russia, including a newly restored one by Krupnyy Plan.

Awards

• 1982 — the State award USSR

Games

• In 2005 an arcade platform game was made by the company Akella based on the film, called "Alice's Space Adventure".
• An adventure game was released in the same year called "Alice's Journey", also produced by Akella (but developed by "Step Creative Group").

Shootings

For Roman Kachanov as for the director, "The Mystery of the third planet" became the fourth animated film executed in technology of the traditional drawn animation. As the art director and the animator he worked more than at 30 drawn movies. However the animated films shot in stop motion (volume) animation ("The Mitten", "Gena the Crocodile", "Cheburashka", "Shapoklyak" and others) were the most known director's works of Kachanov before.

The design of characters was made by Natalya Orlova. Her daughter, the actress Ekaterina Semyonova, told that Alice in the animated film was drawn by her mother from her, and as a prototype the captain Zelyonyy was served by her father, the director Tengiz Semyonov.

Music for the movie was written by Aleksandr Zatsepin. According to Zatsepin, original records of music in his record library didn't remain.

Production of a picture proceeded 4 years.

Hire abroad

The animated film was twice duplicated in the USA. The first dubbing-in ("Mystery of the Third Planet") was let out on video in 1987. Alice name was changed to Christine and overall translation had little in common with the original. Consequently, this legally-sourced version is often mistaken for a bootlegged edition.

The second dubbing-in ("Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet") was released in the 1990s by the Films by Jove company. In this version the translation is much closer to the original though the large number of the remarks which are absent in the original is also added. Besides, in this version the soundtrack and a video series is completely replaced underwent reductions — about 6 minutes are cut out from the animated film in total. Kirsten Dunst was the voice of Alice, and James Belushi — the Chatterer.

"Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet" was let out not only in English, but also in other languages, in particular in Spanish and French.

See also

• Guest from the Future
• History of Russian animation
• List of animated feature films
• Alice's Birthday, a 2009 spiritual successor animated film based on another one of the Alice stories

References

External links

• Tayna tretey planety on IMDb
  • Mystery of the Third Planet on IMDb
  • Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet on IMDb
• VObzor review of the Krupnyy Plan DVD (with screenshots)
• The Mystery of the Third Planet at myltik.ru (in Russian)