Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy
Entry updated 17 June 2024. Tagged: Film.
Yugoslav-Czechoslovak (see Czech and Slovak SF) film (1981; original title Gosti iz Galaksije; vt Monstrum z galaxie Arkana; vt Visitors from the Galaxy). Filmové Studio Barrandov, Jadran Film, Kinematografi, Zagreb Film. Directed by Dušan Vukotić. Written by Miloš Macourek and Dušan Vukotić. Cast includes Jasminka Alic, Rene Bitorajac, Petr Drozda, Ksenija Prohaska, žarko Potočnjak and Lucié žulova. 85 minutes. Colour.
We are told that the planet Tugador in the Arkana Galaxy is home to Aliens who resemble humanity, but have godlike powers and Spaceships that can reach even the furthest galaxies. One such ship is carrying children Targo (Bitorajac), Ulu (Alic) and the Robot woman Andra (Prohaska) to Earth ... the narrator is then interrupted by his girlfriend, Biba (žulova), telling him his coffee is ready. He is Robert (Potočnjak), a young hotel worker, dictating his sf story into a tape recorder whilst wearing an astronaut's helmet. A friend tells him he needs to add a Monster, to bring some horror into the story, so he decides to replace Targo with a dangerous Toy. Later that evening Robert's tape recorder broadcasts a message from Andra and Ulu telling him to meet them on a nearby holiday Island; puzzled, he borrows a boat and on arrival finds Andra and Ulu are there, as is Targo; the latter clearly resents the plan to remove them from the story, firing Rays from his eyes (see Weapons) and throwing a toy monster, Mumu (Drozda), at him – it grows large and comes alive. Robert flees.
Later he sees a psychiatrist (see Psychology), who diagnoses the experience as an hallucination; but Robert recalls how, when he was a baby and wanted milk, his father grew breasts. This inspires the psychiatrist to talk of parapsychology and the ability to turn thoughts into reality (see Psi Powers) and ask whether he is obsessed by anything at present? Robert mentions writing his novel, at which point a copy appears on the doctor's desk, though its pages are blank. Later, he goes to see the aliens again, accompanied by Biba. In a cave the couple see the aliens' glowing sphere, within which the trio are examining the island hotel's security guard; Robert reaches out and touches the sphere: it vanishes, apparently destroyed. Andra is peeved, but is able to turn back time (see Time in Reverse) and order him not to touch it. When Biba runs away she is temporarily turned into a small cube, whilst we learn Targo and Ulu are unhappy to have been created by a member of a species not as evolved (see Evolution) as them, which wastes energy on emotions. Shortly after, the security guard tells the hotel patrons he has been abducted by aliens: this causes some hysteria. A small group attacks the aliens and is seen off; then the majority of the holidaymakers approach and, to show they carry no weapons, take off all their clothes. But the aliens have vanished.
Robert returns home, only to find Andra doing the hoovering; after she provides a meal they begin touching each other (see Sex) – at which point Biba walks in. Outraged, she asks what the robot has that she does not, and strips naked; to prove he loves her, Robert tries to think the aliens into non-existence, but nothing happens. Later, Mumu runs amok, gatecrashing a party: angered by attempts to kill it, it begins tearing off peoples' heads and limbs, as well as emitting flames. All ends well, as Andra turns back time to just before Biba walked in: this time Biba only sees the sphere, which leaves the room and flies into space. Robert is aboard, travelling back to Tugador with the aliens.
Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy is not particularly good: it is a farcical comedy where the Humour is flat and unremarkable – a running joke is a photographer incapable of taking an irrefutable picture of the aliens (see Clichés). At times the target audience would appear to be children, but this contrasts with the regular nudity and the violence of Mumu's attack. The latter scene is the best part of the film – Mumu looks reasonably impressive and the gore is cartoon-like and played for laughs: one decapitated head still talks, as does a flattened one. There is some mild Satire, but Robert is not portrayed as a figure of fun for wanting to write sf; it is not clear whether Andra's depiction – mother figure, lover, cook and cleaner of homes – is intended to reflect Robert's lack of imagination, or is the writers' (see Women in SF).
Dušan Vukotić was an important animator, making a number of memorable animated shorts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, though he subsequently concentrated on live action work, of which Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy was his third full-length film. [SP]
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