Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning (2005 Video) User Reviews

Brilliantly done independent sci-fi movie

[Karri_Koivusalo · 8/10 · 23 August 2005]

I just returned from the first tour screening. The place was a small club at the heart of Turku, and built for bands to perform rather than a movie theater, but the mood was great. The crew introduced themselves, and were greeted with the traditional contained cheering.

The movie started with elegant new title design and theme music, quality not one bit shy of a true professional movie. The movie was technically extremely well dome throughout the picture, not just on some money shots with garbage filler as often is the case with such films. Effects are top-notch, and post-processing is as good as DV can ever offer.

Sound mix was good. Sometimes the dialogue got a bit muffled, but the rest of the soundtrack just boomed with POWER! You'll want a good audio set with this one.

The story starts out a bit awkward as was expected, given that the heroes were stranded on the 21st century earth in the last movie. Things smooth out quickly, and the plot gets underway. The story takes twists from absurd to serious and back to absurd, but the plot stays coherent.

The humor is all new, with lots of stuff mixed together. There are the usual low-brow jokes and Adam Sandler acts, then there is Buster Keaton / Harold Lloyd -esque slapstick and rather clever pokes at the various sci-fi franchises, as well as sci-fi in general. There is even a good measure of political satire thrown in. As a whole, the movie is more a black comedy.

The pacing of the movie is really well done. There is no tarrying around, and the interest keeps on. There's no too much happening at the same time either. The balance is well kept.

Acting was the most varied issue. There were few professional actors, even one superstar by local measure (Kari Väänänen), and their performance truly stood out. Quite some of the not-so-professional performances were quite enjoyable. There were no really terrible scenes, at worst the acting was OK.

As many long-awaited movies have got over-hyped and then fallen flat, I had suppressed some of the hopes, but this movie really lives up to (and exceeds) any expectation I've had. The plot is NOT what you'd find in such a movie made in Hollywood; the humor is quite dark at times and silly at others, and the satire stings in every direction. If there was an 'european art movie' with Stuff! Blowing! Up! it would probably look like this movie.

I give it a ****½/*****

Delightful low-budget scifi spoof with major movie production values

[RealLeo · 8/10 · 27 September 2005]

Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is (roughly) the seventh film in a series of Star Trek / science fiction spoof films, following the adventures of the space ship CPP Potkustartti. Released more than ten years after the first Star Wreck film - which was nothing more than a few minutes of simple hand drawn computer animation plus some school boy humour dubbed on top of it - In the Pirkinning is the culmination of the series. More than a five year mission, this film has been "almost ready" since the end of the last millennium, and is now finally shown to a delighted audience.

And what a film it is! It really can be seen that this is a labour of love. While the acting is at time painfully amateurish, and while the plot is a bit too simplistic towards the end, the humour combined with references to Star Trek and Babylon 5 should keep any science fiction TV fan happy for the duration. And even acting can be forgiven when you consider that the actor budget has been a very round number with only one zero.

The English and Swedish subtitles are very well done, particularly the latter one which manages to transfer a significant amount of finer Finnish language nuances. However the Swedish subs were not particularly well timed: Many of the longer lines started too early and disappeared too quickly to read.

The only real gripe I have about this film is the constant swearing. Don't take me wrong, I don't mind a naughty word or even a few. Swearing at appropriate places can be unbelievably funny. But when you swear at an average speed of twice a minute or so, it stops being funny and becomes simply annoying. This has always bugged me in the series, but as the English and Swedish subtitles have been toned down, most of the viewers would neither know nor be bothered.

Why would you want to see In the Pirkinning? To begin with, it may be (and probably is) the most expensive-looking film that has been made without professional funding. However, that's not the point. The film is also funny, well-paced for the most part, and sometimes even witty. It also has good re-watching value. And did I tell you it's free? You can download it from the official Star Wreck web site.

I strongly encourage you to see this film.

A darker comedy than expected

[znark-1 · 8/10 · 26 September 2005]

I had great expectations about "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning", based on the final version of the trailer (which was absolutely stunning and breath-taking) as well as the earlier installments in the series. Turns out some of my expectations were met in more ways than I could have imagined, some others were not, while some of the plot details left me... puzzled. In any case, SW:ItP is definitely worth watching.

First of all, the special effects are really, really good – easily on par with just about any Hollywood production for the small screen. There are some rough spots in there (it's a hobbyist movie after all) but the overall quality is very high, indeed. You're not likely to have seen these kind of massive space battles in any of the major sci-fi shows, and considering the budget (or lack of thereof), the virtual sets and the CGI-enhanced locations are nothing short of amazing. Torssonen has indisputably proved that a dedicated hobbyist can single-handedly do Hollywood-quality CGI and special effects for a feature-length sci-fi movie in the corner of his bedroom. I think most of the visual effects "pros", at least in Finland, will have some explaining to do after having seen this.

Acting in SW:ItP is, for the most part, predictably amateurish (just like in the previous movies), but hey – that's a part of the charm of the whole series.

There are some notable exceptions, though: Jari Ahola really stands out with his excellent portrayal of B-13's Chief of Security Mihail Karigrandi ("Mikhail Garybrandy" in the English subtitles) and Satu Heliö as Commander Ivanovitsa does not come too far behind – there's nice chemistry going on between her character and Sherrypie on the B-13's bridge. (Ahola is, of course, a professional stage actor, and I'll be surprised if we don't soon get to see him in "real" TV and movie productions.) Other memorable performances are given by Janos Honkola (in the double role of Fukov/Festerbester), and Atte Joutsen (as Sherrypie.) For some reason, Kari Väänänen – who was the only other professional actor in the whole movie – seemed a bit bland and weary, not really standing out the way you could have expected. That must have been a problem with the direction and how his character was written in the story, as he is a talented actor and has given great performances before.

The musical score (by Tapani Siirtola) fits in very nicely. Obviously lots of thought has been put in making the incidental music. A special mention should be given to the song composed for the end credits; it was a nice touch.

Editing and pacing are mostly quite good.

What about the plot, then? SW:ItP has a very different feel to it when compared to the previous SW movies. Gone is, for the most part, the light-hearted snappy dialog between the main characters. Now the undertones are much darker, and somehow – regrettably – things seem to come out immensely more hopeless and tragical than before.

Pirk wasn't exactly a great leader even in the previous movies, but this time there's _nothing_ great about his character at all. Previously, he might have killed innocent people accidentally, or simply by his monumental incompetence, but not on purpose. In SW:ItP, however, Pirk actually gets people executed, wages wars, etc. Things get even worse in the parallel universe where he does not seem to have any moral barriers at all. Overall, Pirk comes out as being more as a dangerous, despicable character than ever before, and these characteristics seem to get in the way of writing off his actions as merely comical. (Dictators have been parodied before, but I don't know... in ItP, it feels like Pirk is almost unstoppable when on his killing spree.) Also, I found the use of the imagery of war-torn people (some of the clips in the "propaganda film" seemed to be actual Second World War footage of starving people walking in lines) a bit distasteful.

Overall, the plot is mainly a device for Pirk to have his P-fleet at his disposal again, and to let us see the Big Space Fight and the crossover thing with B5. If not counting the actual fight, some the greatest moments of the movie – the deception, the chase, Garybrandy's final solution – take place on the B-13 space station, but as noted above, "great moments" in this movie can have quite dark undertones in them.

I didn't much care for the Russian thing in the first part of the film. Finns like to make light-hearted fun of their Russian neighbors but it's done to death already. Another thing that bothered me with the "Russians" was the weak, semi-alcoholic president. Perhaps that was an allusion to Mr. Yeltsin, but it didn't still feel quite right in this day and age – the current Russian president seems to be a quite different character altogether. The president's conversion to Pirk's supporter also seemed to happen all too fast and easily.

I liked the security guard gags: especially the conversation in the sled and the mishap with the gun. What I would have liked to see was much more of the kind of witty dialog Info and Dwarf were having at one point – Dwarf complaining about there still being "no chair in Tactical", and Info commenting about his thigh muscles. Unfortunately, that was not the direction this movie was going.

Despite whatever shortcomings there may have been, "In the Pirkinning" is a must see for anyone who's interested in sci-fi parodies, special effects, fan fiction, or the ST and B5 universes at all. It's a great deal of fun to watch, and an absolutely stunning technical achievement from a bunch of amateurs. I can only hope that there's more to come, but I'm afraid these kind of things are really only done once. Make sure to see the previous SW movies as well.

Fun watch despite the amateurish acting

[h79423 · 7/10 · 8 September 2005]

Having seen all the earlier Star Wrecks, I was intrigued by what I saw in the trailers for the new one. Who wouldn't be? Normally visuals effects just don't do it for me, but in this case they seemed very interesting. Admittedly, this had a lot to with the fact that the movie is Finnish. Only one Finnish movie using visual effects before this one comes to mind (Rölli) and Star Wreck tops that easily. The visual effects are just another way of telling the story, as they should be.

And what a story. I found it especially interesting that the protagonist is a megalomaniac out to conquer the universe. How often do we see that? Accompanied by an android and a more-or-less homicidal maniac, they actually manage to take over the world, but that is just the beginning.

The acting is mostly horrible and at best campy, but I can live with that. The visuals are easily on par with the professional stuff done on Star Trek or other such TV-shows. Humor is often weak and the "funny" names just don't work. At times it's good, but there are not many moments which are laugh-out-loud funny. Gladly, the more low key humor works in parts very well.

All in all, I liked the movie. I gave it a 9 (out of 10) because it's Finnish, in reality it's closer to a low 8 or high 7. I don't really know how well the jokes translate to other cultures, but hopefully the movie will get the attention it deserves. In Finland, the series has gained a sort of cult status and deservedly so.

Best Finnish movie? No. Most entertaining? YES!

[mulzi · 10/10 · 28 August 2005]

While rating this film I had to consider a few facts: It is a low-budget, do-it-yourself, fan-film. I could pick one of those perspectives and easily give it 10 stars but instead I will try to comment this film in light of any other movie since it really moves beyond those categories.

I saw the trailer but the final movie was not what you might expect from that. Although it's a comedy, the movie takes itself seriously and doesn't take easy shortcuts in doing so with style. It takes time to introduce a bunch of interesting characters. After that the comedy was at it's best when it was driven by these eccentric characters. There were no normal people in this universe.

There are great build-up's, the pacing works out pretty good and the space scenes don't overshadow the storytelling. When the CGI is on focus it's top quality visuals combined with an epic soundtrack. I do like a good space battle and the whole experience made my eyes glare with excitement. The main storyline would've worked without a few anecdote scenes but these scenes were so refreshing that it would have been a shame to receive a studio note to delete them. I welcomed every departure from the stale Hollywood formula with a smile.

Acting was OK at best with a few mild exceptions in the smallest roles. Nothing that distracted from the storytelling. Jari Ahola was brilliant as the Security Chief Karigrandi and the performance of Fukov was great fun.

I did wonder about what was the point of all. The lead character has a rather questionable morality and it felt a bit awkward at times. When the battles started I didn't know who to root for. Everyone suffers for their stupidity and the audience gets their laugh. Maybe the point is that "the universe is fair and we might get what we deserve".

All in all I laughed out loud many times in a movie theater and that doesn't happen often. I cheered and clapped and felt happy to see a movie like this. It is quite exceptional on any scale.

This was not the best Finnish movie ever but it was truly the most entertaining.

The first successful finnish amateur film of the mobile phone generation

[spiritual_analysis · 18 February 2006]

After listening to the rumors about this movie for about two months, i decided to download it myself to see what the fuss was all about. The guys who's brainchild star wreck is advertised the movie in radio and TV claiming it to be the most seen finnish film in the year 2005 based on the amount of downloads from their home site (of course you can add p2p on that number as well).

First and foremost, i find it astonishing that a group of nobodies can pull off a project like this. I salute them, even though i'm aware they have worked on star wreck for quite a while...they're still not professionals.

When you look at the starship effects, it's difficult to believe the above to be true. These ships can compete with the ones seen on the TV-series any day. Naturally time has passed, and the effects can be created without the kind of money needed back in the day, but it's still amazing this whole thing was pulled of virtually without money.

The sets and uniforms look good, too. The Star Trek ships look very good on the inside as well, the Babylon 5 ship a bit more stale, but in the same sentence i must admit i did not watch Babylon 5 when it was on TV, so it's possible that's the way it should look like.

After all the praise we must unfortunately move on to the things that did NOT work for the benefit of this movie. The acting, let's face it, is amateurish. That's not the real problem, however. The problem is the way the crew decided to deliver the comedy. Comedy is a difficult form of acting, even the masters of the craft know it. At times the acting in Star Wreck goes just silly, and beyond. It may be less obvious to non-finns who are watching this with subtitles, only understanding the witty writing (which i thought was great, by the way), and missing what the actors are actually saying and how. At points i chuckled, but at times i felt a bit ashamed, to tell you the truth. A good example of the diversity is how the same actor first annoys the hell out of you with the character Sergei Fukov, and then delivers almost like a pro as Festerbester. Overall i felt these actors could've pulled off a bit more serious version of this movie, or a poker-face spoof in the spirit of Leslie Nielsen and Charlie Sheen. As it is, the silly faces and shouting, and near slapstick just doesn't work.

Finally, i see many of you IMDb browsers did not give this film a fair rating. I've decided to treat this movie as i would any other, despite the many redeeming factors. After all, it's the end result i'm reviewing here.

rating: 5/10 - shows promise

Great Finnish parody of Star Trek and Babylon 5

[Enchorde · 7/10 · 29 October 2005]

Recap: Captain Pirk, along with crewmates Commander Dwarf and Commander Info, are stranded on present-day Earth. But Captain Pirk has great plans. With his and his team's knowledge of futuristic technology, they go to Russia, and build a starship (very similar to one of the Enterprises). And from there on he then soon conquers the entire Earth. But being the supreme Emperor is not always easy, people demands better conditions, more food and so on. But Earth is strained to its max, and Emperor Pirk sees a possibility when a new maggot hole suddenly appears in near space. With the entire P-fleet he travels through the hole to conquer whatever lies on the other side.

Comments: Supposedly a project among friends, I guess it didn't have any budget to speak of, but it is very well made none the less. In fact, most of the special effects, clearly inspired of famous SciFi series/movies, are really good, better than many other movies with fairly big budgets.

Now, this is really not the movie for anyone. You don't have to be a Trekkie, but to get all the jokes you will have to seen at least a few movies/episodes of Star Trek and Babylon 5, and preferably Star Wars as well. But if you have (and liked them) you will have a great time watching this. A lot of spoofs and jokes make this a very fun experience.

7/10

Slow and somewhat dull, but the CG was good

[Rim23shot · 3/10 · 18 September 2008]

I was really eager to see this film, mainly because I'm very interested in 'Iron Sky', the new project from the people that made this film, but also because of my soft spot for 'Star Trek'. Despite this, I was rather disappointed.

What's wrong with this film is the pacing. It's too slow. A film like this, even though it is definitely a parody, should be high-paced in general, with of course some exceptions. Perhaps they were trying to spoof 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' a little too hard, but it didn't work for me. So not-so-good editing (it's not bad, mind you) kind of killed my enthusiasm here, and I do hope the editor(s) will pay more attention to this when they start cutting 'Iron Sky'. I know I might sound like a spoiled kid when I say all this, but I'm used to action films having the right tempo, and this one didn't. Blame it on Hollywood, they've ruined me.

Another thing that disappointed me was the screenplay. Although there were lots of - mostly subtle - jokes for SF-fan boys, hardly any of them made me smile. They were well-crafted, but not funny enough. Somewhat tragic, but true.

I would like to conclude by stating that the effects were incredibly good, considering this is a film made by enthusiast whom I assume had only the smallest fraction of a typical Hollywood blockbuster budget at their disposal. The CG wasn't always perfect (look closely at the early bridge scenes, it's blue screen), but often better than what we get to see in Hollywood movies. So hats off to the CG guys.

So a well-meant, nice attempt, and I do hope they keep making movies, but this one just doesn't deliver.

Excellent!!

[Luonnotar · 10/10 · 21 August 2005]

No spoilers here :) A very funny and multi-layer film for the fan of science fiction. Nothing like this has ever been made in Finland, and this is bound to put Finland on the sci-fi -map.

Some of the humor is very Finnish, a lot universal :) The structure of the film is nicely thought through and executed, with an ending that left me wondering if there is to be a sequel :) Considering that the actors excluding two or three if I am correct, were all amateurs, friends and volunteer fans, the movie was very skilfully over-acted and cast to the best possible Star Wreck -style. The actors were all charming and sure to win you over. To be noted that this is the 6th Star Wreck film made.

The effects are excellent, the war scenes actually do work in spite of the comedy nature which is never made cliché or a boring repetition, a pitfall of many parodies. Two thumbs-up for the music as well.

Hard to believe that this wasn't made by professionals.

All in all, a well-made full-length feature film.

Must-see for all sci-fi fans!

Star Trek versus Babylon 5 made by fans for fans

[chrichtonsworld · 7/10 · 19 February 2007]

If the title isn't a clue enough this movie is a parody! Everything is over the top! But the good thing is that these actors (obvious sci fi fans) are very serious! Even when they do ridiculous things they maintain a straight face! This is one of the reasons why the movie works as a parody! This being said this movie isn't for everyone because this movie is full of inside jokes about "Star Trek" and "Babylon 5"! So if you are not a fan, you will not understand and not appreciate the humor! For a movie made by fans the production value is very high! The CGI looks like the real thing,the music seems similar to the music used in the shows (slightly different but you know immediately when you hear the music if it is a scene about "Babylon 5" or "Star Trek")! Even the artwork and decor looks professional! I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed this movie quite a lot!

A great cinematic step backward

[Susikovski · 1/10 · 16 October 2006]

It's very rare that any movie I choose to watch turns out to be so utterly bad that I have to quit half-way through. This, however, was the case with Star Wreck. I really wanted to like it: I enjoy Star Trek, I enjoy parodies and I'm Finnish myself like the makers of this film. Most importantly, the concept of freely distributed, amateur-driven independent film-making is very appealing. This is what makes the failure all the more shameful. The fact that this steaming pile of a childish home video will go down in history as a landmark work because it happened to be the first feature-length movie to be distributed non-commercially over the Internet is something that should make everyone worried about the future of the human race. In the history of cinema, there has hardly ever been a technological landmark so deprived of any other qualities.

There were no funny moments whatsoever in this film. The script was nonexistent. The actors couldn't act. The story drags on slowly and painfully. Special effects were so-so, and even if they can be considered impressive for an amateur work, they are no excuse for making a full movie with nothing else in it. I felt so violently ashamed for everybody involved that I couldn't bring myself to watch the last 20 minutes or so, so in case it turns out that the film miraculously picked up in the end and became an unlikely masterpiece, I'm ready to alter my opinion, but I seriously doubt this is possible.

Independent, peer-to-peer distributed amateur cinema has all the potential to show the world that content is what matters, to show that blockbuster budgets are not necessary to create a good story. Instead, this film indicates that even when technological advancements give amateurs the chance to create movies, they simply want to imitate the most superficial and meaningless blockbusters, the only difference being that the imitation is even worse than the originals. This way, Star Wreck is essentially just a great step backward.

Great Sci-Fi parody with awesome effects

[zsekeres · 10/10 · 3 October 2005]

The trailer already whetted my appetite. But the movie itself is outstanding. If you are a fan of Star Trek, Babylon 5, etc you have probably also thought of some scenes you would like to see. For me this movie comes very close. The CGI effects can only be described as awesome. Every scene breathes the love of the staff for details. Especially the battle scenes are outstanding and give every Star Wars movie a run for its money. The plot is also masterly constructed. The tension builds up in the first twenty minutes or so and reaches several peaks after that. The story has a great tongue-in-cheek attitude. The characters are only slightly exaggerated compared to their respective originals which keeps them from getting on your nerves too fast. Fortunately the actors avoid overacting - which impressed me as this is still a fan movie after all. The only drawback is that the audio is Finish with English sub-titles. But what the heck: Hearing the tone of Pirk's derogatory remarks is compensation enough.

The best (and so far probably the only?) decent Finnish sci-fi movie

[Kuroel · 7/10 · 8 December 2006]

I salute the cast and crew for this shamelessly brilliant piece of.. well, not quite art, but something similarly visually astonishing and somewhat interpretationally intriguing.

There is one thing what I found strangely funny; the dialogue actually works better in the English subtitles. So foreigners, fear not of missing the comedy if you do not understand Finnish - the humor is heavily Americanized, and while there are some puns and lines that only Finns could find amusing, mostly the humor doesn't work in Finnish. The American jokes simply sound weird and unnatural spoken in Finnish. By all means that doesn't mean that the humor wouldn't be right on target - quite the contrary - and I don't wonder at all why the jokes work also on foreigners (traditional Finnish socio-political, dry and mostly black humor couldn't possibly be understood by someone not familiar with Finnish culture). I'm a Finn, but watched the movie with English subtitles and I want to compliment on very well done translation which manages to be funnier than the actual dialogue.

But most importantly why the crew has earned my full gratitude, is that they made all this non-profit. I truly think that every consumer should have the right to see in advance what they are paying for. Going to the movies and renting films aren't free. Star Wreck crew enabled free Internet download, thus allowing the viewers to decide, free of charge, if they wanted to pay for the proper version of the movie or not. Just because of this exemplary deed, I'm willing to invest my money on this film to support this kind of action from the movie producers. I encourage all those, who are against Hollywood's fare-collection, to do the same.

It's like back to school plays

[eratee · 1/10 · 28 April 2007]

It might be OK for a funny youtube-video or a school play in elementary school, but throwing away (or perhaps not ever even looking into) all the books about story telling, scripting, ACTING, and movie making in this huge project is just a plain pity. Why bother to make all the effects, planning and costume-design if the main idea should be telling a story? As someone said before, comedy is very hard style in the art of film. There is funny scenes from time to time but all that is ruined by the oversizing, childish acting. If you haven't seen this movie, imagine your 12 year old neighbor kid reading lines from paper. I felt so ashamed for the people involved on the screen.

I hope the makers will take very seriously the critical comments they have received. The problem is that only the similar nerds comment praising and saluting the effort, that is patting in the back for effects, not for a good movie.

I remember seeing the first Star Wrecks on my PC long time ago. The characters were drawn by a computer-mouse I assume and only the lips were moving. The voice acting was mainly stupid but it worked back then. If a badly drawn character repeating stupid lines beats Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning's character's any time, I call that a total waste of 7 years.

No matter how cool the 3d.

very well done....

[ESCheffknecht · 12 September 2005]

... for a independent movie from Finland with basically no budget! No, seriously: the CGI is really good, I have to agree with the posts here who say that the CGI in "The Pirkinning" actually is better than in the first 2 (maybe 3) seasons of "Babylon 5". The acting, however, is something totally different: it's awful (well, most of it)! It's so bad, it has it's charm. The thing is: Star Wreck mastermind Samuli Torssonen knows it! Just check back with his posts at the Star Wreck website... It's probably not fair to say the acting in general is horrible, just most of it. Actually, I think the guy playing Sheridan (or his alter ego) did a far better job than Samuli (sorry pal! You're very funny and extremely creative, but your acting stinks). I also liked Ivanova (or what they called her).

But enough with the bashing: it's a very, VERY funny movie with tremendous CGI shots. It was about time somebody did that kind of crossover as a movie - very well done! I'm truly amazed at what you did with all the special effects in the movie, they're REALLY good...

*Spoilers* By the way: I didn't like the way the battle ended (or the fact that the Earth Force/Interstellar Alliance forces were defeated TWICE), but me being the HUGE Babylon 5 fan that I am, it might not come as a surprise. I just couldn't stop wondering why the B5 defense grid wouldn't fire on the Quickstart while it hid from the Excelsior behind the station. Or why the Minbari didn't send some ships... And where was Delenn...?

However, the thing with stranding on the ice-covered, different time-zone earth I enjoyed... :-) Next up for Pirk, Info and the ape: how 'bout a meeting with our dear friend cadaver face and his fellow Peacekeeper goons...?! Overall: very funny movie, great effort, wonderful result. I hope you guys keep going!

I bought the DVD

[hiekkaroopi · 7/10 · 27 October 2005]

The fact that over a million people have watched a Finnish movie that I knew nothing about, bothered me, so I bought the film to see what the fuss was all about. The DVD arrived in the post as promised. Now I've watched the movie twice in Finnish with English subtitles. It was OK. Don't be put off by that comment. I don't like Finnish movies so for a Finnish movie 'OK' is really good in my books. I'm not a huge Star Trek or Babylon 5 fan so I probably didn't get all the in-jokes and missed out on a few laughs. These guys are really brave to start this kind of a project without any backing from the film industry. This is such an encouraging and positive thing to do! I salute you Potkustart and Baabeli!

VOI TORSTAI!

Amateur film that outdoes well known TV/film scifi parody movies

[antti-juhani · 9/10 · 8 September 2005]

So Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is an amateur production. There isn't much in the film that betrays this — even most of the acting would fail to put a Hollywood B production into shame, and there are some brilliant cases of casting, and even a couple of superb actors.

In the Pirkinning is above all an action-adventure film with seemingly big-budget special effects — except that the special effects budget is dirt cheap. It is also a fairly well working comedy — of the darker kind, with a touch of political satire and a heavy dose of teevee science fiction parody.

Oh yeah, and it has scantily clad females on the bridge (but they have an EDGE!).

There's something intangibly Finnish about all Finnish movies, and this one is no exception. I don't know if it is the language, or if it is the people, or if it is the landscape — perhaps it is all of them. This movie would look and sound very different had it been produced in just about any other country by people of any other nationality. Bizarrely, it also is, in my opinion, one of the best films ever made in Finland. (I'm sure some other people will disagree.)

The movie is in Finnish. Although some of the jokes rather depend on understanding the Finnish language or the Finnish culture, they are in the minority, and most of the fun is universally understandable. Of course, a loyal teevee scifi fan will find a lot of extra laughs and recognize several subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) references to memorable shows and movies, often with a twist.

In short, In the Pirkinning is Mel Brooks' Spaceballs with actual balls, Finnish style.

Excellent film, simply a great idea

[hkm90 · 7/10 · 16 September 2006]

I loved to watch this one - especially in it original Finish language. In fact i found the special effects / CGI much better than in the original film.

You should do you self the favor to see this film - it can be downloaded free from the web. The movie is based on te original star trek movies- but with a fun angle.

The only lack i can find is the ending - and i do really hope that there will be an sequel to the first film.

The actors are really also doing quite well - despite the fact that we are talking about first time movie stars.

By now - typical fan fare

[HHFan · 3/10 · 21 October 2005]

The only one who should learn NOT to kill his darlings is Joss Whedon, everybody else take note. As is so often the case with fan films IT IS TOO LONG. The "actors" are far from good enough and the scenes drone on for too long - their families may be enthralled, everybody else are in danger of falling asleep. 40 minutes might have been a better fit. The computer effects, depicting ships from Babylon 5 and Star Trek, are however very good. Its ironical that the effects, which once were the most expensive parts of movies, are usually the best part of fan movies. And double ironical that the Babylon 5 effects here, are actually better than in the original series - if only the rest lived up to it.

All hail emperor Pirk!

[arlagare · 10/10 · 17 September 2005]

I was very eager when I sat down to watch the movie, did it meet it's expectations or not? Well I'm eased to say it did, and with a long shot as well. The whole world domination thing with a comedical straw is brilliant and a bit goofy (as it should be). Well, what you say, be proud Finland, a very good comedy-parody production of a well known sci-fi series. And I'm sure both you and me sometimes had wondered what would happen if the time directive would have been broken, well you have the answer just right here :). Summary: A very well made Finnish movie that makes a laugh out of both the Babylon and the star trek series with a success. The special effects are good for a movie in this class, and the acting is very well done good as well. The whole making fun of the emperor thing is brilliant, and the relates to the time directive is good as well. The jokes are funny as well, so I enjoyed this movie very much and recommend it for every star trek and babylon5 fan out there. I give this 10/10 for as this isn't the ordinary Hollywood production and very much deserve it. Thank you Finland !

Shouldn't give Jerry Zucker any nightmares...

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 2/10 · 6 June 2009]

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

What better time to release this low budget Finnish ST spoof than at a time when there's a big, major new film in the cinemas? Even if it is straight to DVD? And even if it is crap? With character names like Fukov and Cochbrane, this seems to be trying to copy the style of Leslie Nielsen's classic spoofs over the years, but the result is desperate enough for everyone to see, and the stark, humourless Finnish voices make it even harder to get into a comedy mood (man, dubbing would have been a better option.) The technical design and effects are just about good enough to overcome the unconvincing sets (a bunch of Finnish trying to act American...in a "real" American diner?) but I like my spoofs short and sweet and at over an hour and a half, someone got too carried away here and clearly knew less about the art of great spoofery than Seltzer and Friedberg (yes, that bad!)

Jerry Zucker shouldn't lose any sleep. *

I am Astonished!

[gillies · 9/10 · 20 October 2005]

You have to see this movie. The opening scene was so amazingly professional that i thought i had downloaded the wrong film. But, the opening joke was so terribly cliché'd that i realized i got the right one.

I honestly could not tell the difference between the graphics in this movie and in a real start trek movie. Its simply amazing. I'd love to know what they use for CGI tools and how big is the rendering farm.

The scenes on-board the space ships were great, the sets were totally believable (much better than an original STAR TREK set, and most were BETTER than a ST:TNG set.) The acting was very good, the jokes were funny, the only thing separating this movie from a Hollywood film is a little bit of je-ne sais quois.

All in all, the most AMAZING amateur film i've ever seen, they should give these guys $10M and a team of 5 Hollywood (o.k., maybe new york) writers, and see what they can do in 3.5 years, rather than 7.

Amazing Parody

[srclontzbus · 9/10 · 2 November 2005]

This movie is so unconventional it is brilliant and must see for Star Trek fans and haters alike. Somehow, they managed to turn every tired sci-fi cliché on its head. Sure, the acting is a little rough at times, but this isn't a big Hollywood production, and thank God it isn't. I've watched this crazy Finnish film 3 times and gotten something new out of it each of the times I've watched it. It's funny, even political at times, but even as a dark comedy it never takes itself too seriously. Hollywood should take notice of the people who put this film together, the special effects and especially the writing are amazing. Considering that this was put together with no budget was hard to believe.

Awesome!

[mike-algaraz · 10/10 · 6 October 2005]

Damn, i loved the movie. I mean, I haven't had this much fun watching a movie in ages. I'v also seen the old starwrecks and i love them as well. Samuli has got some superb skills on rendering. :) The bonus material was nice. The sets you have been shooting the movie, hehe living rooms, nice. I'v seen the movie 4 times.. and i think i'll go see it again right now. Acting was good, as most of the actors were amateurs, except for one. GaryBrany, he was a pro, no doubt about it. All though this was a lil darker movie (in my mind at least), i could watch this thing over and over and over again, and not get bored. The concept is excellent. Startrek and Babylon 5, or should i say Starwreck and Babel. I bet the Babylon fans don't like the movie as much as Startrekkers. You should certainly check this movie out.

Hollywood get's beaten by David

[MrVibrating · 10/10 · 27 June 2006]

When I was little, I used to watch Star Trek every week. The adventures of the crew on that ship were cool for a eleven-year old. Then I grew a little older. I started to notice things. Why doesn't the stars move outside the windows when the ship travels? Why does all aliens look like humans? Why was the plot just a sci-fi soap-opera? I left the Star Trek series to better sci-fi.

And now I return to Star Trek once again, in this Finnish parody, made with no budget, no actors and by a bunch of guys with no previous experience of movies. And it not only manages to be much better than the material it parodies, it manages to be much better than most movies released out of Hollywood today. In fact, this and V for Vendetta are likely the two best sci-fi movies of 2005.

After seven years of hard work, the team behind Star Wreck release their movie, free of charge, over the internet. I'm pretty certain some of the millions of downloaders got it because it was free, but still, most of them heard "It's good" and not "It's free" from their friends.

I hope this is the start of a new era. Sounds cheesy, I know. In a time when actors get payed millions for movies, special effects look fake when the studio is world-leading, and piracy is abundant, a movie like Star Wreck fits just perfectly. Hopefully more will follow this example and show their enthusiasm instead of their greed.

What to say about the movie? It's funny, it's good-looking, it's professional, the effects rock, the space scenes are unbelievable(apparently it took 5 years to render) and the team seem more dedicated and motivated by the reactions of the fans than any Hollywood actor is by the $100000000 paycheck.

What have you got to lose, except 1 hr and 43 minutes? Check out Star Wreck, buy it even. It's definitely something.