Spaceship Highlander

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Spaceship Highlander is a film and novel series as well as a project that was initiated by Robert Amper in 1993 . Originally it was a kind of club of science fiction fans, especially Star Trek - as well as Star Wars fans, whose members met quarterly and still meet. The project is now listed on its official website entitled Robert Ampers Spaceship Highlander .

General

Since Robert Amper is, among other things, a filmmaker, he and the other members of the project developed the idea of ​​initially a film that was made in 1995. Due to the great success at various screenings and the broadcast on the private broadcaster Sat.1 , a total of four sequels followed. The films are a parody, primarily of Star Trek, but also a number of other classics of the genre.

The main character is Captain Robert T. Norad, who commands the spaceship and considers himself the greatest hero of all time, although in reality he is a complete idiot. He is strongly reminiscent of Don Quixote , because he believes that everything he does is just right, and at the same time also of Inspector Clouseau from the series The Pink Panther , because those around him suffer greatly from his heroic deeds.

Movies

Afterwards Robert Amper declared the film series over and turned to other projects.

In late 2006, filming began on an unofficial spaceship Highlander film, a kind of short teaser that offers a serious version of the subject.

On October 24, 2007, the new clip entitled Spaceship Highlander - Wildfire was released and spread very quickly.

February 2008, the five original episodes of the Spaceship Highlander series were shown in a revised, digitally remastered version as part of a major American science fiction convention in Boston , Massachusetts .

Novels

The series continued, albeit in literary form. The writer Thorsten Reimnitz took on the films and implemented them, although the plot of the films largely consisted of visual comedy ( slapstick ). Still he succeeded. However, he put the novels in a different context and given them different numbers.

In 2006 Thorsten Reimnitz separated from the Spaceship Highlander Project in order to devote himself to his own ideas, and the distribution of the novels was thus suspended. Reimnitz also declared that he himself would not write another novel about the Highlanders . Instead, another author took on the series of novels, Martin Göllner . Since then, the new stories about the adventures of Captain Norad and the Highlander appear as serial novels as free downloads on the homepage of the Highlander Group.

Online novels

In collaboration, Robert Amper and Thorsten Reimnitz developed a series of serial novels entitled Spaceship Highlander Deep Core , which were only available as e-books , could be subscribed to on the Internet and were free of charge. However, the purely parodic character of the films and the books published so far was deviated from here. It was science fiction literature that was meant to be serious, but with little parodic swipes.

The series ran until its third edition and was published in the PDF format developed by Adobe . The series was initially discontinued in early 2006 when Thorsten Reimnitz parted ways with the project; Martin Göllner took over the novels in June of the same year. He started the story anew and from a completely different point of view. For example, the first episode of this series is called Relin IV - Part 1, an adventure of the spaceship NDCE Highlander .

Spaceships

To date there have been a total of four spaceships named Highlander, all of which are very different. Each ship is assigned to a different class.

Highlander 2404

The original Highlander spaceship bore the serial number 2404. It was an AGAMEMNON-class ship (named after the classic King Agamemnon ), had a crew of 7,526 and was destroyed by an operator error by its captain. The real background is that the ship with its saucer section was very reminiscent of Star Trek spaceships and the production company Paramount Pictures intervened here.

Highlander 2404-A

After the destruction of the first ship, the 2404-A was put into service. She belonged to the WALLACE class (named after the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace , which was an almost compulsory act of naming, since the name "Highlander" is derived from the Highlands , the Scottish plateau). The crew was increased again, so that about 10,000 men and women from different planets served here. In terms of design, the ship was very independent, it had a pointed hull and an engine tire with four engines that constantly rotated around the hull. The end of the 2404-A came with the so-called Andromeda crisis. The ship was decommissioned and converted into a training ship.

Highlander NX-07

The new Highlander was much more compact, but all the more heavily armed. She belonged to the ARMAGEDDON class (according to the biblical Armageddon ) and had around 100 crew members. But a fault in the system means that the ship cannot use its firepower and is virtually defenseless. Therefore, the work on the class is given up.

Highlander NDCE 2404

The current version of the Highlander, which has broken new ground. She is a PEARY-class ship (after Robert Edwin Peary ) and a research ship. Their shape is reminiscent of the spaceships in the television series Raumpatrouille . The abbreviation "NDCE" indicates the origin of the ship: "Nasa Deep Core Explorer". The ship was built by the Terran space agency NASA to explore deep space. The title of the NetRoman series Spaceship Highlander Deep Core refers to this name. Its crew strength is around 4,900 crew members.

characters

Captain Robert T. Norad

He is the longest-lived figure on board the spaceship and is also going through the most radical change. In the films he is a complete idiot in uniform who absolutely does not understand what is going on around him, but still considers himself the greatest hero of all time, in the later novels he is a serious officer with background and depth. In the films he is portrayed by Robert Amper himself.

First Officer

The Highlander has some wear and tear on its first officers. Whether this is because it is so stressful working under Captain Norad has not yet been adequately investigated. The previous officers are:

  • Commander T'Myota, whom we only see in a flashback in the third film (portrayed by Andrea Weineck , she leaves the ship because of Norad's intrusive manner)
  • Commander Bradbury in the first two films and the accompanying novels (portrayed by Gunda Wegener in the films , in the novel she leaves the ship to go to the monastery)
  • Commander Nick Faraday in the third film (played by Dominik Heger , he is killed in a pirate attack)
  • Commander Vesk in the fourth and fifth film (played by Carsten Lubinsky , he can be moved)
  • After that, a rotating system is introduced for a certain period of time, through which every officer can prove for a certain period of time whether he is suitable as a first officer. The system will be abolished at the NDCE.
  • Commander / Captain Christopher Mayfield becomes first officer of the NDCE (the character already appears as a lieutenant in the films, played by Tobias Rust ).

Consultant Rose Lavender

The slightly cynical ship psychologist accompanies the ship through all of its film adventures. It is your job to motivate the crew - especially the captain - psychologically. It is no longer part of the NetRoman series. In the films she is portrayed by Rosi Ismalou . By the way, her name means rose lavender when translated into German .

Trivia

The stoic android, who after losing his emotional chip ran a self-written emotion sub-program to simulate human feelings, has been involved since the third film, but then turns to research. He is portrayed by Martin Schowanek . He is the only one on board who reacts calmly to the hectic situations that are caused by Norad from time to time.

Doctor / Commander James Hurdel

The doctor began his career on the Highlander as a lieutenant, and after the promotion of his former superior Nick Faraday, he became the ship's chief physician. He accompanies the Highlanders through the Gordian Wars and the Andromeda Crisis , then he is promoted to Commander and takes over command of his own space station. In the NetRomanen he still appears as a guest character. In the films he is portrayed by Thorsten Reimnitz, who is also responsible for adapting the novel .

Admiral RM Donovan

His relationship to Norad is what Chief Inspector Dreyfus has to Inspector Clouseau: He is his superior and his actions almost cause him to lose his mind. And if he tries to get back at him, he is the victim again. Donovan is featured in all films and associated novels, portrayed by Burkhard Weber .

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