Ren Dhark

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Ren Dhark is a science fiction - series , whose first issue was published on 1 August 1966th

From 1966 to 1969 appeared under the direction of the science fiction author Kurt Brand 98 Ren-Dhark booklet novels , before the series was discontinued due to insufficient sales.

It was continued in book form from the mid-1990s.

Requirements / manifestations

Ren Dhark first appeared in the form of the so-called book novels , later in book form.

The booklets were published by Kelter-Verlag , the books were published by HJB-Verlag , and there are now also audio books and collectible figures ; a board game is also available.

The folders

Original booklet series

  • First edition from 1966 to 1969
  • Second edition from 1977 to 1981
  • Third edition from 1987 to 1990

Project 99

The original series of novels ended in 1969 with volume 98. From issue 99 (hence the name “Project 99”), Ren Dhark was first continued by fans from 1991 onwards. This happened very irregularly in the first few years and dragged on. In the meantime, the book was reprinted at HJB-Verlag and the makers had "caught fire" again and decided to continue the series after the actual end (issue 98). While the series in the book series was meanwhile in the sequel, the fans' project 99 was still running and it was becoming increasingly difficult for those involved to separate one from the other. Finally, the HJB-Verlag no longer agreed to the parallel continuation of the series and so the Mohlberg-Verlag, which had taken over the publication with volume 108, had to discontinue the series with issue no.133 in 2004, although exposés up to issue no 200 templates. So the storylines remained open.

Issues 99–107 appeared from 1991–1999 with a white cover in a small edition, as the club did not expect too much demand (saCHECKMASTER). Since the association was not financially able to implement the project in the required size, Mohlberg-Verlag took over the complete publication from issue 108 in a new design and subsequently also the reprint of issues 99-107 in the new design .

Ren Dhark Xtra

Simultaneous events are described here without Ren Dhark's involvement (the HJB Verlag special volumes). Completed individual novels have been published by Mohlberg-Verlag as part of “Project 99” .

The books

editor

Manfred Weinland was editor of the book series until 1999 , from 1999 to 2014 Hajo F. Breuer took on this task, since 2014 it has been Ben B. Black .

Cycles

  • Classic cycle from 1994–2000: Action period from 2051–2057 (revision of the original series of issues) consisting of 16 volumes, with volumes 6–8 being an inserted trilogy with new adventures based on Manfred Weinland's synopsis that never appeared as a volume.
  • Drakhon cycle from 2000–2004: action period from 2058–2059 consisting of 24 volumes
  • Star jungle galaxy (bridges the plot gap between the Drakhon and Bitwar cycles)
  • Bitwar cycle from 2004–2006: Action period from 2062–2064 consisting of 12 volumes
  • Path into space from 2006: plot from 2064/65 (Path into space is designed as an endless cycle, but the individual story sections will continue to comprise 12 volumes)

Other issues

  • Special volumes Here, simultaneous events without Ren Dhark's participation are described - the 29th and last special volume was published in mid-February 2007 and is the second story volume.
  • Unitall series (replaces the special volumes) Here, simultaneous events without Ren Dhark's involvement are described
  • Ren Dhark Platinum (limited re-edition of out of print special volumes)
  • Special volumes (individual novels without a plot, set seven to eight years after the Classic cycle in an alternative universe)
    • Special Volume 1: Star Saga / Death Thirst over Terra (2001)
    • Special Volume 2: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow / Echo from Space (2002)
    • Special Volume 3: When the Stars Wept / Dying Future (2003)
    • Special volume 4: workshop volume (not yet published, date open), author H. Langhans
    • Special volume 5: Ren Dhark Lexicon (Dec. 2004), cover by R. Voltz, author H. Langhans
  • Forschungsraumer CHARR (Stories about Frederic Huxley and the Nogk; twelve volumes)
  • The Mysterious (six-volume series between historical novel and science fiction)

Introduction to the story

On May 16, 2051, the first historical meeting of mankind with strangers from the depths of space takes place.

During this time, the colonist spaceship GALAXIS with 50,000 people on board is to set off for the Deneb solar system. A project that, if it works, will be an important first step towards developing new living space. The earth was being marked by a population explosion at this time, due to tremendous improvements in medicine and the absence of major violent conflicts.

The spaceship, under the command of Commander Sam Dhark, will launch on May 21, 2051. When attempting to reach the planet Dorado in the Deneb system, it is stranded in deep space. The cause is an error in the silos of the time-effect drive , which, when functioning correctly, is able to "move" a spaceship by 1.7 light years in an infinitesimally short instant .

It is thanks to the efforts of Ren Dhark (his father died on the flight) and his crew that the GALAXIS can reach a planet where people can live.

The settlers set up the city of Cattan on the planet they named Hope in the Col system . When exploring the Col system, there are clashes with a strange people, the Amphis.

On the run from the schemer Rocco and after his deportation to the jungle continent of Deluge , the Terrans around Ren Dhark come across the legacies of another culture. The lost or disappeared beings are soon called Mysterious , as the settlers cannot discover anything that indicates the appearance of the builders of the facilities.

In a cave complex on Deluge, Ren Dhark's group discovers a 180-meter-wide ring next to a machine hall, which, as it turns out, is an unfinished spaceship of the unknown.

After the spaceship Point Of Interrogation ( short form: Point Of) has been put into operation, a lot comes to the people. For example the search for the earth and also the hunt for the unknown, the Mysterious.

The "Point Of" has a special protective shield, the so-called " Intervallum ". In contrast to the electromagnetic shields known in SF literature such as "Perry Rhodan" or "Star Trek", the author Brandt created an artificial "intermediate universe" that enables the point of, e.g. B. to fly through solid matter or even to evade the radiation and gravity of the sun.

The Point Of has 28 small dinghies that, like the mother ship, have effective weapons: a green beam, called " Dust ", which converts inorganic matter to dust, but spares organic matter, a pale blue beam called a " dash dot ", which paralyzes and paralyzes living beings a pink- red, faster than light “ needle beam ”, which transforms even the mysterious artificial metal Unitall , from which the Point Of is made and which has a melting point of 144,023 Kelvin (143,750 ° C), into energy after 210 seconds of bombardment.

When operating the spaceship "Point Of", the " thought control " is helpful, which is obviously capable of converting brain wave patterns and imaginary commands from the leadership crew under Dhark into concrete maneuvers. In dangerous situations, however, this thought control develops a life of its own that cannot be influenced by the crew, in that it ruthlessly destroys foreign attackers or executes abrupt course maneuvers against the will of the crew. The use of the “ Flash ” dinghies is also quite tedious, as the Mysterious may have a third eye in the skull and therefore a monitor is installed above the pilots' heads. Naturally, it is difficult for the Terrans to use.

Point of

The ring-shaped ship has a diameter of 180 meters with a 35-meter-thick ring cell, which is completely made of a previously unknown metal, which is called "Unitall" because of its enormous load capacity. It later emerges that Unitall is largely made of Tofirit (which people then use to build spaceships). The humans complete the unfinished spaceship found in a cave system on the planet COL. They manage to fly the ship, but most of the abilities of the torrent remain hidden from them. The "Point Of" is equipped with 28 Flash dinghies .

People

  • Robons
  • Cyborgs
  • Salter / Mysterious: In Volume 98 of the series of magazines it turns out that the Mysterious are people, the Salter, who moved from the earthly continent of Lemuria a long time ago when it fell. However, it was only an emergency resolution by Kurt Brand due to the premature termination of the series of issues. The actual identity of the Mysterious as devised by Kurt Brand was only resolved in the sequel to the book.

Foreign peoples

  • Nogk are an insectoid people with an appearance like dragonflies but without wings. Commander Huxley is the first to come into contact with them through a missed jump of the spacecraft FO 1. They become the Terrans' most loyal allies.
  • Utars are small humanoids who build pyramidal spaceships. Their society is built up democratically, the government is called the "Wisdom of the Utars". The Utars are good friends of the Terrans.
  • Rateken are about ten feet tall humanoids. Their form of government is a temporally divided patriarchy and matriarchy, i. That is, men and women take turns in government.
  • Synties are beings that look like big drops. Synties can act in space as well as on planets. They only feed on energy, usually solar radiation, but in an emergency laser bombardment can also help to enable them to survive. They are considered "galactic arbitrators". It is not clear whether they are organic.
  • Amphis are amphibians that humans first encounter in the Col system. You have triangular wreckers. People don't come across the amphis again until later.
  • Giants, also called "all-keepers", are over 2 meters tall and have a predator face. They fly spherical spaceships. In 2051 they enslave the people of the earth with the help of hyper radio waves. Only the retreat station T-XXX, which is hidden deep in the rock in Alaska, is spared. The doctor Manu Tschobe later finds out that the Giants are robots.
  • Tel are absolutely humanoid. They are similar to humans, with black skin but not a negroid appearance. That is why they are contemptuously called "black and white" or "bast". The Tel are technologically advanced and have established the star kingdom Telin in the Orion arm in the opposite part of the galaxy.

team

The following authors / graphic artists are currently working on the series:

criticism

Ren Dhark offered adventure-oriented SF in the style of the 1950s and 1960s in the original edition. The tenor of the series is partly technology-oriented: New developments in the technical field are not presented as threats, but as opportunities. In this sense, from today's perspective, the magazine series was "old-fashioned" in the best sense of the word. Initially, there were also inconsistencies in the course of the plot in the wine press notebooks. In one of the first issues, a “Flash” spaceship was destroyed during battles with relatively weak aliens, only to reappear undamaged a short time later and then to be almost indestructible.

In the book update, the mentioned technology orientation will be continued at the current level, including social and paranormal ( teleportation ) topics.

In a more recent review, the special relationship between a person and a stranger is addressed: "This relationship '... of so unequal, but reliable friends' guarantees a statement that is entirely in the spirit of the series founder Kurt Brand - peaceful coexistence of peoples, Respect for others, even if they look different or have their own behavior, is more relevant today than ever. "

Web links

credentials

  1. ↑ http://www.ren-dhark.de/classic/thema/point-of.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.phantastik-news.de/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=545