Journey to the Far Side of the Sun

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is a 1969 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Robert Parrish. The screenplay was written by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and Donald James.

Plot
A planet is discovered in the same orbit as Earth's but is located on the exact opposite side of the sun, making it not visible from Earth. The European Space Exploration Council decide to send American astronaut Glenn Ross and British scientist John Kane via spaceship to explore the other planet. After a disastrous crash-landing Ross awakes to learn that Kane lies near death and that they apparently have returned to Earth, as evidenced by the presence of the Council director and his staff. Released to the custody of his wife, he soon learns things are not as they seem.

Why You will meet this film face to face in outer space

 * 1) Breath-taking visuals.
 * 2) Roy Thinnes and Ian Hendry do great but Patrick Wymark steals the show.
 * 3) Very original story about an exact copy of earth on the other side of the sun.
 * 4) At 101 minutes, it is perfectly paced.
 * 5) The ending is rather sad.
 * 6) Beautiful cinematography.
 * 7) Amazing score by Barry Gray.
 * 8) It wasn't afraid to tackle serious issues such as adultry, infertility and corruption.

The only Bad Quality

 * 1) Due to how well 2001: A Space Odyssey did, Doppelganger was rather shoved into the shadows.

Critical Reception
Gary Gerani, co-writer of Pumpkinhead, ranks Doppelgänger 81st in his book Top 100 Sci-Fi Movies, calling the film "enigmatic" and a "fine example of speculative fantasy in the late '60s". He praises Thinnes' and Wymark's performances, the characterisation, the film's lesser themes (which include adultery, infertility and corruption) and its "Fourth of July-style" effects. Sylvia Anderson suggested that American audiences, who were less familiar with Century 21's puppet productions than their British counterparts, were more enthusiastic about the film. She explained: "It was all too easy to compare our real actors with our puppet characters and descriptions such as 'wooden', 'expressionless', 'no strings attached' and 'puppet-like' were cheap shots some of the UK critics could not resist ... Typecasting is the lazy man's friend, and boy, were we typecast in Britain". In 1992, she said of the film: "I saw it on TV a couple of years ago and I was very pleased with it. I thought it came over quite well". To Chris Bentley, Doppelgänger is a "stylish and thought-provoking science-fiction thriller".

TV Guide magazine gives the film two stars out of four, calling it a "strange little film" with an "overwritten script". Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk considers Doppelgänger a "good" film but writes that it "takes an okay premise but does next to nothing with it. We see 100 minutes of bad drama and good special effects, and then the script opts for frustration and meaningless mystery". He criticises the cinematography, comparing it to that of Thunderbirds in so far as the characters "stand and talk a lot", while defining the script as "at least 60 percent hardware-talk and exposition ... How people move about – airplane, parachute, centrifuge – is more important than what they're doing". In a review for Den of Geek, Martin Anderson praises the direction and effects but states that the film's "robust and prosaic" dialogue sits "ill-at-ease with the metaphysical ponderings". He criticises some of the editing, noting that many of the effects shots have "that 'Hornby' factor, slowing up the narrative unnecessarily". He rates Doppelgänger three stars out of five, summing it up as "an interesting journey with many rewards".

The Film4 website gives Doppelgänger two-and-a-half stars out of five, summing it up as "an occasionally interesting failure". The review praises the effects and costume design but judges the subplots about Hassler's treachery and the Rosses' marital problems to be unnecessary distractions from the main story. It also questions the originality of the premise and the depth of the writing: "Anderson's has to be the cheapest alternate Earth ever. Whereas audiences might expect a world where the Roman Empire never fell or the Nazis won World War II, here the shocking discovery is that people write backwards. That's it". A similar view is expressed by Gary Westfahl, who describes the setting as "the most boring and unimaginative alien world imaginable".

Trailers
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Reviews & Analysis
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Trivia

 * Gerry Anderson has said in interviews that he had to shoot all the important stuff with Patrick Wymark and Ian Hendry in the mornings because both men well known for being heavy drinkers of the booze would go for liquid lunches and would not be able to do much in the afternoons.
 * When considering casting for the TV series Space 1999, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson did consider real life married couple, Roy Thinnes and Lynn Loring, who appear in this film. However Sylvia in particular thought that Thinnes hadn't behaved particularly well during production, acting like a diva at times. Put off by the experience Space 1999 ended up casting another real life American couple, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. Sylvia said many years later that decision was also problematic with both Landau and Bain demanding superstar treatment and throwing their weight around the production.
 * Ed Bishop replaced Peter Dyneley, after rushes revealed the latter's physical similarity to Patrick Wymark, which was thought likely to confuse audiences.