#29 Turks in Space aka Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'ın Oğlu (Wes)

Turks in Space aka Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'ın Oğlu (The Son of the Man Who Saved the World)

We’ve had a lot of problems recently finding movies, mainly due to the amount of foreign language films we’ve come across, so the prospect of finding a copy of Turks in Space didn’t fill me with hope. Eventually after weeks of searching and right at the point of giving up,  I found a video online that unfortunately had no subtitles. However after finding a separate subtitle file elsewhere we were finally set to watch our second Turkish movie featuring Mehmet Ali Erbil (the first was Kelogan and the Black Prince – see here). Was all this effort worthwhile? What do you think?

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adamin Oglu (Mehmet Ali Erbil) is the son of the man who saved the world, as he reminds you quite often throughout the movie. He leads a Turkish space mission, which lost a crew member, Gokmen (Burak Hakki) in space years ago when his support line was cut by a mysterious figure, and he is now obsessed with finding him. Also on the mission are a ragtag crew of misfits, including a robot with an autotune voice, an old lady cleaner, a dog and various other unfunny characters. When the ship is raided by space pirates and one of the female crew members is kidnapped, The Son must somehow defeat the pirate Zaldabar (Mehmet Ali Erbil again), and rescue a space princess (Burcu Kara) who is tangled up in this mess somehow too. Will The Son find Gokmen? Why does Zaldabar look just like him? Can the Man Who saved the World save it again (I’m honestly not sure what he’s supposed to save it from, but I’m damn sure it needs saving!)? All these questions and more will be answered in my dreams. Hang on….

Turks in Space is a dull movie and now holds the title for the first movie on this list that I fell asleep whilst watching it. Twice. Admittedly I was working nights, so was generally pretty tired much of the time, but on my first attempt to watch it I had already watched one movie that day without feeling the need to sleep, and I’ve sat through a lot of movies now, bad or otherwise, in between waking and working for over a year and I rarely have that problem. So I can be pretty sure it’s the fault of Turks in Space that made me pass out.

A sequel to the Turkish movie Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saved the World AKA Turkish Star Wars since it steals so much footage from that movie) Turks in Space is supposed to be a comedy, and like I said in my Kelogan review, I find it hard to judge a movies comedy on a language I don’t speak, so I may be missing out on any subtle wordplay style jokes, and based in a culture I’m not overly familiar with means I may be missing out on a lot of cultural references.

However the jokes that I did understand, were about as funny as the thought of President Donald Trump. Mostly they seem either based on sex, toilet humour or the general incompetence of the crew. There are also the predictable mistaking one brother for another jokes that have been done so often by better writers, each one of them failing to make them funny, that you wonder why writer Murat Boyacioglu thought he could do any better. At one point they even verbally reiterate a visual joke that happened seconds before just in case you missed it the first time. It’s the movie equivalent of someone explaining back to you why your own joke was funny.

Again, like with Kelogan, I just found Mehmet Ail Erbil to be irritating, and not the charming joker that he obviously sees himself as. To have him play two characters in this was double the pain then. If an actor is talented or funny, this can work well, unfortunately Erbil is more Linsay Lohan (to learn about one of her more awful times that she's played twins see here) than Mike Myers. The rest of the cast are just forgettable, with no discernable acting talent or comedy timing.

Visually it looks more like a low budget rip-off of Galaxy Quest than of Star Wars or Star Trek. Of course a comedy isn’t expected to wow with its visual finesse, even a sci-fi one, however when a film just looks like a parody of a parody, you can’t help but think the set designers just couldn’t be bothered to even try. The sets are cheap and unimaginatively designed, the costumes look like they were made by an amateur cosplayer who’s never actually seen Star Trek, but has had the Starfleet uniforms described to them and thinks they can make one and the CGI just reminds me when Red Dwarf started to use CGI instead of model effects, which just made everything look less realistic

The only positive thing I can say about this movie, is that it made me happy that we had to sub the movie Yes Sir, as making someone watch three Mehmet Ali Erbil films in their lifetime is a torture so foul that it would make the KGB throw up in disgust. This Spaceballs-up is not so much Turkish Star Wars, more Turkish The Phantom Menace…

#29 Turks in Space AKA Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'ın Oğlu (The Son of the Man Who Saved the World) (2006) (Colin)

Cast: Mehmet Ali Erbil, Cuneyt Arkin, Haldun Boysan, Berda Ceyhan, Veysel Diker

Director: Kartal Tibet

Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy

The next movie on our list sees us travelling back to Turkey, (well actually we’re not travelling anywhere, we’re still stuck in our crappy top secret bad movie liar, just off J7 on the M11;  Opposite Aldi.).  But it does see us watching another movie with Mehmet Ali Erbit, who our regular reader will know appeared in our #55 movie, Keloglan vs The Black Prince, (see review here).

Now it’s fair to say I didn’t really like Keloglan.  It was supposed to be a comedy but I don’t recall laughing once.  The hero, Keloglan, was so unlikeable thanks to the arrogant portrayal by Mehmet, that I really couldn’t give a tinker’s cuss if he saved the day or met his maker being garrotted with rusty piano wire.  But I did wonder whether I just ‘didn’t get it’.  Remember, this is a Turkish movie, with subtitles and so maybe culturally I didn’t understand or I was missing something.

And so I sort of knew what to expect with the next movie on our list, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'ın Oğlu (The Son of the Man Who Saved the World) (2006), (AKA Turks in Space).  Again this is a comedy, (so I expect it to be unfunny), again it stars Mehmet Erbit, (so I expect him to play a ‘lovable’ character but will come across as an arrogant tosspot) and again it’s subtitled, (so I expect to not fully understand everything).

So were my expectations correct?  It was time to find out…..

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam (Mehmet Ali Erbil) is captain of the spaceship something or other.  He leads a motley crew of forgettable characters who include a dumb blonde, a robot, erm, someone else and erm, that other person.  With the dark hair.  Thingy.

Anyhoo, it turns out that the captain is the son of the man who saved the world in the first movie, (Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saved the World) (1982)) and so it transpires this is a sequel.  This was the only shock to me for the entire movie and the only thing that is vaguely interesting.  The reason for this is that the original movie, better known as ‘Turkish Star Wars’, blatantly rips scenes and music for the original Star Wars movie and is something of a cult classic.  However, I’ll go into more detail in a later blog, as I’m pleased to say that this movie is #18(a) on our list!

The captain is also good at losing members of his crew, (and the audience), one in particular, Gokmen, (Burak Hakki), is causing him all kinds of grief and anguish.  Gokmen floated off into space several years ago after a spacewalk in which his support line was chopped off.  This may seem bad for Gokmen, but at least he now has more atmosphere that the entire movie.

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam is obsessed with finding Gokmen and so is leading his crew on a mission to track him down.  Space pirate Zaldabar, (Mehmet Ali Erbil, that’s right, we have 2 Mehmets for the price of 1!), decides to piss on his chips and kidnap one of the female crew.

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam is confused, why does Zaldabar look exactly like him?  What does he want with the female crew member, (seriously can’t remember her name, or which one of the crew was taken)?  And where the devil is Gokmen?  Will Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam find the answers to these questions?  If he does, can he please tell me as I have absolutely no idea what is going on?

If this seems like a short synopsis, I apologise, but in truth I struggled to pad it out to the 300 or so words above.  Nothing happens in this movie and again I find myself watching a comedy which contains nothing funny whatsoever.

Am I missing the gags because of the cultural difference, like I may have done with Keloglan?  I don’t know, I really don’t think I am because several reviews from Turkish viewers on IMDb seem to back up my theory that this really is a crap and unfunny movie.

Mehmet Ali Erbil seems to have made a lot of comedy movies, so someone, somewhere must like him.  However, because you make a lot of comedy movies, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are any good or funny.  Ask Adam Sandler.

The main problem seems to stem around the fact that there is a character which looks a lot like another character.  This plot has been done to death and as such it is just not funny.  Even comedy gold, such as Only Fools and Horses, seriously struggled when they used this idea.  Miami Twice, to me, is still the only laughter free episode of Only Fools and this is largely thanks to the tired ‘Prince and The Pauper’, storyline.

There’s really nothing more I can say about this movie.  Both of Erbil’s characters are unfunny, lifeless and his hero character comes across as an arrogant so and so once again.  The special effects are awful, the sound abysmal and the plot non-existent.

I like to do around 1,000 words per blog, as I think this is a nice amount to set up the blog, describe the movie and share my feelings about what I thought of the film.  But with nearly 200 words remaining, I’m going to put my hands up, I’m struggling.  In fact I think I have more to say about my new iron, than I do this movie.

Which gives me an idea…..

At £54.99, the Morphy Richards 301021 Comfigrip Steam Iron is not cheap, but with a large 350ml water tank and a very impressive 55g/min steam output, you will understand where the extra few quid has gone.

The overall build quality is very impressive and it feels like a high-end iron rather than the mid-budget model that it is.

The ceramic soleplate glides over clothing with ease and makes ironing quick and hassle free.  The variable steam function allows you to have full control and from silk to cotton, it gives a first class experience every time.

If I had 1 criticism, when the water tank is full it can become quite heavy.  However, this is a minor point and pound for pound, I think you would be hard pushed to find another iron in this price range which delivers such an exciting ironing experience.

Am I going over the top?  Well let’s just say it is more exciting that the movie, Turks in Space, aka Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam'ın Oğlu (The Son of the Man Who Saved the World) (2006).  It also has the added benefit that even if you turn the steam function up to the highest setting and then repeatedly smash yourself in the face with it, the Morphy Richards 301021 Comfigrip Steam Iron is still funnier and less painful than watching this movie.