Perry Rhodan

[Colonel Worf]

I just heard about this series for the first time a few days ago. Apparently there are over 100 books.

They include some great titles such as:

Snowman in Flames
Shadow of the Mutant Master
Ernst Ellert Returns!
Wonderflower of Utik
The Psycho Duel
Heritage of the Lizard People

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/series/perry_rhodan.htm

It just looks like campy fun. Has anyone read one of these Perry Rhodan books?

 

[emohawk]

Never read, nor ever heard of. Sorry!

 

[minibirte]

Perry Rhodan is a German science fiction series. I never read a single volume, but it's very popular here (or was when SF was very popular) mostly with teenage boys, I think. (My boyfriend read several hundred volumes when he was a teenager and he loved it.) Here it's published in magazine format (kindof like asimov's or analog) although there are books, too.

I think there is a big fan base.

Since I've never read Perry Rhodan, I don't know whether it's worth reading.

 

[Hobbit]

Yeah - I've actually got some around, including Book 1.

Very 30's pulp SF - very EE 'Doc' Smith.

They were usually written by a team of writers - as minibirte says, usually in German then translated. They don't have to be read in order.

As has already been said, aimed at the teen pulp market. As a teenage boy, I read some of them about 20 (and a bit) years ago and very much in that Dan Dare style. Not for everyones tastes and not too serious.

They can be fairly collectable these days I think.

More info HERE.

Hobbit

 

[Thekherham]

I've read a few of those books in my younger days.

Looking back at it now, I find them rather corny...

 

[Hobbit]

Looking back at it now, I find them rather corny...

Oh yes.....

....but sometimes the corny stuff can be fun....

Putting them into a historical context often works for me. Though a lot of the 1930's stuff is scientifically inaccurate, cliched, thinly characterised, and somewhat erm, hyperventilated , I still like to read it.

If only to show how far Sf has come!

Hobbit

 

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

The series PERRY RHODAN is a weekly German multi-author science fiction series that has been going on for about 50 years. In fact, in the year 2000, they reached PERRY RHODAN novel #2000! And a spin-off series, ATLAN, reached its' 850th novel before finally stopping! For all you fans of STAR TREK novels, think about how much longer Pocket Books would have to go before reaching those milestones...

Forry Ackerman and his wife decided to try translating and publishing this series a generation ago. Since they got off to a late start, they were something like 700 novels behind from the git-go. After reaching #118 here in the states, Ace Books pulled out due to poor sales. Forry and Company tried to continue on an independent mail-order basis, but that quickly dried up, too.

About 6 or 7 years ago, a new group of fans on this side of The Pond tried to resurrect PERRY RHODAN in a new magazine-style format that started with PERRY RHODAN #1800, but they only lasted about 5 or 6 issues.

As for the contents of this series, hit-or-miss does not even begin to describe it! The only ones that I read and enjoyed were around novel #100, the ones that dealt with Rhodan being usurped by his insane son Thomas Cardif. The culmination of that story arc in the novel DUEL UNDER THE DOUBLE SUN was well worth it, very well worth it.

 

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

Have just done some additional research, and the RHODAN books that I read were #91, Friend to Mankind, to #108, Duel Under the Double Sun. Pretty good stuff, I thought.

Some other things: These books were not actually novels, but shorter novellas (120 pages or so). And they are still being wriiten and published in Germany, having passed PERRY RHODAN #2100...

 

[Thekherham]

With so many novels... or novellas, if you like, out there, isn't there a tendency for repetition?

 

[Dr. Daniel]

With so many novels... or novellas, if you like, out there, isn't there a tendency for repetition?

I read about ten of them that I found at a flea market about five years ago. Most of them seemed like the same and I really couldn't get into them.

There was a Perry Rhodan movie that I saw on TV when I was like eight. Here's a link:
Perry Rhodan Mission Stardust

 

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

According to some RHODAN websites, the movie MISSION STARDUST is so bad that the so-called "Rho-fans" will "playfully deny its existence."

 

[MrBF1V3]

I remember, quite a while ago, I bought my first Perry Rhodan book. Snowman in Flames. How could I not buy it?, there was a large rodent on the cover, and an explosion. At one time I had quite a few copies, but now I only have a few that I have protected.

Yeah, if you find them, get them. They are fun, kind of campy, painfully dated. Sometimes Perry comes off as, well, arrogant. Every so often there is a bit of a real story there. And hey! Pucky!
B5

 

[tdeanatoz@yahoo]

It's painful to say this, but Pucky the Mousebeaver had to be the single biggest reason that PERRY RHODAN never caught on big here in America. Imagine the daggit from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA in a speaking role, and you get the idea. If you liked the Ewoks, then Pucky was for you.