I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

"Operation Ganymed" or "Helden, verloren im Staub der Sterne" is a West German film that is mostly in German and was made back in 1977, so it will have its 40th anniversary next year. The writer and director is Rainer Erler and it is one of his most known works. This is certainly also the case because the cast is outstanding for a film from that time. You can't really do much better than have Frank, Laser, Prochnow, Friedrichsen and Gärtner in your film. I will not say a whole lot about the plot other than that this is entirely science fiction with occasional thriller and drama moments. It is about an expedition to the planet Jupiter, but it's not about this one being successful or unsuccessful as we find that out early in the film already. It is all about what happens when the crew actually manages to return back to Earth years after everybody realized they had actually dies up in space.I personally thought from reading the title that this was some medical-themed thriller involving scandal and politics, but it has nothing to do with that and Ganymed stands for something entirely different. I like some of the actors in the cast and I think they are pretty talented, but it's a bit of a problem that they are in astronaut uniform for a large part of the film here and that stands a way in terms of showing us all their range. So does the script. I may be a bit biased as SciFi has always been one of my least favorite genres, but I thought the initially good idea here does not do too much in the end because there is not enough love to detail. The film runs for 120 minutes (although there are shorter versions out there) and it dragged quite a lot. Certainly a wasted opportunity. The actors and premise are much better than the actual outcome here. Only worth for the biggest fans of space-themed films. I give it a thumbs-down.

I always looked at this as a sort of Vietnam parable. The astronauts (before they return to Earth) have nothing but high hopes and delusions of grandeur. They dream of a warm reception and massive parades for the conquering heroes. However, nothing is further from the truth, as the Astronauts return to a world where they are not only forgotten, but unwelcome. The bleak atmosphere of this movie is truly astonishing. I love the scenes where the astronauts wander around in the desert while the main character Don has frequent flashbacks to spacecamp and an extended sequence on the surface of Ganymede where two of his fellow explorers die tragic deaths. While the cinematography and editing are pretty crude, there are some pretty good ideas and tricks used by this extremely low budget movie. Although the acting does get over the top at times, it's never too silly to keep from enjoying the seriousness of the movie, which in the end is more of a thinker than a downer. I love the ending in that it raises some really good questions while the movie could have ended at any point earlier on.Watch as a curiosity item, at least to see Jurgen Prochnow in a very pre-Das Boot supporting role.

I've read about the atrocious English language dub, but my copy of the film is the Dutch rental video with the original German dialogue and it sounds fine. The film itself is gritty and realistic in tone. Five astronauts return from years in space only to find a seemingly desolate Earth. No radio signals, deserted ruins, sparse vegetation etc. At loss at what to do next they decide to head North, but without sufficient food and water supplies, how long will they last? The line between reality, hallucinations due to dehydration (and possible radioactive sickness) and flashbacks to their exploration of Jupiter moon Ganymedes is constantly blurred. Recommended.

The storyline is 3 ships travel to Ganymede (moon of Jupiter); about 18 people go, about 4 come back. Don is mentally unstable since he was felt responsible for the deaths of 2 crew members that went to collect samples of organic compounds for him (proving life was on Ganymede). About 1/3 of the movie is in space returning to Earth, 1/3 flash back to Ganymede, and 1/3 hiking through the desert when they force on a landing on (what may/may-not be) Earth after they aren't met when they return to Earth's orbit. The dubbing was one of those classic "ha! you are a crazy person, yes a crazy person, and I say that without malice, I do, it's just that you are a crazy person." who's responsible for that dubbing? Some of the on-Ganymede effects were well done, but in general it seemed like the cinematography was done as a high-school drama project. 10 minutes spent with the camera trained on someone rapelling down some rocks. At the end, you really don't have a clue what it was all about. Was Don crazy? Were they on Earth? Did Earth still exist? Were they in Mexico? Did 14 really die on Ganymede? Why did no one meet them on their return? And considering they were out of water all the time, how did they keep getting more?