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Perry Rhodan

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One of the things that seems to be a popular component of the German version of the Perry Rhodan magazines are Risszeichnungen (when I google this, google helpfully suggests "did you mean Risszeichnung?") which, I am guessing, means something like "technical diagrams" or "cutaway diagrams". The google searches' first link is this and has a lot of links to fun SFnal diagrams from German Perry Rhodan magazine. Following a Wikipedia link to an X-15 fighter page gives a diagram labeled as a risszeichnung, following this and the image is labeled as a "line drawing". Fritz 06:06, 12 December 2008 (CST)

Theo F. says: You are probably correct. Riss = split or break or rift, and Zeichnugen (pl) is are drafts or drawings or designs.

Series sequence

Perry Rhodan series: Enterprise Stardust --> The Radiant Dome --> Galactic Alarm --> Invasion from Space --> The Vega Sector --> The Secret of the Time Vault --> Fortress of the Six Moons --> The Galactic Riddle --> Quest Through Space and Time --> The Ghosts of Gol --> The Planet of the Dying Sun --> Rebels of Tuglan --> The Immortal Unknown --> Venus in Danger --> Escape to Venus --> Secret Barrier X --> The Venus Trap --> Menace of the Mutant Master --> Mutants Vs. Mutants --> The Thrall of Hypno --> The Cosmic Decoy --> The Fleet of the Springers --> Peril on Ice Planet --> Infinity Flight --> Snowman in Flames --> Cosmic Traitor --> Planet of the Gods --> The Plague of Oblivion --> A World Gone Mad --> To Arkon! --> Realm of the Tri-Planets --> Challenge of the Unknown --> The Giant's Partner --> SOS: Spaceship Titan! --> Beware the Microbots --> Man and Monster --> Epidemic Center: Aralon --> Project: Earthsave --> The Silence of Gom --> Red Eye of Betelgeuse --> The Earth Dies --> Time's Lonely One --> Life Hunt --> The Pseudo One --> Unknown Sector: Milky Way --> Again: Atlan! --> Shadow of the Mutant Master --> The Dead Live --> Solar Assassins --> Attack from the Unseen --> Return from the Void --> Fortress Atlantis --> Spybot! --> The Blue Dwarfs --> The Micro-Techs --> Prisoner of Time --> A Touch of Eternity --> The Guardians --> Interlude on Siliko 5 --> Dimension Search --> Death Waits in Semispace --> The Last Days of Atlantis --> The Tigris Leaps --> Ambassadors from Aurigel --> Renegades of the Future --> The Horror --> Crimson Universe --> Under the Stars of Druufon --> Bonds of Eternity --> Thora's Sacrifice --> The Atom Hell of Grautier --> Caves Of The Druufs --> Spaceship of Ancestors --> Checkmate: Universe --> Planet Topide, Please Reply! --> Recruits for Arkon --> Conflict Center: Naator --> Power Key --> The Sleepers --> The Columbus Affair --> Pucky's Greatest Hour --> Atlan in Danger --> Ernst Ellert Returns! --> Secret Mission: Moluk --> Enemy in the Dark --> Blazing Sun --> The Starless Realm --> The Mystery of the Anti --> Power's Price --> Unleashed Powers --> Friend to Mankind --> The Target Star --> Vagabond of Space --> Action: Division 3 --> The Plasma Monster --> Horn: Green --> The Phantom Fleet --> The Idol from Passa --> The Blue System --> Desert of Death's Domain --> Blockade: Lepso --> Spoor of the Antis --> False Front --> The Man with Two Faces --> Wonderflower of Utik --> Caller from Eternity --> Emperior and the Monster --> Duel Under the Double Sun --> The Stolen Spacefleet --> Sgt. Robot --> Seeds of Ruin --> Planet Mechanica --> Heritage of the Lizard People --> Death's Demand --> Saboteurs in A-1 --> The Psycho Duel --> Savior of the Empire --> The Shadows Attack

Also see

• See Perry Rhodan at Wikipedia
• Perrypedia / Perrypedia

From Wikipedia

Perry Rhodan is the name of science fiction series published since 1961 in Germany, as well as the name of the main character.

Perry Rhodan is a space opera, dealing with several themes of science fiction. Having sold over one billion copies (in pulp booklet format) world-wide, it is the most successful science fiction book series ever written.<ref>Perry Rhodan 35th anniversary Press Release (July 1996)</ref> The series and its spin-offs have captured a substantial fraction of the original German science fiction output and exert influence on many German writers in the fieldThe truth..

The series is told in an arc storyline structure similar to that later used by Babylon 5. An arc — called a "cycle"<ref>[http://www.perry-rhodan.net/information/faq/faq2.html Official FAQ of the publisher, section 2 (about the series itself) (in German)</ref> — would have anywhere from 25 to 100 issues devoted to it, similar subsequent cycles are referred to as a "grand-cycle"<ref>[http://www.perry-rhodan.net/information/nathan/geschichte/index.html List of Perry Rhodan arcs: cycles and grand-cycles (in German)</ref>.

History

Written by an ever-changing team of authors, Perry Rhodan is issued in weekly novella-size installments in the traditional German Heftroman (pulp booklet) format. The series was created in 1961 by K. H. Scheer and Clark Darlton. Initially conceived for thirty volumes<ref>http://presse.perry-rhodan.net/intern/pressetexte/muenchen.html Press-release by the publisher for the 45th anniversary (in German)</ref>, it endured and passed 2450 installments in August 2008<ref>http://perry-rhodan.net/aktuell/index.html Current issue of the first edition as of 2008-09-02 is #2454</ref>. There have been several reissues (5 printings and a 6th ebook version), and a revised, edited version in hardcover format. Significant spin-offs include the Atlan series and the Planetenromane ("Planet Novels") paperbacks that provide additional playgrounds for stories set in the Perry Rhodan universe but are usually not considered canonicalThe truth..

Over the decades there have also been comic strips, numerous collectibles, several encyclopedias, audio plays, inspired music, etc. The series has seen partial translations into several languages. It also spawned the movie Mission Stardust (1967), which is considered so appallingly bad<ref>http://www.perry-rhodan.us/faq/faq.html#faq12 Official US FAQ, point 12</ref> that fans of the series playfully deny its very existence.

Plot

The story line starts in 1971 with the first manned moon landing by U.S. Space Force Major Perry Rhodan and his crew, who discover a marooned extraterrestrial space ship. Appropriating the alien technology, they proceed to unify Terra and carve out a place for humanity in the galaxy and the cosmos. As the series progresses major characters, including the title character, are granted relative immortality. Relative in a sense, that they are immune to age and disease, but could suffer a violent death. The story continues over the course of millennia, including flashbacks several thousands and even millions of years into the past, and the scope widens to encompass other galaxies, extremely remote parts of space, parallel universes and weirder cosmic structures, time travel, paranormal powers, weird/cute/aggressive aliens, bodyless entities (some with sheer god-like powers)...

Criticism

The first aliens mentioned in the series are the Arkonides: They look like albino humans and are distant relatives of mankind's ancestors. Accordingly they were interpreted by some as a reference to Aryans.

As mankind faced a galaxy populated with a giant decadent empire, brutal mercenaries, cunning traders and the like, they had to resort to commando-operations, covert-ops and sometimes terrorist attacks to defend themselves against extinction and gain technology and knowledge. Decades later, mankind began to found colonies in the milkyway. Most of them were united in the Solar Empire. The Solar Empire faced further enemies and these novels were pretty violent, mainly due to the main-author Karl-Herbert Scheer. Shoot-outs and battles between spaceships were regular. This became known as Scheer's style and earned him the nickname handgrenade Herbert (Handgranaten-Herbert).
This was in the 70's. The series faced criticism that it tried to implant fascist and violent ideas in the youth, that it tried to create a cult around the leader Perry Rhodan. This criticism is unsubstantiated, as both Darlton and Scheer were ideologically rather liberal.

From this violent phase, the series turned to a more cosmological scene. The degree of violence was tuned down, mankind visited new galaxies and met new entities and gained knowledge about the structure of the universe itself. This phase lasted from issue 800 to 1799. With issue 1800 the millenium of wars began the milkyway would have to endure. This return to a more action-laden plot will last until at least issue 2500.

The main character Perry Rhodan is regularly described as peaceful, but at some point in the plot, aggression is inevitable. Perry Rhodan doesn't make this decision easy, but he resorts to violence for the greater good. This was misinterpreted many times to portray Perry Rhodan as war-hungry.

A series depends on it's main characters. Accordingly Perry Rhodan and his friends always had influental political positions (though democratically elected). This was misinterpreted, as the series would embolden dictatorial tendencies.

After all these decades, negative criticism of the Perry Rhodan-series can still be traced back to misinformation. The authors of such articles make sometimes obvious mistakes, that expose that they have either misunderstood central parts of the plot, or not read the novels at all.

The series was considered by many as "juveniles" (i.e. for a younger readership): "At one point a major publisher (name now forgotten by me) expressed an interest, only to fling Perry back in my face crying, "We didn't know this was a juvenile!" (Forrest J. Ackerman).<ref>http://www.perry-rhodan-usa.com/posbiintro</ref>
However, the age of readers ranges from 15 to 60.

Publication

English translation

In the 1960s, science-fiction fan Forrest J. Ackerman organized the publication in the U.S. of an English translation of the series, with his wife Wendayne ("Wendy") doing most of the translationThe truth.. Other translators on the series included Sig Wahrmann, Stuart J. Byrne, and Dwight Decker) #1, containing German issues 1 and 2, was published by Ace Books starting in 1969. The series was a commercial successThe truth., eventually being published three times per month. Forrest also incorporated elements from the SF pulp magazines, such as short stories, serialized novels and a film review section.

Ace ended their run of Perry Rhodan — double issue #117/118 was their last of the regular series — by publishing three "lost" episodes that had been skipped for not having enough actionThe truth.. They also published five of the Atlan "side series" stories (Atlan is a major character in the Rhodanverse) and one story from the 415-volume Planetenromane spin-off.

The Ackermans created Master Publications and released #119 through #137 before having to cease their subscription-only edition of the series. That was the end of an English version until the 1990s, when John Foyt founded Vector Enterprises and restarted an American version. It would be published in magazine format, against the advice of some of his employeesThe truth., instead of book format. This version only lasted for four printed issues and one electronic issue — #1800 to #1804.

The German publishers, Pabel-Moewig Verlag (VPM), have currently licensed FanPro to publish a translation of their recent Lemuria mini-series in the summer of 2006. As of January 2007, the first volume of the Lemuria story is available for purchase from Amazon.com and the second can be reservedThe truth.. FanPro's American site has only recently released information on the novels and has yet to provide book artwork to Amazon.com for the second volume of Lemuria (however, the first volume has the same artwork as the German original<ref>http://www.amazon.de/Perry-Rhodan-Lemuria-01-Sternenarche/dp/3453530039/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220399389&sr=1-7 Perry Rhodan Lemuria 01. Die Sternenarche at Amazon.de</ref><ref>http://www.amazon.com/Perry-Rhodan-Lemuria-Vol-FPR75001/dp/1932564888/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220399375&sr=1-18 Perry Rhodan Lemuria Vol. 1: Star Ark at Amazon.com</ref>). Some additional material present in the German version, such as a history of generation spaceships in SF history, were dropped from the American version.

FanPro seems to have recently shut down its American operations and website. The six books are still being translated and provided to the German publishers.

In other countries

Translations of Perry Rhodan are currently available in Brazil (#1 to #536 and #650 to #833 as of August 2006), Russia, China, Japan（#1 to #704 (9,2008)） France, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. Apart from the US version, there were also editions in Canada, Great Britain, Italy and Finland. However, the latter have been discontinued.

Rhodan was so popular in the Spanish-speaking world that the Flash Gordon comic strip was called "Roldán el Temerario" (Rhodan the Fearless) in a somewhat misleading attempt to identify Flash with PerryThe truth..

The first language to which PR was translated was Hebrew. In 1965, the first four episodes appeared in Tel-Aviv in a pirated translation, and which for unknown reasons ceased before publication of the fifth (it was not because it was detected by the German publishers, who only heard about it many years later). The few surviving copies of this 1965 translation are highly valued by Israeli collectors.<ref>Eli Eshed on Perry Rhodan in Israel</ref>

Structure

Cycles

The original series is divided into the following cycles and grand cycles:

English publication history

• Ace Books
  • #1 to #5 — Double issues. Each volume contains two episodes, but edited to be a single novel.
  • #6 to #108 — Single issues. "Maga-book" format, or the format of a magazine in the style of a book. Letter and film review in #6. Would later include short stories — old and new — and reprints of classic serialized novels such as Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett P. Serviss (reprinted as Pursuit to Mars). Of special note is a lost chapter of the H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine that was published in this manner.
  • #109 to #118 — double issues again, but each one set apart.
  • Perry Rhodan Specials #1 to #5 — Double issues. #1 to #3 are lost episodes published with an Atlan episode. #4 are two Atlan episodes and #5 (unnumbered) is a Planetenroman.
• Master Publications
  • #119 to #136 — Magazine size and format.
  • #137 — Book format. To fill out remaining subscription orders, the book format also printed Stuart J. Byrne's Star Man series. #137 was published with the first five episodes of Star Man in one volume. The remaining Star Man episodes were published as a separate volume.
• Vector Enterprises
  • #1800 to #1803 — Magazine format. #1800 is published in a manner similar to the German series. 1801 to 1803 are large-sized magazine format.
  • #1804 — Electronic format only.
• FanPro Games (American operation of German company FanPro)
  • Lemuria #1 "The Star Ark"

Copies of the Ace books and the rarer magazine versions can be found in online auction sites such as eBay and fixed-price online stores like Amazon.com. Used bookstores often have some of the Ace books, but rarely the magazine versionsThe truth..

Cultural impact

In space

Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers was inspired to become an astronaut from an early age by the Perry Rhodan albums his grandmother bought for himThe truth. (and that he eventually started buying himself from his allowance). When he finally launched into space on April 18, 2004, he brought his very first booklet along with him. It was number ten in the red series, Ruimteoorlog in de Wegasector ("Space War in the Vega Sector" or "Raumschlacht im Wega-Sektor")The truth.

In music

Christopher Franke, former member of German electronica group Tangerine Dream and soundtrack composer for U.S. science-fiction TV series Babylon 5, released Perry Rhodan Pax Terra in 1996, composed of music inspired by the Perry Rhodan epic.

In science fiction fandom

Bubonicon, an annual science fiction convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, adopted as its mascot Perry Rhodent, a rat wearing only one shoe (or boot). Perry's image is reinvented each year for the convention's program and t-shirts, often by the convention's Artist Guest of Honor.The truth.

References

External links

• Perry Rhodan Official Homepage (German)
• Perrypedia (German)
• Series summary (1-1799) (English)
• Mission Stardust (aka …4…3…2…1…morte) at the Internet Movie Database
• VPM's English-language Perry Rhodan site
• Perry Rhodan - The Adventure, Computer Game site
• Technology of the Perry Rhodan Universe
• Cedric Beust's Issue Summaries (English)
• Official French Homepage
• Der Einsame Der Zeit German fanfilm