It's Star Trek, Jim, but not as we know it: the bizarre story of Turkey's 1973 Star Trek rip-off

Detail from The poster for Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda
Detail from The poster for Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda

As Star Trek celebrates the 50th anniversary of the first edition of the series proper, one aspect of the franchise’s history is still being overlooked. Many Trekkies claim that the first cinema adventure of the Enterprise’s crew was released in 1979 – but six years earlier there was Turkish knock-off Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda, also known as Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek or simply Turkish Star Trek. 

Heavily based on The Man Trap, the first episode of the original Star Trek television series, the film liberally helps itself to the show’s theme music – one of the hallmarks of a fine “Turksploitation” feature is a cavalier disregard for both copyright laws and budgetary restrictions.

Erol Amaç as Mister Spak
Erol Amaç as Mister Spak in Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda Credit: YouTube

The cult subgenre grew out of a combination of economic necessity and a public appetite for the glamour of Hollywood action and sci-fi. In the early Seventies Turkey was one of the largest film producers in the world but there was also a vast demand for American movies. These tended to be restricted to urban cinemas as the costs involved in screening major imported pictures in rural areas could be prohibitive: it was often cheaper for production companies to make a local version of the latest US hit. Some Turksploitation films used familiar characters in settings adapted for local audiences: Süpermen Dönüyor has a hero who often prefers to walk or run rather than fly, for reasons entirely related to cost. Yarasa Adam ("Betmen") is a Batman shot in grainy black and white which features an Austin 1100 “Batmobile”.

By the Eighties filmgoers were treated to Vahsi Kan, better known as Turkish First Blood, a thrilling drama concerned with war veteran Kan Rambo, who likes nothing better than to engage various evil-bearded types in under cranked fights sequences

Many enthusiasts claim that Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam (A Man Called Adam or The Man Who Saved the World), a long-lost 35mm print of which was recently unearthed, is the finest entry in this genre, thanks to the way in which it combines spacemen in crash helmets and homemade costumes with an unauthorised use of Star Wars footage, plus music from Flash Gordon, Moonraker and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Others prefer Seytan, a unique version of The Exorcist starring a papier-mâché demon. But possibly the best known of all Turksploitation films is Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek.

Turkey began its television service in 1968 and five years later one of the most popular imported shows was Star Trek, so it made perfect sense to combine the adventures of Captain Kirk and co. with the homegrown Turist Ömer series of comedies.

The character of Ömer was that of a disreputable fellow with a knack for becoming involved in outlandish scenarios. He had already visited the Middle East, Germany and Africa but by the eighth and last of his films he would travel aboard an interesting approximation of the Starship Enterprise.

Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda
The poster for Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda

The title sequence of Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek uses film shot directly from a TV screen, but as Turkey broadcast in black and white at that time matters evidently went awry during the colourisation process – we see the spaceship against an orange background. Challenges were also clearly posed by the theme tune, which is augmented by some swinging 1965-style beach music.

As the narrative unfolds, viewers will notice that female crew members wear miniskirts even shorter than the regulation uniforms of the original series and that the Enterprise’s console is made out of cardboard. But after 10 minutes these minor details pale into insignificance, thanks to the reveal of a “Dr. McCoy” who looks more like Ensign Sulu and a “Captain Kirk” who appears to have actually melted.

Another notable difference from the US TV series is that in place of the sound sets at Desilu Studios, many scenes of Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda are shot at the ruins at Ephesus; in 1973 Turkey lacked major studio facilities and so it made economic sense to make a picture on location and post-synch the dialogue. The landscape certainly provides a welcome distraction from action scenes on a par with an edition of Stingray and killer robots with an unfortunate taste in leopard skin bikinis.

That said, it’s not all terrible. Erol Amaç who plays “Mister Spak”, captures Leonard Nimoy’s device of looking po-faced as he raises one eyebrow and the film even creates a new character with “Joe the Transporter Operator”. The scenes of McCoy and Spak beaming down to alien worlds are also especially good value: only slightly less sophisticated than the transportation routines in Blake’s Seven.

Ömer himself, meanwhile – who is being forced into a shotgun marriage by various members of the Turkish Mafia before he is beamed aboard – is played by the  popular character actor Sadri Alışık, who has a cultural centre named after him in Istanbul. His engaging performance compensates (just about) for extras vacantly staring into the camera, an Enterprise that resembles a warehouse, and actors whispering “swoosh” whenever a door slides open.

But whatever criticism you can level at Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda, even devoted Trekkies would agree it’s still better than the notorious season three travesty Spock’s Brain (a 1968 episode in which Spock’s brain is surgically removed from his body).

 

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