The Mystery of the Third Planet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Mystery of the Third Planet Тайна третьей планеты
DVD cover (Krupnyy Plan)
Directed by	Roman Kachanov
Written by	Kir Bulychev (story & screenplay)
Starring	Olga Gromova Vsevolod Larionov Yuri Volyntsev Vasily Livanov Grigory Shpigel Vladimir Kenigson Vladimir Druzhnikov
Music by	Aleksandr Zatsepin
Editing by	Nadezhda Treshcheva Olga Vasilenko
Distributed by	Soyuzmultfilm (USSR) Jambre Pictures (U.S. 1981-1985), Touchstone Pictures (U.S. re-release, 1985)
Release date(s)	January 1, 1981 (1981-01-01) (USSR)
Running time	50 minutes (original version)
Country	Soviet Union
Language	Russian

The Mystery of the Third Planet (Russian: Тайна третьей планеты, Tayna tretyey planety), also known as The Secret of the Third Planet, is a cool Soviet animated movie from 1981. It was directed by Roman Kachanov and made by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow.

The film is based on a children's science fiction book called "Alice's Travel" by Kir Bulychev. This book is part of the Alisa (Alice) Selezneva series, which is very popular.

Many people in Russia think this movie is a cult classic. It's often listed as one of the best animated or science fiction films ever made. Kir Bulychev even wrote a shorter book version of the film. There was also a diafilm (a type of filmstrip) and several video games based on The Mystery of the Third Planet. A movie called Alice's Birthday, which is like a follow-up, came out in 2009.

Story of the Movie

The movie starts with Captain Zelyonyy, Professor Seleznyov, and his daughter Alisa Selezneva. They leave Earth on their spaceship, the Pegas (Pegasus). Their mission is to find new animal species for the Moscow Zoo.

First Stops and a Mystery

They stop on the Moon to rest. There, Professor Seleznyov meets his alien friend, Gromozeka, who is an archaeologist. Gromozeka tells them to visit the Planet of Two Captains. This planet has a huge museum dedicated to Captains Kim and Buran, who explored the entire universe. They hope to find clues about rare animals there.

While on the Moon, they also see Doctor Verkhovtsev, who runs the museum. But he seems to avoid Gromozeka, which is a bit strange.

On the Planet of Two Captains, the heroes meet Verkhovtsev. They ask to see the Captains' diaries, hoping to find directions to rare animals. However, the doctor acts very suspiciously. He refuses to show them the diaries and starts watching their every move.

Discovering Chatterbirds

Next, the Pegas crew visits the planet Bluk. They buy some interesting things there. They also learn about Chatterbirds. These are special birds that can copy human speech and fly in outer space! Sadly, they find out that Chatterbirds are now extinct. And the person responsible for this? Doctor Verkhovtsev.

Later, Alisa and Seleznyov see the Doctor on Bluk. But a strange, fat alien shows up and tells them they are wrong. A local person, who heard they were looking for a Chatterbird, secretly tells them he once saved an injured one. He refused to give it to a man who looked just like the Doctor. Since he's scared to keep it, he gives the Chatterbird to the heroes for free.

On their way back to the ship, they get attacked but manage to win. The fat alien, named Jolly Man U, appears again. He gives them a tortoise with a diamond shell. He tries to get the Chatterbird, but he fails.

Clues and Trouble

Soon, the Chatterbird starts talking! It turns out it belongs to Captain Kim, who has gone missing. After hearing the Chatterbird's words, the Pegas crew heads for the Medusa system.

On their journey, they get an SOS signal from the planet Shelezyaka. This planet is full of robots, but they are all breaking down. It's revealed that these robots once helped the Chatterbird. The Doctor also visited this planet and found out about it. The robots started malfunctioning right after the Doctor left. He had put diamond dust into their grease as revenge!

The Medusa System and Pirates

Exploring the three planets in the Medusa system, the heroes pass the first planet, which is too harsh to land on. On the second planet, they find special stones that create mirages. These mirages show the Blue Seagull, which is Captains Kim and Buran's spaceship.

On the third planet, they have many adventures with the local plants and animals. They find clues that the Blue Seagull might be hidden there. Alisa then finds strange, mirror-like flowers. When they bring these flowers onto the Pegas, they discover something amazing. The flowers record everything that happens in front of them! When picked, they show what they recorded, but in reverse.

Watching the flowers, the heroes learn that both Verkhovtsev and Jolly Man U were on the planet. They were working together as space pirates! Soon, the tortoise (the one Jolly Man U gave them) destroys the flowers. Zelyonyy realizes the tortoise was actually a spying device, helping the pirates track them.

Trying to fly to safety, the Pegas falls into a trap. Seleznyov and Zelyonyy are captured by Verkhovtsev and Jolly Man U. Alisa manages to escape. She then finds out that Captain Buran also landed on the planet. He is with another Doctor Verkhovtsev, who is clearly not the same one who trapped her friends.

The Truth Revealed

The Blue Seagull spaceship was caught in the same trap as the Pegas. It turns out Captain Kim was trapped in his ship by the pirates. They wanted his secret formula for "absolute fuel." But after the pirates take the heroes hostage and threaten them, Kim can't take it anymore. He leaves his ship and disarms the pirates all by himself!

Soon, Buran and the real Doctor Verkhovtsev arrive and help Kim. The pirates are clearly outnumbered. With two Verkhovtsevs in the same place, one of them reveals the other is Glot, a space pirate. He explains that Glot was pretending to be him and was responsible for all the crimes. The real Doctor Verkhovtsev admits that Glot and Jolly Man U's interest in the Captains' diaries made him suspect the heroes back at the museum. Buran also explains that the Chatterbird's previous owner, knowing the bird's lines about the Medusa system, guided him and the real Verkhovtsev there.

The End of the Adventure

After everything is sorted out, the heroes make Jolly Man U open the trap. They capture him and Glot. But in all the excitement, Gromozeka suddenly appears late to help. Jolly Man U uses this chance to escape! However, a local bird of prey quickly captures him and carries him away to its nest.

In the end, the captains and the real Doctor Verkhovtsev leave the planet. The main heroes, Alisa, Seleznyov, and Zelyonyy, return to Earth. They bring Glot with them and all the amazing animals they collected for the zoo!

Who Made the Movie?

This table shows the main people who worked on The Mystery of the Third Planet.

How it was Made

This film was the fourth one directed by Roman Kachanov using traditional drawn animation. He worked on over 30 animated movies! Many of his most famous works, like The Mitten and Cheburashka, were made using stop motion animation.

The characters in the movie were designed by Natalya Orlova. Her daughter, actress Ekaterina Semyonova, said that the character of Alice was based on her. Also, her father, director Tengiz Semyonov, was the inspiration for Captain Zelyonyy.

The music for the movie was created by Aleksandr Zatsepin. He mentioned that the original recordings of the music are no longer in his personal collection. The entire movie took four years to make!

Around the World

The Mystery of the Third Planet has been shown in many countries around the world. It has been dubbed (given new voices) or subtitled in many different languages.

Country	Company	Air Date in cinema	Title	Dubbing
Finland	YLE Nelonen	6 November 1982	Kolmannen planeetan arvoitus	Finnish
United States	Touchstone Pictures	23 May 1987 (first version) 4 December 1998 (second version)	Alice and the mystery of the third planet (American version)	English
Estonia	Tallinnfilm Kanal 2	3 July 1987 (cinema) 5 March 2007 (Festival)	Kolmanda planeedi saladus	Estonian
Sweden	TV3		Mysteriet med två kaptener	Swedish
Spain	Telecinco Clan TVE	1998 (Films by Jove version) 2016 (dubbing version)	El misterio del tercer planeta	Spanish
Lithuania	TV3 Lithuania		Trečiojo planetos paslaptis	Lithuanian (voice-over)
Italy  San Marino	Rai 3		Alice e il mistero del terzo pianeta	Italian
Latvia	TV3 Latvia		Alice: Sāciet piedzīvojumu	Latvian (voice-over)
Bulgaria			Мистерията на третата планета	Bulgarian (dubbing version with subtitles)
Poland	Polsat	4 July 2001	Tajemnica Trzeciej Planety	Polish
China	CCTV-6, CCTV-14		第三顆行星的奧秘	Chinese (Mandarin)
France	France 5, Canal J, WE Productions, M6 Vidéo	1982 (first version) 1995 (second version)	Le Mystère de la Troisième Planète	French
Czech Republic  Slovakia	Barrandov (dubbing production) Markíza	2016	Tajemství třetí planety Tajomstvo tretej planéty	Czech Slovak
Australia	Nine Network	2016	The Mystery of The Third Planet	English
Netherlands	NCRV	17 November 2004	Mysterie van de Derde Planeet	Subtitled
Belgium	RTBF	2016	Le Mystère de la Troisième Planète	French
South Korea	KBS	1 August 2005	3 번째 행성의 신비	Korean
Hungary	RTL Klub, A+	31 October 2005	Misztériumát a harmadik bolygó.	Hungarian
Romania	TVR2	1 January 2006	Misterul din a treia planetă	Romanian
Germany  Austria	DEFA, RTL II (Germany) ORF (Austria)		Das Geheimnis des Dritten Planeten	German
Ukraine	K1	2017	Таємниця третьої планети	Ukrainian (voice-over)
India	Kushi TV (Telugu) Disney Channel (Tamil, Hindi) Kochu TV (Malayalam) Chintu TV (Kannada) Sony Yay (English, Hindi) Star Jalsha (Bengali)		तीसरे ग्रह का रहस्य The Mystery of the Third Planet	Hindi Tamil Telugu English Malayalam Kannada Bengali
Indonesia	Indosiar	1 January 2008	Gadis dari Bumi	Indonesian
Israel	Arutz HaYeladim	8 July 2008	המסתורין של כוכב לכת השלישי	Hebrew Original (only Russian-speaking Jews in Israel)
Macedonia  Croatia  Serbia  Slovenia	MKRTV HRT Happy TV POP TV	25 May 2008	Тајната на Сончевиот систем Медуза Misterija trećeg planeta Tajna treće planete Skrivnost tretjega Planeta	Macedonian Croatian Serbian Slovenian
Turkey	Kanal D, Show TV		Üçüncü Gezegen Gizem	Turkish
Portugal	RTP	2016	Mistério do Terceiro Planeta	Portuguese
Japan	Nippon Animation (first version) Toei Animation (second version)	1985 (video premiere) 2016	第三惑星の秘密	Japanese
Middle East	MBC 3, Spacetoon	20 May 2010 (except Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Syria)	سر الكوكب الثالث	Arabic
Brazil	SBT		O Mistério do Planeta Terceiro	Portuguese (Brazilian)
Latin America	Televisa (MEX) Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video, Telefe (Argentina) Canal 13 (Chile) Caracol Television (Colombia) Frecuencia Latina (Peru) Venevisión (Venezuela) TV Total (Uruguay)	4 November 1997 (Argentina, Films by Jove) 2016 (Latin America)	El misterio del tercer planeta	Spanish

English Versions

The movie was released twice in the United States. The first version came out on video in 1987. In this version, Alice's name was changed to Christine, and the translation was very different from the original story.

The second version, called "Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet," was released in the 1990s by a company called Films by Jove. This company bought the rights to many films from Soyuzmultfilm to release them internationally. They spent over $1.5 million to make the films look better, add new music, and get American actors to do the voices.

In this second English version, the translation was much closer to the original. However, a lot of new dialogue was added that wasn't in the original film. Also, the unique synthesizer music by Alexander Zatsepin was replaced, and about 6 minutes of the film were cut out. Famous actors like Kirsten Dunst voiced Alice, and Jim Belushi voiced the Chatterer.

This "Alice and the Mystery of the Third Planet" version was released in English, Spanish, French, and other languages. The original Russian version has also been released on DVD in Russia, including a newly restored one.

Awards the Movie Won

• 1982 — It won the USSR State Prize, which was a very important award in the Soviet Union.

Games Based on the Film

• In 2005, a platform game called "Alice's Space Adventure" was made by the company Akella. It was based on the movie.
• An adventure game called "Alice's Journey" was also released in the same year. Akella produced this game too, but "Step Creative Group" developed it.

See also

In Spanish: El misterio del tercer planeta para niños