ABSTRACT

This chapter explores continuities between the Soviet tradition of scientific fantasy and post-Soviet Russian appropriations of this genre. The chapter provides a detailed examination of outer-space-themed films in the genre of scientific fantasy (The Moon’s Rainbow, 1984; Kin-Dza-Dza!, 1986; and Witches’ Catacombs, 1990), analysing the films in terms of their aesthetics, intertextual references to earlier Soviet scientific fantasy and post-Soviet Russian science fiction, and in terms of their production context, in order to develop three points. First, that Soviet scientific fantasy of the period may be seen as a culmination of the trajectories outlined by the genre of earlier Soviet scientific fantasy cinema, if coupled with the canon of Socialist Realism: if Kin-Dza-Dza! embodies the dystopian, cyberpunk end of the spectrum, The Moon’s Rainbow is a careful exploration of the pitfalls of relying entirely either on science or on fantasy. Second, that the aesthetics of these perestroika films, which reach from re-appropriations of the canons of the Hollywood blockbuster to Dadaist anti-philosophy, markedly influenced the genre of post-Soviet science fiction cinema. Third, that the production context of the perestroika era favoured a turn in thematic preferences, marking a shift away from outer-space-themed to earth-bound scientific fantasy.