DVD review (region 2)
Directed by Robert Parish
Starring Roy Thinnes, Ian Hendry, Patrick Wymark
Release date 8 September 2008

After a space probe reveals the existence of a planet hidden behind the Sun, an expedition is sent to investigate and discovers a mirror world...

This is a definite oddity in the Gerry Anderson canon, marking a turning point between the puppet series of the 1960s and the live action shows of the 1970s. After the first few minutes, you’d be excused for thinking you're watching a previously unseen episode of Thunderbirds – the model work is Anderson-standard, the Barry Gray incidental music is spot on. But then you're into a world not dissimilar from the 1980 predicted in Anderson's first live-action show, UFO...

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun – or Doppelganger as it was originally known in the UK – then spends 45 minutes getting to the point where the story would probably have begun had it been a one-hour TV episode, as two astronauts are sent to investigate a mysterious planet. There's the usual intricate Anderson special effects, and some 2001-influenced psychedelic additions during the journey, before a crash-landing straight out of Thunderbirds.

From thereon in, we discover the secret of the two planets, which doesn't take the idea much further than "everything is backwards". Unlike other mirror worlds (especially the one in the far superior John Wyndham-based Quest for Love made a couple of years later), there aren't any personality differences between the people on both planets, and you begin to wonder why Roy Thinnes' character is so desperate to return home. Paul Simpson

VERDICT: 6/10
Marred by some very slow pacing, and scenes where Ian Hendry can barely slur his words, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun deserves its Oscar nomination for its effects – but other than that, it's a disappointment.