Three classic animated Soviet sci-fi films from the vaults of the famed Soyuzmultfilm studios, THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD PLANET, THE PASS & THE RETURN

THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD PLANET (TAYNA TRETEY PLANETY), 1981, Soyuzmultfilm, 48 min. Dir. Roman Kachanov. A trio of intrepid space explorers, Professor Seleznyov, his 9-year old daughter Alice and the hilariously doom-and-gloom Captain Zelyonyy set off on a rocket ship in the year 2181 to collect rare alien creatures for the Moscow Zoo. They're immediately drawn into an amazingly convoluted mystery involving a sinister doctor, a nearly-extinct Chatter-bird, and two legendary, missing cosmonauts. A delirious cosmic treat for fans of FANTASTIC PLANET, MYSTERY... features a gallery of psychedelic space creatures straight out of YELLOW SUBMARINE: blue-skinned aliens with ears on the tops of their heads, a tiger-rat from the planet Penelope, a blue-and-purple flying cow with fairy's wings. Director Roman Kachanov's long sought-after gem packs enough plot, surreal imagery, phantasmagorical creatures and otherworldly worlds into its 48 minutes for an entire mini-series.

THE PASS (PEREVAL), 1988, Soyuzmultfilm, 30 min. "On this night, Oleg was on duty near the fence ... He sensed the emptiness and the routine. Three times people went to the Pass. It was all in vain." So begins Russian director Vladimir Tarasov's sublime masterpiece of animated sci-fi in which a group of terrified human survivors on an alien world try to reach their derelict spacecraft 16 years after it crashed. On par with Tarkovsky's SOLARIS and STALKER as one of the most hypnotic and visually stunning science-fiction stories ever filmed, THE PASS is filled with cascading, pulsating images: night creatures that bleed in from the darkness to attack, a cat's eyes flickering in the candlelight, frightened children reciting stories of another planet, another time. THE PASS is the longest of Tarasov's works and arguably his finest achievement.

"The Return" (Vozvrashchenie), 1980, Soyuzmultfilm, 10 min. A sleeping cosmonaut hurtles unaware towards his home planet -- but will he awake in time?

Bonus Materials

Newly restored in 4K

Two new video essays on Roman Kachanov and Vladimir Tarasov by film historian Evan Chester

New commentary track by Adam Rackoff, James Hancock and Martin Kessler.

Blu-ray authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion.