Per Aspera Ad Astra (1981 film)

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Per Aspera Ad Astra (Through the Thorns to the Stars) is a 1981 Soviet science fiction film directed by Richard Viktorov, based on a Kir Bulychov novel.

Plot in brief:
- In the 23rd century, the starship Pushkin finds a derelict alien spaceship. Its humanoid crew were created by cloning; most are dead, but one woman named Neeya survives in a catatonic state.
- Professor Sergei Lebedev brings Neeya to Earth. She has amnesia but develops powerful telekinetic abilities. Scientist Nadezhda Ivanova studies her and discovers a neurocenter in Neeya’s brain that can be triggered remotely.
- Neeya experiences memories of her home planet, Dessa, and learns she is part of a clone-based system that some want to control.
- She joins an archaeological expedition and eventually travels to Dessa aboard the Earth ship Astra, along with Stepan (Lebedev’s son) and others.
- On Dessa, the Astra’s crew learns the planet is depleted of minerals and its air and water are poisoned. Turanchoks, who runs a gas mask factory, resists Earth’s interference.
- After Neeya helps Earth test a method to clean the air, Turanchoks poisons the water supply and tries to blame the Earthship. He uses a control device to force Neeya to plant a bomb on the Astra.
- A confrontation ensues: Rakan is wounded, a deadly creature is released, and Ivanova is killed. The shock frees Neeya from the control, and her powers, with help from the Astra crew and a robot, defeat the monster.
- The Astra returns home, and Neeya stays on Dessa.

Versions and restoration:
- An English-dubbed version called Humanoid Woman was aired on Mystery Science Theater 3000, heavily edited with about an hour removed.
- A 2001 restoration directed by Nikolai Viktorov (the director’s son) updated the effects and soundtrack in Dolby Digital, but cut about 25 minutes to speed up the plot and remove Soviet ideological context.