History Film / MoscowCassiopeia

* SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance: The ZARYa is supposed to be a relativistic ship crewed by teens whose journey is expected to take decades even from their viewpoint. And yet, in a matter of hours, the ship gets close to Proxima Centauri, which is about 4.24 lightyears away. Given that they engage in real-time communication with Earth, their speed can't be a high percentage of the speed of light, meaning it should take many years before they can get close to another star. Then again, the movie isn't really trying to be hard sci-fi, given that [[TheMenInBlack IOO]] pretty much breaks every law of physics we know.

* ClarkesThirdLaw: When I.O.O. offers to show the Academician where the ship has gone to, he uses a cigar case and a pay phone to establish a one-way video link via some kind of SubpaceAnsible. He points out that the means aren't very scientific, at least given modern-day science. This either implies some kind of alien tech or future tech.

* EnthrallingSiren: The robots have figured out how to get their masters to them by emitting an inaudible sound that compels any Cassiopeian nearby to come to them. The sound is harmless to humans, although the robots have no way of knowing that.

The films follow a group of teenagers who are sent on an antimatter-powered relativistic starship to the Cassiopeia constellation after Soviet scientists receive an alien signal from one of its stars. After selecting the crew consisting of the best students (one mentions he was chosen for his EideticMemory) and building a starship capable of reaching near-light speeds, they are launched on a mission to make FirstContact with the mysterious senders of the signal. A stowaway accidentally sits on the ship controls and causes it to accelerate [[FasterThanLightTravel beyond the speed of light]]. While the journey does take several decades for those Earth-bound, it takes only moments for the starship crew. They arrive and encounter a ship of HumanAliens who manage to learn Russian ridiculously quickly. They explain that they are the last of their race, after their [[AIIsACrapshoot robots]] TurnedAgainstTheirMasters. However, instead of killing their creators, the robots sought to "improve" them by removing their emotions. This caused the entire race to stop reproducing, and they died out. Only those who were in space at the time of the revolt managed to survive. The teens decide to help the aliens retake their planet by shutting down the robots' master control. They finally manage to do that, at which point the aliens get their planet back, and the teens are informed by a Soviet government agent (who appears out of nowhere) that they are free to head home, as a diplomatic and humanitarian mission is on the way from Earth.

* [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Aliens Speaking Russian]]: The aliens are able to instantly learn Russian by having their UniversalTranslator list the Russian alphabet and common words. Slightly justified in the case of the robots, although it makes no sense for the robots to be speaking Russian when they're simply talking among themselves (especially since their whistles are much more communicative).

* CaptainsLog: Despite all the advanced technology on the ship, the Captain's Log is still a big notebook.
** On the other hand, a crewmember sent to the alien planet records her observations vocally using the translation device. The notebook may be a personal choice on TheCaptain's part.

* ContextSensitiveButton: All buttons on TheBridge control panel are unlabeled.
** The teens are repeatedly shown pressing the same exact button on their "[[TranslatorMicrobes meaning detectors]]" to achieve different results.

* ArtisticLicenseAstronomy: Taken to such ridiculous extent that one may suspect a joke. The starship goes to the star in the Cassiopeia constellation passing by Proxima Centauri which is located in the exactly opposite direction.