Duck and Cover

Posted: **Sun Oct 05, 2003 6:43 pm**

folks,
i've seen a dvd in the foriegn films section of my local music store, tower records, its got a film there made in russia with english subtitles ... and guess what, its called Stalker, it interested me straight away, as there was a picture of a dead guy laying face down in a stream on the cover lol.
i read the back, and suprise suprise, the plot is very similar to the background setting in the game.

Has anyone seen this film?

if not, i'll buy it and do a review and let you all know what the deal is.

Posted: **Sun Oct 05, 2003 7:11 pm**

Well, the game's idea is based on the book. which the movie is based on.

Posted: **Sun Oct 05, 2003 7:15 pm**

that explains it then

have you read the book?

Posted: **Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:10 am**

Where can I get this movie? and is it worth getting?

Posted: **Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:27 am**

Well the movie is pretty much anywhere, i think you can even buy it on amazon, or at borders. I remember seeing it at borders.

Posted: **Mon Oct 06, 2003 5:25 am**

Actually...

The game is more based on the movie.

The book was full of aliens and robots and such nonsense.

Posted: **Mon Oct 06, 2003 11:15 am**

Orignal storry is actually a novella by the title "Picnic on a Roadside" written by Strugacky brothers. They were one of the most famous and respected Russian sci-fi writers ever.

The movie "Stalker" was based on the novella and directed by one of the most reknown and one of the best (IMHO) Russian directors Andrei Tarkovsky.

I have not read the story (shame on me), though I know it is one of the best sci-fi stories ever. However, I can strongly recommend watching the movie. It is pretty long (somewhat 3 hours) and not one of those matrix style action movies. Do not expect to get action and guns. The movie features thrilling atmosphere and entrancing journey through labyrinths of human psychology.

I have seen the game trailers and I can say that they pretty much depict the scenery of the movie, but no more. I repeat, do not expect guns, mutants and soldiers in the movie. Stalkers originally were not soldiers, they were stalkers.

Posted: **Wed Oct 08, 2003 8:57 pm**

excellent Wejdas, i'll buy it this weekend, and throw my two ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚Â¬cents when i've watched it

thanks for the info anyway

Posted: **Thu Oct 09, 2003 9:56 am**

Dunno if you are still interested, but I looked deeper into the history of stalker story and found out that Andrei Tarkovsky, director of the movie, asked the Strugacky bothers, authors of the original novella, to write a script for the movie, too. Strugackys wrote two versions of a script called Wish Machine, while the third and final version was called Stalker and used for the movie.

The game territory will be concentrated around Chernobyl catastrophe epicentre, while the action of the movie takes place in a mysterious Zone (with no geographical reference), which emerged after some mysterious event (a giant meteorite hit, catastrophe or just visit of some alien starship, failed experiment, etc.)

Posted: **Fri Oct 10, 2003 1:57 pm**

excellent, i cant wait to get it now heheh

sounds interesting

Posted: **Sat Oct 11, 2003 1:01 am**

Thanks for the info my eastern friend.

Posted: **Mon Nov 03, 2003 11:15 pm**

Nuclear Gandhi wrote:Actually...

The game is more based on the movie.

The book was full of aliens and robots and such nonsense.

have you actually read the book?

anyway, these issues have already been discussed in other threads.

Posted by: PiP Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2003 10:12 pm Post subject: Roadisde P., Zone, Stlaker

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've read the book and I'm gonna see the film, I already know something about it.
(...)
About the book: well, actually it's about human nature, about the meaning of life, about conscience, about the way people tend to exploit everything and lie to themselves and others that it's all right, about choosing personal goals and finding one's own definition of decency, about human ignorance, about our misconception of the world in that we try to impose human terms on anything we deal with - aliens standing for any subject of human 'discovering' and 'trying-to-make-subordinate' attitude (also intelligible). These themes are chiefly dealt with in the last two chapters, the first half of the book is a preparation of sorts. There's nothing special in most of what happens there: people live, get money, swear, drink, smoke, hit one another: just like in hundreds of stupid films. Still, we get the feeling that Red Shoehart is not just one of many tough guys who's gonna beat up the bad guy somewhere towards the end of the book. I liked the second part of the book much more, esp. the talk btw Pillman and Richard, and the last chapter.

About the film: I'm not sure about the English title, but in Russian and Polish it's 'Zona' (so maybe English Zone?) Tarkowski (the director, maybe also scriptwriter) is praised by many. However, I must put a disclaimer here. In Poland, this book was recommended by Mr Stanislaw Lem, who wrote 'Solaris', also filmmed by Tarkowski. Lem crticised both films for not conveying the message of the original, possibly also for some other things. Lem is a supreme authority in many fields, sci-fi books and futurology among them. I intend to provide my own assessment of the film; yet Lem's opinion should not be overlooked.

By the way, Lem's 'Solaris' has been just filmmed again - this time with Clooney, etc. I hope they haven't made it a complete crap.

Well I was wrong about one thing at that time: the title of the Tarkowski's film used for Polish TV is 'Stalker' and, mark my words, it's being shown on Polish TV throughout this week, three times, or maybe even next week too. It's on at a channel that generally shows a lot of good films: "Ale Kino!" (i.e. 'What a cinema!' or 'SOME films!' - I can't translate it well... the Polish phrase is polysemous and culture-specific). I was desperately trying to get 'Stalker' from anywhere possible, now I'm really happy.

PS: I liked the 'Solaris' with Clooney, though the book may be better and/or different - haven't read this one.

Posted: **Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:54 pm**

PiP wrote:
Nuclear Gandhi wrote:Actually...

The game is more based on the movie.

The book was full of aliens and robots and such nonsense.
have you actually read the book?

anyway, these issues have already been discussed in other threads.

For your information, I know this from the Stalker Oblivion Lost forums. The administrator is in contact with the lead designer all the time.

Posted: **Sat Nov 08, 2003 5:48 pm**

I've never said there's anything wrong with this:

Nuclear Gandhi wrote: The game is more based on the movie.

BUT
1. The book was NOT full of aliens (but there were effects of their past visit)
2. The book was NOT full of robots
3. The book was NOT full of nonsense (see my short review of the book)

Don't get irritated. You disrespected a good book (probably by mistake) - I'm merely trying to prevent others from thinking that it's a crap. Read the book. Then we'll talk. (it's available in the net, it's a short story in fact)

Posted: **Sun Dec 07, 2003 6:52 am**

Yeah, I'm just too lazy to read it. So I'm just going to assume I'm right for the time being.

As I said, I'm going off of someone else's word.

Posted: **Sun Dec 07, 2003 8:52 pm**

Speaking of Russian movies, anyone see the movie "Inner Circle"? It's a movie about a projectionist who is hired by Stalin during WW2. I thought it was a great movie, but it's Russian so nobody I know has seen it.

Posted: **Mon Dec 08, 2003 9:52 pm**

for Gandhi:
Andrew Prokhorov, the lead-designer of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: "We took the idea of having a game set around a quarantined zone with stalkers living in it from the novel ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…â€œRoadside PicnicÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬? by the Strugatsky Brothers" (original text: http://www.krawall.de/artikel.php?s=&artikel_id=9026# )

PS: Mr Schubert: I haven't seen "Inner Circle"

Duck and Cover

Movie ....

Movie ....