There’s, uh…
There’s gonna be a STALKER TV show.
…Like on TV and everything:
Now, I’ll be first to admit that I’m just loving The Walking Dead, and that I hold very high hopes and strong confidence for HBO’s upcoming George RR Martin TV-ification of A Game of Thrones. And hell, I’ll even admit that it’s occurred to me, once or twice, that STALKER has the potential to be a great show – a little bit Deadwood, a little bit Galactica, a little bit some other stuff.
But that? That up there? I don’t think so.
Find almost nothing more out about the upcoming show at the show’s website, and thanks to Ben Hoyt for the tip.
Email the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
My god. The horror. The…hor…ror.
That looks well and truly awful. Too bad, because you’re right, it actually could be a really cool premise. The BSG comparison is right on the mark.
Dammit, Steerpike, you got me all atwitter thinking they were making a Kolchak game with that graphic!
That right there? Looks like one of SciFi (pardon me, SyFy… puh-lease) network’s “original” movies which is never a good thing.
It’s the acting quality that’s the problem. Camerawork has that ‘Dur I point der camruh at der pepole’ feeling, lacking any sense of cinematographic experience or knowledge, but that can be forgiven.
It’s the way the actors stare wide-eyed at everything, a natural impulse felt by amateurs because they think if they look emotionally traumatised, it seems more real.
Well, games should never be turned into cinema/ TV, that is the rule of the thumb that, when ignored, usually leads to devastation. Doubly so when the production is supposed to be done in Ukraine. So, yeah, cut them some slack, but of course, this will likely be really rubbish.
Also, it’s brave, nay, insane, to make a TV series based on a game that itself is (partly) based on a film made by… shit… Tarkovsky of all people. I mean, he is JUST the best film director to ever have directed a film in the history of the world… Also, the book that he based the film on – written by Strugatsky brothers – that wasn’t half bad either (probably their finest novel…). So this show will be…. er… really funny.
But on the other hand I can’t but applaud the GSC gameworld for actually managing to turn their extraordinary game series in a franchise. All without having any of the managerial/ marketing muscle that efforts like this have in North America. There are a bunch of novels written by Russian Science Fiction authors that expand the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. lore and now this show – yeah, I’d probably hate all of it, but I’m amazed they have the will and the means to do this and actually base their economic existence on monetizing the original IP they have produced. Hats off.
Wow. That Tarkovsky’s film and this TV show share DNA is very hard to wrap my head around.
I’m still wrapping my head around the film and novel sharing DNA with the game. Not sure I’ve entirely digested the film and novel relation.
Toger, the Sci-Fi->SyFy network’s success still weirds me out. Going way back the efforts to get the channel off the ground were a running joke at science fiction conventions. Both the good ones (Readercon) and those (most of the rest) which ran more sci-fi, vendors selling pewter unicorns with crystal bellies. Every year there’d be glossy handouts. It was the Duke Nukem of the community.
It’s worth noting that the Silent Hill film was excellent – but not many directors are Christophe Gans.
I agree, Jakkar, I liked Silent Hill a lot. It’s sad it received so little praise from the world at large.
I’m telling you, STALKER could make a really great series. On HBO. Written by professionals. With professional actors. Shot by professionals.
Shot by GSC Game World in someone’s garage with the neighbor’s kids as stars, not so much.
One thing that does surprise me is how clumsy the direction is in the trailer. All the STALKER games had very good cinematic direction, reminded me of Gore Verbinski in a way. Pre-Pirates Gore Verbinski,
Been thinking about why everyone hated the trailer so much; my reaction was a bored shrug. Finally figured it out: I was watching it as a videogame trailer, not a movie trailer. It looks like ShootyGameTrailer351. Deus Ex 3 trailer people are splooging over: mech hand, check. Blade Runner cityscape billboard, check. blah blah check. blah blah blah check check check.
Not that I’m immune. My inner eight year old digs punching through a wall to choke a guy. That’s just COOL.
Check
You’ve a point, Pike.. I’m picturing the intro of the original STALKER now, the Death Truck rattling suicidally through the storm, the redheaded stalker jogging through the field of strewn corpses. Very stylish.
Gives me the same urges Valve’s ‘Meet The’ videos for TF2 do – I want a feature-length game cinematic movie. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was basically that, and it made me so happy.
Nice to see I’m not the only one who ‘got’ Silent Hill as a movie. Most people read the weird characters as poor acting and the illogical world as bad design – they don’t ‘get’ that the idea is; every single character is by nature of being connected with Silent Hill, insane – and the world is a reflection of their madness.
Have you had the good fortune to see another film by the same director; Brotherhood of the Wolf?
No I haven’t seen it, and I didn’t even know it was directed by the same guy. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Fink, what bothered me about the trailer wasn’t the way I watched it but the way its atoms were put together. Little things like how clean the people were, how new their uniforms looked… not to mention the inept camera and scandalous lighting. STALKER is a grimy, gritty, gray world. This looks like something out of Vanquish.
Having played about half-way through two of the games, I don’t think this looks all that bad.
The game has a bunch of cheesy elements to it (I know I’ve just blasphemed,) and a Sci-fi channel style show kind of captures that. For me anyway.
Where’s it being made?
I think if you didn’t play Silent Hill, the movie would be a tough stretch to take in all at once. I was expecting zip and was pleasantly surprised.
The STALKER trailer for me was disappointing cause setting was everything, both in the original movie and the games. This trailer looks like they’re shooting it on cheap sets in some industrial park with exteriors next door at the local landfill.
One of the strengths of Silent Hill the movie was how wonderfully they used the setting. They actually found an entire town in Canada that let them take it over for the duration. The town was half deserted due to economic woes, with many empty buildings. The director used it to maximum effect.
It was my brain out of sync. Once it switched from another ignorable videogame trailer to TV it now feels weird and bad. They’ll do the SyFy treatment but even cheaper instead of shooting long shots around open fields studded with ex-Soviet nuggets. And grime. ‘Course I’m vaguely annoyed every videogame character has perfect teeth and general good health. Fred the slave is being oppressed in the mines but the monthly crust of bread is calorie dense and chlorinated.
For me, it’s just those facial expressions, the volume of shouting, the constant drama. It lacks the lazy, laid-back coolness of all those inebriated russians who respect the zone, but fear nothing – because their male-dominated, deadly little micro-culture is ruled by the apparence of strength and confidence.
Everyone in the clips used in the trailer seems to be a screaming, whimpering goon.
Pike: The film I recommended is an English dub of a French film, but a very good one – in that light, you might also find it by its original title; Le Pacte des Loups.
You guys here about the Stalker clothing line? This is usually the point when you can start using phrases like “sell out,” right? ; )
http://kotaku.com/5695960/lets-dress-like-its-the-end-of-the-world-and-were-playing-stalker
Yes, I saw that on Kotaku and thought about posting it here, but I’m all Stalkered out, I think.
Of course, I would look dead fashionable in that Zone Wear. 🙂
Here…. hear… I feel foolish.