Talk:Stalker (1979 film)

message: It is said, that Bjork sings a poem from Stalker in her last album. I think, you should mention, that the author of poem is Fyodor Tyutchev  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.44.18.71 (talk) 19:17, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Homage fix

message: The article says:
:The English title is a misleading translation of a Russian word lacking the sinister connotations of the English word "stalker".
I changed 'translation' to 'transliteration' as nothing is being translated. Is it a Russian word as well as being the name of the character? - Moogsi 19:45, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There was no such word in Russian before Strugatskys wrote the novel "Roadside Picnick". In the novel the 'stalkers' were men who smuggled alien artifacts from the Zone, taking serious risks to their lives and health. It is not clear why Strugatskys borrowed exactly that English word, 'stalker', to designate members of the invented illegal trade. Dart evader 11:11, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah right, I assumed it was already a Russian word before, and it was coincidental (if you are as unfamiliar with Russian as I am, you might think that from reading the article). 'Stalk' can mean just 'to track stealthily', as a method of hunting, which isn't necessarily sinister, although the other meanings have some degree of menace, like the article says. Moogsi 01:00, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: So it isn't actually a Russian word ?  Then our article needs to be amended.  (An IMDb discussions indicates that the Stugastskies got it from Kipling's Stalky + Co.) -- Beardo 16:41, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's an English word all right. I've changed the article accordingly.--Rallette 19:21, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

text: Looking beyond the bare-bone meaning of a "guide" or "pathfinder" that the film's Stalker acts as for the other characters, here's a humble OR attempt to find the word's true meaning in how it's used by the Strugatskys in the original novel or by Tarkovsky within the context of his mystical, spiritual film: The deeper meaning of the word could be something of a "traveler between two worlds", or even a "mystic" or "shaman" who "guides" people on spiritual journeys, after all the whole zone appears to be a highly spiritual place in how Tarkovsky portrays it. Remember that Tarkovsky was a very religious man who was drawn towards the old Russian Orthodox faith and its mystical spirituality, which is also where he derived his mystical concept of "frozen time" from which he so ingeniously brought to the screen especially in Solaris, Mirror, and Stalker. --37.81.145.218 (talk) 07:48, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

text: ″The meaning of the word "stalk" was derived from its use by the Strugatsky brothers in their novel Roadside Picnic, which alluded to Rudyard Kipling's character "Stalky" in his Stalky & Co. stories. In Roadside Picnic, "Stalker" was a common nickname for men engaged in the illegal enterprise of prospecting for and smuggling alien artifacts out of the "Zone". The common English definition of the term "stalking" was also cited by Andrei Tarkovsky.[6]″
I won't edit this myself as I may simply be reading it incorrectly but I feel as though this paragraph is claiming that the word stalk has one of or a mix of these sources to thank for its definition, that the word had no meaning/definition before these. This notion is then foiled by the final sentence which has Tarkovsky stating "Stalker is from the word stalk - to creep". As a result it's a rather befuddling paragraph. If it was the intent to say "In the novel 'stalking' is the name given to the illegal enterprise of prospecting for and smuggling alien artifacts out of the "Zone"" then it can be done just so which then contrasts with the prior paragraph's definition of what the film's definition of what a 'Stalker' is. Grundfuttockk (talk) 15:26, 19 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: What does Сталкер mean?

message: Most film articles have a length section about what happens in the movie. Stalker could do with one of these too. Unconscious 12:55, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Needs a Story section

message: What is the copyright status of this movie? I understand that it is different when dealing with things from the Soviet Union.
:The distribution rights, including copying/screening of dvd's, soundtrack and so on, are owned by Ruscico, the Russian Cinema Council. It isn't public domain in any sense.Strausszek (talk) 08:26, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Speaking of which, what is the current copyright status of the novel "Roadside Picnic"? A link in the article (Production-Writing, §3) currently links to an online pdf-file version of it. Boris Strugatsky seems to be currently alive (according to respective wiki article), which would imply that the novel isn't in public domain. 83.161.241.251 (talk) 15:29, 27 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Copyright

message: Anyone wanna add anything about the STALKER game that just came out? It is loosely based on this movie.
: only that the game has only minor connections to the book "Roadside Picnic" and the movie. The game director revealed that only the names are similar (stalker and the zone) and the plot and elements in the game are totally unique. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.77.165.36 (talk) 20:59, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I would say the elements are not unique, the anomalys are the same, and the mutations, the cause and other things are different.  OktoberSunset (talk) 17:45, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

text: Oh come on, have you even played the game? Of course the game is based on the film, and the connections are more than 'minor'. 81.129.120.69 (talk) 23:15, 19 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: However apparent that may seem, we'd need a source to add a mention to the game. PizzaMan ♨♨♨ 10:57, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Game

message: Would it be worth creating a sub-section dealing with the concept of "The Zone"? 87.112.89.74 19:10, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Zone 

message: Lost features the exact same concept of the room that contains what you wish for, is a hommage to Stalker? -unknown
: I too see many similarities when watching lost. -NeF (talk) 03:07, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I understand, from my limited reading about this, that the inspiration for the room in Lost came from Flann O'Brien's novel The Third Policeman. Was O'Brien's work ever published in the Soviet Union?
89.204.228.127 (talk) 14:06, 7 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lost 

message: An anon added a bit about Cherry 2000. Is there a source that says that this film is a response to Stalker? I agree the plot seems somewhat similar, but it could be a coincidence. Staecker (talk) 18:23, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cherry 2000? 

message: I wonder what the rationale for deleting the images of Tarkovsky was? 4 of them, it seems, File:stalker2.jpg to File:stalker5.jpg., all photos of Tarkovsky and the other actors during the production. Anarchangel (talk) 07:44, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: If I recall correctly, they were poorly sourced with no reason to believe that they were free. Staecker (talk) 11:42, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Image deletion rationale? 

message: I remember there was quite a controversy in the GDR whether or not to show the film. This was based on picturing this dangerous and barren land in color while showing the soviet everyday life in monochrome, and also about the perceived exaggeration of how desperate rural soviet life really was. As a result it was shown only in repertory cinema. Anyone who has sources on that? --Pgallert (talk) 11:27, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reception in East Germany 

message: There is a line that I find troubling in the plot summary;"film switches to color—symbolic of the freedom the Stalker experiences in the Zone—what compels him to return despite the pleas of his wife"
First of all there is nothing cited to say that this is any kind of offical reading of the film, infact it also is contary to what Tarkovsky him self says "I am an enemy of symbols. Symbol is too narrow a concept for me in the sense that symbols exist in order to be deciphered". I'm going to change it, if anyone disagrees please let me know.FSAB (talk) 13:18, 3 September 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uncited and suspect line about "Symbolism" 

message: The all-terrain car they drive to the Zone looked to me as some Land Rover.
Was it a Soviet vehicle?
--Error (talk) 23:19, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I had originally thought that the Stalker's vehicle was probably a UAZ-469, but it looks like you are correct. If this page is to be believed, the Stalker was driving a Land Rover 88" Series II (probably a 1958). Just how a '50s era Land Rover found it's way to a film shoot in the Estonian SSR in the late '70s is an exercise I leave to the reader...Chukhung (talk) 00:06, 16 April 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: As a side note, according to this article's German talkpage, the writer arrives in a French 1958 Renault Floride aka Renault Caravelle. --2003:71:4E33:E588:71AF:E80F:8714:23DD (talk) 22:59, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Car 

message: I read something about the action being located in Canada (maybe in the novel?). 
Hence the use of English stalker and Professor Wallace.
Are there visible marks of Sovietness?
As I said before, the car looked to me as a Land Rover, and I didn't recognize the police uniforms.
I couldn't find any Cyrillic and the license plates were too far to see.
--Error (talk) 23:48, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for your comment. It is almost two years since I watched the movie and I don't remember much. So if somebody wants to add information to the article and has something to back it, I will not object. --Error (talk) 18:39, 25 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Canada 

message: In the Plot Summary, the vehicle the Stalker and his clients use to travel into the Zone is called a "railway work car".  Later in the article, it's called a "draisine".
Why the inconsistency? Chukhung (talk) 18:24, 8 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Railway Work Car vs. Draisine 

message: It may be relevant that the film's rights holder Mosfilm has released a recent HD telecine of the film on YouTube: . For a few years, it was also available as both a stream and download for free on Mosfilm's official website, and I distantly remember when Mosfilm originally uploaded the film to their website, they officially released it into the public domain with an explicit statement to that effect. --2003:71:4E33:E588:71AF:E80F:8714:23DD (talk) 23:35, 16 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rights holder has released the film for free on YouTube 

message: According to IMDB, the film was made both on Eastmancolor and Sovcolor. Now, we know that the original version was pretty much destroyed in the Soviet lab because it was Eastmancolor so one could assume that IMDB is referring to the destroyed and the finished version respectively, but IMDB usually lists the stocks for released versions. Could it be that they're referring to the camera negatives as shot on Eastman (provided the Soviet labs did get it right on the second try) and the release prints made on Sovcolor? It could explain the utterly abysmal quality the film had on VHS versions (as VHS tapes were usually taken from release prints, this VHS version had severe color and brightness flicker in the CMYK colorspace of chemical film; it's the version still found on the German ICESTORM DVD), and the fair quality in the recent HD telecine (which are usually taken from camera negatives). In any case, the article would certainly benefit from an authoritatively sourced statement on the matter. --2003:71:4E33:E570:1CFB:45E4:FB81:73D4 (talk) 18:23, 17 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Eastmancolor and Sovcolor 

message: Stalker's daughter in the film is called Martiška, not Monkey. Why and according to whom, or source, was used "Monkey"?--89.172.157.61 (talk) 21:25, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Probably just a childish vandal. Fix, forget. Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 23:05, 27 December 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: The English subtitles on the Criterion Collection definitely call her "Monkey." I assumed it was a nickname. -Steve Mollmann (talk) 01:26, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: The German DEFA dub also literally calls her "little monkey". --2003:71:4F76:836:E846:992C:14E6:9380 (talk) 16:41, 20 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Monkey -> Martiška 

message: I removed this: 
In the book, stalker alluded to Rudyard Kipling's character "Stalky" in his Stalky & Co. stories.  
I found no reference to stalky or kipling in the (English translation of the) book by a Ctrl-F search.  you seem to know more about this, so i pinged you. PizzaMan ♨♨♨ 10:52, 11 November 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Thasnks for the ping - but I really don't know any more - I have no idea where this link originated (and had forgotten my earlier comment). -- Beardo (talk) 03:52, 25 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Stalky 

message: Paragraph three mentions the film has now acquired "near cult" status. Surely, the adjective 'near' is redundant as the film obviously does have cult status, as for example evidenced in the 240 page book Zona by Geoff Dyer. What do people think?
Also, I think the description of the stalker's daughter as 'deformed' in the final paragraph of the plot section is entirely inappropriate - can I change it to something less offensive? ("the couple's deformed daughter, sits alone in the kitchen reading as a love poem by Fyodor Tyutchev is recited.")  
--Invulgo (talk) 06:13, 12 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:   "...thus becoming a near cult film..." 

message: I think this article definitely needs a themes section as a lot has been written about different themes and interpretations of the film. Nothing about interpretations or themes is mentioned in the reception section. I am not sure where to start with the themes section though.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pineapple4321 (talk • contribs) 21:56, 1 January 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree. A good source for this section would be The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue by Vida T. Johnson and Graham Petrie, if anyone can get their hands on a copy. I also may have time to work on this section myself. Rublov (talk) 05:08, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  I fleshed out the section a little bit using the article's existing sourcing, but it could still use some additions from Johnson and Petrie's book and perhaps other academic sources that go more in-depth into the film than reviews. Rublov (talk) 19:51, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Themes section 

message: While the "Sound design" section has a lot of good information, I feel that it is too detailed and overly reliant on a single source. Any objections if I trim it a bit? (for posterity: a permalink to the section as it is now) Rublov (talk) 05:18, 6 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sound design 

message: Please re-instate the reference to Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co. as the origin of the meaning of the word in both the book and film. It was removed back in 2018 (see a few sections above this one here on the talkpage) when people complained that there was no source attached to it. External print sources:
*Michael Andre-Driussi dedicates an entire chapter called Stalky v. Stalker, or, Stalky & Co. against Roadside Picnic, in his book Roadside Picnic Revisited: Seven Articles on the Soviet Novel that inspired the film "Stalker", Sirius Fiction, 2017, ISBN 1947614002, pp. 31-36 to this issue. It's available to read as a preview on Google Books. This chapter was originally published as an essay in The New York Review of Science Fiction, no. 20, November, 2015. It includes various references to own publications by the Strugatsky brothers to the fact that they were referencing Stalky & Co. on the meaning of the word stalker.
*Sarah LaFanu mentions the fact, along with a print source, in her book Something of Themselves: Kipling, Kingsley, Conan Doyle and the Anglo-Boer War, Oxford University Press, 2020, ISBN 0197536018, pp. 21-22. See it here on Google Books --2003:EF:1709:2965:F44D:BA12:ECF1:D36F (talk) 16:15, 6 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sources for Kipling connection