Translated material
We save the world in Russian
On Friday, at the same time in all the time zones of Russia, the second season of the series “Chernobyl. Alienation zone ”on the TV-3 channel. Recall: the first season of Chernobyl went to TNT in 2014 and has since divided the title of the most popular series in the history of the channel with the “physical school” (the share is 27.1% with a 15% channel, the audience is all of Russia from 14 to 44).
“Chernobyl” is a story, for Russian television, the innovative in many ways: a vertical show according to the American model-every Friday on the evening prime in a row, and laying out licensed series immediately after the broadcast on the Internet is an attempt to get ahead of the pirates and collect as much money as possible on online locations. Another innovation is the discussion of the series in hot pursuit of a narrow circle of its actors and creators in the company of a potential presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak-live the TV-3 broadcast on the VKontakte social network .
But the most interesting thing is that against the backdrop of a diligent evasion of TV from a serious conversation about the centenary of the October Revolution “Chernobyl-2” became an almost main media “gift” for this date. The USSR, like the revolution, recall the heat in the series (unlike the series “Trotsky” on the first and “Demon of the Revolution” on “Russia-2” ). Lenin in a cap waves to us from video screens in an alternative future, where the USSR did not break up, but the United States is on the verge of disappearance.
Against the backdrop of a diligent evasion of TV from a serious conversation about the centenary of the October Revolution, Chernobyl-2 became almost the main media “gift” for this date.
The premiere of the first season of Chernobyl was transferred to TNT producers three times, the start was expected back in 2010. And at that time, the channel pushed away from its reinforced concrete positioning - “reality and comedy” - and moved towards the experiments. The change of course was not articulated in promo, but programming spoke for itself. TNT tried himself in informal genres - like the thriller’s subjective camera “my eyes”, the frank drama of “treason” or night shows of such Russian cinema, which was definitely not for “neighing”.
These experiments allowed the producers to significantly overtake competitors in the understanding of what a new generation series is. But in the end, TNT returned to the old positioning this year, and all the informal moved to TV-3-once the “first mystical” and now the channel that shows the things amazing and strange.
The first swallow was the series “Gogol. Start ” - for now, however, it tours only in cinemas. And now-the “Chernobyl”, which the scriptwriters Ilya Kulikov (the author of the legendary “capercaillie” and “law of stone jungle”) and Evgeny Nikishov (general producer TV-3) began to write more than 10 years ago, tired of working on the conveyor of standard criminal series.
© TV-3There were fears that housewives who were accustomed to look at TV-3 understandable and simple “blind” would not be able to digest a complex mix of time, nuclear post-apocalypse, row-muy and growing history. But the audience has passed the exam. The repetition of the first season of Chernobyl-now on TV-3-gave fantastic numbers for the channel: 9.2% against the background of the average fraction of the channel of 4% (audience: all of Russia from 14 to 44).
Why did the audience who are not inclined to longing for the USSR love this series? The company of friends - Pasha, Lesha, Gosha, Nastya and Anya - went in pursuit of a crazy video blogger, who stole 8 million rubles from the apartment of the protagonist. Traces led adolescents to Pripyat, where they moved with the help of a time machine in 1986. There, on the spot, friends decided to prevent an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The motive was personal - Ani's family lived in Pripyat. In a fight with the KGB major, the protagonist - Pasha - lost all friends. The accident was prevented, but the future - according to the "butterfly effect" - has changed.
The final of the first season was dedicated to the salvation of the world from the disaster. Before that, the genre of the series was more inclined to the quest with elements of a fairy tale. In each series, the heroes were tested, approaching the main goal - and the goal, as it turned out, was not to catch a crazy thief, but to understand who all this time lured them to the Chernobyl zone all this time. They fell into the world of terrible distances, saved in the Wooden House of Baba Yaga with an ominously spinning borsch on the table, went to a wedding to the girl to give her a gift from a dead groom from Ogarkov-which, as it turns out, did not village, but the cemetery (“So that’s why it stinked from him!”), And at every step a black-black jeep followed them. - As in horror stories from childhood.
Lenin in a cap waves to us from video screens in an alternative future, where the USSR did not break up, but the United States is on the verge of disappearance.
Of course, there were Ommage to their favorite cinema. For example, harsh men who come to the Chernobyl zone visit people - hello to the "hostel". Or the secret bunker of scientists underground-referred to the series "Bunker", which for TNT was shot by its former producer Alexander Dulerain in 2006. It seems that the chief antagonist of Chernobyl performed by Evgeny Podchkin also hit the series with transit from the Bunker.
The 1986 world in the first season was recreated quite convincingly - and without strong curts in the direction of the USSR. But some sixth feeling, the producers seemed to have already felt a change in the political trend. And the bridge by the second season in the spirit of “Russia - the birthplace of elephants” was thrown by them long before the war in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and a powerful course on “we can repeat”.
At the end of the first season, the surviving hero Pasha returns to the present and is surprised to discover that the USSR did not break up, but on the contrary, he became the world superpower. The only pole of power. There should be at least something stable in the world, therefore, in power in the USSR-Tadam! - General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Vladimir Putin. According to the rules of the genre, if something does not happen somewhere, it should happen in another place. Therefore, the accident at the nuclear power plant in alternative reality nevertheless occurred-but not in the USSR, but in the USA.
© TV-3From this moment, the second, current season of the series will start in the genre of retro -futurism, with actors who have matured for seven years. Now in the USA, not in Russia, everything is bad. After the accident at the Kalvert-Cliff NPP, Maryland, there is a civil war in America. In the USSR, the former superpower is called "Disassembled States of America." Around the scene of the explosion, a new alienation zone was formed, controlled by desperate bandits. Its capital is the Lasby Prosecrax city, American Pripyat. The last legally elected president Donald Trump is hidden in Hawaii and asks the USSR for help. And we do not mind helping. We have an excellent army in Anchorida.
In the new history, we in the USSR invented the Internet called “Runet”, and made iPhones under the brand “Electronics 8” and “Electronics 8+”. In the new world, in principle, everything is fine. True, you can’t freely go abroad - but, on the other hand, what to do there if prosperity is now only with us? Well, more - gays give five years in prison. But what do you not sacrifice for the sake of the common good?
In an alternative Soviet future, the life of heroes has radically changed - there is no social bottom here. Harling Adchicik Gosha became the son of a great official. The hooligan Lesha with his uncle, the Komsomolets with glasses, relaxed and opening all the doors with his foot, is studying at the institute. They are not up to stupidity and not even up to sex: sex is still a little taboo in the Puritan USSR.
We in the USSR invented the Internet called Runet, and made iPhones under the brand “Electronics 8” and “Electronics 8+”.
The father of Ani, an engineer of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, who is dedicated to the secret of the heroes, is completely satisfied with the new world. It seems that Pasha alone is worried that the Americans suffered as a result of changes in the past. And he wants to fix everything immediately. With the help of an unknown hero in a white mask (Hello Joker?), The heroes drive a plane and fly to a new exclusion zone. They have a device that moves in time with them.
On the eve of the premiere, producers sent the third series to reporters for watching, since "it better reflects the spirit of the series." This is actually like this: from the third series, the shooting style changes markedly, a color correction characteristic of American films, the action of which takes place in the desert. The viewer immediately falls into the space familiar from American films in the translation of pirate studios. Somewhere the “sons of anarchy” are recognized, somewhere “drugs”, if you wish, you can even see a hint of “all grains” and “stay alive” (the theme with the disappearance of the aircraft and the disappearance of passengers).
In general, the level of shooting and post -derivatives in the third series would quite satisfy Netflix producers. The fact is that the director changed to this series of Chernobyl-2. Instead of the Swede, Anders, who shot the first season, the directorial chair was occupied by Pavel Kostomarov , well known to the audience and series, and feature cinema, and documentary. (Producers, however, assure that there were no complaints about the quality of the bank, just the work visas in the United States made a film crew for a long time, but he could not wait, he began a new project.)
© TV-3I would like to hope that both with history and the heroes in Chernobyl-2, too, will work out. There may be problems. If in the first season “Chernobyl” the journey was necessary for internal changes in the heroes and the development of their relations, then in the second the rules of the game are already in advance. And everything is clear about the heroes in advance - the crazy character of Daniil Spivakovsky correctly says: we are in front of us "" Leader, Queen, rebel, fighter and coward. "
But from the new Soviet Lesha, Goshi, Nastya and Anya, you still need to get those guys from Russia who survived the 90s-free, risky, nervous, ironic, in a good way to the evil. So far, these alternatively applied Komsomol members for Pasha are more likely the phantoms of previous friends (in this place we understand that that Russia is still better than a successful reanimated USSR: people are at least living, not plastic).
In general, it is interesting how events and characters will develop. I would not want the only idea of the season to remain the slogan from the promo: “The first Russian series shot in Hollywood. We save the world in Russian. " In Russian, we already save the world-on all other channels, without interruptions for sleep and lunch. In this, not alternative reality.