MovieChat Forums > Saturn 3 (1980) Discussion > The novel - ahh, now I get it !

The novel - ahh, now I get it !

posted 17 years ago by BlueSovereign
12 replies | jump to latest

Having recently acquired and read the novel of the movie, I found a number of small differences and more detailed explanations of the events that happen.

Firstly, the thing you see flying overhead at the start of the film is not a ship at all, but an orbital platform that orbits Saturn.

Captain James is late simply because his alarm clock didn't go off. He looses his hand after the force of the air rushing out of the airlock pulls him into space, but he doesn't get sliced by any wires like in the movie. The novel does describe a catwalk being suspended by cables though, and it was these cables that James was hanging on to as his hand was sliced off. Benson swapped his and the Captain's uniform round so that if the body is found, they would assume Benson had committed suicide after failing his exam. The exam was to test how well Benson could control the brain-interface, and since he was marked as "potentially unstable" was unfit to carry out the assignment of building Hector. James got what should have been Benson's promotion to Captain Handler - the novel goes into detail that Benson wanted to kill James so that he could prove to himself that he was good enough to build the Demigod after all.

There is no debris of Adam during the explosion at the end of the film simply because he was disintegrated by the blast.

The novel doesn't end the same way as the film in that on Alex's return to Earth, she decides to go back to Saturn 3 on completion of Handler exam and brain-link implantation to build another Demigod. Adam's mind survives in some way after being downloaded into Hector and is placed in the station computer just before Hector is blown to bits - the novel implies that Alex wants to return to Saturn 3 to download Adam's mind into a new Demigod so that she can be with him again - I think I'll stick to the movie's version of the ending.

Some of the dialogue was changed for the film and a lot of detail missed out, which leaves a lot of questions if you have only seen the film.

That's all I can remember from the top of my head and there is more, if you want to understand the film in more detail then you might be able to find a copy of it on ebay, which is where I got my copy from - although it was the only one I came across under the search of "Saturn 3 Movie Book."

[–] Polaris01313-1 17 years ago

Would be interesting if someone wrote a fanfic sequel, describing what Alex did after returning to Saturn 3. Especially since Adam's personality matrix, or soul, was downloaded into the colony's central computer core/mainframe.

It could be called Saturn 3-The Helper.

An interesting idea, is it not?

[–] BlueSovereign 17 years ago

I would be interested in reading such a fanfic. It would also be a good idea to start the film off on Earth so that we get to see what Adam and Benson were talking about with Alex. Then have her delivered to the orbital platform and delivered to Saturn 3 like in the film, but without anyone getting minced in the airlock this time :).

If that rumour about James Cameron re-making Saturn 3 is true and he does it well, we may get a follow-up then.

[–] jammerjax 16 years ago

James Cameron good flimmaker but he does not have to do a remake of this flim let someone else do it.Just because James did Terminator 1 and 2 so it does not mean he has to do all sci-fi remake.And he has not done a flim in years.

[–] BlueSovereign 16 years ago

Well rumours are just that ( to be clear, I'm referring to Saturn 3 remake here ) until we get some evidence and to be honest I'm having a lot of doubts now about Cameron remaking this film. I've always doubted this rumour to some extent but it's fuelled my enthusiasm to see this film remade. In reality it's highly possible that if this film is remade, then someone else will get around to doing it eventually. Not only that, but Cameron has stated that he is now in to creating computer games and is feeling somewhat "bored of film" these days - check http://news.bbc.co.uk for the news article, you will have to search of course since I read that a while ago. There is a recent article in there that discusses his progress with a current game that he is making.

[–] Thrashman88 16 years ago

Does the novel says anything about Hector's main task on Saturn 3. That was never fully explained in the movie and most of us guess that he was built just to "help out", which sounds like a pretty lame excuse for building a robot with Hector's capabilities.

Stay Punk!

[–] BlueSovereign 16 years ago

It's been some time now, but if I remember correctly, Hector's stated task was to replace either Adam or Alex. Since he was capable of learning any task, given enough time, he could probably do all tasks just as well as, and in many cases - even better and more accurately than a human could. I think another reason was to save on resources for having to keep two people working on Saturn 3 but I'm not so sure on that one. Maybe they were planning on putting a second Demigod on Saturn 3 eventually and make the operation completely automated - Hector was the first in the series after all.

I would recommend reading the book though, although my imagination was understandably saturated with what happened in the film, I tend to feel that the novel allows you to get a full picture of everything going on. Like I said in my first post, it does answer a lot of questions. It complements the film nicely, but you may have to be persistent with finding a copy on ebay.

[–] surly_human_sidekick 16 years ago

I have not read the novel, but the change to the ending of the film sounds so much better! Alex staying on Saturn 3 with a recreated demigod that has Adam's personality is so much more satisfying and complex.

During the film we learn three things about earth:

1. They are running out of food - while Adam and Alex are behind on their project on Saturn 3 to provide more food.
2. They eat dogs - while Alex keeps them as pets.
3. They "use each others' bodies" - while Alex prefers monogamy.

So why does Alex have any desire at all to go to earth at the end of the movie?

Not to mention that she got a really bad perm for the journey...

[–] BlueSovereign 16 years ago

I agree, the novel ending is much better !

Anyway, I think Alex just wanted to go and see Earth just so that she could see what it's like for herself - she just wanted to "have been."
I think, after spending a short time on Earth should would probably feel repelled and head back out in to space somewhere again. I agree that her perm looked awful - but then so do a lot of things in this movie lol.

[–] zaphod1957 11 years ago

I just read the novelization too.

My interpretation of the ending was a little diffrent. I seems to me that Hector had been loading Adam's mind into himself (to make himself more attractive to Alex). Part of Adam's mind got loaded into the base computer when hector was destroyed. It, in fact, helps contact the main saturn base, so that Alex gets rescued.

Alex goes back to the main saturn platform, gets trained as a demigod handler, then returns to Saturn 3 to program the new demigod robot. In doing so she programs her own personality into the robot with the idea that Adam and Alex will again be together on Saturn 3: Her mind in the demigod and Adam's in the computer system.

She then leaves for Earth happy in knowing that what is left of Adam will not be alone on Saturn 3.

Actually not really a bad ending, but probably confusing to explain in a movie format.

[–] clydeerwin 11 years ago

Is a date mentioned in the novel? I never caught the year it was supposed to be in in the movie.

I know it doesn't seem important but I need to know for personal research.

[–] groove76 9 years ago

OP, are you talking about the novelization of the movie by Steve Gallagher or the original story by John Barry? I'm curious about the original story but can't find it anywhere.

---
Behold, bastard son
I am the evil one

[–] BlueSovereign 9 years ago

I remember starting this thread years ago, still have the book somewhere. A look on this site http://saturn3makingof.com/ helped me to remember that it is the Steve Gallagher novel.

A look on that page will also give you a link to a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOHSR7VTmR8&feature=related playing an unused opening music cue that was not used.