The Abduction of the Sorcerer—The First Screenplay The story spans three summer days and spans three epochs. Two aliens from the 28th century set up a base in the 20th century before heading into the 13th century to save a unique scientist. Witness and participant of their work is accidentally found in the center of events girl Anna.
The elegant plot invented by the legendary science fiction writer Kir Bulychev was embodied twice (at the moment); on Leningrad television in 1980 and in 1989 at the Sverdlovsk film studio. Of course, the film is much more spectacular than a modest TV show, but the version of Leningrad has its merits. The most striking plus is the strict beauty Natalia Danilova in the title role of the adventurous Anna. The actress at the peak of her beauty, what shining eyes, what shoulders, neck! She is good as a modern Amazon, not giving a descent brazenly invading her summer bungalow travelers from the distant future, and in the outfit of the medieval Princess Magda; imperious, self-confident, not princess – Queen! In addition, the image of Anna came out in a good feminist, even a little harsh (unlike Anna Julia Aug in the 1989 version, which aliens from the future look down on, and who is always servilely ready to make breakfast, brew a coffee), and shows how the role of a woman changes from the almost disenfranchised Magda, a pawn in the political games of princes and knights, to an educated, fearless, self-thinking Anna. You've come a long way, baby! Gentlemen from the future performed by Yuri Demich and Vitaly Yushkov restrained and brought up, to the obstinacy of Anna showed maximum tact. Another advantage of this film adaptation is more detailed explanations about the concept of the time spiral, about geniuses and their plight (in the film 1989, much of this was removed). It is impossible not to mention the Leningrad Akiplesh - Vladimir Osobik, he played well and catchy, but very terrible, repulsive outwardly turned Akiplesha and somewhat static, quite differently this image was decided by Vladimir Gostyukhin, his Akiplesha is not so creepy and much more mobile.
In many ways, the television performance is inferior to the film, especially in scenes from the Middle Ages; strange, too theatrical scenery, costumes are also far from historical realities. The images of the boyar Roman and Prince Vyacheslav were boring, and the nobles of God are ridiculous. It is a pity that Anna's transition into the past was not visualized. The sensations of the besieged city, which is in mortal danger, are also not particularly conveyed; the extras are too small, special effects are the poorest, there are no scenes of battles (the film 1989 corrected this mistake, there is action, slaughter, violence abound). I do not know what is to blame, whether the low funding, or lack of drive in the direction of Gleb Selyanin.
Bottom line: Of course, "The Wizard's Kidnapping" of 1980 is a TV show with all the pros and cons of this form, in many ways it is inferior to the film of 1989, but it has its own obvious advantages. If you are inspired by the story of Kir Bulychev, I recommend you to watch both versions, they complement each other and reveal characters and events in slightly different ways.