Screamers (1995 Film) - Differences Between Screamers and "Second Variety"

Differences Between Screamers and "Second Variety"

Although based on the short story "Second Variety", by Philip K. Dick, the basic ecophagy premise remains, there are several important differences between film and source story that make the film less pessimistic.

• Screamers' protagonist, Colonel Hendricksson, has a sidekick, Private Jefferson. His presence lightens the mood of the film's first half. In "Second Variety", the protagonist, Major Hendricks, travels alone.
• The war in Screamers is fought between the Alliance and the New Economic Bloc over a natural resource. In "Second Variety", the Cold War degenerates to open war, between the United Nations and the Soviet Union.
• Screamers occurs on the planet Sirius 6B, one of many colonies, and the only planet where the screamers were launched. The screamers do not threaten humanity, only the troops stationed on Sirius 6B. "Second Variety" occurs on Earth in what "used to be France"; There are increasingly rare radiated human survivors hiding on Earth, but the bulk of humanity survives in a military moon base. The human race is at risk of extermination.
• In Second Variety the plot revolves around the discovery of the second variety of claw robot, the Type II. Tasso (Jessica) manages to convince Hendricksson that it is Hovno, but it is in fact revealed to be Jessica at the story's conclusion.
• In Screamers, the "Jessica" screamer betrays her own kind and helps Col. Hendricksson escape. In "Second Variety", the "Tasso" screamer evidences no such love for Hendricksson. She wins Hendricksson's confidence in order to learn the concealed location of the rocket cruiser, the only available access to the human survivors on the moon base. Hendricksson's cooperation is essential, because the cruiser was designed for use solely by him, the "eye-lock only responds to ", the location of the base is not know to the claws, the base cannot be accessed without giving a correct flare sequence and Tasso does not know how to pilot the cruiser. The cruiser holds only one person. Hendricksson is wounded and ultimately, unaware that Tasso is a claw, Hendricksson is persuaded to give her his seat and the access codes to the moon base in the hopes that she will return with help. Once the ship departs Hendricksson is attacked by claws, amongst which are other Tasso models and before his presumed death, he realises that he has doomed humanity by providing the claws with both the location of and the access codes to the moon base.
• In "Second Variety", Hendricks doomed the last humans by unwittingly sending Tasso (the Jessica parallel in the story) to the moon base. In Screamers, a Teddy Bear screamer (used in "Second Variety" as an attack device by the "David" type) is a stowaway that Hendricksson unwittingly brings onto the escape rocket ship, but he is unaware of it; the human race's fate remains undecided.
• In "Second Variety", the Wounded Soldier is Type 1, David is Type 3, Tasso ("Jessica") is Type 2, and Hovno ("Becker") is Type 4.