Stirlitz opened his computer, connected to the internet, and logged onto TV Tropes. "It's a website," concluded Stirlitz.
''Seventeen Moments of Spring''
(Russian: Семнадцать мгновений весны, Semnadtsat' mgnovenij vesny), also Seventeen Instants of Spring, is a 1973 Soviet TV miniseries directed by Tatyana Lioznova and based on the book of the same name by the novelist Yulian Semyonov. The series consists of 12 episodes of 70 minutes each.
The series depicts the life of a Soviet spy Maxim Isaev, who is operating in Nazi Germany under the name Max Otto von Stirlitz (sometimes transcribed as "Stierlitz"), played by the Soviet actor Vyacheslav Tikhonov. Other leading roles were played by Leonid Bronevoy, Oleg Tabakov, Yuri Vizbor, Yevgeniy Yevstigneyev, Rostislav Plyatt, Vasily Lanovoy and Mikhail Zharkovsky. The series is set in 1945, with the war lurching to a conclusion. Isaev/Stirlitz has been a Nazi Party member since 1933 and has risen to a high rank as an SS intelligence officer, while all the time spying for Moscow. He receives a coded message saying that Soviet intelligence has heard rumors that someone in Germany has approached the Western Allies with hopes of making a separate peace. Moscow directs Stirlitz to find out who is doing it. Meanwhile, SS intelligence chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner has grown suspicious of Stirlitz, and orders Gestapo boss Heinrich Muller to investigate him.
This series had openly disobeyed the Soviet cinema rule of depicting the Nazis as absolute monsters. Walther Schellenberg, Müller and Bormann were performed by the popular and charismatic actors Oleg Tabakov, Leonid Bronevoy and Yuri Visbor (who managed to lend a touch of charm to their roles while leaving the audience with no illusions as to the morality of their characters), and Nazi bosses in general were shown as being very much alike the Soviet bosses of the time. And the protagonist, Stirlitz, looked like a Soviet intellectual who had to hide his true self under the mask of obedience, loyalty and "proper ideological orientation". Stirlitz's awesome ability to outwit his bosses and keep "the human face" at the same time (despite the fact that one could hardly make a career in SS from 1939 till 1945 without staining his hands) was praised by the Soviet audience, who felt as though they were being spied on in their own country.
Due to this, the series became a Fountain of Memes and the source of many anecdotes and jokes—see Russian Humor for examples of these, as well as the page quote. The series has been hit with Parody Displacement in Russia today, as far more people are familiar with the jokes than the original TV show. It is sometimes described in the West as "Russian James Bond", which is true only in the sense that Stirlitz is seen as the quintessential super-spy in Russia in much the same way Bond is in the West - otherwise, the austere Stirlitz has very little in common with the rather more flamboyant Bond* .
There is are other films and series based on Stirlitz novels, such as a prequel series set in the Red October era.
Stirlitz had a trope. He liked it, so he had another one:
- Above the Influence: Stirlitz's professionalism is shown when he has to visit a night bar, and turns down an offer of sex, so not to jeopardize his contact with the Center.
- All Germans Are Nazis: Averted, one of Stirlitz's key allies is a German pastor. Another character is a German KZ prisoner has a long rant about the Nazis have seduced and doomed Germany.
- Agent Provocateur:
- Klaus, a German agent who pretends to be a concentration camp escapee in order to ferret out people who are disloyal to the regime.
- Holthoff accuses Stirlitz of sabotaging the German nuclear effort by throwing suspicion on Runge the physicist, then suggests to Stirlitz that the three of them-Holthoff, Stirlitz, and Runge—escape to Switzerland together. It's a charade, a trap set up by Mueller. Stirlitz doesn't fall for it, whacking Holthoff over the head with a wine bottle and taking him to Gestapo HQ in handcuffs.
- Affably Evil: Walter Schellenberg, Himmler's right-hand man, and the most affable, friendly high-ranking SS official you'll ever meet. He doesn't even wear a uniform.
- So much so that the actor who portrayed Schellenberg got letters from his character's surviving relations thanking him for the dignified and affable portrayal. According to Schellenberg's niece Tabakov also looked quite a bit like the real "uncle Walter"
- And the Adventure Continues: The series, while showing film clips of the Russian victory in Berlin, the Red Square victory parade, and the Nuremberg trials, makes a point of not revealing what happens to Stirlitz. The last scene has Stirlitz stopping his car on the way back to Berlin, stepping outside, and taking a moment to contemplate. The narration informs the viewer that with six weeks left in the war, Stirlitz is going back to Berlin, and back to work. Конец.
- Babies Ever After: Helmut, who saved Kat's child escapes together with Kat after his heroic act. They've taken his own baby from orphanage ('cause his own mom is dead because of the bombing) and, pretending to be the married couple, try to find the rescue. Than, oops, he gets himself killed, and Kat has to somehow manage in the hostile Berlin with two babies on her hands. Everything ends well.
- Bang, Bang, BANG: Taken to ludicrous extremes in the first episode, where Stock Footage of a Soviet artillery battery firing is interspersed with rocket noises and even Wild West-style ricocheting bullet whines. For no apparent reason.
- Becoming the Mask: In Episode 4 Stirlitz sees a German policeman barking orders and thinks that nowhere do cops like to boss people around like they do in "our country"—and then he's brought up short when he realizes he was thinking of Germany as "our country".
- Benevolent Boss: Schellenberg, who for a high-ranking SS man is surprisingly friendly and affable. He also usually dresses in a civilian suit rather than an SS uniform.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Professor Pleischner throws himself out of the window to avoid being captured and tortured by Gestapo.
- Bittersweet Ending: Stirlitz's work has exposed and short-circuited Himmler's plot to make a separate peace with the West. The Russians will destroy Nazi Germany, but at a terrible cost. Kat is a widow, but she escapes with not one but two babies in tow. Pastor Schlagg is told by Stirlitz that his family is safe and he can find them after it's all over and he leaves Switzerland. The fate of Stirlitz himself is not resolved.
- Blonde Republican Sex Kitten: Blonde Nazi Sex Kitten, in the person of Barbara. Barbara is blonde-haired and very attractive and a hard-core true believer Nazi. She is not at all thrilled to have Kat the Soviet agent stashed in her home, even if Kat has (supposedly) agreed to turn her coat and work for the Germans. She also casts bedroom eyes at Stirlitz while holding her mild-mannered partner Helmut in contempt.
- Book Burning: One of Goebbels' book-burning festivals is shown while Stirlitz ponders whether he's the one approaching the Allies.
- The Book Cipher: This is how Stirlitz decodes the coded messages he receives over the radio.
- Captain Obvious: No doubt the Russian Humor meme associated with this series is associated with the narration, which sometimes explicates the thuddingly obvious. The scene where Stirlitz is first shown decoding a message from a Numbers Station could have been staged without dialogue, but no, there's the voice of the narrator telling the viewer that Stirlitz is decoding a message. Another example can be found in Episode 5 when Stirlitz sees the briefcase that holds the radio transmitter. A scene that didn't require any dialogue instead has the ever-present voice of the narrator telling the viewer that yes, Stirlitz recognized the suitcase.
- Cyanide Pill: A suicide pill hidden in a cigarette. Professor Pleischner chomps on one when he realizes that the Nazis have caught him.
- Death by Irony: Klaus tells Stierlitz how all of his victims were admiring nature before their ends, and then proceeds to marvel at the forest right before he's killed.
- Deep Cover Agent: Stirlitz has been undercover in Nazi Germany for years.
- Eagleland: Unsurprisingly, Flavor 2. Allen Dulles and the Americans are shown as only too willing to make a separate peace and use what is left of Nazi power as an ally in the fight against the Bolsheviks.
- Evil Virtues: The Nazis are shown to have some sense of personal loyalty and even decency towards each other, despite being monsters.
- George Lucas Altered Version: The TV series was later colorized, re-edited and re-released.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: In episode 5 a Bad Cop Gestapo thug beats on a suspect and breathes threats of torture, followed by the Good Cop who comes in and tells the suspect in a friendly manner that it will all be over and they'll let him go if he signs a confession. The Good Cop then leaves the interrogation room, finds the Bad Cop, and tells him to beat on the suspect some more.
- Good Shepherd: Pastor Schlag is a rare example of a Good Minister in the Soviet media.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: After Holthoff approaches Stirlitz with a proposal that they defect to a neutral country, Stirlitz crashes a wine bottle over his head. All it does is knock him out.
- Guile Hero: Stirlitz only directly kills a single person in the entire series. It's not that he's afraid of fighting - he's a trained Center officer, after all - but he knows his mission is to gather intelligence and that, if he had to start gunning down mooks, he'd have failed.
- Heel–Face Turn: In episode 9 Rolf, with Barbara's help, opens the window and says he'll set Kat's baby outside to freeze to death if Kat doesn't name the rezident. Meek, quiet Helmut then whips out a gun and kills both Barbara and Rolf.
- Hey, Wait!:
- Kat, who escaped with Helmut's help but is left alone after he's shot by the Gestapo, finds a phone booth. She is trying to place a call to Stirlitz when a policeman knocks on the window. She exits the phone booth, a look of mortal terror on her face, only for the policeman to tell her that the phone booth is out of order.
- And in the last episode she is once again terrified, when the border checkpoint receives a phone call while the border guard is checking her fake papers. It's the border guard's wife wanting to know when he will come home.
- Historical Domain Character: All the Nazi high leadership, as well as Stalin, Molotov, British ambassador Archibald Kerr, and Allen Dulles.
- I Have Many Names: The protagonist. He is serving undercover in Nazi Germany as SS Colonel Max von Stirlitz. His "real" name as NKVD agent is Maxim Isayev. His original name is Vsevolod Vladimirov. At his safe house and the Elefant bar he's known as "Bolzen".
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Mueller has to take a few quick drinks after fingerprint analysis reveals that the prints on Kathe's radio briefcase belong to Stirlitz.
- The Infiltration: Years undercover have paid off, as Stirlitz has made it deep within German intelligence.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Klaus comments on the beauty and fresh air of the forest they're walking through and mocks his former cellmates who, when sentenced to death, kept going on about the beauty of nature, unaware that he, too, has already been sentenced to die. He is then killed mid-sentence by Stirlitz.
- Local Hangout: The "Elefant" bar, where Stirlitz hangs out and occasionally meets informants.
- Longing Look: Stirlitz's wife is brought to the Elefant bar, to see her husband for the first time in years. However, he's such a Deep Cover Agent that they don't dare do anything other than stare at each other across the room.
- The Mole: Stirlitz have been embedded in Germany for many years while reporting to Moscow.
- Mook–Face Turn: Helmut, reminded of his own child by Kat's baby goes into a rage and kills the SS-woman and her superior officer when the former offers the sadistic choice below.
- Narrator: Omnipresent throughout, sometimes delivering exposition, sometimes relaying Stirlitz's thoughts, sometimes playing the Captain Obvious (see above).
- Nazi Nobleman: The main character claims to be this. His German alias is Max Otto Von Stirlitz.
- The Needs of the Many: After getting Kat from the clutches of the Gestapo and spiriting her to SS headquarters, Stirlitz thinks about how he could have taken her to safety. But that would have meant the end of his mission as well, and would have jeopardized the Russian war effort and the fate of Europe, so he didn't.
- Numbers Stations: How Stirlitz gets messages from Moscow. He listens to a Numbers Station and decodes the message with his code book.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Klaus is an Agent Provocateur for the Gestapo, posing as a concentration camp victim in order to catch opponents of the Nazis. Stirlitz shoots him In the Back.
- Previously on…: Episodes after the first one begin with highlights from the previous episode as the opening credits roll.
- The Remnant: Discussed Trope. Mueller is perfectly aware that the end is coming soon, but he has a fanciful idea that hidden Nazi gold will finance the revival of National Socialism within two decades.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Klaus is shot in the back and dumped in a swamp.
- Sadistic Choice: Rolf threatens to freeze Kat's baby to death unless she gives up the name of resident.
- Sherlock Scan: Usually delivered by the solemn narrator's (Yefim Kopelian's) voice telling us what Stirlitz noticed and what train of thought he conducted from that.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Helmut, Kat's other guard along with hardcore Nazi Barbara, was discharged from the army due to his PTSD. Barbara holds him in contempt.
- Smart People Play Chess: Stirlitz plays chess with Frau Zaurich the barkeep while wondering about whether Goebbels is the one trying to make a separate peace.
- Spotting the Thread: Kat, one of Stirlitz's radio operators, is heavily pregnant. Stirlitz is concerned, saying that when she's in labor she might be in too much pain to maintain her cover identity. Sure enough, when Kat's giving birth she starts calling for her mother in Russian. The nurses call the Gestapo.
- Spy Fiction: Oh yeah. A Russian Deep Cover Agent in Nazi Germany is reporting back to Moscow about German efforts to make a separate piece with the Western Allies.
- Stock Footage: Lots, both depicting World War II combat and illustrating the senior Nazis. The Soviet Culture Police insisted on the newsreel-like inserts, because they wanted to avoid the impression that Stirlitz alone won the war.
- Surprise Checkmate: In episode 2 Frau Zaurich, proprietor of the "Elefant" bar, challenges Stirlitz to a game of chess. He beats her in about a minute. She is appalled.
- Talent Double: When Stirlitz is drawing. Tikhonov was actually quite capable of drawing himself, it's just that with a close-up of his hands, no Suspension of Disbelief could have made one believe a person with a tattoo in Russian on his hand could pass for a German officer for so long.
- Taxidermy Is Creepy: Stirlitz has a clandestine meeting in a natural history museum in episode 5. Lots of creepy closeups of stuffed animals and birds.
- Translation Convention: Most characters speak Russian; but the meetings with Hitler are in German overdubbed by Russian, as per course for Soviet cinema.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Kat, who is a wanted criminal at large in Berlin, finds herself in a police station in episode 11 trying to get a call to Stirlitz. She is horrified to see a wanted poster of her on a desk at the station half-buried under desk litter.
