Zapping TV Satsui is an interactive movie titled 'Murderous Decisions' on a two-sided disk. The viewer has the option to watch the movie from the male or the female lead's point of view: Christine or Stefan.

Satsui means 'intent to kill' or 'thought to kill' with 'sa' translating to 'kill' and 'tsui' translating to 'intent' or 'thought'.

The movie is straight from the German Public TV experiment 'Mörderische Entscheidung - Umschalten erwünscht' from 1991. Back then the two channels ARD and ZDF broadcasted one version each and encouraged TV-viewers to switch channels and 'cut' their own version. The German newsmagazine Der Spiegel heralded this experiment as a the 'realization of the dream of audience emancipation' and as 'a creative push for TV' (50/1992 pg. 264) but in reality the ambitious project flopped. Audiences were confused and lost track of the story and the various characters. 2-channel TV-Drama , 2 x 90 (other sources say 2 x 97) min, Gemini Films coproduction with WDR-ZDF-ORF-TVE-Allianz Film and Praxino-Pictures

Mediateca writes: "Oliver Hirschbiegel's TV thriller 'Mörderische Entscheidung' ('Murderous Decision') was an attempt to transform the destructive principle of zapping into a constructive method of interaction. Its two plot strands were transmitted concurrently on ARD and ZDF, the first and second German channels, in 1991."

The front cover has this excerpt in German:
"Zapping" ist die Bezeichnung für eine neue, in Europa enstandene Nutzungsform des Fernsehens. Dabei werden von einer Sendung zwei verschiedene Versionen produziert und dann zeitgleich über zwei Sender auf zwei getrennten Kanälen abgestrahlt. Die Zuschauer können nun nach Belieben zwischen diesen beiden Kanälen umschalten und sich auf diese Weise ihre eigene Version der Story zusammenstellen. Der Ausdruck "Zapping" ist von dem englischen Verb "to zap" abgeleitet, womit ursprünglich das Durchgehen der verschiedenen TV-Kanäle der Reihe nach mittels Fernbedienung gemeint ist.
(brief) Translation:
"Zapping" is the name of a new use of television developed in Europe. A broadcast is created in two versions and is simultaneously broadcasted via two networks on two separate channels. The viewers are then able to switch freely between these two channels and create their own version of the story. The term "Zapping' is derived from the English verb "to zap" which originally described channel surfing.

Graphics off the disc are very good, the video is smooth and switching between the two different view points is instantaneous. Sound off the disc is standard, switching between the English and the Japanese audio tracks is instantaneous as well.

Overall an interesting experiment, definitely worth watching a few times while exploring the different view points and sub-plots. But after you've seen it a few times the novelty factor wears off and replay value becomes zero.

This is the LD-ROM2 version of the title, there is also a MEGA-LD version (see PEASJ5024).

Back Cover

Spine Card

Screenshots

Videos

sample video
(illustrating the splitting of the main
plot into the two view points)