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How to survive Arcadia 234 - or any waste disposal planet

(Photo: Studio Universal)
(Photo: Studio Universal)

Soldier, on Studio Universal (DStv Channel 112), follows the story of a soldier named Todd 3465 (Kurt Russell) who was trained from birth to become a ruthless fighting machine, but is dumped on a waste disposal planet after he is knocked unconscious in a fight with the new genetically-modified soldiers. After landing on the planet, Arcadia 234, he lives among a community of crash survivors and like all good hero’s, takes it upon himself to defend the planet and its inhabitants. The film also stars Jason Scott Lee, Jason Isaacs, Connie Nielson, Sean Pertwee and Gary Busey.

Here’s our guide to surviving on a waste disposal planet if you find yourself in a similar situation to Todd 3465:

1. Channel your inner Kurt Russell: There is no time to wallow or get stuck in the despair of the fact that you were dumped on another planet in the first place. You have to immediately jump into action and begin to source out ways to survive.

2. Find a habitable community: Every planet has a habitable community, right? Well where there is garbage, there are humans. Find them, give them a sad look, and watch as they take you in, give you shelter, food, and probably teach you a valuable lesson about the importance of human emotion and interactions.

3. What happens on Arcadia 234 stays on Arcadia 234: One of the advantages of being stranded on a waste disposal planet is that it is like a free pass, you do what you must in order to survive, no one will know once you returned to earth. Even if your shameful secret is that you cried silently alone in a pipe that you used as a temporary shelter, it is okay.

4. Use your skills to better the community: Everyone has a particular set of skills, and so do you! Instead of keeping your skills to yourself, hoping to unleash it at the most dramatic moment, see how you can use to help the people now. If your skill is self defense, or combat, you can teach the community so that they might learn to defend themselves in case of an emergency.

5. Learn how to make a fire: Fire can be your greatest resource – it can keep you warm, make food edible, and defend you against most creatures – however fire can also alert enemies about your whereabouts, and in a planet filled with garbage it can spread easily. Therefore, make sure that you keep your fire contained to a modest size.

6. Be skilled at hand-to-hand combat and guerrilla warfare: It’s not enough that you only have one particular skill when it comes to combat and self-defense, you need to be the everyman of fighting – especially because you don’t know what kind of enemies you will be up against. Todd 3465 was able to survive because he could beat the enemy as he was skilled in hand-to-hand combat but he also knew how to outsmart them, by using guerrilla warfare which they weren’t experienced in.

7. Don’t waste time by speaking: Kurt Russell famously only said 104 words throughout the film which is significant when you note that he has the majority of screen time and is the title character. Todd 3465 had no time to be chatting about when there was surviving to be done and in the same way you should limit your chit chat and focus on ways to get off the planet – or at the very least survive it.

8. Learn how the control room of a space ship works: The only way that you got dumped on the planet was via a space ship, and therefore it’s your best bet for getting off it as well. Therefore it is a good idea to learn the mechanics of how a space ship works so that if you find yourself in possession of one you will know how to steer it away from the waste disposal planet.

9. Learn to be independent: There’s an old saying that says ‘the only person you can depend on is yourself’ and this especially reigns true when you are stuck on a deserted planet. Survival favours the fittest, you should be able to survive on your own without the help of others, however if you find yourself in a position to help those that are not as fit as you, you should be empathetic to their needs.

10. Have an escape plan: It’s not easy getting off a planet, and even more difficult to get off one that has been deserted. You need to have your wits about you if you want to survive, therefore you should develop a foolproof plan on how to get off the planet. Todd 3465 used the training that he had, to work out a complex plan to save himself, his old friends and his new friends.

Find out exactly what Todd 3465 did to survive the waste disposal planet, Arcadia 234, by watching Soldier on Sunday, 24 September on Studio Universal, DStv channel 112 at 6pm. For this and other actioned packed movies check out the Studio Universal line-up for a blockbuster weekend! #wearemovies

(Photo: Studio Universal)

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