"life on the edge" - Synopsis:

He is a loner, trying to make his way on the edge of his world...
He knows where he wants to go, but...
...there are obstacles to overcome for the...
...chessman with no name!

"18 Months Later" - Synopsis:

In a spaceship, lonely floating about, Astronaut "Murx", enjoying a game of chess with the ship's central computer, is about to feed "Monster", the ships mascot and his pet, as the computer remarks that the vital "AE35"-unit will go a hundred percent failure within two hours!

All of this seems strangely familiar to the viewer, because it is in fact an interpretation (à la Martinland) of the events in Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey...
...yet the finale of 18 Months Later hints at the fact that mankind apparently has not improved like in Kubrick's [optimistic] film, but unfortunately seems to be more at ease among the primitive apes in the first segment of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[I believe this to be the case more than ever...]