The Mézga Family
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The Mézga Family (- international title, in Hungarian Mézga család) is a fictional family from three animated TV series shot by PannóniaFilm studios, Hungary between 1968 and 1978.
Scripts for the series were written by József Romhányi and József Nepp. Nepp also served as the film director. The series proved to be very popular, reaching cult status and televized, among others, in Czechoslovakia, Italy and both German states. The series still regularly appear on television. Each consists of 13 episodes.
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[edit] The Family
The family consists of Géza, the father, a comical and inept figure similar to Homer Simpson, his wife Paula who actually dominates family affairs, pubertal daughter Kriszta and 12 years old son Aladár, a child prodigy. The cat Maffia and speaking dog Zorro accompany the family. Dr. Máris, their cynical neighbour, is regularly and unvoluntary involved in disasters surrounding the family.
The name "Mézga" means bad luck in Hungarian and was translated as rodina Smolíkových in Czech, La famiglia Mezil in Italian, Familie Metzger in German and Miazgovci in Slovak, always maintaining the literary meaning.
[edit] The Series
[edit] The Mézga family
The first series was shot during 1968/1969 under name Üzenet a jövőből – A Mézga család különös kalandjai (Legacy from the future - fantastic adventures of family Mézga). The family makes contact with MZ/X, their descendant from 30th century. MZ/X sends them, through the time, various hypermodern gadgets which invariably result in a disaster.
The series were named Odkaz budoucnosti aneb Podivuhodná dobrodružství rodiny Smolíkovy in Czech, Messaggi dal futuro in Italian, Heißer Draht ins Jenseits – Phantastische Abenteuer der Familie Mézga in German and Miazgovci I in Slovak.
[edit] The Adventures of Aladár Mézga
The next series was shot in 1972 under name Mézga Aladár különös kalandjai. Every night Aladár visits a different inhabited planet using an inflatable interstellar cosmic ship. A speaking dog accompanies him. The series satirized various human and societal vices; for this reason two episodes were not allowed to be shown in communist Czechoslovakia.
The series were named Podivuhodná dobrodružství Vladimíra Smolíka in Czech, L’astronave in Italian, Adolars phantastische Abenteuer in East Germany, Archibald, der Weltraumtrotter in West Germany, Miazgovci II in Slovak.
[edit] The Mézga Family on Holiday
The third series was shot in 1978 under name Vakáción a Mézga család. A new character, Pisti Hufnágel, the first love of Paula and her ideal invites the family to spend holidays in Australia. A spare ticket is given to the neighbour. It turns out that Hufnágel is a swindler and the Mézgas are left abandoned and penniless. Their effort to get home flings them into the most strange places, including South Pole, and into bizzare situations. Pisti Hufnágel secretly follows them and always turns their hopes into catastrophe. Only when they finally arrive at home and find out their flat completely ransacked by Hufnágel Paula loses her failt in her ideal.
The series were named Podivuhodné prázdniny rodiny Smolíkovy in Czech, Le vacanze della famiglia Mezil in Italian, Die Abenteuer der Familie Metzger in German and Miazgovci na cestách in Slovak.
[edit] New series
During 2005 studios Ex-Ist prepared a new series, where the family gets acquaint with computers and the Internet. [1]
[edit] External links
- IMDb record
- Information about the series in German [2] & [3], [4] & [5], in Czech [6], in Italian [7]. Extensive list of Hungarian language websites and literature can be found on Hungarian Wikipedia.
