4 ms·

Czech children's TV is something else. I've seen some of it too and, to my North American perspective, it feels like a feverdream.

by icepat 2y ago

optimalsolver 2y ago
Who can forget "Worker and Parasite"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI
troad 2y ago
The Czechs have historically had a fairly significant animation industry, and the vast majority are very cute, e.g.: [0][1]. There also exist a few stop motion animation films intended for adults, and those can be more arthouse (e.g. Alice). [2] In America, Czech cartoons somewhat unfairly have the reputation for being weird, because a dozen Tom & Jerry episodes were made in Prague in the early 1960s in very weird circumstances, on a shoe-string budget by animators unaccustomed to the very idea of violent cartoons. [3] These were received with some confusion by the American audience in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. From this you then have consequent parodies like The Simpsons' Worker and Parasite, which - though not exactly a fair reflection of Czech animation - is absolutely hilarious. [4] [0] Krtek a telefon / The Little Mole and the Telephone : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYwrCTxF9Oc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYwrCTxF9Oc [1] Krtek chemikem / The Little Mole as the Chemist : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8xO4PiJ--w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8xO4PiJ--w [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(1988_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(1988_film) [3] The story of this is told here: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/tom-jerry-produced-prague https://www.awn.com/animationworld/tom-jerry-produced-prague [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI
- 0xDEADFED5 2y ago
  I came across a Czech film (A Jester's Tale - 1964) when I found this video years ago, and it's been stuck in my brain since: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqVs_dUgTKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqVs_dUgTKM
- icepat 2y ago
  > There also exist a few stop motion animation films There's also a stop-motion TV series for kids, with someone who's always doing some sort of handy man task that gets completely out of hand? What's that one called again? In terms of general TV humor, I've found it rather similar to English humor. Very dry, a great example is the movie Byl jsem mladistvým intelektuálem (I was a teenage intellectual)[1]. Completely surreal, and worth a watch. I, personally, rather enjoy it all. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HNEyBN3Lo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HNEyBN3Lo (English Subtitles)
blkhawk 2y ago
The brilliance didn't only extend to animation - there were at least a dozen of non-animated fantasy and science fiction series some that were produced together with the German PBS. For instance Adam84/The Visitors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A1v%C5%A1t%C4%9Bvn%C3%ADci_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A1v%C5%A1t%C4%9Bvn%C3%ADc...), Arabella (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabela_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabela_(TV_series)) and Pan Tau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Tau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Tau). The visitors in particular have a banging soundtrack you can listen to it on YouTube.

Czech children's TV is something else. I've seen some of it too and, to my North American perspective, it feels like a feverdream.

by icepat 2y ago

Czech children's TV is something else. I've seen some of it too and, to my North American perspective, it feels like a feverdream.

optimalsolver 2y ago

Who can forget "Worker and Parasite"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI

troad 2y ago

The Czechs have historically had a fairly significant animation industry, and the vast majority are very cute, e.g.: [0][1]. There also exist a few stop motion animation films intended for adults, and those can be more arthouse (e.g. Alice). [2] In America, Czech cartoons somewhat unfairly have the reputation for being weird, because a dozen Tom & Jerry episodes were made in Prague in the early 1960s in very weird circumstances, on a shoe-string budget by animators unaccustomed to the very idea of violent cartoons. [3] These were received with some confusion by the American audience in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. From this you then have consequent parodies like The Simpsons' Worker and Parasite, which - though not exactly a fair reflection of Czech animation - is absolutely hilarious. [4] [0] Krtek a telefon / The Little Mole and the Telephone : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYwrCTxF9Oc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYwrCTxF9Oc [1] Krtek chemikem / The Little Mole as the Chemist : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8xO4PiJ--w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8xO4PiJ--w [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(1988_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_(1988_film) [3] The story of this is told here: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/tom-jerry-produced-prague https://www.awn.com/animationworld/tom-jerry-produced-prague [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2_dhUv_CrI

0xDEADFED5 2y ago
I came across a Czech film (A Jester's Tale - 1964) when I found this video years ago, and it's been stuck in my brain since: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqVs_dUgTKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqVs_dUgTKM
icepat 2y ago
> There also exist a few stop motion animation films There's also a stop-motion TV series for kids, with someone who's always doing some sort of handy man task that gets completely out of hand? What's that one called again? In terms of general TV humor, I've found it rather similar to English humor. Very dry, a great example is the movie Byl jsem mladistvým intelektuálem (I was a teenage intellectual)[1]. Completely surreal, and worth a watch. I, personally, rather enjoy it all. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HNEyBN3Lo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-HNEyBN3Lo (English Subtitles)

blkhawk 2y ago

The brilliance didn't only extend to animation - there were at least a dozen of non-animated fantasy and science fiction series some that were produced together with the German PBS. For instance Adam84/The Visitors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A1v%C5%A1t%C4%9Bvn%C3%ADci_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A1v%C5%A1t%C4%9Bvn%C3%ADc...), Arabella (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabela_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabela_(TV_series)) and Pan Tau (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Tau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Tau). The visitors in particular have a banging soundtrack you can listen to it on YouTube.