The Mézga Family

''The Mézga Family'' (in Hungarian ''Mézga család'') is an animated TV series about fictional Hungarian family made by Pannonia Film Studio in Hungary between 1969 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 televised, among others, in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, The Netherlands, Cuba and both German states and, in the 1990s, in Brazil. The series still regularly appear on television. Each series consists of 13 episodes.

The Family

The family consists of Géza, the father, a comical and inept figure, his wife Paula who actually dominates family affairs, pubertal daughter Kriszta and 12-year-old son Aladár, a child prodigy. The cat Maffia and a dog, Blöki accompany the family. Dr. Máris, their cynical neighbour, is regularly and involuntarily involved in disasters surrounding the family.

The name "Mézga" means glue, mucilage or tree gum in Hungarian and was renamed as ''rodina Smolíkova'' in Czech, which is a surname (derived from "smůla", i.e. "tree gum" or "bad luck") used also in fairy tales, ''La famiglia Mezil'' in Italian, ''Familie Metzger'' in German, which means butcher, ''Семејството Смола'' in Macedonian, ''Семейство Мейзга'' in Bulgarian, ''Família Mézga/Mesga'' in Portuguese, and ''Miazgovci'' in Slovak. In Dutch, however, they were quite generically named ''De familie Sanders''; which has no further meaning.

The Series

The Mézga family

The first series was shot in 1968/1969 under the name ''Üzenet a jövőből – A Mézga család különös kalandjai'' ''(A message from the future – The fantastic adventures of the Mézga family).'' The family makes contact with MZ/X, their descendant from the 30th century, with whom child prodigy Aladár made contact. MZ/X sends them, through time, various hypermodern gadgets which invariably result in a disaster. (An example is when MZ/X sends them something that makes the fruits in the Mézga's fruit garden grow to exceptional size. The family is happy with the enormous fruits until they realize that they forgot to kill the insects and other parasites, and they are chased away by gigantic locusts and worms. In another episode a house cleaning robot destroys the furniture because he doesn't understand commands in 20th century Hungarian language.) Episodes usually end with Paula's catch phrase "Why didn't I marry Pisti Hufnágel?", implying that she often regrets she chose Géza over another suitor. In the third series she finally accepts that Hufnágel is not what she imagined him to be.

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, ''Невероятните приключения на Семейство Мейзга: Послания от Бъдещето'' in Bulgarian and ''Miazgovci I'' in Slovak.

The Adventures of Aladár Mézga

The next series was shot in 1972 under the title ''Mézga Aladár különös kalandjai'' (The Adventures of Aladár Mézga). Every night Aladár visits a different inhabited planet using an inflatable interstellar spaceship named ''Gulliverkli''. The name of his ship is a pun on (and a portmanteau of) '' Gulliver'' and '' verkli''. This space vehicle, both absurd and futuristic, was presumably built by Aladár, based on parts, supplies, and support provided by MZ/X, however the point is not tackled during the series, leaving the watcher to guess). In this series, Blöki can talk, as Aladár has taught him to speak, so he would make a suitable assistant for space travel. The series satirised 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, ''Семейство Мейзга: Невероятните приключения на Аладар'' in Bulgarian, ''Miazgovci II'' in Slovak.

The Mézga Family on Holiday

The third series was shot in 1978 under the name ''Vakáción a Mézga család''. Pisti Hufnágel, a character mentioned a few times in the first series, the first love of Paula and her ideal, invites the family to spend holidays in Australia. A spare ticket is given to the neighbour, Dr. Ottokár Máris. 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 the South Pole, and into bizarre situations. Pisti Hufnágel secretly follows them and always turns their hopes into catastrophe. Only when they finally arrive home and find out their flat has been completely ransacked by Hufnágel does Paula lose her faith in her ideal.

Unlike the first two series, which consisted of one-story episodes, this series is a single story arc.

The series were named ''Podivuhodné prázdniny rodiny Smolíkovy'' in Czech, ''Le vacanze della famiglia Mezil'' in Italian, ''Die Abenteuer der Familie Metzger'' in German, ''Семейство Мейзга във ваканция'' in Bulgarian, ''Miazgovci na cestách'' in Slovak, ''De familie Sanders is anders'' in Dutch, and ''La Familia Mezga'' in Spanish.

The Mézga Family and the Computer

During 2005, the Ex-Ist studio prepared a new series under the title ''A Mézga család és a (sz)ámítógép'' where the family gets acquainted with computers and the Internet. However, the show was later canceled due to a lack of funding, as the economic situation in Hungary grew worse.Info at index.hu
/ref> Only two fully-animated episodes were made from the original 13-episode order.

References

External links

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* Info about the series in German
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Czech
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Romanian

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezga Family
Animated characters
Hungarian animated television series
Hungarian children's television series
Fictional families
Fictional Hungarian people
1969 Hungarian television series debuts
1969 animated television series debuts
1972 Hungarian television series debuts
1978 Hungarian television series endings
1960s Hungarian television series
1970s Hungarian television series
1960s animated television series
1970s animated television series
1960s time travel television series
Animated television series about families
Television series set in the 20th century
Television series set in the 30th century