Arabela

The story begins when Mr. Majer,an actor who reads fairytales on a children's tv show,finds a little bell.He rings it,and Rumburak appears,a wizard from the land of fairytales,who takes him to this wonderland - where he by mistake shoots the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood!When he's back in the human world,Rumburak is for punishment transformed into a wolf - order of the king and queen of the fairy-tale land!But Rumburak gets help from two witches (one is from Hansel and Gretel!)...and he cries for vengeance!He wants to conquer the fairy-tale land and become king...as husband of the beautiful princess Arabela!This smart girl flees into the human world,where she meets the undergraduate Petr,the son of Mr. Majer,and falls in love with him... But Rumburak doesn't give up that easy! Not only many famous figures from the fairy tales,but also Mr.Majer and his family have to fight against the bad wizard...magic rings,cloaks and a suitcase play important roles in this wonderful series,people get transformed,the fairy tale-people don't know our world and get in strange situations,our world can't accept or understand that there's something that we CAN'T understand,that's not logic,just magic... It's a pleasure to watch this famous czech TV series, which is for a long time a classic and an evergreen! An intelligent,delightful plot between fairy and reality,great actors,pretty costumes,funny gags,but also moments of melancholy make this series to one of my favorites!

magic, escape, chain of two worlds, memorable Rumburak and his ring, fragile princess Arabela, extraordinary metamorphosis and Peter as bridge between myth and reality. a series out of age and full of good memories. a tale in perfect sense. and universe of Narnia, Neverending Tale in basic measure, without complicated recipes or strange parables. the reality of Czekoslovakia was present in each part of Communist puzzle. so, it was not only movie for children but , in same measure, image of a society for who many windows was just walls. not political satire; only suggestions. innocent, nice, soft. and the circle is OK. nothing fake, far from special effects or 3D, only marmalade for Sunday. a freedom exercise. nothing else. naive, childish, picture book. and, yesterday was enough. maybe, today too.

after so many years, it is not easy to define the source of its seduction. sure, it reminds the flavor of fairy tales and gives answer to an "if" who defines each child. the political context is another explanation. but, maybe, the real good point is the cast. Vladimir Mensik was known for others roles in Ceh films and his presence in this series was the most inspired spice for the story. Jiri Labus gives the best ( and unique) Rumburak ever. Vlastimil Brodsky is the old king who seems descending from the book pages. and Jana Nagyova ... . for young viewers - the beautiful, smart, delicate princess. like the princesses from tales. so, Arabela. or, just a lovely revolution in the Central Europe under Communism.

I think this is one of the best TV series ever. Unfortunately - as far as I know - it was seen only in its country (Czecoslovakia) and Germany. It was also dubbed in German, thank God, a language I know. Anyway, it is very entertaining both for adults and children, where none of the two has less fun than the other. In its plot the real world and the fairy tales world meet, and produce a third world which is full of incredible and unforeseeable situations. Fantasy and humor play the main role, and we are constantly surprised and amused by always new events and inventions. The director Vaclav Vorlicek gives a further proof of his talent with fairy tales full of humor and original ideas. What maybe is most entertaining are the many spells and transformations of people, animals and objects. Special effects are simple and yet surprising, and made me regret the time when digital techniques where not in use: one had to think out something really interesting and find out good ideas. I would also like to lay stress on the fact that, although the film was shot in the communist period in CZ, there is no trace of political propaganda, which would have spoiled the whole fun. Somebody wrote that one of the reasons why the Czechs were so good in the fairy tales genre, was just the fact that it was a way of escaping from a depressing political situation. Neither are there negative messages which could harm the innocence of children, because characters and situations have the good and the evil in the right place, with no confusion between the two. On top of this, male spectators could fall in love with the fairy bride, the very pretty Jana Nagyová. Take the opportunity of buying the DVD, and enjoy the thirteen episodes of this marvelous TV series, you and your children. It is almost impossible to be disappointed.

This series, together with the "Expedition Adam '84" ("Die Besucher"/ "Návstevníci"), made by the same crew, are the most entertaining, funny, witty, intelligent, you name it. Unfortunately, I haven't seen since anything that would equal these, not to say top them. Now, that I have access to all kinds of TV stations, all I can see are some absolutely dumb, rubbish (mainly) american series. Stuff that I wouldn't let my kids watch for anything in the world. Maybe there are some worth watching, but I haven't seen or heard of them yet.