Verano azul

Verano Azul, the 80's Spanish TV series was also very popular in Portugal. By that time, there was only one TV channel in Portugal and, therefore, this series was seen by a whole generation. Even the series theme stays in our memory. I cannot forget all the waiting I did to see the new adventures of those kids. It was the first show that approached several 'tabu' issues (we were in the 80s...) like sex, period, etc...

I heard in the news that a DVD set of the series is about to be released here in Portugal and, probably, in Spain. It's a great chance to meet again those characters that were part of our youth. Note: none of the actors is still performing. 'Chanquete' died of lung disease in 2000. The series' girls are now nurses at a Madrid hospital. Piraña is a University teacher (informatic systems) and Pancho had a (unsuccessful) boys band in Madrid.

To those of us who were kids or teenagers in the early 80s in Spain, "Verano Azul" –or Blue Summer, in a literal English translation- brings back many fond memories of what our childhood/adolescence was like.

There were two TV channels only, no home computers, play-stations, i-pods or mobile phones. And we kids would spend the whole day in the street playing ball, marbles, hide-and-seek, catch-me-if-you-can and many other games that are now extinct. Or we would pop to the local bar to play the pinball machines while having a Coke or a Fanta. We used to read Spanish comics, ride our bikes or play charades, and always had a great time. Also in those days summers were proper summers, before climate change came to screw things up. Our school summer vacation ran from mid-June to mid-September, and you hardly would see a rainy day in between. I hadn't seen the series for almost twenty years now, and when these past few days I had the chance of watching it again, my eyes filled with tears. I have been watching as many as three or four episodes every day, and couldn't get enough. Many things that I had forgotten suddenly popped back in my memory in that so well know effect that gives us the feeling that it happened only yesterday. I realise now how good this series really is because it is so realistic and well-made, with absolutely credible performances –those kids had real talent, they did-, typical teenage problems and situations within the context of the era, cultural icons, and the humour provided by Tito and Pirana, the youngest members of the gang. Because I am the same age as the actor who plays Tito, seeing him now is like seeing myself thirty years ago. These two cheeky kids always steal the show with their lines and with the innocent and plucky things they do.

I knew that the series had been a huge success in South-America but I had no idea about Bulgaria and Poland, and the reviews posted by people from these two countries have left me amazed. They say the show gave them one of the very first glimpses of the West and what kids were like in the free world, and they also say that the minute it would start on TV the streets became empty. I would have never imagined it.

This series is perfect in every way, and it is a good thing they never made a sequel (the typical thing with the youngsters returning to the village two or three years later and getting together again) because it surely could never be as good as the original.

There is a Spanish saying that goes "Good things, if they are brief, they are twice as good".

And it is true.

This serial's part of my most pleasant memories from childhood. I saw it just once, I was about 8 at that time (1982), when it was broadcasted here in Yugoslavia. I strongly remember the great, warm atmosphere of Spanish coast, sweet old fisherman, nice, tender smile of Maria Garralon (but when I saw her recently in "Companeros", of course I couldn't connect her with that young teacher from "Verano Azul", it was just IMDb that brought me to it by her name). I remember that it had been broadcasted on Sundays at 1 PM and that I cried when it was finished.!Ojala! if I could see it once again!

Yes,it was great,that The Bulgarian TV showed it.It is true that this was something very different from the other films we had seen.It was the only story of its kind for the puberty then.We did not use to see films from Western Europe and they were not supposed to show,that life went normally in the West.I still remember the scene when Javi was made to dive in a pool with all his clothes by two nasty behaving girls and then he took off all of his clothes,even his speedos as a protest,and then he was punished by his father,who called him an "exhibitionist".We have never thought of such kind of protest and I remember we commented this scene even in class and the teachers told,that that came from the Western manner of life.Yeah,we commented the film and liked all the actors.A day or two ago I heard the song from the film and it made me drop a tear for my own childhood,which I will ever connect with these series.

I grew up with this series. As time goes by, I have revisited many of the shows I used to love as a child, only to wonder: "What on earth was I thinking wasting my time watching this?!" Not so with this show. It is nostalgic, beautiful, enduring and has a quality of truth that spans the decades. I still love it as much as ever.

Each of the children will reflect you at one point in your life or other. Worth watching if you have the chance.