The fairy tale bride

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Television series
German title The fairy tale bride (FRG)
Original title Arabela
Country of production Czechoslovakia
original language Czech
Year (s) 1979-1981
Production
company		 Československá televize
length 30 minutes
Episodes 13
genre Fantasy
music Luboš Fišer
First broadcast December 25, 1980 (ČSSR) on ČST
German-language
first broadcast		 October 4th 1981 on German television
occupation

Arabela (OT: Arabela ) is a Czechoslovak Fantasy - Children series by director Václav Vorlíček and scriptwriter miloš macourek from the years 1979 to 1981 in which equipped with magical powers characters from the fairy-tale realm appear in the contemporary world. The music for the series was written by Luboš Fišer . The series was produced by Czechoslovak Television in collaboration with Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) and shot in the Barrandov film studio in Prague.

In the program of the GDR television , the series ran in 1983 under the title The beautiful Arabella and the magician with 16 episodes of about 25 minutes each. The episode titles differed partly from those of the ARD.

The series was continued under co-production with the WDR with The Return of the Fairy Tale Bride from 1990.

content

The actor and storyteller Karl Majer happens to come into possession of a magical little bell which, when it rings, calls the magician Rumburak from the fairy tale kingdom. He takes him to the shooting lessons requested by Majer in the fairy tale kingdom, where Mr. Majer accidentally caused the death of Little Red Riding Hood's wolf . Rumburak is held responsible for this and must henceforth be the wolf. But with the help of the witch he regains his original form and out of revenge he tells the fairy tales in his own version on television in the guise of Mr. Majer, which has catastrophic effects on the fairy tale kingdom. Mr. Majer is personally held responsible for it and in order to bring him to his senses, the fairy tale king sends his court magician Vigo and his daughters into the human world.

Arabella, the king's younger daughter, falls in love with Peter, the son of Mr. Majer. However, Rumburak wants her to himself and kidnaps Arabella to his castle. From there, however, she can flee to Peter in the real world. Rumburak follows her as the king and wizard Vigo attempt to save Arabella, but they all encounter unexpected difficulties in the human world. In the meantime, Arabella's sister Xenia, who is now married to Prince Willibald from the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty , uses the king's absence to establish a modern civilization in the fairy tale kingdom - based on the model of the human world. Peter Majer, who accidentally ended up in the fairy tale kingdom, reluctantly helps her because she blackmailed him. But when she does not keep her promise to let him return in return, he sets off on his own to find a way back.

The inhabitants of the fairy tale kingdom soon had enough of Xenia's modernization measures and forged a plan to steal the magic ring from her. When this fails, the thief's arm is said to be chopped off, which triggers a popular uprising. Then Xenia quickly turns everyone into cars and flees into the human world with Willibald and the witch (who, in the form of the queen, has been Rumburak's spy in the royal family for some time).

Peter meets his little brother Hansi and his girlfriend Gretchen. The children had done all sorts of mischief with Arabella's magic utensils and finally unintentionally transported themselves into the fairy tale world. Together the three Rumburaks reach the castle, where they make contact with the human world with the help of its television studio. Here, too, there have been some entanglements, in the course of which the three magic rings changed hands several times and two of them were destroyed.

Finally, the last ring comes back into Arabella's hands and everything seems to be turning out for the better when Rumburak manages to turn things around again. He seizes the magic utensils and kidnaps Arabella to his castle, where he locks everyone in the dungeon. To make matters worse, he wants to have Peter beheaded so that he can then take Arabella as his wife.

Peter's execution is prevented at the last minute by Fantômas , a figure from the neighboring fairy tale kingdom for adults, whom Arabella had alerted with the help of her mother, who was enchanted into a dove. Rumburak himself is locked in the dungeon and the queen regains her form. However, Rumburak, transformed into a raven, manages to escape.

The queen buys an electric wolf from Doctor Frankenstein, also a resident of the fairy tale kingdom for adults, which now replaces Little Red Riding Hood's wolf. After they have restored the fairytale kingdom to its original state with the magic ring, everyone travels to the human world, where the wedding of Arabella and Peter is to be celebrated.

Rumburak tries to intervene again by transforming Arabella and Peter into a sheep and a grandfather clock during the wedding ceremony. The wedding takes place anyway and Rumburak and his accomplice, the witch, are turned into household appliances by Vigo for their deeds.

The visitors from the fairy tale kingdom return home after the wedding, not without leaving behind the little bell that started everything in an emergency. On the same evening it can no longer be found because Waldi, the Majers' dachshund, snatched it unnoticed and buried it. But Arabella is not sad about it, because now she can finally lead a normal life without special privileges, as she has always wanted.

prehistory

The television series was preceded by the 1972 fairy tale film Saxana - The Girl on a Broomstick , also shot in the Barrandov Film Studios in Prague. In addition to the similar plot, the same director Václav Vorlíček and the same screenwriter Miloš Macourek , the same film effects and similar scenes (school and mental hospital) are evident. Vladimír Menšík plays the caretaker of the witchcraft school in the film, in The Fairy Tale Bride Karl Majer.

In 2011, director Václav Vorlíček shot a sequel to this film with Saxana and the Journey into Wonderland .

particularities

Conception

The series features fairy tale characters, for example from the Grimm fairy tales , as well as some “fairy tale characters” for adults, such as Fantômas , Frankenstein or Tarzan . This created the impression of a comprehensive fairy tale cosmos in the sense of a self-contained parallel world. The series was successful. Part of this success also lies in the critical examination of modern society, such as the satellite towns built in prefabricated buildings / high-rise buildings and the destruction of old buildings in favor of the modern and car-friendly city, which is only geared towards the technical function and the emotional needs of people disregarded.

sorcery

The magic ring and the magic cloak are the two magical objects that play a major role in the series. There are three copies of both at the beginning, two of which will be destroyed in the course of the series. There are also other, less significant items, such as the flying suitcase and the crystal ball, with which you can see what a person is doing.

The magic cloak is used for the transition from one world to the other. It is a long, wide cloak with a single button on the collar. After you have put on the coat (several people can travel underneath it), the transition takes place by closing the button. One does not see its peculiarity in the magic cloak, which is a certain danger. So first Peter, then Hansi and Gretchen get into the fairy tale kingdom because they donned and closed their coats in ignorance of how it worked. Hansi and Gretchen are also in danger because they do not immediately recognize that they have been transferred to the fairy tale kingdom.

The magic ring is used by thinking or - less often - expressing a wish and turning the ring 180 degrees on the finger. In this way, people are particularly often transformed into objects, animals or another human form (or back again). In the case of animal mutation, in some cases the ability to speak is retained (Rumburak as a wolf, Mr Majer as a dog), in others not (the queen as a dove, Arabella as a sheep). In the case of transformation into another human form, the original voice is retained. Curiously, Arabella turns into a massive, older general with a woman's voice. Enchanted people are sometimes unintentionally transformed back by turning the ring. As a further application, you can create any (non-magical) objects and conjure yourself or others to another place (but not to another world). Wizards like Vigo, Rumburak and the Witch also have other methods of magic at their disposal, but the magic ring is considered to be particularly powerful because it can be used in many ways and is easy to use by everyone.

The prevented kiss

A running gag of the series is that Arabella and Peter never get around to kissing each other. Whenever they try, they are disturbed or distracted by a sudden thought. Only in the very last scene does the long-awaited kiss finally take place.

TV fairy tale

The following fairy tales are told in the course of the series on television:

  • Princess Arabella : A fairy tale fragment that was apparently reinvented for the series. Narrated by Mr. Majer, canceled because the pictures for The Wolf and the Seven Goats were accidentally shown. Episode: The wolf is dead
  • Little Red Riding Hood : Told by Mr. Majer, falsified by Rumburak. Episode (West): Rumburak's Revenge
  • Sleeping Beauty : told by Mr Majer, falsified by Rumburak. Episode: love at first sight
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs : Told by the new fairytale aunt, falsified by Rumburak. Episode: The Dachshund Mr. Majer
  • The Bremen Town Musicians : Told together by Mr Majer and Mr Groß with great success. The only fairytale broadcast without a glitch. Episode: In the dungeon of the ghost castle

consequences

The series consisted of 13 episodes of 30 minutes each:

  1. The wolf is dead
  2. Rumburak's revenge
  3. love at first sight
  4. The dachshund Mr. Majer
  5. Arabella on the run
  6. Wish ring and magic cloak
  7. Fairy tales for the garbage
  8. Hansel and Gretel
  9. Hexed cars
  10. Rumburak's great opportunity
  11. A taxi and five generals
  12. In the ghost castle dungeon
  13. Happy ending

It was also summarized in 6 episodes (broadcast e.g. on RBB 2009)

  1. The wolf is dead (01:21:41)
  2. The dachshund Mr. Mayer (00:55:04)
  3. Wish ring and magic cloak (00:55:08)
  4. Hansel and Gretel (00:55:08)
  5. Rumburak's big chance (00:54:41)
  6. Happy End (00:54:37)

In the GDR television version, the series had 16 parts, each of which was 25 minutes long and was slightly shorter than the parts in the original or West German version. These parts had the following titles:

  1. A strange little bell
  2. Rumburak's revenge
  3. Haunted TV
  4. Mr Majr, the dachshund
  5. Peter and the princess
  6. Who will save the kingdom?
  7. Arabella on the run
  8. The fairy tales on the trash ...
  9. A diabolical mistake
  10. Hexed school
  11. Hansel and Gretel
  12. The disappeared rings
  13. Royal average
  14. Rumburak sees an opportunity
  15. In the last minute
  16. All's well that ends well

synchronization

West German version

The German editing for the ARD was done by Bavaria Synchron Munich under the direction of Hans-Peter Kaufmann.

actor role speaker
Jana Nagyová Arabella Susanne Uhlen
Vladimír Dlouhý Peter Majer Hans-Georg Panczak
Jiří Lábus Rumburak Tommi Piper
Vladimír Menšík Karl Majer Wolfgang Hess
Vlastimil Brodský king Peter Pasetti
Jana Brejchová queen Karin Anselm
Dagmar Patrasová Xenia Susanna Bonaséwicz
Ondřej Kepka Hansi Majer
Veronika Týblová Gretchen Hermann
Jiří Sovák Court magician Vigo Holger Hagen
Stella Zázvorková Vera Majer Sabine Eggerth
Oldřich Vízner Prince Willibald Ekkehardt Belle
Jana Andresíková witch Karin Kernke
František Filipovský Stunk Benno Hoffmann
František Peterka Fantômas Klaus Kindler
Jírí Hrzan Franz Gross Peter Thom
Iva Janžurová Miss Mueller Dinah Hinz -Weiss
Antonín Jedlicka Teacher Adam Fred Klaus
Otto Šimánek The long Horst Raspe
Vít Olmer Dr. Frankenstein Elmar Wepper
Helena Růžičková New fairytale aunt Marianne Wischmann
Jiří Pleskot School inspector Wolf Ackva
Lenka Korinková Housekeeping Simone Brahmann
Alena Karesová Narrator Edith Schneider

East German version

In the adaptation for GDR television, Horst Kempe spoke the Karl Majer and Michael Narloch the Rumburak.

Others

For the original Czech version of the series, actress Libuše Šafránková ( Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella , 1973) , who is also known in Germany, dubbed the role of Arabella. Jana Nagyová's clear Slovak accent, who can be seen in the role, was found annoying by the creators of the series.

The series got a successor with The Return of the Fairy Tale Bride ( Arabela se vrací , 1993), in which Vladimír Menšík, who died in 1988, could no longer participate, as well as without the original Arabella Jana Nagyová and the original Fantômas František Peterka , and an offshoot with the series The Magic Raven Rumburak ( Rumburak , 1984), in which Jiří Lábus expanded his role as an evil magician.

In 1979 Jindřich Polák , known in Germany as the creator and director of the Pan Tau series, shot the crime drama Smrt Stoparek (1979, German: Per Hitchhiker's Guide to Death or Rape ), in which Jana Nagyová (Arabella) and Dagmar Patrasová (Xenia) two Playing murder victims.

The series was first broadcast on Czechoslovak television. The German first broadcast began in the ARD program on October 4, 1981. In the GDR, the series - in the GDR version - was first broadcast from July 30 to November 12, 1983 in the first program and repeated in 1987 in the second program.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Saxana and the journey into fairy tale land, Anastratin.de
  2. ↑ The fairy tale bride in the German synchronous files , West German version
  3. ↑ The fairy tale bride in the German synchronous card index , East German version