The popular Czechoslovak TV series Arabela entertains viewers of several generations. Filming, however, is a very painstaking job, which is sometimes not without mistakes – they were not avoided even in this fairy tale. So what is wrong with the series Arabela?
Fantastic tricks and magic are an indispensable part of serial fairy tales. He is behind many of them Boris Masnik, one of the leading film magicians, trick specialists and effects creators. Most of the tricks in Arabella it was created directly in front of the camera, which presented significant technical challenges. Among the most challenging was the transformation of the witch into the queen, which took place in motion during the witch’s walk. Both actresses Andresíková and Brejchová, had to strictly follow the direction of walking and the same speed, while the camera captured their movement at the same speed. The resulting effect was absolutely perfect.
Flying head
However, even serials sometimes cannot avoid mistakes, which attentive viewers will notice. Aside from the misdirected scenes, such as when Arabela runs away from Rumburak to the human world and holds a flying suitcase in her right hand, but it suddenly appears in her left hand, there are minor flaws here and there. For example, when turning Mr. Majer into a dachshund, a “magic” glass of water that shouldn’t disappear disappears. In another scene, when the Škoda is flying over the street after the interview with associate professor Hrach, a moving human head can be seen in the left part of the image. This effect was achieved using the split-image technique, but the figure was slightly taller than the obscured part of the film strip.
For example, in the second volume, when Rumburak flies away in the form of a raven from the queen/witch, the string that was supposed to prevent the raven from flying away is clearly visible in the lower right corner of the window.
A mysterious ring
In the sixth and seventh parts we can see several mistakes. In the 6th part, King Hyacinth II. and the wizard Vigo find themselves in an asylum and discover that they do not have a magic ring. Psychiatrist Jiří explains to them that the rings are naturally taken from patients so that there is no danger of them being swallowed. However, in Episode 7, when the director of the mental hospital comes to visit, King Hyacinth is shown with some kind of ring on his left hand, contradicting the previous event.
Furthermore, at the end of the sixth part, a situation occurs when Petr accidentally comes into contact with a travel cloak, which transports him to the realm of fairy tales. However, in the beginning of the seventh part, in the summary of the previous story, it is stated that Arabela had a misfortune and Peter disappeared into the realm of fairy tales, where Arabela cannot go without a cloak. However, it should be emphasized that Petr disappeared with this very travel coat, which they discovered in the hotel and which Rumburak used to travel with. At the same time, it is important to note that Arabela has her cloak stored in the Majer’s garage, which she does not know at this stage of the story (the children took it).
Not entirely successful scenes also appeared in the eighth episode. When Honza flies into the train with Mařenka on his suitcase, the landscape behind them is projected in the train window. When the children sit down, the editing and change of scenery is noticeable even without slow motion. It is also nonsense for the window to open fully – the lower half of the window is fixed, only the upper half is movable. In addition, the water man in the pond here has a green whole body, but they forgot to disguise his neck.
A couple traveling on a bench
Errors were not avoided even in the ninth volume. When the thief Fousek, after escaping from prison, decides to rob a couple on a park bench, successive shots show the position of the purse constantly changing and the lovers sitting on different parts of the bench. In this volume, we can also see that in the crowd of fairy-tale characters protesting against the changes in the fairy-tale realm, there is also a waterman who had previously fled from Xenia in one of the previous volumes. From this, it can be logically concluded that he should be in the human realm at this point.
Even in the tenth episode, something is not quite right for us: Rumburak, who is currently pretending to be the queen and is in the dressing room of the restaurant, says to the witch: “The police are looking for me.” This expression is a little unexpected, especially when both communicating characters are fairy-tale creatures. When Arabela returns from the waterman from the river, she is dry, which is understandable for a fairy-tale creature. However, the ends of her legs are rather unfabulously wet.
In the thirteenth part, we find another mistake: When Mr. Majer, preparing for a festive toast with the wedding guests, puts the bell on the table, his shadow is directed to the left. Later, when Pajda captures him after a while, the shadow is directed to the other side. Even the position of the napkin on which the bell is located does not match.
And what is unclear about the Arabella series in general? For example, why doesn’t Rumburak, who can transform into a raven even without a ring, use this ability when escaping from a prison hospital? He could also use this ability when disguising himself in female clothing. And if he is able to travel between the fairy realm and the human realm as a raven, why does he need a travel cloak?
Sources: ivandachshladik.cz, fdb.cz
Tags: flying tied raven nonfairytale pants
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