Pan Tau

Season 1 of Pan Tau is a mixture of puppet film, children's film, musical and late slapstick. However, years after the pilot episode produced by Carlo Ponti, the format has undergone some changes. All your favorite normalization actors are in place and there's no reason to object, or...? Lovers of Bohdalová, Budínová, Štekl, Sovák, or Dvorská regularly watch all the reruns. Whether they take place in a block of flats or in the mountains. (31.03.2019)

Werich's stories about the little girl Claudia and Mr. Viola are much more acceptable than the previous purely normalization episodes, thanks to their subtly fairy-tale touch. True, nowadays the cries of technology are not so impressive, there is no sci-fi and dreaming at the Hluboká castle belongs entirely in the archives of the FSB/ČST. There are also minuses, a musical insert, or the unnecessarily dishonorable Ferbasová-Tichánková combination... But also some partial pluses. Tau, as a representative of the Globus travel agency, arranges Viola and Claudia's trip around the Czech regions. In a way, it's a shame because the original order with a few extras sounded a bit more appealing and exotic (Loch Ness was in play, for example ;)). The supporting roles featuring Lanďák and Kopecký have their own charm alongside Werich. Along with the weather girl episodes, this season is the most typical for a series with Pan Tau. (31.03.2019)

The third series is Robinson-esque by Ota Hofman. Menšík, Bohdalová, Filipovský, and Peterka are all there as usual, although Peterka is unusually funny this time. The scenes where Bohdalová sells movie theater tickets are pleasant. The island episode is Šimánek's solo in the double role of Tau and Alfonz. If there were more stories like this, the whole series would be much more timeless. Alas. In this way, Karel Höger's unintentionally parodic commentary, the ubiquitous weather girl Julinka, and the goat Cleo all come to light. If the saintly Beneš, the know-it-all Somr, the bland Smejkalová, the crazy Čížková, the Dítě/Hanus duo come along, we then approach communal satire by leaps and bounds. The question of whether Alfonz is a good member of socialist society is answered by Bek and his big-mouthed suit in the chocolate factory. Later on, Bláha, Hrzán, Vala, and Šmída as Mafiosi are alienating Julinka, and we're not done yet... The pleasant theme has dissolved into one big mess. (31.03.2019)

The final season of Pan Tau was available as individual episodes or in cuts for two feature films, Alarm in the Clouds and I Won’t Conjure After Today. The main roles were played by the children's elite of the time, Hofbauer and Bočanová, with Brodský and Brejchová as the adults. We know the same practice from films with Žaneta Fuchsová. But because even that was not enough, the final full stop for the whole phenomenon was the film Pan Tau, screened as of January 1, 1989, making the 23-year-long series the longest-running Czech series ever. (31.03.2019)