Mézga Géza – The ‘Hungarian Simpsons’ from the ‘70s – VIDEOS

Mézga Géza was a Hungarian cult children’s TV program from the ‘70s-80s which proved to be so widely successful that it had gotten translated into several languages. It was aired in many other European countries, including Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, former Czechoslovakia and the Netherlands. Every week, children and parents waited eagerly to catch the latest humorous and futuristic stories of the Mézga family. 

Cartoon show enthusiasts often draw a resemblance between Géza, the clumsy and comical head of the family, and Homer Simpson who is also known for his inept social skills and hilariously awkward remarks. Paula’s ’60s beehive hairstyle and dominance over her henpecked husband also show similarities to Marge Simpson’s character. Although the two series had a very different era and theme, the loveable, goofy characters of both shows landed a permanent place in the viewers’ hearts. Let’s hop into a time travel machine now to revisit the Mézga family.

The story of the iconic children’s telly 

If you grew up in Hungary in the ‘70s-’80s, this famous cartoon series must bring a truckload of memories back to your mind. The show that defined the childhood of an entire generation was born at the end of the ‘60s. The creators behind everyone’s favorite ‘70s telly are József Romhányi and József Nepp who completed four episodes by ‘68, however, production had to be halted as Pannonia Film Studio was facing serious financial troubles at that time. Luckily, János Macskássy, known as the father of Hungarian animated film, met French producer Georges de la Grandiere at Annecy International Film Festival, who offered to cover the missing budget. Finally, everything was on board to finish the first season of the cult children’s comic.

The first season, titled A Message from the Future is centered around the fantastic adventures of the Mézga family. During the preparation for his school exams, young Aladár unexpectedly gets in contact with MZ/X, the family’s 186-year old descendant from the 30th century who lives in a mushroom-shaped house on a distant planet. The relative regularly helps the family out with futuristic gadgets that they are usually unable to handle or fail to use to their advantage. These ventures often result in a giant hilarious mess. However, thanks to Aladár’s quick mind, the family manages to get out of trouble by the closing of each episode.

The second season, titled The Adventures of Aladár Mézga, took on a different theme, focusing on the family’s 14-year-old son and his faithful dog, Blöki, as the two main protagonists. Each night, Aladár ventures on a space trip visiting a different planet. In this season, Blöki miraculously learns to speak, thus making an ideal assistant to its young owner. Aladár uses a makeshift spaceship for his extraterrestrial trips built by the supply his distant cousin MZ/X sent him from the future. This season satirised various human and societal vices, and as a result, was banned in communist Czechoslovakia. 

In the series’s final season, the other family members return to the screen. Paula, the wife, gets an invitation from her old love interest who now lives in Australia. As expected, the trip turns into a disaster. The family gets stranded, abandoned and penniless in a foreign country. In their effort to make it home, they pass by the most unexpected far-flung destinations around the globe. There are no shortages of bizarre, comical situations. What the family does not suspect, however, is that they are secretly followed by Paula’s former flame who even ransacks their apartment by the time they return.

There was a failed attempt to revive the series in 2005. The post-modern season was initially called The Mézga Family and the Computer in which our favorite childhood characters were supposed to tackle their way around the confusing technologies of the new era, including the Internet. However, due to a lack of finances, the creators only succeeded to complete two episodes.

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Who are the Mézgas?

The family consists of Géza, the head of the family, his wife Paula, teenage daughter Kriszta, and son Aladár. Géza has a bit of a careless, buffoonish personality and always ends up totally messing up the things he was meant to fix. Regarding his occupation, he works as a payroll clerk. He is a big foodie and never resists a good old cigar. We also learn from one of the episodes that he has 13 siblings. Géza is a brave Hungarian fellow who fears nothing and no one, except his own wife, and he has all the reasons to do so. 

Paula is a stereotypical Hungarian housewife who ceaselessly complains about her husband’s impetuous antics. She has a strong opinion and undoubtedly dominates family affairs. Whenever Gèza messes something up, Paula is quick to point out his shortcomings as the head of the family. These times, she often expresses her regret that she chose him over another suitor. “Why didn’t I marry Pisti Hufnágel?”, is a classic line that ends almost every episode. She keeps idealising her former lover until the very last season in which Hufnágel turns out to be a swindler who invites the family to Australia and leaves them penniless and stranded. 

The sitcom depicts the family’s teenage daughter, Kriszta as a bit of an airhead who constantly giggles and has little care about the world. She loves to get on her family’s nerves by loudly playing on her guitar. She intentionally makes grammar mistakes at school, and thus barely passes her classes. Kriszta usually shrugs off the family’s difficult situations with a cynical comment, and her favorite line is “Mum, put him in his place”, when things do not turn out the way she wants them. There is constant bickering between Kriszta and her younger brother. 

The youngest family member, Aladár is a child prodigy who is known for his passion for assembling new gadgets, this is how he discovers a new radio wave through which he communicates with the family’s distant relative. To build his new inventions he often steals some of his dad’s items which makes Géza furious. His sister, Kriszta makes a hobby out of calling his younger brother dumb and teasing him for his nerdy ways.

The family owns a talking dog, Blöki, and a black cat called Maffia. The two pets, just like the siblings, constantly quarrel with each other. It is fair to say that the Mézgas have a pretty loud household. Other often emerging characters are MZ/X, the distant relative from the future and the ever grumpy neighbour, Máris. MZ/X speaks so-called New Hungarian which is hard to be understood and often provides the source of confusion when he sends useful futuristic gifts to the family, which as by rule always arrive through a closed window shattering the glass. Máris neighbour is a polyglot archeologist whom the Mézgas regularly ask for favours when they get in trouble.

Fun facts about Mézga Géza

• According to Origo’s information, the character of Pisti Hufnágel was portrayed after an actual person whom József Nepp knew from his childhood. They attended kindergarten together, although there is no background information on whether they had to compete for the same girl as it occurs in the show. Nevertheless, it must have left a big impact on the creator to include him in the series. Nepp also said in an interview back in ‘88 that he had received countless fun letters from viewers with the same surname, Hufnágel. 
• Interestingly, Hufnágel is not shown in any episode except “Black Gold” aired in ‘78, but even in that one, he wears a head bandage. What we do know about him though is that he owns a coffee shop in Nagytétény. Once an autonomous town that now belongs to Budapest,  Nagytétény was the birthplace of the famous Hungarian poet József Romhányi who wrote the iconic dialogues for the series. This is how the writer paid tribute to his hometown.
• Based on Újsagmúzeum’s information, József Nepp was once asked about his greatest aspiration when creating the TV show. He commented that, at the beginning of his career, he dreamed about making better cartoons than Walt Disney. However, later on, his view was shifted and he began comparing the quality of his work to that of Attila Dargay whose name is connected to another cult children’s story, Vuk the fox.
• The Hungarian word mézga actually means glue or tree gum and is a rather rare surname. The translators of the foreign adaptations became quite creative with the name. In Czechoslovakia, the tv show was renamed Rodina Smolíkova, which other than the gelatinous solution of plant roots also means bad luck, thus referring to the numerous misfortune yet hilarious situations the family lands itself into. The Germans gave the name Meztger to the Hungarian family which means butcher, there is no background information on the choice of the word though. It may bear some resemblance to Mézga in its sounding. On the other, the Dutch did not give much thought to it and came up with a generic surname, Sanders.
• In season three, the Mézga family crosses 7 continents, including the mythical Atlantis. The visited cities mentioned throughout the episodes are Sydney, Bombay, Madras, Marseille, Nice and Paris. However, the budget did not cover the expenses to elaborate more on these popular destinations, therefore, there are no signature buildings or sites depicted. The series also includes some funny mishaps, for example, when the family reaches the North Pole and just three days after the South Pole, it is the summer solstice on both hemispheres. The weather is all bright and sunny when in fact the North Pole is supposed to be dark and wintery in June.

Since the time the first episode was aired, more than 60 years have passed, therefore, part of the Mézga family would sadly not be with us anymore. However, in fiction everything is possible and these timeless characters, who made us smile and cry from happiness for many years, will stay with us forever in our sweetest memories. Let’s remember the Mézga family with our editorial team’s two favorite episodes that come with English subtitles. Enjoy! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Negzb730PKw&t=308s&ab_channel=ZoltanVaci

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvRag7DaZLQ&t=778s&ab_channel=ZoltanVaci

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