Ijon Tichy: Space Pilot

Ijon Tichy: Space Pilot (German: Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot) is a satiric German television series loosely based on the series of science fiction stories The Star Diaries by Stanisław Lem. The television series was created by Randa Chahoud, Dennis Jacobsen, and Oliver Jahn with Jahn playing the protagonist, space traveller Ijon Tichy. The major female role, the female robot hologramme, is played by Nora Tschirner.[1]

Ijon Tichy: Space Pilot
Created byRanda Chahoud, Dennis Jacobsen, Oliver Jahn
Based onThe Star Diaries
by Stanisław Lem
StarringOliver Jahn, Nora Tschirner
ComposerEike Groenewold
Country of originGermany
Original languageGerman
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes14
Production
ProducersKosmische Kollegen, Karsten Aurich, German Film and Television Academy Berlin
Release
Original networkZDF
Original release26 March 2007 (2007-03-26)

The first season was aired from 26 March 2007 on ZDF on Mondays at 23:55 hours. One week before the airing, each episode used to be published online as a streaming video on ZDF mediathek, an online repository operated by ZDF. In November 2011, the second season (Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot II) was aired on ZDFneo.[2] Both seasons are available on DVD, with the second season having English subtitles.

Plot

Ijon Tichy, a sort of Baron Munchausen in space, navigates the universe in his "three-bedroom rocket". His homemade female robot Analoge Halluzinelle, a hologramme, is his ubiquitous companion. The part is played by Nora Tschirner. Together they experience various adventures on alien planets, inside cosmic eddies, or within their own spacecraft. Tichy narrates the stories with an artificial Eastern European accent, a nod towards the origin of the show (based on stories by Polish writer Stanisław Lem). The plot features many comic and satirically exaggerated situations that are often aimed at popular genres.

Production

The series is based on The Star Diaries and other works by Stanisław Lem that involve Ijon Tichy. From this material, Randa Chahoud, Dennis Jacobsen and Oliver Jahn, fellow students at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb), created two short films Aus den Sterntagebüchern des Ijon Tichy [From the Star Diaries of Ijon Tichy] (1999) and Aus den Sterntagebüchern des Ijon Tichy II (2000). The former won the audience award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival in 1999.[3] In 2005, Chahoud, Jacobsen and Jahn founded a production company, Kosmische Kollegen [Cosmic Colleagues]. Together with Karsten Aurich of Sabotage Films and dffb they were contracted by the ZDF network to realise the television series.[4]

The set utilises numerous retro style items like household tools from the 1980s and 90s. Tichy's spacecraft is a giant French press that looks like an old Berlin apartment inside. Alien characters have been created with deliberately simple means.[5] Many of the alien and robot characters utilized various forms of puppetry and animatronics. The first season was shot in Oliver Jahn's former apartment and since he moved house between the two seasons his original home was recreated in a studio for the filming of the second season.

List of episodes

The first season comprises six episodes of 15 minutes each that were aired from 26 March 2007 to 7 May 2007 on ZDF.

Season 1 (2007)
No. Title Airdate
01"Kosmische Kollegen"[6]
"Cosmic Colleagues"		26 March 2007 (2007-03-26)
02"Planet der Reserven"[6]
"Planet of Reserves"		2 April 2007 (2007-04-02)
03"Relativistische Effekte"[7]
"Relativistic Effects"		26 March 2007 (2007-03-26)
04"Der futurologische Kongress"[8]
"The Futurological Congress"		23 April 2007 (2007-04-23)
05"Sabotage"
30 April 2007 (2007-04-30)
06"Die innere Stimme"
"The inner Voice"		7 May 2007 (2007-05-07)

Season 2 (2011)

The second season consists of 8 double episodes of 24 minutes length each that were aired in double sequences between 4 and 25 November 2011 on ZDFneo.

No. Title Airdate
01"Held von Kosmos"
"Hero of Cosm"		4 November 2011 (2011-11-04)
02"Shøpping"
4 November 2011 (2011-11-04)
03"Schön schaumig"
"Pleasantly foamy"		11 November 2011 (2011-11-11)
04"Biste fix Zeitblasen"
"Be Quick Time Bubbles"		11 November 2011 (2011-11-11)
05"Sepulken verboten"
"Sepulking prohibited"		18 November 2011 (2011-11-18)
06"Das Erinnerungsstück"
"The Souvenir"		18 November 2011 (2011-11-18)
07"Schein und Sein I"
"Appearance and Being I"		25 November 2011 (2011-11-25)
08"Schein und Sein II"
"Appearance and Being II"		25 November 2011 (2011-11-25)

Recognition
YearAwardCategoryResult
2007German Television Award[9] Talent award Won
2007 First Steps – Der deutsche Nachwuchspreis[10] Short and animated films under 25 minutes Nominated
2008 New York Festivals[11] Television Entertainment Programs, Comedy/Satire Bronze
2008 Adolf Grimme Award[12] Fiction Nominated
2012 Curt Siodmak Prize (de:Curt-Siodmak-Preis) Best TV Series[13] Won
2012 Curt Siodmak Prize (de:Curt-Siodmak-Preis) Special prize for German and German-language productions[13] Won

Asteroids 343000 Ijontichy and 343444 Halluzinelle are named in commemoration of the series.[14][15]

References
  1. Official website
  2. "ZDF zeigt neue Folgen von 'Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot'". presseportal.de (in German). 24 November 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  3. "Die Preisträger des IKFF 1999" (in German). KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  4. "Team" (in German). Sabotage Films. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  5. "Hinter den Kulissen bei Ijon Tichy Raumpilot" (streaming video). golem.de (in German). 4 November 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  6. inspired by The Fourteenth Voyage of Lem's Star Diaries
  7. inspired by The Seventh Voyage of Lem's Star Diaries
  8. inspired by The Eighth Voyage of Lem's Star Diaries; unrelated to Lem's novel The Futurological Congress
  9. "Der Deutsche Fernsehpreis 2007" (in German). Der Deutsche Fernsehpreis GmbH. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  10. "First Steps Nominierungen 2007". First Steps – Der deutsche Nachwuchspreis (in German). Archived from the original on 28 December 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  11. "2008 Bronze World Medal". New York Festivals Awards. New York Festivals International Awards Group LLC. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  12. "Nominierte Fiktion 2008". Grimme-Preis (in German). Grimme-Institut GmbH. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  13. All prize winners, Curt Siodmak Prize
  14. "343000 Ijontichy (2009 BH73)". JPL Small-Body Database Browser. NASA. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  15. "343444 Halluzinelle (2010 EW20)". JPL Small-Body Database Browser. NASA. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
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