Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot
Encyclopedia
Ijon Tichy: Raumpilot is a black humour German television series. It is 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 is played by Nora Tschirner
.
The first season was aired from 26 March 2007 on ZDF
on Mondays at 23:55 hours. Each episode used to be published online as a streaming video one week before the airing on ZDFmediathek, an online repository operated by that channel. In November 2011, a second season was aired on ZDFneo
.
in space, navigates the universe with his "three-room rocket". His homemade female robot Analoge Halluzinelle, a hologramme, is his ubiquitious companion. The part is played by Nora Tschirner. Together they experience awkward adventures on alien planets, inside cosmic eddies
, or within their own spacecraft. While Tichy narrates the stories with an Eastern European accent, the plot features many comic and satirically exaggerated situations that are often aimed at popular genres.
(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. 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.
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. 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.
.
The Star Diaries
Dzienniki gwiazdowe is a 1971 collection of short stories by Polish writer Stanisław Lem around the character of space traveller Ijon Tichy...
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
Ijon Tichy
Ijon Tichy is a fictional character who appears in several works of Stanisław Lem, including The Futurological Congress, Peace on Earth, Observation on the Spot, The Star Diaries and Memoirs of a Space Traveller .-Character:Tichy is a space explorer whose interplanetary...
. The major female role is played by Nora Tschirner
Nora Tschirner
Nora Marie Tschirner is a German actress and television and radio presenter.-Early life:Nora Tschirner was born in East Berlin to the documentary film director Joachim Tschirner and the radio journalist Waltraud Tschirner. She grew up with her two older brothers in the East Berlin suburb Pankow...
.
The first season was aired from 26 March 2007 on ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
on Mondays at 23:55 hours. Each episode used to be published online as a streaming video one week before the airing on ZDFmediathek, an online repository operated by that channel. In November 2011, a second season was aired on ZDFneo
ZDFneo
ZDFneo is a German digital terrestrial television channel, programmed for an audience aged 18 to 45 to counter the primarily older-skewing main programmes of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel, "ZDFdokukanal", on November 1, 2009.-Name:Although the channel's logo...
.
Plot
Ijon Tichy, a sort of Baron MünchhausenBaron Munchhausen
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen , usually known as Baron Münchhausen in English, was a German nobleman born in Bodenwerder and a famous recounter of tall tales....
in space, navigates the universe with his "three-room rocket". His homemade female robot Analoge Halluzinelle, a hologramme, is his ubiquitious companion. The part is played by Nora Tschirner. Together they experience awkward adventures on alien planets, inside cosmic eddies
Eddy (fluid dynamics)
In fluid dynamics, an eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object...
, or within their own spacecraft. While Tichy narrates the stories with an Eastern European accent, 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 focus on Ijon Tichy. From this material, Randa Chahoud, Dennis Jacobsen and Oliver Jahn, fellow students at the German Film and Television Academy BerlinDeutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin
The Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin is a film school in Berlin, Germany.In the German film school ranking of FOCUS , the dffb - together with the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and the international filmschool cologne - were ranked as 2nd after the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg...
(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
Audience award
An audience award is typically an award at a film festival which is selected by the audience attending the festival, rather than by the festival jury or a group of critics.- Examples :...
at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival in 1999. 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
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
network to realise the television series.
The set utilises numerous retro style items like household tools from the 1980s and 90s. Tichy's spacecraft is a giant French press
French press
A French press, also known as a press pot, coffee press, coffee plunger, cafetiere or сafetière à piston, is a simple coffee brewing device that was first patented by Italian designer Attilio Calimani in 1929....
that looks like an old Berlin apartment inside. Alien characters have been created with deliberately simple means. 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)
| № | Title | Airdate |
|---|
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 ZDFneoZDFneo
ZDFneo is a German digital terrestrial television channel, programmed for an audience aged 18 to 45 to counter the primarily older-skewing main programmes of public broadcasters ZDF and ARD. It replaced ZDF's documentary channel, "ZDFdokukanal", on November 1, 2009.-Name:Although the channel's logo...
.
| № | Title | Airdate |
|---|
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | German Television Award Deutscher Fernsehpreis The Deutscher Fernsehpreis is a German award for television programming, created in 1999 by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and Sat.1. It was created as a equivalent to the Emmy Awards though it is not organized by an academy and is awarded annually in September or October... |
Talent award | |
| 2007 | First Steps – Der deutsche Nachwuchspreis | Short and animated films under 25 minutes | |
| 2008 | New York Festivals | Television Entertainment Programs, Comedy/Satire | |
| 2008 | Adolf Grimme Award | Fiction |