Czech stop motion: Pat & Mat

John Martz | September 14th, 2009

I had never heard of Pat & Mat until I came across this bountiful post on MetaFilter, which helps explain the origins of these comical Czech stop motion shorts:

Considered ideologically impure by Czech authorities, creators Lubomír Beneš and Vladimír Jiránek were allowed to make around 30 episodes by the Slovakian arm of the state television corporation. They continued making new episodes after Communist rule ended and production was kept going after they passed away.

The first short was produced in 1979. The series was sporadically updated through to 2004 with 78 episodes in total according to this Pat & Mat fansite.

I am a new fan. It’s hard to believe that this harmless comedy of errors, which seems outlandishly tame even for children’s programming, was ever considered subversive. Visit the MetaFilter post for a whopping playlist that should keep you entertained for several hours.

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  • rofu
    Watching this great piece of animation it "Lolek und Bolek" came into my mind. A polish animated series which i loved when i was a kid. Even my daugther (7) loves them watching them on DVD now.
    http://tinyurl.com/qpl249
  • Oh man, I grew up on Pat and Mat, or rather 'Buurman en Buurman' (neighbour and neighbour) as they were known in the Netherlands. It's strange to see them without the Dutch voices, which were half the appeal really, but it's still pretty great.
    I had no idea they were considered subversive back in Czechoslovakia, makes you wonder how Jan Svankmajer was ever able to make films.
  • So fantastic!
  • Thank you for finding that, I always watched them as a child but couldn't remember their name.
    Do you know Cheburashka? It's the most famous Russian stop motion movies about the cute furry Cheburashka and his friends. http://bit.ly/3pLf97
  • chemix
  • Dael
    I don't find it difficult to understand why these films were considered ideologically impure. The two characters are constantly making mistakes, and often the mistakes they make are wasteful of materials and objects. In a Communist country, everything is owned by the people. Wasteful behavior is considered a crime against the people. These two characters seem to have an endless supply of material goods, and they are not bothered in the least by their wasteful ways. Indeed, their blase' attitude is part of their charm.
  • Avika
    I think they were afraid of inadvertently publishing/broadcasting creative works that seemed innocent on the surface but were actually political allegories. E.g. the two foolish characters might represent particular communist leaders, or the Soviet Union and China.
  • thank you, thank you, thank you!
  • they were huge in ex yugoslavia. To this day, when we start a project and we're terribly clumsy at it, somebody ALWAYS starts singing the opening tune :)
  • uns3en
    They used to show this series at finland in Pikku Kakkonen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikku_Kakkonen :)
  • whatistigerbalm
    As somebody who grew up in a Communist country, I am more than a little skeptical towards the description of the series as subversive. (Funnily enough, the originating Wiki claim has no reerence.) The "A je to!" episodes were immensely popular and fairly widely exported, in addition to being made by state TV. I'm not saying Commie authorities weren't ridiculous in their paranoia; they were (as were their Western counterparts), but a kids' programme was just a kids' programme.
  • We've been fans for years, it's a tremendous series. So popular in this part of the world that there is a even a beer garden near us named 'Pat a Mat'...glad to see it's finally getting some outside exposure.

    In my opinion this series and 'Pingu' are about the very best in children's animation...I looked forward to it as much as my kids!
  • Dececco, same here...I mess up, like with super-glue or with some chairs I was fixing and my wife starts whistling the tune...
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