Spadla z oblakov

Spadla z oblakov (-Slovak, in English translated as "She Came Out of the Blue Sky") is a Slovak language sci-fi TV series for children created in year 1978. The series became very popular in Czechoslovakia and several other countries.

The series was based on 1967 child book "Spadla z nebe" ("She came out of the blue sky") by Václav Pavel Borovička, a Czech writer and screenwriter. The first, very successful edition was followed by several reprints, the last in year 2000 (ISBN 80-7214-365-4). The TV series follows the book quite closely

The plot

An extraterrestrial alien lands on Earth near the (fictional) Slovak town Čabovce. The alien, which looks like a little girl, meets with a group of children from the town who name her Maika (Majka). While she has extensive knowledge of encyclopedical facts about the human world she doesn't really understand people's emotions and behaviour and gets only slowly acquainted with them through the help of children. Maika in turn uses her abilities to fly or to effortlessly replicate things as a source of entertainment and adventures for her friends.

Maika's extraordinary capabilities soon attract the attention of a mysterious secret service. As the service agents try to snatch Maika, they damage her source of energy. The alien, who turns to be an android, is thus forced to go back to her home planet "Gurun" but she promises the children that she will return again.

At this point the series departs from the book where Maika dies.

Details

The series was produced in 1978 by Czechoslovak Television Bratislava in Film Ateliers Gottwaldov. It consists of 13 parts, each lasting about 25 minutes. Radim Cvrček served as the director, the main child role (Maika) was played by Zuzana Pravňanská. The music was composed by Harry Macourek.

"Spadla z oblakov" does not rely on astonishing visual effects and keeps the simple storyline focused on understanding the human world from the point of view of a child.

Name in other languages

The series has been aired in several foreign countries (first in 1981 in Norway) under different names:

* Slovak (original) - Spadla z oblakov
* Russian - Приключения в каникулы
* German - Sie kam aus dem All
* English - She Came Out of the Blue Sky
* Polish - Majka z Kosmosu
* Norwegian (Nynorsk) - Majka - jenta frå verdsrommet
* Vietnamese - Maika - Cô Bé Từ Trên Trời Rơi Xuống
* Hungarian - Csillagok küldötte
* Bulgarian - Паднала от облаците
* Spanish - Mayka, La Niña del Espacio

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077083/ IMDb record]
* [http://spadla.narod.ru/index_e.htm Website about the serial, contents, screenshots] (English and Russian, Russian translation of the book)
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twdsb0JHFYI A YouTube video with opening song]