{"id":138,"date":"2008-07-29T12:05:20","date_gmt":"2008-07-29T16:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=138"},"modified":"2008-07-29T12:05:20","modified_gmt":"2008-07-29T16:05:20","slug":"four-tankmen-and-a-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/four-tankmen-and-a-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Tankmen And a Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I woke up this morning humming the theme song from \u201cCzterej pancerni i pies<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (Four Tankmen And a Dog). Don\u2019t ask me why – I must have had some really wacky dreams last night. Mercifully, I remember nothing. So how did this song get stuck in my head this morning? A total mystery to me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an even greater mystery that I still remember all the words to it. And that is truly scary \u2013 the last time I heard this song was sometime in 1981.<\/p>\n

Oh wait! You have no clue what I\u2019m talking about, now do you?
\nSorry, my bad! Let me explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cCzterej pancerni i pies<\/strong>\u201d was a Polish TV series from the late 60s. It was based on a book by Janusz Przymanowski<\/a><\/strong> and was about, well, four guys in a tank and their dog. And you could say that as far as Polish TV series go, this one was very successful. So successful in fact, that it achieved a cult status, of sorts, in Poland. Even though only 21 episodes had been made, they\u2019d been rerun and rerun ad nauseam – every year to be exact, up until, oh maybe 1989. Then after the fall of communism, people suddenly got better things to watch on TV, yet still \u201cCzterej pancerni<\/strong>\u2026\u201d remained popular.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It was reissued on DVD in 2000 and apparently the DVD version even has English subtitles. I\u2019ve been hunting for it, but so far \u2013 no luck.<\/p>\n

I suppose you could ask any random Pole (even one born after 1980) if they\u2019re familiar with Rudy<\/strong>, Szarik<\/strong> and the tank crew, and I betcha they\u2019d say \u201cyes\u201d.
\nRudy<\/a><\/strong> was the name of their tank, and Szarik<\/a><\/strong> was their dog.<\/p>\n

The series was full of pro-Soviet propaganda, but it also depicted WW2 with a humorous slant and was simply action-filled fun. And if you consider the times and the production value, you realize it was also superbly made.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s become fashionable lately to slam it for the way it portrayed Polish-Russian friendships or the glories of the Soviet Army, though if you watch closely, you\u2019ll notice that the creators had managed to sneak in a few critical bits past the communist censors of the day, as well.<\/p>\n

For all its shortcomings, it was a great series. It had friendship, love, humor, action and a dog. And who could NOT love Szarik the German shepherd?<\/p>\n

Other than the dog, what evidently got stuck in my head is the opening song \u201cDeszcze niespokojne<\/a><\/strong>\u201d (\u201cRestless Rains\u201d<\/em>) by Edmund Fetting<\/strong>. Don\u2019t worry, I won\u2019t sing it for you, if I did, I doubt I\u2019d be allowed to continue writing this blog. Instead, you can listen to the opening theme here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Words for today:<\/p>\n