Captain Pronin
Captain Pronin is a 4-episode cartoon series made in the post-Soviet Russia in the early nineties.
Created as a parody of American action movies that flooded Russia in the early nineties, it is about Captain Pronin, the grandson of Major Pronin, a character from a series of Soviet books from The Fifties (who was like a Russian James Bond).
The 4 episodes are:
- Captain Pronin - Major Pronin's Grandson (Капитан Пронин - Внук Майора Пронина) - The first one
- Captain Pronin 2 - Captain Pronin in America (Капитан Пронин 2 - Капитан Пронин в Америке) - The sequel, now set in New York City.
- Captain Pronin 3 - Captain Pronin in Space (Капитан Пронин 3 - Капитан Пронин в космосе) - Now in SPACE!!!
- Captain Pronin 4 - Captain Pronin in Opera (Капитан Пронин 4 - Капитан Пронин в опере) - The last part, with higher production values than the others but not received as well.
Tropes used in Captain Pronin include:
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Some characters have different skin colors, such as the junkies in the first part, who are blue, Myshyakovich, who is green and Don Carlione, who is pink.
- Art Evolution: The fourth episode has much better animation than the previous ones.
- Bill Clinton: At the second episode's credits, who happens to look like a character designed by Mike Judge.
- Bragging Theme Tune: And how!
- Brawn Hilda: The two female wrestlers in the second part. Apparently stated to be a Take That against American gender equality.
- The Cameo: James Bond and the titular character's grandpa in the first part.
- Captain Ersatz: A mafia boss named "Don Carlione" in the first. A viking Darth Vader lookalike in the third.
- Captain Pronin Can Breathe In Space: Well, with a help of a gas mask. And Space Is an Ocean literally, since he can swim in it just like in water.
- Crowning Music of Awesome: Captain Pronin's theme tune, by Car-Man, a duet famous in Russia in The Nineties.
- Depraved Dentist: Dr. Myshyakovich in the first episode.
- Deranged Animation: Any time a character's face is seen up close.
- Disappeared Dad: Captain Pronin's father is never even mentioned. Even in the photos of his birth and youth, he's always seen with Major Pronin.
- Everybody Lives: No one dies in any of the parts. Mooks, even hit by hand grenades are merely knocked out.
- Explosions in Space
- Expy - Captain Pronin is Ivan Danko's one.
- Gratuitous English: Again, Captain Pronin's theme.
- A shop featuring medieval weaponry features a "Guns" sign.
- Haunted Castle: Myshyakovich's castle.
- The Infiltration: One of the dentist mooks in the first part turns out to be James Bond.
- I Have Your Wife: In the first episode.
- Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: The villain of the first part has everything at his disposal, including ninjas.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: In the second episode, there are lines such as "This is your money. Give me your smoking!" ("Smoking" means "tuxedo" in Russian. Likely intentional, as the Russian subtitles used "kurtka", another word for "jacket").
- Parody Sue: Pronin himself. Subverted in the second episode that for the most part of it, it was actually a robot lookalike of him.
- Redheaded Hero: Obviously.
- Reference Overdosed
- Rock Beats Laser: In the third episode, Pronin beats the lightsaber-using viking Darth Vader using a standard-issue police baton (even with the word "Advertisement" appearing on the screen afterwards).
- Shout-Out: Mafia members, each taller than each other much like the Dalton brothers are seen coming out of the red Mafia Clown Car in the second episode.
- Suspiciously Similar Song: In the second episode, Don Carlione turns the radio on a song that sounds similar to The Godfather theme.
- Vocal Evolution: In the first episode Pronin is filled with less emotion, from the second episode onward he becomes a Large Ham.
- Woolseyism: Niffiwan, the English translator inserted a subtle one into the theme song for the rhyme:
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"Russian Super! Captain Pronin, cracks the case, loves the chase, he's owning!" |
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