Letajici Cestmir

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
(Redirected from Der Fliegende Ferdinand)

Létající Cestmír (German: Der Fliegende Ferdinand) is a Czech children's book / TV series by Milos Macourek (book) and Václav Vorlícek (directing) from the 1980s. It's about the Cloudcuckoolander school boy Cestmír / Ferdinand, who one day is magically transported to a planet of magical flowers. Of course, nobody believes him. However, he brought two magical flowers back. Much Hilarity Ensues. And then, other people are drawn to the flower planet - and the city's barber wants to get said flowers for his own advantage...

Tropes used in Letajici Cestmir include:


  • Bald of Evil: The barber.
  • Children Are Innocent: The professor explicitly says so. Note however, that the barber's son is pretty much an asshole despite being a kid, and the professor is a good guy despite being old. It's really more about whether you are "a child at heart".
  • Cloudcuckoolander: The protagonist. After reading a pseudoscientific article about telekinesis, he thinks it's really possible in our world. Of course, most people wouldn't believe in magical flowers either...
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right / Cassandra Truth: The one time Cestmír / Ferdinand tells a story he didn't make up, nobody believes him.
  • Cyborg: The institute where David's father works, which aims for the improvement of man, has invented among other things a helm which improves the olfactory sense and a more practical tool for improving hearing.
  • The Ditz: The barber's son. In one scene he fails to add two one-digit numbers! (Alternate Character Interpretation: He sees homework as beneath his dignity.)
  • Eternal Youth: What one of the flowers does. The professor uses it, but apparently nobody else.
  • Flight: Done by one of the two flowers Cestmír / Ferdinand gets.
  • Generation Xerox: Everyone tells Cestmír / Ferdinand that he's "just like his father". Consequently, when the one flower turns him into an adult, he's played by his father's actor. Despite the fact that there isn't really much similarity.
  • Go Among Mad People: The father is mistaken for crazy, because his son (remember, in his adult form he looks like his father) is around and acts, well, not like himself. You know what I mean.
  • Green Rocks: The meteorite which is found by Cestmír / Ferdinand and later, his teacher Philip. It glows blue, and sometimes changes its size; when people come too close to it, they're sucked into it and go to the planet of the magical flowers.
  • Healing Hands: Another flower can heal about any disease, including baldness. Which the barber uses to become a famous healer. At the end, the city's hospital is empty.
  • Jerkass: The barber and his son.
  • Magical Land: The planet of the magical flowers, of course.
  • Plant People: The flowers in the other world can speak, and apparently humans can communicate with them.
  • Psychokinesis: Cestmír / Ferdinand thinks he can obtain this after reading an article about a fakir. Later, he tries using this to open the safe where the stolen flowers are.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money: The barber again.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: The barber's son. He wants to be called "grand vizier" by the other kids and throws a temper when they won't.
  • Stern Teacher: Ms Klepácová / Knobloch
  • Super Intelligence: One flower (notice the pattern?). Also gives all kinds of abilities, like speaking Japanese.
  • Super Senses: The barber's wife uses it to learn all kinds of interesting gossip, which she puts into the newspaper.
  • Super Strength: Also by one flower. The barber and his son once use it to win a tennis match (6:0, 6:0, 6:0, unsurprisingly).
  • Two Guys And One Girl: The protagonist and his friends.
  • Urban Fantasy
  • Villain: The barber, who wants to use the flowers to make money and get famous.
  • Year Inside, Hour Outside: Philip spends almost one year there, but on Earth only a few minutes pass.