Wednesday 16 November 2022

Masha and the Bear 1.7.1 - Recipe For Disaster


This episode was first broadcast on 15th April 2011.

It's a typical story of Bear wanting his peace and quiet, while Masha creates chaos.


Bear is sitting at home reading a book of checkers puzzles. The game is called draughts in England and all other English-speaking countries. In Germany it's called Dame, which means Lady. That's a curious name. I wonder if there's a psychological significance.

I also wonder if there's any significance to the author's name.


This is the puzzle he's studying. The series is translated from Russian, and I'm not sure if the translation is correct. Do you use the word "checkmate" in draughts? I would have written "White to move first and win".

But seriously, what's so special about this puzzle? It looks like an easy win for White.


Bear takes the problem every seriously. He's deep in thought.


But there's no peace for Bear. Masha arrives and messes with his board. He makes her play outside, but she's still too loud.


Bear goes and sits by the lake to solve his puzzles in peace, leaving Masha in his house.


She wants to eat something, but all Bear has left her is porridge.

Hey! What's the matter with porridge? I ate porridge almost every morning when I went to school. I still enjoy porridge today, though I don't eat it as often as I used to.


Masha decides to cook something more interesting. There's the oatmeal.


There's the jam.


Add some milk, let it simmer, and...


... it tastes delicious!


But the saucepan is cooking over. Did she use too much oatmeal? Too much jam? Or too much of everything?


She fills up every pot, pan and cup that she can find.


She fills the trophies on the shelf. Bear won't like that!


So much good food can't be left to waste. Masha feeds the rabbit.


She feeds the hedgehogs.


She feeds the squirrel.


She even feeds the wolves.


The wolves are always hungry, so they gladly devour the food.


Masha's glad to see them eat, so she offers them a bit more.


When Bear comes home he finds his house in a mess.


Masha scrubs and cleans, and eventually it's as good as new.


"Bear, I'm hungry, Can I have something to eat now?"


And Bear serves Masha her a bowl of cherry oatmeal. She pushes it away in disgust.


But Bear shows her it's all he has. She'll be eating the same food for weeks to come. She should have stuck with porridge.


Masha exclaims, "Oh, I've made such a cruel gruel!" That's a brilliant line of dialogue. I bet it didn't sound as good in the original Russian.

The End.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Tick the box "Notify me" to receive notification of replies.