Professor Tarantoga saves human civilization! After using his chronopad to investigate the leading scientists and artists in history, Tarantoga concludes that without exception they are lazy drunkards. So naturally, he sends smart young people into various eras to invent differential calculus, to paint the Mona Lisa, etc.—all while a pair of police inspectors have their eye on him.
—based on Wikipedia

Tags

(19)

Variants

(2)
  1. teleplay script.
    Czarna komnata profesora Tarantogi: Widowisko telewizyjne by Stanisław Lem, in Noc księżycowa (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1963) [Published as a TV script (“widowisko telewizyjne”) the year before the 1964 Polish TV broadcast.].
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem
  2. possibly expanded or revised from Lem’s original script.
    Czarna komnata profesora Tarantogi by Stanisław Lem [?] [writer and director unknown], from Teatr Sfinks [unknown season and episode number] (TVP, Poland, 4 June 1964).
    3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem
    Stanisław Lem (story)
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . directed by unknown persons [possibly using an alias]

Translations

(1)
  1. Russian: teleplay script.
    Чёрная комната профессора Тарантоги: Телевизионный сценарий, as by Станислав Лем, 3-part serial in Сов. радио и телевидение :: Sov. radio and television, vol. 7/8, no. 2–4, 1968.
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem as by Станислав Лем
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by E. Weisbrot as by Е. Вайсброта

Indexer Notes

(3)
  1. 1963 Published Script—For us, the 1963 script and the 1964 Polish made-for-TV movie are variants of the same work rather than separate works because the 1963 publication was an actual TV script (“widowisko telewizyjne”) rather than a story, and we believe that the TV film was adapted from the script more or less directly, although it could have been expanded or otherwise revised.
  2. 1964 Polish TV Film—Details of the 1964 Polish broadcast are from a list of 1964 Polish theater TV. We presume that the broadcaster was Telewizja Polska (TVP), since that was the only station on air in 1964.
  3. Russian translation—The Russian translation, Чёрная комната профессора Тарантоги: Телевизионный сценарий :: Chernaya komnata professora Tarantogi: Televizionnyy stsenariy (Professor Tarantoga’s black room: television script), appears to be a straight-up translation of the 1963 Polish script that was similarly published as a script. Because it is a direct translation, we list it here as a variant rather than listing it as a separate work in its own right (as we would do if it were a remake adapted to a new language). Please see the 1968 Russian Stanisław Lem bibliography for the source of our citation.