Oh, tensor! Oh, turbulent perturbation! Some time before Professor Tarantoga invented a time machine and met a schizophrenic man from the fourth millennium, he apparently invented a transporter that took him and his new assistant Chybek to a series of progressively more advanced civilizations, the last of which included a barefaced cook who had an embarrasing accident in the cosmic kitchen, resulting in mankind (and indirectly resulting in time travel for the professor and Chybek).
—Michael Main
I znów mi się przypaliło—jedno spiralne ramie, od spodu, na trzysta parseków—i znowu wybiegła mi słonecznica, i ścięło się, i będzie zgęstek, i powstanie białko, przeklęte białko! I znowu będzie ewolucja, i ludzkość, i cywilizacja, i będę się musiał tłumaczyć, usprawiedliwiać, składać we dwoje, przepraszać, że to niechcący, że przez przypadek . . . Ale to wy, nie ja!
translate And I got burned again—one spiral arm, underneath, three hundred parsecs—and again a sunflower came out of me and it was choked and there will be a bundle of white, cursed protein! And there will be evolution again, and humanity and civilization, and I will have to justify, justify, put together, apologize that it’s accidentally, that by accident . . .

Tags

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Variants

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  1. teleplay script.
    Wyprawa profesora Tarantogi: Widowisko w sześciu częściach by Stanisław Lem, in Noc księżycowa (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1963) [Published as a TV script (“widowisko telewizyjne”) 19 years before the 1964 Polish TV broadcast.].
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem
  2. possibly expanded or revised from Lem’s original script.
    Wyprawa profesora Tarantogi [writer and director unknown] writer], directed by Tadeusz Huk (unknown TV venue, Poland, 5 September 1992).
    3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by unknown persons [possibly using an alias]
    Stanisław Lem (story)
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . directed by Tadeusz Huk

Translations

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  1. German: teleplay script.
    Die Forschungsreise des Professors Tarantoga by Stanisław Lem, in Der getreue Roboter: Fernsehspiele (Volk und Welt, 1975).
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by Charlotte Eckert
  2. Russian: teleplay script.
    Путешествие профессора Тарантоги by Stanisław Lem, in На суше и на море :: Na sushe I na more, edited by Георгий Кубанский :: Georgy Kubansky ([Error: Missing ':]' tag for wikilink].
    3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by E. Weisbrot as by Е. Вайсброта
  3. Russian: alternative Russian teleplay title.
    Путешествия профессора Тарантоги by Stanisław Lem, unknown initial publication, circa 1964.
    4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Stanisław Lem
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . translated by E. Weisbrot as by Е. Вайсброта

Derived Works

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  1. Die seltsamen Begegnungen des Prof. Tarantoga [writer unknown], directed by Charles Kerremans (4 December 1978).

Indexer Notes

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  1. 1964 Russian translation—The Russian translation, Путешествие профессора Тарантоги :: Puteshestviye professora Tarantogi (Professor Tarantoga’s voyage), 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 FantLab and Ozon.
  2. 1975 German translation—The German translation, Die Forschungsreise des Professors Tarantoga (Professor Tarantoga’s voyages), 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 did with the German remake Die seltsamen Begenungen des Professor Tarantoga.
  3. Alternative Russian Title—The plural title Путешествия профессора Тарантоги :: Puteshestviya professora Tarantogi (Professor Tarantoga’s journeys) is explicitly given at sensagent and elsewhere, but we cannot cite any actual releases.