[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mv5bmju5n2yzzjytmgrlys00yty5lwfkytgtyze4zdg2nje1otuzxkeyxkfqcgdeqxvynjmxodmyodu__v1.jpg]]

''Captain Pronin'' is a 4-episode cartoon series made in the [[UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia post-Soviet Russia]] at Studio Ekran between [[TheNineties 1992 and 1994]].

Created as a parody of American action movies that flooded UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} in the early nineties, it is about Captain Pronin, the grandson of Major Pronin, a character from a series of Soviet books from TheFifties (who was like a Russian Film/JamesBond).

The 4 episodes are:

* ''[[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkdpil Captain Pronin - Major Pronin's Grandson]]'' (''Капитан Пронин - Внук Майора Пронина'') - The first one. Released in 1992.
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teIOMLgaoyk Captain Pronin 2 - Captain Pronin in America]]'' (''Капитан Пронин 2 - Капитан Пронин в Америке'') - The sequel, now set in [[BigApplesauce New York City]]. Released in 1993.
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbSX-sDBEVk Captain Pronin 3 - Captain Pronin in Space]]'' (''Капитан Пронин 3 - Капитан Пронин в космосе'') - Now [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace in SPACE!!!]]. Released in 1993.
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF0gnlJAf5k 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. Released in 1994.

The series also has a video game spin-off, ''Captain Pronin: One Against All'', a UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows (with an unlicensed Platform/PlayStation port that was showcased by WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}} streamers Vinny and Joel) action game boasting 200 animations and 400 endings.
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!!''Captain Pronin'' provides examples of:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Series-wide tropes]]
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: Some characters have different skin colors:
** Svistunov and the other junkies in Cafe Malina are blue.
** Myshyakovich is green.
** Among Myshyakovich's orderlies, two are bright pink, and another two are green.
** James Bond is a pale pink-purple.
** [[Film/TheGodfather Don Corleone]] is also bright pink.
** The space bounty hunters are red and green.
* BraggingThemeTune: And how!
* ButtMonkey: Svistunov loses his clothes in the first short, and gets his identity (and a valuable jacket) stolen in the second.
* TheCameo:
** James Bond and Major Pronin in the first episode.
** Sergey Lemokh, of the band Car-Man, appears in the second episode as a cyborg villain. His band made the theme song to Captain Pronin.
** Although probably unintentional, it is hilarious to see [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} Princess Vespa]] (yes, they actually named her that!) being kidnapped and forced into marrying the Darth Vader expy.
* CaptainErsatz:
** A mafia boss named "Don Corleone" in the first episode.
** Car-Man is a blatant {{Expy}} of the Franchise/{{Terminator}}, which is doubly funny because Pronin himself looks like Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger.
** A [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] lookalike in the third episode.
** One of the space pirates from third episode looks like green-skinned, reptilian [[Film/{{ETTheExtraTerrestrial}} E.T..]]
* DerangedAnimation: Any time a character's face is seen up close.
* {{Expy}}: Captain Pronin is one to Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, likely specifically to his character Ivan Danko in ''Film/RedHeat''.
* GratuitousEnglish:
** Captain Pronin's theme song. "Captain Pronin Superstar!"
** When Major Pronin meets James Bond and apologizes for a misunderstanding, he says "friendship" in plain English. Not knowing the word "understand", he then asks "Vehrstehen?" (German).
** The dialog between Pronin and the trench-coated mafia man:
-->'''Mafia Man''': This is your money, give me a smoking! [[note]]"Smoking" means "tuxedo" in some languages including Russian. Likely intentional, as the Russian subtitles use "kurtka", another word for "jacket"[[/note]].
-->'''Pronin''': No smoking, you give me very little money! (''the in-built subtitles, hilariously, translate it as "Your money is counterfeit!"'')
* HappilyMarried: Captain Pronin is happily married to his wife, seen from the first and fourth short. He also brings this up in the third short to rebuff another's affections: [[spoiler:The Princess admits to falling in love with him.]]
* NobodyCanDie: No one dies in any of the parts. Even {{mooks}} hit by hand grenades are merely knocked out. A vehicle crash wrecks the vehicle but the occupants survive without being knocked out or visibly injured.
* NoSell: Pronin never flinches in the rare case someone actually manages to hit him with a weapon.
* ParodySue: Pronin himself is extremely capable, nearly infallible, and adored by everyone but the villains. Subverted in the second episode: [[spoiler:Most of Pronin's escapades in America follow a robot lookalike of him instead.]]
* ThemeTuneRap: At the end of each episode, and there's a sequence set to it in every episode from the second onward.
* VocalEvolution: In each and every film, Pronin becomes a bit more hammy. In the first, he is quite stoic and reserved. In the second, he is a bit more hammy, acting kind of like Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger until the very end, when... hoo boy. In the third, he is a full-blown LargeHam, who even takes time out to shill for his brand of rubber police baton while whaling on the BigBad. In the fourth... well let's just say between Pronin's attempts at playing the accordion and dancing ballet, the scenery was well and truly chewed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Captain Pronin - Major Pronin's Grandson'']]
* AmbiguousSyntax: when interrogating Svistunov, Pronin asks "Where do the drugs come from?", and the answer is "from a camel!", which in Russian means "go to hell, I'm not telling". Pronin, however, is satisfied with the answer and goes to a hotel owned by Camel (the cigarette brand), assuming that the drugs ''literally'' [[ExactWords come from Camel]].
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Played straight and then subverted with Putana. She crawls out of a crashed and flaming ambulance with no visible injuries, then a traffic sign falls on her. In the closing credits, she has a patch on her cheek and a cast on her arm.
* BilingualBonus: Putana's codename means "whore" in Italian.
* BookEnds: As Captain Pronin prepares for his mission, his wife reminds him to wear his bulletproof vest. At the end, she says how thankful she is that he did. [[spoiler:He just used it to protect her from Putana's last-ditch attack.]]
* DepravedDentist: Dr. Myshyakovich.
* DisappearedDad: Captain Pronin's father is never mentioned, not even showing up in Pronin's baby pictures.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Both Putana and Pronin have, well, extreme driving skills. Justified since the latter is chasing the former in a life-or-death situation.
* EekAMouse: Simply yelling "Mouse!" is enough to make Putana shriek and leap up on a nearby table.
* EnterStageWindow: How the ninjas sneak up on Captain Pronin. When defeated, they crawl out the same window, but Pronin nabs the last one.
* FemmeFatale: Putana, the blonde lady sent to kill Pronin.
* GratuitousGerman: When Major Pronin meets James Bond, he says "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verstehen verstehen]]" ("understand") to patch up a misunderstanding.
* GratuitousNinja: Ninjas are sent to Pronin's apartment as Plan B.
* HauntedCastle: Myshyakovich's castle may not have any spooks, but it is spooky.
* IHaveYourWife: Putana kidnaps Pronin's wife as he beats up the ninjas, using her as leverage to force Pronin's cooperation.
* TheInfiltration: One of Myshyakovich's mooks reveals himself to be James Bond.
* MeaningfulName: The evil doctor who conducts Nazi-like dental surgeries for fun is named Dr. Myshjakovitz. "Myshjak" means "arsenic", a then-used painkiller that worked by basically killing a patient's tooth nerve to make dental surgery painless.
* NotSoStoic: The ''only'' instance of the Captain being visibly horrified in the entire series is when Dr. Myshjakovitz tells him he's about to conduct terrible dental experiments on him.
* RaisedByGrandparents: Even in the photos of the Captain's life, from his birth all the way to his wedding, he's always depicted with his grandfather, Major Pronin.
* TheDoorSlamsYou: Major Pronin appears by slamming a door to knock out Captain Pronin's opponent.
* {{Seppuku}}: After the ninjas are defeated, one of them admits their failure and crawls out of the apartment to do this.
* PillowPistol: Pronin sleeps (next to his wife) with his gun in holster on his body. When he wakes up, she simply reminds him to put on a flak vest before work.
* SuperWindowJump: How Putana escapes her first encounter with Captain Pronin.
* TwinkleSmile: Putana does this with her gold tooth towards the audience twice, when she thinks she has the advantage against Captain Pronin.
* VillainousGoldTooth: Putana, the FemmeFatale sent to kill Pronin in ''Captain Pronin - Major Pronin's Grandson'', has a gold tooth. Her means of forcing his hand include [[IHaveYourWife kidnapping his wife]], and she shoots the camera a golden TwinkleSmile at the points where she thinks she has the advantage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Captain Pronin in America'']]
* AnimationBump: The action becomes smoother during the chase sequence between Pronin and the trenchcoats.
* UsefulNotes/BillClinton: At the second episode's credits, who happens to look like a character designed by Creator/MikeJudge.
* BilingualBonus: Car-Man (named after the singer who performs the theme song) is a play of words: the word "machina" in Russian means both "car" and "machine", the last part often used to describe a robot. In addition, '''Car'''leone is the one who owns him (the grammatically correct spelling with ''o'' is deliberately omitted).
** Don Carleone enjoys listening to his radio, where the same phrase "President of the United states cannot sleep out of fear of Don Carleone" is repeated over and over in at least four languages.
* BrawnHilda: The two bald, female wrestlers whose match Pronin and the mafia men intrude upon. Apparently stated to be a TakeThat against American gender equality.
* BrickJoke: A literal one. When Pronin meets the mafia in the alley, one man asks if Pronin can take a brick to the head. When Pronin confronts Don Corleone, another man sneaks up and tries to brain him with a brick. The brick bounces off the first time, then shatters the second, but Pronin is unscathed.
** As a less literal one, Pronin spends the episode hearing that the US President cannot sleep because of Don Carleone. When the latter is finally defeated, Pronin proudly calls the White House, and wakes up the President to tell him the news, in the end, telling him to sleep well.
* ClownCar: The mafia has a host of men packed into one car in the second episode.
* {{Cyborg}}: Car-Man, the robot assassin whose threat kept the President of the United States awake at night.
* ExactWords: A mafia man tests Pronin by asking "Can you do this?" and breaking a brick over his own head. Pronin answers "Yes I can!" and breaks another brick over the man's head to knock him out.
* GratuitousItalian: Pronin addresses Don Corleone after crashing a helicopter to his skyscraper.
-->'''Pronin''': ([[EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped Italian Dialogue]])[[note]]He says "Finita, mafiozi!", which is a grammatically incorrect version of "It's finished, mafia boss!". The subtitles, strangely, choose not to translate it at all.[[/note]]
-->'''Carleone''': Memento mori, signor Pronin!
* ImmuneToBullets: Captain Pronin's pistol has no effect on Car-Man.
* InstantIceJustAddCold: Pronin beats Car-Man by shoving him into a fridge. The next time the door is opened, out pops the cyborg in a giant ice cube.
* TheMafia: Captain Pronin encounters a host of trench-coated gangsters, culminating in a confrontation with their boss, Don Corleone.
* NationalAnthem: While Pronin is reading the news article about America, the background music is a snippet of "The Star-Spangled Banner".
* ShoutOut: After the mafia's red car is parked, out comes a line of men, each taller than the last, much like [[ComicBook/LuckyLuke the Dalton Brothers]].
* TwistEnding: Pronin appears to meet his match with Car-Man. [[spoiler:Most of the short has been following a robotic duplicate of Pronin, with the real one entering the scene to capture the villains and lament the loss of the robot.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Captain Pronin in Space'']]
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Captain Pronin can, with a help of a gas mask.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: After knocking the Vader copy with a rubber baton, Pronin briefly addresses the audience to advertise it -- with the word "Advertisement" even appearing on-screen!
* ExplosionsInSpace
* GradeSkipper: Exaggerated -- when Pronin gets back to the police academy to resume his entrance exam, the committee tells him they're counting it as a final exam and congratulate him on his graduation. Even better, there's no indication they were aware of the planetary invasion Pronin stopped in his absence.
* MeanwhileScene: Pronin was teleported away from the exam during the "camouflage" challenge, so the committee assumes he's amazingly well-hidden. They're still searching the room for him when Pronin reappears and immediately continues with the next challenge.
* MegaMawManeuver: After Pronin's first escape from not-Vader, bounty hunters emerge from behind a moon and capture him in this way.
-->'''WebVideo/{{Critikal}}:''' "Aw shit! Space VideoGame/PacMan!"
* RockBeatsLaser: Pronin beats the lightsaber-wielding viking-horned Darth Vader-lookalike using a rubber police baton.
* PetTheDog: in contrast with how he deals with every other villain, Pronin never harms the two bumbling space pirates that captured him, instead returning their ship back to them (which he won through gambling with them) and his kind gesture prompts them to turn over a new leaf and abandon the life of piracy.
* ProductPlacement: Parodied, with the rubber baton and in the credits.
* SpaceIsAnOcean: Literally, as Pronin can swim in it just like water.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:''Captain Pronin in the Opera'']]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The criminal caught at the end was arrested for, among other things, possession of large sums of money, an oxygen tank and a fake ID.
* ArtEvolution: This episode has much better animation than the previous ones.
* FatalMethodActing: [[invoked]] Pronin is called in as the actors playing Lensky in ''Literature/EugeneOnegin'' keep getting murdered onstage. [[spoiler:It turns out that the Lenskys are all alive, and they were "killed" as a publicity stunt.]]
* OhCrap: The male ballerina's face when he realizes he's going to have to catch Pronin, who is built like (and probably weighs about the same as) a T-34, is this all over.
* PaperThinDisguise[=/=]WholesomeCrossdresser: Pronin mugs a ballet dancer for her leotard and tutu to go undercover. Even though she's a good 150 pounds or so slimmer than he is, it fits perfectly.
[[/folder]]