[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mzga_csald.png]]

What WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons or [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy the Griffins]] are to Americans, the Mézgas are to Hungarians.

This Hungarian animated show, produced by Creator/PannoniaFilmStudio, revolves around the life of a DysfunctionalFamily: BumblingDad Géza, his bossy wife Paula, their [[TheDitz ditzy]] daugher Kriszta and genius son Aladár, along with their pets Blöki the dog and Maffia the cat. Rounding out the cast is their DeadpanSnarker neighbour Máris, and, in the first series, their 30th century descendant MZ/X.

Three series have been produced, in 1968-69, 1974 and 1978, respectively, with vastly different plotlines. In the first series, '''''Üzenet a jövőből: A Mézga család különös kalandjai''''' (''Message from the Future: The Strange Adventures of the Mézga Family''), Aladár contats MZ/X on his radio. OnceAnEpisode, Géza and Aladár try to avoid doing the chores they get from Paula by asking help from their future relative. HilarityEnsues. In the second series, '''''Mézga Aladár különös kalandjai''''' (''The Strange Adventures of Aladár Mézga''), Aladár builds a spaceship and visits various [[PlanetOfHats Planets of Hats]], accompanied by [[CanineCompanion Blöki]]. In the third and final series, '''''Vakáción a Mézga család''''' (''The Mézgas on a Vacation''), the Mézgas and Máris (as a translator, ostensibly per the invitation as "the nurse" for the kids) go to [[LandDownUnder Australia]] to meet Paula's former fiancée, the ConArtist Pisti Huffnágel, and the family ends up on a WorldTour looking for him/escaping from various circumstances. The last series notably lacks the sci-fi elements of the first two.

Created mainly for adult audiences, the show was very popular in Hungary for its witty plot and unique, surreal humour. It has been dubbed to German, Dutch, Slovakian, Czech, Italian and Romanian. A fourth series, ''A Mézga család és a (sz)ámítógép'' (''The Mézgas and the Computer''), got into production in 2005, but ended up in DevelopmentHell due to financial problems.

----
!!Tropes present in all three series:
* AnimalJingoism: Between Blöki the dog and Maffia the cat.
* BrilliantButLazy: Aladár is a kid genius and loves tinkering with stuff and making things but one episode in season 1 sees him admit he has been expelled from school and the start of season 2 his grades were so abysmal at the end of the semester his parents grounded him for the summer.
* BumblingDad: Géza is a rather incompetent and not very smart father.
* CanineCompanion: Blöki, to Aladár. Especially in the second series. Aladár, the OnlySaneMan of his family, feels that the dog is the only family member who understands him, and he takes Blöki with him to his trips in outer space.
* ChildProdigy / TeenGenius: Aladár starts as 12 in the first series, and appears to be somewhat older in the second, and is always the smartest family member capable of inventing various gadgets.
* ContinuitySnarl: A minor one regarding Máris's full name. In an early complementary book, his name is given as Márton Máris, but in the third series it's revealed to be [[spoiler: Ottokár]]. These days, fans simply tend to combine both, making his full name [[spoiler:Dr. Márton Ottokár Máris]].
* DeadpanSnarker: Neighbour Máris; almost every line he speaks is a sarcastic comment on the Mézgas' bumbling. Aladár also has his moments.
* TheDitz: Kriszta is a not very bright teenage girl.
* DysfunctionalFamily: Géza is a FatIdiot BumblingDad and a HenpeckedHusband, Paula is bossy but just as foolish as her husband, Kriszta is a ditzy teenage girl while Aladár is a TeenGenius who don't really get along with each other. Even their dog and cat are fighting each other all the time.
* FatIdiot: Géza is a chubby man who constantly makes stupid mistakes. Paula is also overweight and not very intelligent either.
* FemaleFelineMaleMutt: Maffia is a female cat, taken care of by Kriszta, whereas Blöki is a male dog, taken care of by Aladár.
* GadgeteerGenius: Aladár is an expert in tinkering, being able to build a telecommunication device in the first series and a functioning ''spaceship'' in the second. Downplayed, but still present in the third series, where he still uses technology to solve some problems, such as freeing his family from jail by conducting electricity in the door handle as the warden opens the door.
* GirlishPigtails: Kriszta wears her hair like this in all three series.
* TheGhost: Pisti Huffnágel. Beginning as a RunningGag in the first series, Paula often wishes she'd married him instead of Géza; in the third series he bets a more prominent role, as he kicks off the plot by inviting the family to Australia.
* HenpeckedHusband: Géza is often ordered around by Paula.
* KiddyCoveralls: Aladár is shown through the series (minus the second one where he's mostly in pajamas) wearing overalls, wither blue or green.
* LeanAndMean: Máris, to an extent. While not exactly evil, he despises his neighbours, and he willingly betrays them in the third series.
* NuclearFamily: The Mézgas. Dad, mum, daughter, son, dog and cat.
* OnlySaneMan: Aladár and Máris. The former is a TeenGenius who occasionally takes advantage of his gullible family, the latter is a grumpy DeadpanSnarker who often makes comments on his neighbours' idiocy. That said, both of them can grab the IdiotBall when the plot requires it.
* SecretKeeper: In the first series, Géza and Aladár keep their radio connection with MZ/X secret, in the second series Aladár keeps his spaceship and outer space adventures secret from his family.
* VillainousCheekbones: He's more of a {{Jerkass}} than an outright villain, but Máris has very prominent cheekbones.
* YouthfulFreckles: Kriszta has them.

!!Tropes specific to the first series:
* AmphibiousAutomobile: When Géza updates the family car with 30th century technology (with disastrous results) in one episode.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever / BigCreepyCrawlies: In one episode Géza uses future greenhouse technology to make fruits and vegetables grow gigantic, but it makes the insects and rodents gigantic too (creating disaster, as usual).
* DomCom: The first series is essentially a DomCom with sci-fi elements.
* DomesticApplianceDisaster: Many episodes of the first series are about Geza and Aladar trying to avoid their mundane chores with household appliances from the future that are bound to go wrong.
* EveryEpisodeEnding: Paula saying that she should have married Pisti Huffnágel.
* FlyingSaucer: MZ/X travels in one in the last episode.
* GeniusSerum: Another future invention the family receives from MZ/X. Unfortunately, before they'd get to try it, the serum gets drank by the family cat and dog who both [[UpliftedAnimal gain human-level intelligence]].
* IdenticalGrandson: In the time travel episode, the guard at the escavation site looks exactly like his executioner ancestor from the Middle Ages.
* LanguageDrift: In one episode, MZ/X sends a housecleaning robot that doesn't understand 20th-century Hungarian. As always, HilarityEnsues.
* MindControlDevice: Géza gets one from MZ/X in one episode when he wishes to be "in control" rather than always be ordered around by his boss, his wife, or literally anyone. As usual, he screws up big time.
* RoughOveralls: In contrast to her brother's KiddyCoveralls, Kriszta initially wore a skirt with suspenders.
* RunningGag:
** Every time MZ/X sends something from the future, it breaks the window of Aladár's room.
** Paula lamenting that she married Géza instead of Pisti Huffnágel.
* StarfishAliens: The family gets attacked by two of these in the space picnic episode.
* StrictlyFormula: All episodes in the first series had the following plotline: Géza or one of his family members has a trivial problem; Géza asks for a device from the future to solve it; the device arrives breaking the windowpane, is activated then goes wrong and chaos ensues until it is destroyed, at which point Paula wonders why she didn't marry her teenage crush.
* TimeDilation: In the space picnic episode, the Mézgás spend less than a day in space, but find that 50 years have passed on Earth during their absence.
* TimeTravel: In one episode, MZ/X sends the Mézgas back to the Middle Ages.
* WeatherControlMachine: One of the episodes revolves around such a device.
* {{Zeerust}}: The 30th century MZ/X lives in, with ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons''-style mushroom-shaped towers and flying vehicles.

!!Tropes specific to the second series:
* DemotedToExtra: Géza, Paula and Kriszta in the second series, which stars Aladár and Blöki.
* FrazettaMan: Aladár encounters two tribes of them when he accidentally travels 500,000 years back in time: the rowdy ''Pithecanthropus'', and the WickedCultured ''Hooliganthropus''.
* OutOfFocus: The series focuses entirely on Aladár and Blöki, with the rest of the family only making brief appearances.
* PlanetOfHats: All the planets Aladár visits in the second series are themed around something, such as one for robots where humans are slaves and tools, one underwater world, one where music reigns supreme, one structured like a crime novel...
* RunningGag: Paula and Géza wondering what is wrong with Aladár, then deciding there can be no reason as he is in his room like a grounded kid is supposed to be.
* StrictlyFormula: All episodes in the second series start with Aladár, who is supposed to be grounded due to terrible grades, slipping off in his spaceship, arriving at a PlanetOfHats, getting into a conondrum, making it home by sunrise, and his parents wondering what is so weird about the kid when he doesn't go anywhere.
* TalkingAnimal: Blöki in the second series.
* TimeTravel: In one episode, instead of visiting an alien world, Aladár accidentally travels back 500,000 years, to the stone age.

!!Tropes specific to the third series:
* AnimalDisguise: The Mézgas and Máris disguise themselves as seals and penguins to hide in a menagerie captured by a group of poachers on Antarctica.
* BilingualBonus: A lot of comedy comes from the Mézgas not speaking any foreign languages and mistaking English and French words for similar Hungarian ones.
* BrokenPedestal: Paula really grows to hate Huffnágel Pisti after all they go through (being stuck sleeping in huge pipes in Australia is only the first of their ordeals) due to his invitation. [[spoiler:In the last episode, upon learning that Pisti stole ''all of their worldly possessions'' while they were away, she prays to God to help her forget even his name.]]
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Despite being a major character in the second series, Blöki does not appear in the third. (In fact, he even said goodbye to viewers in the last episode of series 2.)
* CubCuesProtectiveParent: In the jungles of Africa, as Géza tries to cut his way through the vegetation, he knocks a baby gorilla off a tree. The baby's [[PapaWolf father]], then his entire troop, shows up and attacks the Mézgas, forcing them to hide in their car.
* DirtyCop: The police chief the Mézgas encounter in [[BananaRepublic South America]] is also a mob boss.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Upon returning to their home in Hungary, the Mézgas learn that Pisti Huffnágel moved into their apartment while they were away, and stole all of their possessions apart from a few dirty matresses.]]
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Máris's first name is only revealed in the final episode of the third series. [[spoiler: It is Ottokár.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Pacific island dictator Máris befriends is shocked when Máris proposes him that they could serve the Mézgas to tourists as food, thinking he is seriously planning to have tourists eat them. Máris then proceeds to explain that he only means it as a play where they would only pretend to sacrifice the Mézgaz and then serve the visitors normal animal meat.
* EveryEpisodeEnding: All episodes end with Paula saying a short prayer.
* EvilCripple: Bill, the American gangster, is a hunchback.
* EvilOldFolks: Again, Bill the hunchbacked mobster is an elderly man with balding grey hair.
* FatBastard: The Pacific island despot enforces his rule through military and his primary concern is enriching himself. He is also a very fat man.
* FatIdiot: The overweight Pacific island dictator. He trusts Máris instantly simply on the basis that he has a doctorate, accepts all of his proposals and causes his own downfall by heeding Máris' advice to claim the new volcanic island first. He departs his island with his entire military, allowing for a quick revolution to overthrow his regime.
* TheGeneralissimo: In one episode, family ends up on a Pacific island ruled by a dictator who wears pieces of military uniform and enforces his rule through his army. Máris ends up instantly gaining the despot's trust. Said dictator gets overthrown in the same episode when Máris orchestrates his departure from the island.
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Máris switches between being the Mézgas' reluctant ally and an outright antagonist in each episode.
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: When Máris tells the South American mob boss that he wants to join his mob, he tests his loyalty by giving him a loaded gun to shoot the Mézgas. [[spoiler:Despite how much he hates the Mézgas, he's unable to do it.]]
* KillerGorilla:
** In the opening credits, a large gorilla [[VineSwing swings on a vine]] and snatches Kriszta.
** Bill, the American mobster, has a pet gorilla named Chris in a cage; he threatens one of his henchmen with locking him in the ape's cage.
** In the jungles of Africa, the Mézgas get stuck in a car when they get surrounded by a whole troop of hostile gorillas who are [[PapaWolf trying to protect their baby from Géza]].
* MightyWhitey: Géza ''hopes'' that the Pacific natives will treat him like their superior. [[AvertedTrope They don't]].
* MsFanservice: Kriszta is redesigned in the third series so that she looks slightly older and more curvy, and she spends a considerable amount of the series in swimsuits. It's a vacation after all.
* NationalGeographicNudity: The Pacific natives wear little clothing; notably, almost all women are [[NippleAndDimed visibly bare-breasted]].
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: The despot of a Pacific island assumes Máris is a medical doctor after he introduces himself as Dr. Máris. When he explains he's an archeologist, the despot still believes that's a specialized field in medicine.
* PreviouslyOn: In the third series, each episode starts with a narrator telling a short, rhyming recap of what happened so far.
* ScarecrowSolution: On a tropical island, Máris and the Mézgas use a few skulls left behind by a CannibalTribe to act like ghosts and scare away who they believe are hostile natives. [[GoneHorriblyRight It works perfectly]], except, unfortunately for them, the people whom they scare away are two sailors who came to rescue them.
* SequelGoesForeign: In the third series the Mézgas leave Hungary and travel around the world.
* ShoutOut: As the family make their way across the Antarctic snow, the 1957 electronic song "Song of the Second Moon" plays in the background. This is a nod to the Hungarian science show ''Delta'', whose title sequence featured this song alongside StockFootage of people struggling to trek across the Antarctic (taken from the 1948 film ''Scott Of The Antarctic'' and a real life 1957-58 South Pole expedition).
* SoundtrackDissonance: The opening theme is an upbeat song (modifying the standard tune a bit) about how wonderful it is to travel around the world. It's accompanied by the Mézga family struggling through various landscapes against unpleasant weather and hostile animals.
* TelevisionSerial: Unlike the first two series that have [[StrictlyFormula rather formulatic]], self-contained episodes, the third series has a serialized narrative.
* WorldTour: The third series, in which the Mézgas travel to Australia to meet Paula's acquaintance and old flame, Pisti Huffnágel, and end up traveling from place to place until they get back to Hungary.