''M.K. 22'' (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: מ.ק. 22 -

Mem Mem (also spelled Meem, Meme, or Mim) is the thirteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Hebrew ''mēm'' , Aramaic ''mem'' 𐡌, Syriac ''mīm'' ܡ, Arabic ''mīm'' , and Phoenician ''mēm'' 𐤌. Its sound value is . It is also relate ...

Qoph Qoph is the nineteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ''qōp'' 𐤒, Hebrew ''qūp̄'' , Aramaic ''qop'' 𐡒, Syriac ''qōp̄'' ܩ, and Arabic ''qāf'' . It is also related to the Ancient North Arabian , South Arabian ...

22) is an Israeli animated

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

, revolving around the adventures of soldiers in a fictional IDF

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

hosting the so-called " Israeli doomsday weapon". The show was created for the

cable channel Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...

Bip Bip or BiP or BIP may refer to: Software * BiP (software), BiP – Messaging, Voice and Video Calling: a smartphone application Entertainment * Bip (Israeli TV channel), Bip (channel), a comedy channel * Marcel Marceau, Bip the clown, a fa ...

and debuted in March 2004, becoming the first

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

animated series in Israeli television, and was later rebroadcast partly

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...

on Channel 2. The show won the Israeli Television Academy Award for Best Comedy Series and is considered by many a milestone in the history of Israeli animation. Despite gaining popularity and critical acclaim, the negotiations for a second season seem to have failed, making the first 10-episode season the only one thus far.

Main cast and characters

Main characters

* Danny Steg as Corporal Shlomi Hanukkah: A narrow-minded soldier and a

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' () has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''eastern'', it may refer to: * Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East and North Africa * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberia ...

" ars". * Haim Yafim Barbalat as Corporal Itai Shulman: Hanukkah's friend, an

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly t ...

. * Albert Iluz as Camp Commander Warrant Officer Gabriel Shukrun: A stupid, stubborn and manipulative NCO. * Inbal Luri as Michal Levinstein: A

handicapped Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

volunteer, generally hated by all other involuntary soldiers for her

self-righteousness Self-righteousness (also called sanctimony, sententiousness, and holier-than-thou attitudes) is an attitude and belief of moral superiority derived from a person deeming their own beliefs, actions, or affiliations to be of greater virtue than t ...

. * Adib Jahschan as Abed Abu Jamal: An

Israeli Arab The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...

living near the base. He appears to be Shukrun's humble friend, while secretly being a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

training

bionic Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 19 ...

shahid ''Shahid'' ( , , ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); the latter sense acq ...

sheep. In the show he represents the "

fifth column A fifth column is a group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize ...

Israeli Arabs" stereotype.

Minor characters

* Nir Meyerovich as Addiso: The Beta Israeli guard of the base. No one treats him differently despite being Ethiopian, but his helmet is round while the other characters are square. * Haim Al-Makis as Dudu Tapuach: A scheming contractor who is always thinking about business and exploiting

foreign worker Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...

s, an example of the phrase "the ugly Israeli." His name comes from a pun on David Appel. * Dr. Seymour: a drug-addicted Russian doctor who was the head of a department at a hospital in

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

. He often complains about his job and steals medicine from the base. * Abed's sheep: tamed and educated sheep of Abed. They often help Abed in his attempts to bring about Palestinian rule over Israel or to launch nuclear missiles at

Israeli settlements Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and hav ...

. * Dudu's Workers: Three

cannibalistic Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is also well documente ...

Thai workers who work for Dudu. They tried to eat Hanukkah in the episode "The Good Fence" and ate a soldier in the same episode. * Ayala Levinstein: Michal's twin sister. They were conjoined twins who were kept by their mother during the separation surgery. She's her parents' favorite daughter because before the separation surgery they were told that only one of the girls would survive and they chose Ayala without thinking twice. She appears in the episode "Sabbath at the Base" where she asked Michal to give her her toe so she could become a model. * Hadar Shahaf-Mayan as Gili Lahav Nahmani: a field reporter for the news, with a hoarse voice and a hunger for sensationalism, for which she interviews with a demonstrated lack of tact. * Menashe Noy as the Chief of Staff: the IDF Chief of Staff who suffers from a short-term memory problem.

Premise and production

''M.K. 22''

satirically Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or ...

deals with Israel Defense Forces manners and culture, and with general issues of Israeli society and current events in Israel. It is situated in the fictional top-secret

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

military base M.K. 22, in the south of Israel, storing the country's so-called nuclear missiles. Two of the show's creators, Yaron Niski and Doron Tzur, actually served together as logistics soldiers in an Israeli military base and the show is influenced by their experiences there. The show's initial goal was "to combine the style of ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' with local

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

such as '' Giv'at Halfon''". Director Assaf Harel claimed that the fact that the show was created for a cable network made it possible to use a blacker and more extreme type of humor, which he compared to that of ''South Park''. In general, ''South Park'' is widely considered the show's biggest influence by Israeli critics and fans. Obvious similarities to ''South Park'' include the crude style of animation, the use of

live-action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games or ...

(the episode "One of Us" showed parts of the 1989 Israeli film of the same name, which the episode parodied), and a tongue-in-cheek

disclaimer A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship. In contrast to other terms for legally operative langua ...

similar to that of ''South Park''.

Name

M.K. stands for "machane keva", Hebrew for "permanent ilitarycamp", while the words "Mem Qoph 22" might sound like "milkud 22", the Hebrew translation for the idiom

catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. It was his debut novel. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it ...

Themes

The show's themes included, among others, the tensions between

Haredi Jews Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...

and

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

, the media attention given to

Ilan Ramon Ilan Ramon (; , born Ilan Wolfferman (); June 20, 1954 – February 1, 2003) was an Israeli fighter pilot and later the first Israeli astronaut. He served as a Space Shuttle payload specialist on STS-107, the fatal mission of '' Columbia ...

(prior to his death), the

aliyah from Ethiopia Aliyah from Ethiopia is the immigration of the Beta Israel people to Israel. Early forms of Zionism have existed in Ethiopia since the mid 19th century, as shown in the 1848 letters from the Beta Israel to Jews in Europe praying for the unificat ...

, the

West Bank barrier The West Bank barrier, West Bank wall or the West Bank separation barrier, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. Israel describes the wall as a necessary security barrier against P ...

and the Split broadcast incident. The show also parodied several films, TV shows, politicians and celebrities.

Animation

According to Harel, the show's style of animation was influenced by ''

'', although ''M.K. 22'' uses more

3D computer graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called Computer-generated imagery, CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional Computer-generated imagery, computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian coor ...

and more complicated backgrounds. The show's characters and backgrounds are made to appear deliberately crude, though not as if they're made of cut-out pieces of paper. There is only one round shape in the entire series, one of the soldiers'

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

s, whereas other naturally round shapes look

quadrilateral In Euclidean geometry, geometry a quadrilateral is a four-sided polygon, having four Edge (geometry), edges (sides) and four Vertex (geometry), corners (vertices). The word is derived from the Latin words ''quadri'', a variant of four, and ''l ...

polygonal In geometry, a polygon () is a plane (mathematics), plane Shape, figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its ''edge (geometry), edges'' or ''sides''. The p ...

. The Sun, for instance, is a plain yellow

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

in the sky.

Controversy

In 2005, when it was decided to broadcast the show on Channel 2, the show's straightforward treatment of delicate Israeli issues caused Keshet to censor parts of it. One of the episodes, "Robo Rabbi", was completely censored. It has been suggested that the background for the episode's censorship was the upcoming expiration of the Channel 2 tender. The episode parodied the threats of violence of

towards the

pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

, and spoofed the film ''

Yossi & Jagger ''Yossi & Jagger'' () is a 2002 Israeli romantic drama film directed by Eytan Fox about soldiers at the Israel–Lebanon border who try to find some peace and solace from the daily routine of war. The film has a sequel entitled '' Yossi'' ( ''Yos ...

''.

List of episodes

# "Heavy Water" (מים כבדים) # "Sabbath at the Base" (שבת בבסיס) # "The Good Fence" (הגדר הטובה) # "Wolf, Wolf" (זאב זאב) # "Time Travel" (בחזרה לעבר) # "The Trial" (המשפט) # "Robo Rabbi" (רובו רבי) # "Yizkor" (יזכור) # "Sex, Lies and Subarit" (סקס שקרים וסוברית) # "One of Us" (אחת משלנו)

References

External links

* * {{cite web, url=http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/3611.htm, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122072037/http://web.israelinsider.com/Views/3611.htm, archive-date=2008-11-22, accessdate=2017-07-21, title=Forever an outsider, author=Alison Stern, publisher= Israelinsider 2004 Israeli television series debuts 2004 Israeli television series endings 2000s adult animated television series 2000s black comedy television series 2000s Israeli television series Israeli adult animated comedy television series Animated satirical television series Israeli television sitcoms Israeli military television series Censorship in Israel Israeli black comedy