TKKG


The Junior detective series TKKG is a German series of audio dramas and novels created by "Stefan Wolf", a pseudonym used by Rolf Kalmuczak.

The characters and their creator

In all German-speaking countries they are the most commercially successful series of novels of their type, apart from The Three Investigators. They call themselves TKKG, after the initials of their names: Tarzan, Karl, Dumpling and Gaby; an unofficial fifth member is Gaby's Cocker Spaniel, called Oskar. Since 1979 they continually solve all sorts of crimes, from thefts and robberies to kidnappings and terrorism.
The books were written by Rolf Kalmuczak, under his nom de plume Stefan Wolf. In June 2004 TKKG changed their publisher from Pelican to CBJ - They published volumes 07, 14, 54, 77 and 84 in January 2005 as a new edition with the CBJ brand name.

Tim

Peter Timotheus Carsten, which is his full name is the leader of the TKKG gang, who are named after the initial letters of their names or nicknames. Tim is 14, but mentally and physically far ahead. A tanned athlete, he particularly enjoys judo and volleyball. For two years he's been living in a famous boarding school, and is pupil of class 9b. His father, an engineer, had a fatal accident when Tim was only 6 years old. Tim's mother, a book-keeper, works hard to earn enough money for the expensive school money for their son. Tim loves adventure and hates injustice, and has a big crush on Gabby, of whom he is very protective.
Previously, Tim was originally called Tarzan by his friends because of his athletic prowess, but he did not want to be compared with this 'half-finished bodybuilder' after he had seen a very bad movie about him.

Karl

The smartest of the quartet, Karl Vierstein is sometimes nicknamed Computer because he has an eidetic memory; whatever he's read he never forgets - perhaps because his father is a professor for Maths at the local university.
He goes into the same class as Tim, but he does not live at the boarding school. He is tall and lanky, but not athletic. He is nearsighted and is virtually helpless without his glasses, which he polishes whenever he's nervous.

Dumpling

His actual name is Willi Sauerlich. He lives together with Tim at the boarding school, where they share a room. His parents are rich - his father owns a chocolate ware company - but Willi likes to spend more time with his friends.
His nickname is derived from his passion for chocolate; he never can keep his fingers off anything sweet. Therefore, he grows steadily bigger around the hips. Nevertheless, he is a reliable comrade, and having a rich father as an asset has proven useful time and again. Dumpling secretly wishes to be as athletic and sprightly as his friend Tim.
Willi is actually also quite close with his father, mainly because of their common desire to eat well; Mrs. Sauerlich is a very strict vegetarian who makes them eat anything vegetable - and only vegetable. So the two keep a secret stash of the good things in the cellar, where they help themselves whenever they have the chance.

Gaby

Gabriele Glockner is affectionately nicknamed "Pfote" by her friends because she loves animals and makes every animal - particularly dogs - shake paws with her. She is the daughter of police commissioner Emil Glockner and his wife Margot, who runs a small grocery store. Like Karl, she lives with her parents in town and attends Tim's boarding school only for lessons. She is very good at English and backstroking.
With her golden blonde hair and blue eyes with long eyelashes, she is quite pretty and sometimes flashes her underwear - an attribute which makes Tim go red when he looks too closely. Actually, she is also quite close to Tim, although she rarely shows it as much as he does.

Oskar

The mascot of the group is Gaby's black and white cocker spaniel. He accompanies the group practically anywhere, and while he's blind on one eye, his nose is the more keener; he likes to smell out fried chicken in particular.

The town with millions of inhabitants / "town of millions"

The homeland of the TKKG gang is a fictitious town with millions of inhabitants somewhere in Germany. There the TKKG gang live and go to school. Tim, however, comes from a city which is a four-hour drive away.
If you consider that as well as, in the novels, the city can only be Munich. There are only four cities with more than a million inhabitants in Germany, the mountains and Austria are near and the novels and plays include certain words that belong to Southern German usage, such as "Bussi" or "Semmel". Also, in one TKKG book the city is described as: "In der Ferne, da sah man die Hochhäuser der fernen Landeshauptstadt, jener Millionenstadt, in der Tim zur Schule ging.". The only city with more than a million inhabitants that is a capital of a German Bundesland is Munich, if you do not count the City-States of Hamburg or Berlin, which is addressed later. Some people protest because a large port sometimes takes place in the TKKG-City, but this port only appears in two radio dramas but not in the original books, where the stories with the port plays outside of the TKKG-City. It also cannot be Hamburg as in the episode "Bei Anruf Angst" a girl who is kidnapped and searched for by TKKG is said to come from Hamburg - referring to this Tim says that they could not go there as this city "would be too far away". Also, Florence is 750 kilometres away. Finally, it also cannot be Berlin. In the episode "Banditen im Palasthotel" the kids travel by air to Spain, and it is said that at the airport another flight goes to Berlin.
However, the author has stated in numerous interviews that the "town of millions" is in fact fictitious.

Radio dramas

The series has appeared since 1981 with the radio play label Europa
179 audio books were recorded and released.

Actors

By 2017 202 audiobooks have appeared, as well as three special episodes :

TKKG on television and in cinema

Between 1985 and 1987 TKKG was developed for ZDF a twelve episode TV cartoon serial. The first six episodes were shown between 7 November 1985 and 12 December 1985 on ZDF. Episodes 7 - 12 had also been broadcast on ZDF two years later between 22 October 1987 and 26 November 1987 for the first time. Afterwards all episodes in irregular order were broadcast on ZDF and on KI.KA.. In the main roles, Fabian Harloff started from episode 7 as Tim, Christian Pfaff as Karl, Kai Maahs as Doughnut and Jessica Gast as Gaby.
  1. Das leere Grab im Moor
  2. Angst in der 9 A
  3. Die Jagd nach den Millionendieben
  4. Der Schlangenmensch
  5. Das Geheimnis der chinesischen Vase
  6. Der blinde Hellseher
  7. Überfall im Hafen
  8. Bestien in der Finternis
  9. Spion auf der Flucht
  10. Gangster auf der Gartenparty
  11. Haie an Bord
  12. Todesfracht im Jaguar
Movies in Cinema
The 2006 movie about the mysterious mind machine was produced by Constantin Film and was directed by Tomy Wigand.
1987-1989 appeared in Ehapa publishing house of 17 booklets with TKKG Comics. The Comics was produced by the studio Comicon, a draughtsman was Josep Marti, who also among other things for YPS drew.

TKKG in other countries

[France]

In France, thirteen TKKG books have been published in French from 1981 to 1985. The names of the main characters have been slightly changed : Tarzan, Karl, Klaus, Gaby.

[Indonesia]

In Indonesia, TKKG books are translated to Indonesian. The names of all the main characters have been changed to facilitate the locals to pronounce the names. The series is known as "STOP", which represents the acronym of the altered names of the main characters:
The first 9 computer games were translated into English. TKKG was kept as the names, but changed;