Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Do you know this old TV Series about a hacker ?

Update (20 Oct 2011) : Niko helped us find the answer to this question, read more about the search ends for the TV Show.

What has been your defining moment in life? It is a difficult question. Let me share one defining moment of my childhood. My fascination with computers started with a TV show about computer hackers on India's national television. It was dubbed in English, produced by some foreign (German?) television . I vividly remember the starting scene of the show with a dog running towards the screen, jumping over the opening credits of the TV show.

We'll the credits were actually in some foreign language. The characters looked like German to me, but I might be wrong. The name of show sounded something like 'Computer Spezialist'. The TV show was about a computer hacker who gets mixed up with some criminals who plan to rob a bank. The shows central character is a dog who lost its master in hands of these crooks. Does that ring a bell?

I remember looking up from the TV screen to ask my uncle 'How can this guy get into a bank using a computer?'. My uncle said banks in developed countries were all connected with phones and satellites. It seems so amazing to my young mind. In those days the TV had one channel and getting a telephone would mean 3 years of waiting-list and personal computers would cost an arm and leg.

Do you have any information about this TV series?. I would love to watch it again.

I couldn't find much information about this TV show on Internet except for this blog post. The comments on this blog post might give you more detailed description about the show.

Anonymous said...
It was very nice reading your blog. And you seem the right person to pose this question that i had for a long time -- do you happen to remember a German crime/thriller show that used come on DD1 sometime on Sat or Sun early evening (5 pm 'ish i guess) and involved some computer hacking as well ..and had a very nice soundtrack in its title song ..something involving these words - fighting for his life ..heart of stone. it does not seem Derrick, Der Fahnder, or Der Alte ..but i might be wrong as i really do not remember much ...except that i know the tune of the title song. thanks,
leoNYdassaid...
Yes I do remember that series and the catchy title music. I have vague memories about it since not many episodes were actually aired. It was a series about hacking and I am quite sure it's not German. Well I guess thats as much as I can remember.
asif said...
Dear leoNYdas
i m really thankfull to God ..i came across ur blog
i am desperate to find this tv episode-this wud fall under the categories(drama,thriller and suspense).the name of the series is Computer Specialst(the second word SPECIALIST was spelled differently so i guess this wud be some russian or some other language-european series)...the beginning of the series shows a little dog running towards the screen.the series has beautifull title song..bit metallic or rock ..
"Hearts of Stones".i can faintly remember the lyrics but heres wat i can recall the best
"hearts of stones..ready for hearts of stones ..there is one man....
compromise..."
also the main character i think is a hacker..and he gets in touch with the bad men...of these one the opposite lead character's name is Elizabeth..she is a european police officer..a female spying i guess.also the other names i can recall is Powell..a bald guy i think is the main villian.
the hacker stays with some lady called "teresa" if i m not wrong and is totally involved in computers...
there are few scenes i can recall: the one of bomb explosion ..they kept under the keyboard and the hacker is made to drive a car into some remote place .. a castle ..where the victim who survived the bomb has been under house arrest.
also the female police officer her name elizabeth(she speaks in some other language at times) in the series kills a man in the hotel room with cyanide (she breaks a bit of the cyanide from the pill and mixes it in the drink,she carries the cyanide pill in her finger ring,,,this was shown cleary).elizabeth also has a locket or necklace with the two letters EP...and when the hacker asks her wat does this stand for ..she replies Elizabeth Powell..to which the hacker replies that its European Police.
there is also one scene when a male police officer is hanging from the window from the hackers home and the bad guys are unaware of thi police officer hanging.
in some other episode a man is murdered who comes in to investigate..he orders the hacker to remove his trousers and the man is killed as some one pulls off the carpet beneath his legs and he dies instantly..later his body his dumped in some remote place wrapped in the same carpet he was standing on....and also when the other detectives arrives to investigate the matter ...a person walks in the room and brings in the carpet of same type and he says that he is a carpet cleaner....
plz mail to me as i believe this series was aired in the 1990s ..plzzz somebody help and if u recall these series and let me know-
thanking you
Abhishek said...
Nice Post..
can anyone recollect the name of another detective/thriller..again agerman serial..where the protagonist was a techie guy...it had a very good title track..

22 comments:

  1. I remember watching this show as a kid in the 80's in Slovek TV, dubbed in slovak.

    I remember a scene, where the main character is trying to hack into a computer with his Commodore 64 ans a vintage modem. As he tries to guess the password, he types in "bastard" and it works.

    I think we're talking about the same show - because the dog in the main title is a bastard...

    Gee I would LOVE to see it again, I just remembered it today and started googling... that's how I stumbled upon your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Broadcasted for the first time in former Czechoslovakia in 1991, I checked TV magazine yesterday.

      Finally I found the name of this series I been looking for so long, I watched this one as a kid too. Googling got me here. I also found this discussion (http://www.best-of-80s.de/80er-80s-fernsehen-kino-tv-cinema-14/kennt-hier-jemand-den-3-teiler-der-bastard-18620/index2.html) and its possible to buy the show recorded to VHS or burnt to DVDs. Unfortunately for a pretty ridiculous price.

      Would be good if someone who's experienced in German contact those German guys and we might make a group buy then :-) The individual prices would be much lower. The buyer from Germany will upload the show somewhere with a password and we will be all happy. Payment is no problem these, almost everybody uses paypal.

      Delete
  2. I found the show!!! It was called BASTARD, it was german, shot for the WDR german tv station.

    Look at this! http://www.deutsches-filmhaus.de/filme_gesamt/s_gesamt/stark_ulrich.htm

    there is an article in Der Spiegel magazine (in german) about the show here: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13495823.html

    and this should be the title song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtI1Toq-N1A

    ReplyDelete
  3. And this is the imdb page for the series although the picture is not the right one I think... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096541

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Niko, I wrote a post about your search and how you found the answer.


    Have a beer on me !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Arky, I've been searching to find the name of this series for years...I remembered the title track hearts of stone...tried that too, no results... Today I tried searching for Did programs in 80s and 90s German series in 90, Transtel... I came across your post, I'm glad to trace the series and title track band Domain...

      Delete
    2. Didn't realize others were searching

      Delete
  5. Hey,
    THanks to Niko and Arky for finding this TV show. I only had a small scratchy memory of this show from 1990 or so when it was aired on Doordarshan. Whatever little I watched must have made a distinct impression on me since it remained with me for so long. I am really glad that I found it with your help.

    Now, if only I can get my hands on a DVD set, that would be the icing on the cake!

    Avi.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It was Whiz Kids, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vRyKslGrGk
    Rob.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Thanks a lot all of you.... I have been searching for this for quite some time now... at last found it. Yes... "Heart of Stone" was the soundtrack. All I could remember is some "wistling" sound at some climax/thrill moments... well whats to say. It's surprising soo many was touched/influenced by the same and was lloking for it at the same time. I also grew up watchig it and it did influence me ...

    Cheers.! and Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  8. Adding to the post of November 26, 2012 9:23 PM;

    Just wondering if anyone remembers it...
    It had a scene where a coding technique which used wrapping a paper tape over a pencil and then writing alphabets vertically onto the tape were shown....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember that seeing that. Not so sure, it has been so long.

      Delete
  9. Yes i know about the show , not remember the name "Computer Spezialist" (as you say).. A nice show about the hacking..

    ReplyDelete
  10. When i was young I watch the show and dreams to become a Hacker one day. Thanks for this blog as it refresh my memory because i was not able to find the name of the serial because i really don't know what to search. But at least I got the name and the Song Break the Heart of the Stone. There was also one whistle background track which played when the Main villain enters the scene. I remember that track.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I believe it was called "Crime on computer" on DD. Love the theme song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtI1Toq-N1A

    ReplyDelete
  12. The song is Hearts of Stone by German Band Domain. It was my first brush with computers 😊

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bastard (TV, 1989) Zusammenfassung . ost performed by Domain album Heart of stone
    My Lovely German Hacker . Der Bastard

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  14. Great to see these comments. Used to love the serial and the song. Great feeling of nostalgia after reading all your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The show on doordarshan was called 'Program for Crime' and heart of stone was the theme song played during the intro

    ReplyDelete
  16. This thread is awesome! For some reason my memory always told me that the show was called Tödlich Computerspiele! But now I know. I used to love this show! I would love to pay to buy digital copies of Der Bastard/Der Alte/Der Fahdner and Derrick. Can't find em anywhere!

    ReplyDelete

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