Few weeks ago I wrote on my blog Do you know this old TV Series about a hacker?. From the other side of the world Niko found the answer. This TV series called "Bastard (1989)" had started my fascination with computers decades ago.
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| Der Bastard (TV mini-series 1989) |
Niko found my blog post using google search engine and wrote this comment.
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.
As kids we knew about Brute-force attack. I used the method to guess our parents long distance Subscriber trunk dialing (STD) unlock code. Niko remembered the key detail of the show and correct password 'bastard' (amazing Niko!). Ten minutes later he found complete information about the TV show including the title track and few scenes from the TV show .
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
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.
Bavaria Media Television website provides further information about Bastard (1989) TV series.
Paul David, computer expert and ingenious hacker, is caught in the electronic meshes of a international data network and is confronted with criminals operating behind the scenes of a worldwide organisation, which uses the most modern communication technology for cleverly coordinated, criminal actions. Then Paul is suspected of double murder. When desperately trying to escape the noose he is surrounded by more and more people who obviously have the same aim in common: to catch him in a lethal trap. Only Dettmar Mushaake, expert for computer crime from the regional police department, seems to be on Paul's side - and, of course, Diddle, a mongrel who is anything but a lapdog. He tracks down ambushes, delivers messages and leads Paul's pursuers astray.
You can download full information about the show here.
Perhaps I should write to Bavaria Media Television to let them know that they have a cult classic, They might even consider a DVD release. :)
I want to watch the serial again... the soundtrack is what got stuck in my mind. I took up comp sc. and was working with gwbasic and dos debug ... Y E S ... you bet ! its a cult classic.
ReplyDeleteWow, I finally managed to track this series down - thanks to internet! Watched this series as a kid and was totally captivated by it. Where can I watch this again?
ReplyDeleteGet in touch with Bavaria Media Television. May be they'll consider a DVD release of this series. :)
DeleteHoly mother of God!
ReplyDeleteSo this is something I do: every once in a while I check up on the Internet to see if anyone has posted up info about songs, movies, and tv shows etc from the era where Internet was in its , infancy or didn't even exist.
Well. This is one of the shows I watched as a child that also instilled in me (further) the love of computers and piqued my interest in hacking. Arky, I'm from Ethiopia and even though Ethiopia was still under the fading grips of socialism, somehow this show managed its way on state TV. There were only a number of computers in the entire country in Ethiopia then, and luckily, just around that time, my father had brought a computer over from the states. Of course the concept of computers was, albeit fascinating, really foreign, and I couldn't even fathom the possibility that computers could talk to each other regardless of geographical separation. I was fascinated by the idea of a "modem." This computer my father brought over had only one book that came with it: DOS manual. English was a foreign language to me, so suffice it to say, all these factors made computers seem like..the most magical thing I've ever experienced. I used to even pause screens on the VCR during movies to look at the information on computer screens (think "Ghost").
Pardon my rant. In short, thank you for posting up this information, and to Niko too. I might actually write to the copyright owners to consider DVD release. The links you provided, however, redirects users to another homepage.
Thank you again!!!
ps: I searched for Felix computer crime syndicate tv show etc to get to your page. For whatever reason, "Felix" was the name I remembered. Listening to the theme song, though, I found that I indeed know it by heart! All I needed was that thread of reminder. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found this post useful!
DeleteYeah Felix I recall that
DeleteI want to bay it. where can i find it?
ReplyDeletewhere can i find it ?
ReplyDeleteNot sure if its available for sale. Do write to bavaria-film-international.de
Deletehttp://www.bavaria-film-international.de/bavariamedtv_php/index.php?site=programs_detail&programCat=sales&id=10389
this is coool, everyone visiting this page had the same vague memories and were looking with some keywords..I googled: Bastard password, dog...and here we are...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePlease let me know if you can share it.
DeleteOh My God!! You have removed that splinter from the back of my brain!
ReplyDeleteThis show was aired in India in the early 90s and I was just 7-8 years old then.
I had been searching for the show primarily because even through all those years I could remember the show had a kickass theme song.. But I could remember only that the password was 'Bastard' (a kid's memory, what can i say)...and today I find this post! Finally!
Thank you, thank you!!
You are welcome. Glad to hear that you found what you were looking for. I did :)
DeleteWow amazing, finally found it. I too watched it as a kid in India. Guess I was around 10-12 years old. All I remembered was that it was German and the lead character was Paul. And yeah the actress was hot. Thanks a ton.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! I found it. I have been searching for the theme song for almost 10 years now. The theme song has been stuck in my head for so long. Last time I searched it turned up nothing other than lot of Bruce Springsteen songs. Thank you for the post.
ReplyDeleteI too kept getting Bruce S...videos... my search ended today after so many years ...
Delete"Perhaps I should write to Bavaria Media Television to let them know that they have a cult classic, They might even consider a DVD release. :)"
ReplyDeleteYeah I wonder if anyone's got a recording! I've been searching for this for years myself. Somehow I didn't remember anything about it except that it was about computer crime and that it was a German TV program.
It was just today that I found out that the name of the program was "Der Bastard". I'd love to watch it if I can get hold of it!
Please do write to Bavaria Media Television to let them know that they have a cult classic.
DeleteI don't know what got me thinking of this show recently and I couldn't sleep until I found the title and I also just had to listen to that theme song.
ReplyDeleteIt was broadcast a number of times on Uganda Television (dubbed into English) a number of times around 1990/91.
Back then there was only one TV channel for the whole country and most stuff on it was lousy but this show was certainly different from everything on TV at the time. I guess that's why it has stuck with me all these years.