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 (later renamed in Tim due to the name "Tarzan" being trademarked), Karl, Dumpling (in German , in Austria called "Klumpling") and Gab(b)y; 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 (just called Tim, which is short for Timotheus, after Tarzan had to be replaced) 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 (he has a brown belt) and volleyball. For two years (at the beginning of the series) 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 (the change actually came about because the name Tarzan is trademarked). 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 (in Austrian audio book editions she is called "Gabby" with  a double "b") is affectionately nicknamed "" ("Paw") 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. 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. 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. While there are speculations amongst fans that the town is actually Munich, mostly due to the usage of typical southern german vocabulary in the series as well as the "towns  of millions" being stated to be the capital city of a german state, Kalmuczak frequently dismissed these as false, claiming that the similarities were purely coincidental. Radio dramas. The series has appeared since 1981 with the radio play label Europa 179 audio books were recorded and released (since 1981). Episode list. By 2017 202 audiobooks have appeared, as well as three special episodes (The secret of TKKG (1995, re-issue 2010), Treasure island with seven secrets): 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. (There. among other things. in the context of the broadcast "TKKG - Der Club der Detektive"). 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. Movies in Cinema The 2006 movie about the mysterious mind  machine was produced by Constantin Film and was directed by Tomy Wigand. Comics. 1987–1989 appeared in Ehapa publishing house of 17 booklets with TKKG Comics (expenditure 1-2/1987, 1-12/1988 and 1-3/1989). 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 (the first 3 were sold in English-speaking countries; the last 6 were not and were translated for educational reasons). TKKG was kept as the names, but changed;