Mar 30
S4E5 | Der Neue
seen from Brazil
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seen from China
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
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seen from United States
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S4E5 | Der Neue
not a dream
what's your favorite fictional detective?
I'll start
Very austrian post incoming:
Watched the new Kommissar Rex show and it suuuuucked, why is the dog not doing anything and why does nobody have a personality and why are all chase scenes just people moving down a single road or hallway before getting caught and most of all WHAT is going on with the music oh my god! It manages to have some moments that feel like classic Rex, but overall...even the camera work has much less effort put into it. Man.
Kommissar Rex | S03.E01 Todesrennen
Part 1 | Part 2
The Paw Patrol
get mentored by Inspector Rex
Have you seen Inspector Rex (1994-2004)?
Yes
Partially
No, but I've heard of it
Never heard of it
Happy 30th Anniversary Inspector Rex!
Kommissar Rex was always "the little show that could". It could easily find its way into your heart with a cute dog, it could have silly and heavy plotlines, it could (even back then) handle societal issues with a certain grace and sensitivity. Imagine my surprise when I went back to watching it after (admittedly) quite a bit of time to realize that it still mostly held up (I'm only talking about the German/Austrian production). And damn, how funny it could be sometimes. It would also spend a substantial amount of time focused on the bad guy of the week in the episode, which I believe served two purposes: it made us understand them better and it was a less heavy load on the main actors.
I was introduced to it when I was about 10 years old and possibly too young for some cases that they showed (although the networks here had cut any and all sexual content). Tobias Moretti had already left the show but in my country we still had the episodes with him airing and it was the 90s so it was the no-spoiler age (we didn't even have internet until the mid-2000s in my house). I recall having a bit of a crush on Moser. I remember how gutted I was when he was replaced and I didn't even get to watch the episode he was killed on until way later (maybe they didn't even air it). Anyway, one day I saw Brandtner on my tv and was not impressed lol. I was young enough to not be able to tell that they were in the process of switching the dog.
(Sorry about the images. I have a shitton of them but as I mostly got them all when dial-up connection was a thing, they're pretty damn small in dimensions, so any image I have to get now about his show, I'm just googling as I write this.)
When they changed to Gedeon Burkhard, kid me didn't really like the change but that changed when I revisited it as a teenager (a new network here picked it up and showed all the episodes again, funnily enough this show was picked up by 3 different networks, without counting the networks that picked up Hudson and Rex, and each one would add the next "generation" with the next actor that replaced the previous one lol). And it so helped that I got closure on Moser and watched his final episodes. I cried. I dare you to watch these episodes and not cry when you see Rex over Moser's dead body. And on the next episode where they introduce Brandtner and show how he bonds with Rex. I totally get how the show got more popular with Brandtner's episodes internationally but not domestically. He was a new age cop back then, he could run and fight and box and be somewhat sensitive, and he had abs lol. Now, as an adult I don't need guys to have abs on my crime shows but back then it was impressive (not to mention my watching experiences in Greek shows back then in that genre were classified as... meh).
At some point, they changed the lead again. And the dog. I suspect these changes had to do with the chemistry between human and canine actor as well.
This was the first time they had a woman in the team too. I admit that Alexander Pschill never hit the right tone for me, not that I didn't like him. I think it didn't help that the change was pretty much "we will pretend that Moser and Brandtner never existed and Hoffmann always had Rex". It bothered me. But I understand why they couldn't kill one of Rex's partners again. The romance with Nikki was a bit nice. I don't remember a lot from these as I watched them while in college (the show had already ended 4 years ago) and I'd just hit my golden crime show age, so I was looking for something more impressive. There were notable episodes, though, that I still remember.
The last Greek network that aired Kommissar Rex also aired a couple of seasons from this. I'm surprised that they presented it as a continuation instead of an adaptation and actually set up the story to start from Vienna. They kept the story up to Moser's death and then had Fabbri adopt him and bring him to Rome. The tone of the show was already lighter, and the sexism heavier. That was probably due to the Italian culture too (don't hate me if you're Italian, we're the same in a lot of things about that and I actually have Italian roots). Anyway, if I were to purely focus on Fabbri and Rex's partnership, it wasn't bad. I didn't like the actor much but that's a personal preference kind of thing. The episodes did have some action which was good. And then, surprise surprise, he was killed lol
Rivera was a better character for me and it's interesting that they had him be like, no I don't want a dog. That went on for a couple of episodes, if I recall (I haven't watched the Italian episodes a lot, I couldn't find subtitles until way later for these). As I've said before, he was quieter than the loud Fabbri and I liked that. There was also no cringe romance with the forensics lady which I'd hated with Fabbri (imagine how badly it was set up for me to hate that kind of ship lmao).
Terzani was promising but I unfortunately found only one season of his episodes. I'm hoping to properly meet this guy sometime in the future. There are a few episodes the plot of which I've read and I want to see those tropes play out. He was more of a Brandtner type and... lived in a boathouse? Something like that. He was interesting.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there are other adaptations out there that for various reasons (mostly availability and language) in Europe I couldn't watch. I remember that when I was in my teen years, I used to hope that one day Rex would be picked up for an English speaking adaptation. I was thinking the US but Canada was definitely as good an option. It just took me about a season to find it and I'll explain why. I'd never thought that we'd go from a show called "Inspector Rex" to Rex being second in the title so I'd noticed the "Hudson and Rex" title but didn't think it could possibly refer to this franchise lol
I'm using this promotional photo on purpose because it pretty much reflects the change that came with this show. Hudson and Rex is not what I'd call a true ensemble but it's closer to it than Inspector Rex ever was. Hudson and Rex is a modern crime show that is trying to keep the identity of the original while adding new elements like true team work, and chose to build on these characters and on Hudson and Rex's partnership instead of replacing actors and characters. I respect them for that and it gave the show an advantage over its predecessors. They now have years of history together, and with the rest of the characters too. On top of that, they developed an adequate non-toxic ship that I could get behind, which they had the guts to make canon (something that to this day crime shows are often wary about). No matter where the show ends up (as it's still ongoing but it's probably on its last legs which is okay), I'd say it's worth the time I spent on it. Maybe some of it was due to nostalgia but I still enjoy it.
Happy 30th Anniversary to the Rex franchise! Thank you for the countless hours of enjoyment!
Ultimate Good Dog Left Side Round 1
Fight 14
Rex (Inspector Rex)
Bear (Person of Interest)