The three ???
| The three ??? | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Three Investigators |
 | |
| Book series logo | |
| genre | Youth book / crime novel |
| novel | |
| country | United States , Germany |
| author |
Robert Arthur † (Creator). US authors: William Arden †, Nick West †, MV Carey †, Marc Brandel †, Megan & H. William Stine , Rose Estes , GH Stone , William McCay , Peter Lerangis . German-speaking authors: Brigitte Johanna Henkel-Waidhofer , André Marx , Ben Nevis , André Minninger , Katharina Fischer , Marco Sonnleitner , Astrid Vollenbruch , Kari Erlhoff , Hendrik Buchna , Tim Wenderoth , Ivar Leon Menger , Christoph Dittert , Michael Kühlen . |
| illustrator | Jochen Bartsch †, Aiga Rasch †, Silvia Christoph |
| publishing company | Franckh cosmos |
| First publication | 1968 - ... |
| expenditure | 209+ specials |
The three ??? (pronounced: The Three, ) (Original title: The Three Investigators ; Nebenform: The three detectives ) is a youth book - series , originally from the United States originates and has been translated into many languages. After her employment in the United States, she has been continued in Germany with her own stories since 1993 . It is also successfully produced as a radio play series. Since the start of series production in 1968 in Germany, over 45 million records have been sold and over 16.5 million books have been sold, supplemented by around two million games, detective toy boxes and fan articles.
History of the series
United States
In the USA the series comprises a total of 58 volumes by 11 authors, published from 1964 to 1990 in three series by Random House ; in addition there are two episodes with first publication in German translation (2011) and an unfinished episode.
The series was created in the early 1960s by journalist and author Robert Arthur . He was convinced that, thanks to his experience in the mystery area, he could write better children's books on this subject than other authors of children's books. He also knew Alfred Hitchcock personally and came up with the idea of winning him over as patron and editor of the series. For a while it was mistakenly believed that Hitchcock was the author of the series. In reality, Arthur had only been licensed to use Hitchcock's name and likeness. Hitchcock's foreword was not written by himself either, but was written by Arthur. Hitchcock himself never wrote the series. On September 24, 1964, Arthur's first detective novel appeared under the series title Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators .
The structural elements of the “classic” stories (1964–1979) usually include a riddle or a haunted phenomenon as a starting point, another child involved in the case and - often in combination with the child - a reference to the “foreign” or a special social position. The title concept "The Mystery of ..." was previously used by Enid Blyton in the children's book series Mystery around . The title The Three Investigators is also reminiscent of Blyton's series title The Five Find-Outers . Some title versions are reminiscent of works by Edward Edson Lee .
| year | US title | German title | Riddle / spook | child | "Special role" | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | The Secret of Terror Castle | ... and the haunted castle | Blue phantom | Skinny Norris | Silent film star with speech impairment | |||
| 1964 | The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot | ... and the super parrot | Puzzles (modified quotes) | Carlos (Hispanic American) | ||||
| 1965 | The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy | ... and the whispering mummy | Talking mummy | Hamid (Libyan) | ||||
| 1965 | The Mystery of the Green Ghost | ... and the green spirit | Green ghost, ghost pearls | Chang (Chinese) | ||||
| 1966 | The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure | ... and the missing treasure | Gnomes | Taro (Japanese) | ||||
| 1966 | The Mystery of Skeleton Island | ... and the ghost island | Carousel ghost | Chris (Greek) | ||||
| 1967 | The Mystery of the Fiery Eye | ... and the curse of the ruby | Riddle (testament) | August August | Rama Sidri Rhandur (Indian) | |||
| 1967 | The Mystery of the Silver Spider | ... and the silver spider | (Old Anton or black Johan) | Djaro (State of Varania) or Lars (Swede) | ||||
| 1968 | The Mystery of the Screaming Clock | ... and the strange alarm clock | Riddle (testament) | Harry, whose father is in jail | ||||
| 1968 | The Mystery of the Moaning Cave | ... and the Teufelsberg | El Diablo (dead guerrilla) | - | ||||
| 1969 | The Mystery of the Talking Skull | ... and the talking skull | Talking skull; mystery | - | Gypsies | |||
Remarks:
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Arthur used to write very quickly. The publisher wanted to keep up the pace with two publications a year, but Arthur soon realized that he could not keep this up in the long run - especially as his health deteriorated. He started looking for other suitable authors who came into question for working on the series. After he died on May 2, 1969, a team of authors took over the continuation of the series.
In 1980, Hitchcock died, and Random House did not seek renewal of the license agreement. With episode 31 The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar (German: ... and the scar face ), the first case appeared without Hitchcock's patronage and foreword. His commenting role was taken over by a fictional character, the writer and former detective Hector Sebastian (German: Albert Hitfield ). Gradually, the first 30 episodes were reissued with Hector Sebastian instead of Hitchcock; The first volume is an exception: this was now presented by the fictional director Reginald Clarke , as a Hollywood director was important for the plot in this story.
Between 1985 and 1987 four books with cases of the three detectives appeared in the Find your fate series. These are game books in which the reader takes over the case together with the three question marks and tries to solve it through clever decisions. In 1987 the original series The Three Investigators was discontinued in the USA. With the follow-up series The Three Investigators Crimebusters (1989/90, 11 volumes) one tried to build on the former successes of the original series. The concept was changed, the three detectives were allowed to age noticeably, they were given both driver's licenses and girlfriends and were sent back into the race for a further eleven cases. The great success did not materialize, however, so that this series was also discontinued in 1991.
Three other books were written for the series, but they were not published in the US: Original Series Volume 44 The Mystery of the Ghost Train (unpublished / unfinished ) by MV Carey , Crimebusters Episode 12 Brain Wash by Peter Lerangis, and Episode 13 High Strung by GH Stone (published in German in 2011).
Germany
The first volume translated into German was published in 1968 under the series name Die drei ??? with the title ... and the ghost castle in Kosmos-Verlag . After the first two novels with cover illustrations by Jochen Bartsch had not met with the hoped-for approval, the graphic artist Aiga Rasch offered the editor at the time to make her own design for the dust jacket of the series. If she did not like it, she would waive the fee. The publisher was skeptical because of the rather masculine subject, but was persuaded by her. Rasch's cover design was shocked by the publisher because he disregarded any design of a book for young people that was customary at the time. The cover was completely black, matching the title in very sober and objective white letters, the question marks in the colors white, red and blue and in the middle a brightly colored, square image that was a visual allusion to the content gave. Rasch took to heart the principle of never showing the three detectives on the cover, but always only one essential element or one essential location of the plot. A lot of persuasion had to be done quickly so that the books were re-published on a trial basis with their cover design. The redesign ultimately proved a success. Since 1971, all covers have been made according to Rasch's cover design, who handed the task over to Silvia Christoph in 1999 . In each novel, the business card of the three detectives is shown, which is mentioned at least once in the case.
Until the series was discontinued in the USA, almost all of Leonore Puschert's novels had been translated into German. Two of the four find-your-fate adventures ( ... and the weeping coffin and ... and the people of the winds ) were also translated into German, with a reworking into a novel. The two find-your-fate books The house of horrors (No. 3 by Megan Stine and H. William Stine ) and The savage statue (No. 4 by MV Carey , 1987) as well as the Crimebusters episode No. 8 Shoot the works remained untranslated for a long time. On October 12, 1979, the first six episodes of the radio play series of the same name appeared on the Europa label . Europe agreed a cooperation with the main licensee Kosmos, so that from now on all books will be adapted as radio plays → The three ??? (Radio play) .
Because of its continued success in German-speaking countries, the series was continued in 1993, after being hired in the USA, first by the Austrian author Brigitte-Johanna Henkel-Waidhofer ; after 16 books, various German authors took over the continuation of the series. Since episode 57 (radio play numbering) the stories are no longer based on American originals. After the license agreement with Alfred Hitchcock in the USA expired and was not renewed, Hitchcock was still allowed to live in the stories in Germany, as they had a license to use the name until 2004. It was not until the license expired in 2005 that the series no longer appears under Hitchcock's name. Between 2005 and 2007 a legal dispute over the licensing between the heirs of Robert Arthur, the radio play label Europa and the Kosmos publishing house led to the suspension of the radio play series and delivery of individual novels. In 2008, both parties were out of court on a joint continuation with the heirs of Arthur's some (see also Chapter dispute over copyrights ).
In the last few years the Kosmos-Verlag has secured the German exploitation rights to further previously unpublished US novels. Brain Wash by Peter Lerangis (dt. Prisoners thoughts ), High Strung by Gayle Lynds (aka GH Stone ) (dt. Under high voltage ) and The Case of the House of Horrors (dt. Megan and H. William Stine House of Fear ) appeared together in spring 2011 in a first Top Secret Edition . Kari Erlhoff and Astrid Vollenbruch are responsible for the translation of the three novels . In September 2014 the two still missing translations of were Shoot the works (dt. Keeping tabs ) by William McCay and The Case of the Statue Savage (dt. Cruel Goddess ) by MV Carey in a Top Secret Edition 2 released. While The Case of the Savage Statue was translated by Michael Kühlen, Shoot the works is a fan translation from 2002 that was initially published on the Internet. This US template, translated by Detlev and Martina Beiderbeck, Stephanie Berger, Matthias Bogucki, Sven Haarmann, and Tanja and Thomas Hoock, was adopted by Kosmos-Verlag and published in an edited version. In addition , the edition was completed with Das versunkene Schiff , a previously unpublished novel by André Marx from 1995.
differences
There are some notable differences between the original American editions and the German translations: On the one hand, the characteristic appearance of the black hardcover bindings, and also the fact that the title of the series was not translated literally as Die Drei Detektiven , but as Die Drei ??? was changed. The reason for the name change was that the publisher did not like the literal translation. Instead, they used the symbols of the three detectives, the question marks. These were often used by the three for chalk markings. Since every detective has his own color, these were a clear recognition feature. In addition, the question marks were also printed on the business card. Justus has the color white, Peter the color blue and Bob the color red. Here, too, a change compared to the American original, there the chalk colors are white, blue and green. It is often mistakenly assumed that Bob's chalk color is blue because the colors in the logo on the book cover are in a different order (white, red, blue) than the names of the three boys on their business card.
In the text of the German translations (volumes 1 to 45, 1968–89), there are always small inserts with tips and hints from the fictional author Alfred Hitchcock, which are intended to stimulate the reader to think. They are missing in the original American editions and have been supplemented by the translator Leonore Puschert. Furthermore, the cover illustrations of the German books by Kosmos never show the three main actors, but always only the essential objects or locations of the plot. The Stuttgart illustrator Aiga Rasch played a key role in the overall design and the design of the cover illustrations . The covers of the first two volumes were designed by Jochen Bartsch.
Some personal names also differ. Justus Jonas is originally called Jupiter Jones and Peter Shaw is called Pete Crenshaw . The two Irish brothers Kenneth and Patrick O'Ryan are called Hans and Konrad Schmid in the original series and come from Bavaria. The chauffeur Morton is originally called Worthington .
content
The three ??? are a junior detective team that originally emerged from a brain teaser club and is based in Rocky Beach, a fictional California coastal city located between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara . Justus Jonas lives with his aunt Mathilda Jonas and his uncle Titus Jonas in a house on the outskirts of the city. His parents were killed when Justus was still a child. In the episode ... and the risky ride a car accident is clearly mentioned, in the episode The Empty Grave, however, there is talk of a disappearance after a plane crash. The "headquarters" of the three ??? is on the edge of Uncle Titus' junkyard. It is a caravan with various secret exits, an office with a telephone, a laboratory and a darkroom . Many other utensils, such as a listening system or a periscope with which you can look outside from the darkness of the control center, Justus has assembled over time from old spare parts from the junkyard.
Less is known about Peter and Bob's place of residence. Bob's father is a sports, business or political journalist for the Los Angeles Post , depending on the case , what the three ??? useful in some cases. Peter's father works as a film special effects technician. From time to time they are supported in their criminal cases by Alfred Hitchcock , the chauffeur Morton and the police officers Commissioner Reynolds (older cases) and Inspector Cotta .
“May we show you our card?” - The handing over of the business card to potential clients is the trademark of the three detectives - comparable to the idea “Bond, James Bond ” of the well-known British secret agent in his films. Justus usually hands over the card in a suitable situation and waits to see how the clients react to the three question mark symbols. It is often joked whether the question marks are supposed to indicate that the three detectives question their own abilities. Then Justus usually explains: “The question marks are a general symbol for the unknown, for unsolved puzzles and secrets of all kinds” (or a similar, high-sounding description). In the beginning, the three ??? often do a lot of persuading. Mostly the clients distrust the abilities of the three ??? because the detectives seem too young to them. Next to the business card, the three ??? in the first cases, a letter of recommendation from the Rocky Beach Police Department, signed by Chief Inspector Samuel Reynolds: “The holder of this card is a volunteer junior assistant to the Rocky Beach Police Department. The authority advocates any support from third parties. ”The business card is no longer shown, as is always the case in the initial series.
characters
from left: Jens Wawrczeck (Peter Shaw),
Oliver Rohrbeck (Justus Jonas),
Andreas Fröhlich (Bob Andrews)
| Surname | description |
|---|---|
| Justus Jonas | First detective |
| Peter Shaw | Second detective |
| Bob Andrews | Third detective / research and archive |
| Alfred Hitchcock | Mentor / narrator |
| Inspector Cotta | Inspector in the Rocky Beach Police Department |
| Aunt Mathilda | Jupiter's aunt |
| Uncle titus | Justus' uncle and owner of the junkyard |
| Morton | chauffeur |
Locations
The episodes usually take place in the fictional southern California town of Rocky Beach or the surrounding area (such as Los Angeles ).
The three detectives seldom leave California and stay in other states, for example in “ The Ghost Island ” and “The Invisible Adversary” on the American east coast.
Some episodes also set outside the United States:
| No. | title | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8th | ... and the silver spider | Varania (original version) |
| 51 | ... and the risky ride | Mexico |
| 65 | Diamond smuggling | United Kingdom |
| 66 | ... and the shadow men | Italy |
| 67 | ... and the secret of the coffins | Germany and Austria |
| 68 | ... and the treasure in the mountain lake | Switzerland |
| 78 | The empty grave | Venezuela |
| 83 | Mutiny on the high seas | Research ship on the Pacific |
| 100 | Isle of the Dead | Micronesia |
| 126 | SMS from the grave | Egypt |
| 180 | ... and the whispering dolls | Mexico |
| 192 | Under the dragon's spell | China |
| 200 | Fiery eye | India |
Sequence index of books
In addition to various special publications, 206 books have been published in Germany to date. In the United States and Europe, the books were published in different order. In addition, the books do not have any sequence numbers and Kosmos kept his count a secret for years.
Due to the radio play sequence No. 29 (The Original Music), which has no equivalent in the books, the number 29 was usually skipped in the unofficial numbering so that a correspondence can be achieved later on. With the announcement of the official numbering, this tool became superfluous.
Lead author André Marx wrote a three-part anniversary volume for the 100th and 125th episodes . Author Astrid Vollenbruch wrote the three-part anniversary volume for the 150th episode. The three-part episode 175 was written by Christoph Dittert (Part A), Kari Erlhoff (Part B) and Hendrik Buchna. The 200th case, like the 100th and 125th cases, was written by Andre Marx.
Apart from one episode, the titles of the book and radio play versions are the same. Only episode 80 Secret Matter Ufo was set to music with the title Secret Files Ufo .
Authors
Between 1964 and 1990 Random House published a total of 58 books. After the series was discontinued in 1990, a German-speaking team of authors wrote new cases on behalf of Franckh Kosmos-Verlag (150 regularly counted episodes up to March 2019). In 2011, two previously unpublished novels by US authors Peter Lerangis and GH Stone were published in Germany.
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Adaptations
Radio plays
The radio play series of the same name by the EUROPA label began in the German-speaking area in 1979 ( → Die drei ??? - radio plays ). In Great Britain and Switzerland too, attempts were made to establish their own radio play adaptations for the book series on the market. After a few episodes, however, radio play production was discontinued ( → The three ??? - Foreign language radio plays ).
In Germany, neuvertonung.de was a non-commercial project by mainly young amateurs that dealt with the new dubbing of 44 episodes. In doing so, those responsible orientated themselves to the book templates and also set to music the action elements that were abbreviated in the EUROPA radio plays. The radio plays have been produced since August 2006 with the permission of Kosmos-Verlag and EUROPA-Studio. However, the rights holders withdrew their approval for the production of new episodes in September 2016, thus ending the project. The episodes produced can still be listened to as a stream .
Audio books
The classics of the Drei - ??? - book series have been published as an audio book series since September 6, 2019, read by Family & Friends . They are read in full by speakers and actors familiar with the world of three ??? are connected. The series is not based on the chronology of the books, but follows the “favorite story principle”. The audio books are available for download and streaming. On November 22, 2019, the three audiobooks read by the series' main speakers were released as CD boxes.
| title | year | speaker | author |
|---|---|---|---|
| ... and the green spirit | 2019 | Bastian Pastewka | Robert Arthur |
| ... and the ghost island | 2019 | Anna Thalbach | Robert Arthur |
| ... and the Phantom Lake | 2019 | Jannik Schümann | William Arden |
| ... and the super parrot | 2019 | Oliver Rohrbeck | Robert Arthur |
| ... and the haunted castle | 2019 | Jens Wawrczeck | Robert Arthur |
| ... and the Carpathian dog | 2019 | Andreas Fröhlich | Mary Virginia Carey |
| ... and the dancing devil | 2019 | Bela B | William Arden |
| ... and the magic circle | 2020 | Jessica Black | Mary Virginia Carey |
| ... and the strange alarm clock | 2020 | Henning May | Robert Arthur |
| ... and the curse of the ruby | 2020 | Tim Grobe | Robert Arthur |
| ... and the laughing shadow | 2020 | Oliver Kalkofe | William Arden |
| ... and the singing snake | 2020 | Katrin Fröhlich | Mary Virginia Carey |
Computer and console games
Since the year 2000, the software provider USM has published various computer and console games in which the player cases of the three ??? should solve.
| title | year | platform |
|---|---|---|
| ... and the secret of the magician | 2000 | Pc |
| ... and the bombs in Rocky Beach | 2000 | Pc |
| ... and the ghost hunt | 2001 | Pc |
| ... and the alarm on the Internet | 2001 | Pc |
| ... and the treasure of the Aztecs | 2002 | Pc |
| ... and the deadly shadows | 2003 | Pc |
| ... and the gold of the Incas | 2007 | Pc |
| The cursed castle | 2009 | PC, Wii |
| The three ??? - The quiz | 2009 | Pc |
| The secret of the dead | 2010 | Nintendo DS |
| Under suspicion | 2012 | PC, Mac , iOS , Android |
| ... and the giant octopus | 2015 | PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Win10 |
| Mysteries from the spirit world | 2016 | PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Win10 |
| Secret of the Shadow Heroes | 2017 | PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Win10 |
| Curse of the bottle devil | 2020 | PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Win10 |
Mobile games and mobile apps
USM has been selling mobile games from the three ???. In addition, apps for smartphones have been developed since 2009 .
| title | year | description | platform | publisher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ... and the shadows of the past | 2006 | game | mobile phone | USM |
| ... and the house of fear | 2006 | game | mobile phone | USM |
| The secret of the ghost island | 2007 | game | mobile phone | USM |
| The swamps of damnation | 2008 | game | mobile phone | USM |
| The cursed castle | 2009 | game | mobile phone | USM |
| The three ??? - Shuffler | 2009 | Automatic radio play selection | iOS | Europe |
| The three ??? - Library | 2010 | Library with all books in the series | iOS | cosmos |
| House of Horrors | 2011 | Interactive radio play | iOS | Europe |
| The three ??? - Headquarters | 2011, 2012 | Episode overview, quiz, news | iOS, Android | cosmos |
| ... and the fire diamond | 2013 | Part of the board game of the same name | iOS | cosmos |
| Under suspicion | 2013, 2014 | game | iOS, Android | USM |
| The three ??? - quiz | 2014 | quiz | iOS | USM |
| The three ??? and the giant octopus | 2015 | game | iOS, Android, Win | USM |
| The three ??? - Mysteries from the spirit world | 2016 | game | iOS, Android, Win | USM |
| The three ??? - Secret of the Shadow Heroes | 2017 | game | iOS, Android, Win | USM |
| The three ??? - Curse of the Bottle Devil | 2020 | game | iOS, Android, Win | USM |
Translations of German episodes
In 2005 the Kosmos-Verlag decided for the first time to publish certain novels of the three ??? to have it translated into English. PONS-Verlag has also been publishing selected novels in English since 2009. In addition, a novel was translated into Latin for the first time in 2010 → The three ??? (Translations of German episodes) .
theatre
The full playback theater
In 1997 Das Vollplaybacktheater from Wuppertal brought Die drei ??? on stage for the first time. In a kind of comedy show, the actors reproduce the sound of the audio drama cassettes as a theater play without speaking. In doing so, they cut quotes from other radio plays as well as from film, radio and television into the original sound template and also accompanied them with various pieces of music. Occasionally they even mix two completely different radio plays together to create a new story. While they are sometimes controversial in circles of three - ??? - fans, Das Vollplaybacktheater celebrates nationwide success in sold out houses on its tours.
Thalia Theater Hamburg
After the successful performance of the Thalia Theater in Hamburg in 1999 ... and the screaming alarm clock as a theater adaptation of the episode ... and the strange alarm clock , there followed in 2002 evenings with staged readings of the radio play texts with musical accompaniment, performed by students from the Hochschule für Musik and Theater Hamburg .
Film adaptations
Studio Hamburg acquired the worldwide filming rights. With a number of movies, a TV series and merchandising , a comprehensive exploitation chain is to be created around the three detectives. The first movie was Die Drei ??? in 2006. - The secret of the ghost island filmed. The production, which cost around seven million euros and was shot in English, was released in German cinemas on November 8, 2007. The original speakers of the radio play series can be seen in short guest appearances.
On March 19, 2009, the second film in the planned trilogy, The Three ??? - The cursed castle , in the cinemas. However, after the resignation of the production company's chairman, Studio Hamburg announced in a press release that future international cinema productions would be put to the test. Whether the three ??? - So the silver spider is actually still being shot is questionable, although Studio Hamburg has confirmed to the press that the film will be produced.
The German speakers for both films took over the voices of the three - ??? - kids radio plays in 2009 and re-recorded earlier episodes.
comics
In September 2015 the first comic with the detectives The three ??? and the three-eyed skull: graphic novel , followed in September 2017 by Die drei ??? The Village of Devils: Graphic Novel . In 2019 the three ???: The ritual of the snakes appeared .
Parodies
The three ??? were parodied several times, such as The three paragraph characters , The three @@@ (read: The three spider monkeys ), The three callsigns, The three ??? and the hobbling gold dwarf , The three ??? - 150 Baker Street , The Three ??? on a secret mission , Die Hamsterbande and Die Ferienbande . The last series is a satire on various children's and youth radio plays ( TKKG , Fünf Freunde , Die drei ??? , Die Funk-Füchse , Pizzabande and others), in which some of the original speakers of the youth radio plays participate and their own Self-deprecating parody of roles (including Oliver Rohrbeck , Andreas Fröhlich , Veronika Neugebauer and Konrad Halver ).
The three ??? In some radio plays, however, they also show self-irony, which is expressed in some of the often only improvised dialogues, for example in one scene in the episode ... UFO Secret Files (80), in which Justus praises the Internet and refers to the websites of children's and youth book series.
Oliver Rohrbeck, Jens Wawrczeck and Andreas Fröhlich have also published a fan radio play . In the almost three-minute episode, the three discover ??? the website Rocky-Beach.com and leave a guest book entry. In addition to such official parodies, some of which have also appeared on CD and / or in which the original speakers participated, radio plays are also published on various websites that either pay homage to the three ??? and thus deal with serious cases written by fans or parody the series as comedy in a funny way.
In addition, the three ??? Also parodied in the film Neues vom WiXXer : Much Longer works as a private detective under the title The Three Question Marks . His business card says: THE THREE QUESTION MARKS, we'll take care of any case. First detective: Much Longer, Second detective: Much Longer, Research and archive: Much Longer . The film also features the character of the villain Chucky Norris, whose name is a combination of the action star Chuck Norris and one of the main opponents of the three ???, Skinny Norris .
The NDR satirical program extra 3 parodied the series for the 2013 federal election . There it was called: The three ??? and the mysterious K question . Image scenes by Peer Steinbrück , Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sigmar Gabriel have been re-synchronized.
Dispute over copyrights
initial situation
The series was invented in 1964 under the title The Three Investigators by the American writer Robert Arthur in the USA. Arthur sold the international exploitation rights to the publishing house Random House. However, the copyright remained with him. The contract included rights for the publication of books, films, comics and for the "mechanical sound reproduction". Since there was no noteworthy audio book market at that time, it cannot be legally determined and therefore it is doubtful whether this “mechanical sound reproduction” means the audio book or radio play medium as it exists now.
The German-language exploitation rights were acquired by the Franckh-Kosmos Verlag from Random House in 1968 . In 1979, the Europa label also acquired the recording rights to the series as a sub-license holder from Kosmos-Verlag.
After Robert Arthur's death in 1969, the copyrights were transferred to the University of Michigan . In his will, he stated that “all rights, titles, and interests that [he] would have at the time of [his] death in any published book, short story, play, or unpublished manuscript, including, among others, all on [his] Name issued copyrights, as well as all rights to royalties and ancillary rights to which [he] is entitled under contracts with publishers ”are given to the University of Michigan. This was mainly due to tax law reasons, since no inheritance tax was due for bequests to educational institutions.
Random House has since paid royalties to the university, but stopped paying in 1992 because it was not clear whether the University of Michigan was still legally entitled. In American copyright law, literature that was copyrighted before 1977 had a protective clause that ensured that all licenses automatically reverted to the author or his heirs after 28 years. Random House then signed another contract with Arthur's heirs, his children Elizabeth Ann Arthur and Robert Andrew Arthur, for the exploitation rights of Arthur's volumes and for the continued use of the characters, with the condition that the ten books were brought back to the American market become.
After the series was discontinued in the USA in 1991, Kosmos-Verlag sought the rights to continue the series in Germany with German-speaking authors, and in 1994 concluded a corresponding contract with Random House without the consent of Arthur's heirs.
In 2002 the exploitation rights to the ten volumes of Robert Arthur from Random House were transferred back to the heirs of Robert Arthur after the publishing house had not complied with the agreed republication of the works. As early as 1999, however, Kosmos-Verlag had the word mark Die drei ??? Have protected throughout Germany and Europe-wide in 2003 as a European brand for sound carriers and printed matter. Negotiations between Kosmos-Verlag and the heirs about a new license agreement failed because Kosmos relied on its trademark registration and ongoing contracts with Random House. Kosmos also doubted that Arthur's heirs were the rights holders, since according to Arthur's will, all rights were to be transferred to the University of Michigan. Instead, at the end of 2004, Random House and Kosmos signed an extensive contract that provided that all rights to the other American novels not by Arthur would become the property of Kosmos Verlag.
Procedure
Due to the unclear legal situation, Europe decided at the beginning of 2005 not to publish any further episodes based on the book templates of the Kosmos publishing house and stopped paying royalties to Kosmos. At this point in time the books " Spur ins nothing" and ... and the ghost train were already completely recorded as a radio play.
The parent company of the Europe label Sony Music Entertainment (then Sony BMG) finally acquired all German rights to Arthur's works and the use of the original characters and locations from the heirs of Robert Arthur in 2006, independently of Kosmos-Verlag. The contract included the right to commission new German-language books, as well as the evaluation as a sound carrier. In addition, all "[...] shares [of Arthur's children] in all German-language audio recordings, bound books, paperbacks, stage performances and film recordings of stage performances of all existing derivative works were transferred to SonyBMG". Based on this, Europe developed a new radio play series called DiE DR3i . Because of the trademark protection of the word mark Die Drei ??? However, Europe avoided using this brand and the names created by Kosmos. Instead, only characters and names that are based on Arthur's idea were used (original names of the characters).
The Kosmos-Verlag continued its book series under a well-known title and with the well-known character names. Since Sony BMG saw its rights of use violated, the company had filed a lawsuit against Kosmos-Verlag. An injunction was obtained against the distribution of two novels ( Spuk im Netz , as well as ... and the curse of the dragon ). As a result, these two books had to be temporarily removed from the trade afterwards.
On May 13, 2007, the temporary injunction was overturned by a judgment of the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. The judges could not establish that Robert Arthur's children even owned the copyrights. Rather, they saw it as proven that the University of Michigan is the legal heir to Robert Arthur's works and characters. As a result, the heirs could not have transferred any rights to Sony BMG. The plaintiff Sony BMG was set a deadline to submit the new chain of rights and all contracts on which it is based.
Finally, Kosmos and Sony BMG announced that they would hold new talks in order to reach an out-of-court settlement. The delivery of episode 7 of the DiE DR3i series was therefore initially postponed. On November 30, 2007, episodes 7 and 8 were released.
output
On February 13, 2008, Sony BMG announced that Kosmos and Sony BMG had reached an agreement, and a joint press release appeared the next day. The book and trademark rights on which the radio plays are based remain as before with Kosmos-Verlag, which is also responsible for all other publishing products based on the series, including calendars, non-fiction books, mobile phone and computer games, experiment kits and board games. All audio usage rights including the entire catalog as well as stage and theater shows and the marketing of merchandising licenses remain with Europe.
Since April 4, 2008 new episodes have been released under the title Die Drei ??? . The label uses again the book templates from Kosmos-Verlag. In addition, it was agreed to take the radio plays in the DiE DR3i series off the market on January 1, 2009.
The continuation of the very successfully started radio play series Die Drei ??? Kids went to Europe. Until the end of 2008, the previous licensee USM still distributed the episodes that had already been published.
The three ??? Kids
Since 1999 the branch published by Kosmos-Verlag, Die drei ??? Target kids targeting a much younger audience. The contents of the stories are told in a more child-friendly and less complex manner, and at the age of ten, the young detectives are significantly younger than in the current episodes of the original series.
The three !!!
Following the example of the three ??? was published in 2006 under the title Die Drei !!! launched a detective series especially for girls by Franckh-Kosmos-Verlag. Similar to the model series, the book series contains stories about a young detective trio, which this time consists of three girls; the stories take place in a major German city.
Trivia
- The music group Jupiter Jones , founded in 2002, was named after the original name of the first detective, Jupiter Jones (in German Justus Jonas).
- The Cologne rock band Karpatenhund took its name from an episode title.
- On the album "Bordsteinkantengeschichten" by Muff Potter there is a long scream from the episode "The three ??? and the strange alarm clock ”.
- The intro and outro of the album “Alles auf Schwarz” by the Hamburg rock band Montreal are spoken by Oliver Rohrbeck in the role of Justus Jonas, but without naming a name.
- The Three were on the album " Fettes Brot Greetings " of hip-hop -Formation Fettes Brot a guest appearance.
- In episode 160, "Mysterious Messages", the three detectives meet scientist Dr. Jones looking for lost treasure in his spare time. He is voiced by Wolfgang Pampel , the German voice actor for Harrison Ford , whose role as Indiana Jones pursued the same hobbies.
literature
- Annette Bastian: The legacy of the cassette children . Eccomedia Verlag, Brühl 2003, ISBN 3-936782-15-6 .
- Andreas E. Beurmann : The three ???, the radio play queen and much more . Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-487-08507-4 .
- Jörn Radtke u. Christian Börmann: The three ??? - 30 years of radio play cult . Falkemedia Verlag, Kiel 2009, ISBN 978-3-9811171-8-9 .
- Andreas Wicke: "The comparison with Sherlock Holmes is obvious". Intertextuality and tension in the radio play Die Drei ??? - Message from the Underworld, in: Michael Eggers / Christof Hamann (eds.), Comparative Literature and Didactics . Aisthesis, Bielefeld 2018, ISBN 978-3-8498-1164-8 .
Web links
- www.dreifragezeichen.de - Official website
- www.rocky-beach.com - fan project
- https://diedreifragezeichen.fandom.com/wiki/ - separate Die Drei ??? - Wiki
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The three ???" overshadow world stars like Lady Gaga . Wirtschaftswoche . Retrieved November 30, 2013.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Books and Pamphlets - Including Serials and Constributions Periodicals . July-December 1964. In: Copyright Office - Library of Congress (Ed.): Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third Series . Volume 18, Part 1, No. 2 , 1967, p. 1344 ( online [accessed September 14, 2014]).
- ↑ Hans-Ulrich Pönack pointed out the parallel on March 18, 2009 on Deutschlandfunk ( online , accessed June 17, 2020)
- ↑ Jerry Todd and the Whispering Mummy (1923); Poppy Ott and the Stuttering Parrot (1926); Similarities in terms of content are rather minor.
- ↑ in English only in the first edition of Scarface : Launch Benchmark
- ↑ About the graphic artist Aiga Rasch ( Memento from January 31, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Interview with Leonore Puschert. rocky-beach.com, accessed August 15, 2014 .
- ↑ The three ??? Fiery eye. Archived from the original on September 4, 2018 ; accessed on September 4, 2018 .
- ↑ Homepage for the new dubbing of the radio plays as an amateur project, accessed on September 25, 2019.
- ↑ Announcement of the completion of the project on September 27, 2016, accessed on September 25, 2019.
- ↑ Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, judgment of April 24, 2007, Az. I 20 U 175/06, Paragraph 36
- ↑ a b Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court, judgment of April 24, 2007, Az. I 20 U 175/06, para. 28
- ↑ a b c d e Interview with Elizabeth Ann Arthur
- ↑ Entry in the DPMA register
- ↑ J! Cast 19 The three question marks
- ↑ Press release of February 14, 2008 about the agreement between Kosmos and Sony BMG
- ↑ The three question marks and fat bread