Emergency Call California
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Emergency Call California |
| Original title | Emergency! |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1972-1979 |
| length | approx. 50 (in German episodes shortened to 45 minutes) minutes |
| Episodes | 123 in 6 seasons ( list ) |
| genre | Hospital series |
| idea |
Harold Jack Bloom Robert A. Cinader |
| production |
Edwin Self Robert A. Cinader |
| music |
Nelson Riddle Billy May |
| First broadcast | Jan 22, 1972 (USA) on NBC |
| German-language first broadcast |
February 1, 1993 on RTL |
| occupation | |
| |
Notruf California (original title Emergency!, Later Emergency One ) is an American television series that was first broadcast from 1972 to 1977 by the television station NBC . 123 episodes were produced in six seasons . There were also six television films with a running time of two hours each, which were first broadcast from 1978 to 1979. The rights to the series are now with the heirs of its producer Jack Webb . The German-language first broadcast took place from February 1993 on RTL .
The series is about the daily work of paramedics (specially trained paramedics, roughly comparable to German paramedics or emergency paramedics, but sometimes far beyond in their competencies) and firefighters at a fire station of the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD). In each episode, several emergencies such as fires, traffic and work accidents, etc. are staged and the social life of those involved is shown, in particular the paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto . The presentation can be considered realistic compared to other productions.
The modern ambulance service with its extensive medical help at the scene of the accident was a relatively new development at the time the series was created. The series also pursued interest in promoting this new system and promoting its introduction in other communities.
action
The focus of the series is the Fire Station 51 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) and the Rampart General Hospital in the LA County area (not in the urban area / LA City). As mentioned at the beginning, the main characters are the Firemen / Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage. The two occupy the so-called Squad 51 (unit 51-2). Her shift on Ward 51 also includes Captain Hank Stanley (from Season 2; before that, Captain Dick Hammer), Engineer Mike Stoker and the two companies Chet Kelley and Marco Lopez. They occupy engine 51 (fire truck 51-1). The crew of the Rampart General Hospital includes Dr. Kelly Brackett, Head Nurse Dixie McCall, Dr. Joe Early and Dr. Mike Morton.
With Squad 51 , Roy DeSoto and John Gage are called to all sorts of missions, some of which are bizarre: from a finger stuck in a chewing gum machine, to traffic accidents, heart attacks and other medical emergencies, to a plane crash in the mountains. Of course, they are supported by Engine 51 and other units of the LACoFD for larger deployments .
Roy and John's main area of responsibility is rescuing and caring for injured people, while the actual fire-fighting work is carried out by other colleagues. Once a victim has been rescued from a predicament, the paramedics on site will make them transportable, and the doctors at the Rampart Hospital will instruct them over the air. The patient is then transported by ambulance to the emergency room, where the hospital staff will continue the treatment.
Fire station
The fire station 51 ( station 51 ) is actually the station 127 of the LACoFD, which is still in service today. It's located at 2049 East 223rd Street in Carson . The number 51 was used because in reality there was no longer station 51. The real Station 51 was at the intersection of Arlington and Atlantic Avenues in Lynwood. Since 1998 there is again a fire station 51. It is located on the premises of Universal Studios in Universal City and belongs to Battalion 1 .
actor
Mike Stoker, who played himself, was the driver of Engine 51. In real life, the actor was also a firefighter at LACoFD Fire Station 69 in Topanga Canyon, which is also the main reason why Stoker is the least-seen firefighter. In addition to filming, he continued to work and often had to go on missions, which is why he is completely absent from some fire scenes in the series. Captain Dick Hammer was also actually a captain at the LACoFD.
Oddities
The very one-sided medical care at the scene of the accident was particularly noticeable. In the first few seasons almost every patient was given an infusion of lactated Ringer's solution , later this was replaced by glucose infusion . However, at this point in time (early / mid-1970s) the rescue system in Germany was generally even less developed. In addition, the rescue systems in the USA differ greatly from the load-and-go principle used in Germany at the time .
The second fire truck 51 in the series, a 1974 Ward LaFrance, was still on duty in Yosemite National Park until August 2008 and is now alongside its film predecessor (1965 Crown Firecoach) and Squad 51 in the LACoFD museum. While the Crown was still from the LACoFD's inventory, it was made available by the manufacturer to Universal Studios of Ward LaFrance during the third season of the series in 1974. After the end of the series in 1979, the vehicle remained in the possession of Universal Studios and was finally used as a regular emergency vehicle in Yosemite National Park from 1987, especially since the owners of Universal Studios also operate the Yosemite Concession Service .
A rather inconspicuous mistake in the German dubbed version is the subsequently synchronized engine noises when Squad 51 is deployed. You can clearly hear the shifting process, while Jonny Gage is surprised in one episode that a manual gearbox was used earlier.
In the German dubbing, the name Dr. Brinkmann proclaimed, based on Dr. Brinkmann from the television series Die Schwarzwaldklinik .
Awards
Julie London was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1974 .
DVD release
With the first season on August 23, 2005 began the release of the series on DVD in the USA. The seventh and final season was released on March 29, 2011.
The first season appeared in German on February 13, 2009, the second season on July 3, 2009, the third season on October 29, 2010 and the fourth season on May 27, 2011. A total of 12 episodes of the fifth season up to and including episode 91 with the title Das Traumhaus (excluding episodes 86 and 89, which did not run on German television) were released on DVD on April 26, 2013. This episode was the last to be dubbed for German television in the 1990s, no German soundtrack is available for the other episodes.
In contrast to the American original film material, the series episodes were shortened by five minutes on the German TV broadcast and the cut passages were not dubbed. For the DVD release, however, the original film material was used again. Due to this fact, those passages for which no German dubbing was available are reproduced in the original American setting with German subtitles in each episode.
In December 2013, the DVD collection “Superbox” was released, which contains 25 individual DVDs of the episodes of seasons 1–5 dubbed into German, including a flashing light.
Web links
- Emergency call California in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- emergencyfans.com: fansite of the series (English)
- notruf-california.net: German fansite
Individual evidence
- ↑ emergencyfans.com: episode guide (English)
- ↑ Los Angeles County Fire Departments ( Memento of the original from March 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
