To the sea
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | To the sea |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| year | 1977 |
| Production company |
DEFA for television in the GDR |
| length | 60-75 minutes |
| Episodes | 9 |
| genre | Family series |
| Director | Wolfgang Luderer |
| idea | Eva Stein |
| production | Rolf Martius |
| music | Helmut Nier |
| camera | Peter Krause |
| First broadcast | January 7, 1977 ( GDR ) on GDR 1 |
| occupation | |
|
Main actor:
Supporting cast: | |
At sea, is a nine-part television series, commissioned by the television of the GDR from 1974 to 1976, among others on the teaching and cargo ship JG Fichte of the DSR was produced.
Many prominent actors from the GDR were engaged for the main roles in this series. With Horst Drinda , Günter Naumann , Günter Schubert and Erik S. Klein probably the most popular actors of their time standing in front of the camera. The series became one of the most successful and most watched productions on GDR television.
description
In the nine episodes the everyday life and the professional situations of a ship crew of the socialist merchant fleet of the GDR from the captain to the deckhand on their ship between sea and shore leave are described, essentially based on actual events. But also the problems within the families of two captains and the completely normal other interpersonal problems that arise from long separation from the families are dealt with. The friendship with the socialist seafaring states such as the People's Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union is also portrayed; They are always ready to help the Fichte , as are the Cuban authorities.
The episodes
The authors for the individual episodes were Eva Stein , Manfred Dietrich , Anne Dessau , Hans Georg Lietz and Captain Gerd Peters . Wolfgang Luderer was the director of all nine episodes .
The nine episodes had different running times when they were broadcast on television and were between 60 and 75 minutes broadcast depending on the production. They were first broadcast on Friday evening at 8 p.m. on the first program of GDR television.
1st episode
Probation ( EA : January 7, 1977, 70 minutes)
With two new crew members, the merchant ship JG Fichte goes on a journey into the waters beyond the Baltic Sea . Captain Karsten takes command of the ship at short notice, and Detlef, the cook, who is at sea for the first time, also has to pass his first practical test on the ship. While the ship initially picks up smooth voyage after casting off, the captain orders a little later that the engine should run at a higher speed so that the important cargo arrives at the port of destination on time to pick up new cargo. Chief Weyer tries in vain to explain to the captain that a higher load could damage the machine in the long run. And that's how it will soon be. While the ship is traveling at full speed ahead, the engine fails due to a piston seizure and the ship begins to drift onto a strip of coast, unable to maneuver in heavy seas. In this situation the captain stands between two decisions: Either to have the ship towed to the next port at high cost, or to rely on the skills of his chief and carry out repairs at great risk, and thus face an uncertain outcome. The chief and his men have fourteen hours to change the pistons or get the engine going again. Meanwhile, the new chef is struggling with life on the high seas. He constantly wanders between the galley and the railing to fight off seasickness. But the different wishes of the crew members are also giving the Smutje a lot of trouble. Help is approaching in the form of sailor Thomas, who no longer leaves his side and acts as a meal plan advisor.
2nd episode
The Wedding Surprise (EA: January 14, 1977, 64 minutes)
In the home port of Rostock , the spruce is ready to sail. But there is a problem: the radio operator is down, and so one is feverishly looking for a replacement radio operator . Petersen is the only available radio operator, but he also has a problem. He is about to get married, which he had to postpone several times because he was always called to the ship. In order not to be left empty-handed, Captain Karsten is now traveling to the Ore Mountains to the wedding couple on behalf of the shipping company as the official well- wisher . There he tries to convince the future wife of the radio operator of the importance of the matter. However, he does not consider that a bride and groom also goes on their honeymoon and comes up with the great idea that the couple could do it on the spruce tree. Therefore, the bride should not find out anything about the planned surprise until the approval of the shipping company and the higher authorities. The bride is not entirely sure of the mysterious chatter and action between the captain and her future husband. She suspects that both of them are up to something and that the wedding could break up after all. There is an argument between Petersen and his bride. Petersen is completely desperate and gets drunk. But Captain Karsten can reconcile the two. During the wedding celebration, Karsten waits impatiently for the approval of the shipping company for the planned honeymoon on the Fichte , which only arrives at the last minute. The bride's business, which had initially stood up due to a lack of labor, also gives in and leaves her for the duration of the trip. But the bride has vowed never to board a ship again after getting seasick on a Rügen cruise ...
3rd episode
The charge fire (EA: January 21, 1977, 60 minutes)
The seaman hires Winfried on the Fichte . A newcomer to seafaring who is full of energy and ideals for his job. Once in the Latin American port of destination, there is a lot of work waiting for the ship's crew. The new crew member is allocated hold 2 for monitoring the unloading and loading operations of the ship. But Winfried leaves the hatch against the regulations to fetch drinking water for the thirsty stevedores. On the way home, there is a cargo fire that causes great damage to the ship. Panicked, the young sailor climbs into the hatch to put out the fire himself and puts himself in great danger. The ship's cook Detlef also makes his experiences on land. He wants to get ingredients for a dinner to which the captain has invited various business partners. But he forgets the time and stops in a pub, where he drinks a little too much and is pillaged by the locals, ignorant of the customs of the country. The landlord claims that Detlef invited the whole restaurant and is presenting a huge bill. Since he cannot pay, he has to leave his shirt and pants there. When he is back on the ship, scantily clad in a cement sack, much too late, but reasonably healthy, he finds with great relief that his friends have saved the cold buffet for the captain's reception.
4th episode
The collision (EA: January 28, 1977, 70 minutes)
The spruce is sailing in South American waters and has a collision with a local freighter when entering the port . The country's press accuses the captain of having caused the deaths of three seafarers through a wrong driving maneuver. Various testimonies are made at a hearing, one of which is a heavy burden on Captain Karsten. If he fails to prove otherwise, he will go to jail. Grueling weeks of waiting begin, also due to the fact that the captain hardly gets the opportunity to contact his shipping company at home, as the GDR does not yet have a diplomatic representation in the country. A somewhat seedy West German diplomat offers Karsten help, pointing out that he would be a compatriot after all - even if he comes from the GDR, where he doesn't necessarily have to return. Karsten refuses, however. Time is working against the captain: the on-site lawyer takes a lot of time, while the authorities prepare an expert report on the course of the accident. It turns out that the tachograph shows a different course than the one specified by the captain. The shipping company in Rostock is also working on analyzing the course of the accident. One day the responsible accident specialist found the decisive but fatal cause of the accident through simulations with ship models: the current and fairway conditions and the fact that the other ship was passing too closely in the narrow channel caused an unexpected turn of the ship. Now there is only one problem left to solve: will the country's authorities allow the specialist to enter the country in time for a court hearing?
5th episode
Call to Rügenradio (EA: February 5, 1977, 60 minutes)
A stowaway is discovered on the spruce . But it is only an ox that was overlooked during the unloading process in the port. The animal is very restless and also in a bad mood. The young Winfried tries to catch the poor animal and hits the ship's planks with his head. A few days later, the incident has almost been forgotten, Winfried complains of a very severe headache that is becoming unbearable by the hour. Concerned about his colleague, Captain Karsten contacts a clinic in Rostock's home port and asks the ships nearby for medical help. All signs clearly indicate a bruise under the top of the skull that needs to be treated as soon as possible. However, the Polish ship's doctor who rushed to was only an internist who was unable to carry out the operation. Meanwhile, the situation is becoming life-threatening for Winfried. Then finally you can find a suitable surgeon on land in Cuba via radio contact. A helicopter would be ready to fly the doctor to the ship. But then a huge hurricane is brewing . However, the helicopter pilot takes the risk of a dangerous flight and Winfried can be saved through an emergency operation.
6th episode
Two letters (EA: February 12, 1977, 75 minutes)
The marriage between Chief Weyer and his wife Barbara is in crisis. His wife is no longer able to endure the lonely weeks and months at home while her husband is at sea. In order to save his marriage, Weyer said goodbye to the team with a heavy heart and resigned from his job. On land he tries to start a new life as an engineer. Family life is initially quite good and harmonious. But over time, the quarrels about little things in the family pile up. The Weyers' two children also suffer from this. The daughter only spends her time with her boyfriend, the son also goes his own way. The chief gradually gets the impression that he no longer really fits into regular family life. He doesn't feel at home on land, is completely dissatisfied, and over time he misses his machine . Gradually his wife begins to realize that her husband, whom she loves, belongs at sea. To where he has always felt comfortable. But it won't be easy to get him back there. So all you have left is to resort to a little trick.
7th episode
Pilot on board (EA: February 19, 1977, 60 minutes)
Once again the spruce is in South America. Here the crew gets to feel the rough methods of the competition. When the seaman Willi is not at his control post for a moment, an unknown person smuggles an incendiary device on board. The captain then ordered the highest levels of vigilance and told his people to keep their eyes open wherever they were on the ship's deck. He suspects that the pilot is doing common cause with a dubious business competitor. First of all, contrary to all initial expectations , the spruce passes the difficult spots along the coast up to the port entrance. Shortly before, the driver of the tugboat cuts the line under a flimsy pretext, which quickly becomes entangled in the screw . The spruce is unable to maneuver in front of the harbor entrance, and there is a risk of running aground. The only solution in this situation seems to be costly rescue with the help of a tractor. But that is out of the question for the captain. You try to get out of the spot on your own. But Winfried and Willi, who dive down to the propeller to cut the line from the propeller, soon notice that they cannot do it on their own and have to give up exhausted. Help is approaching in the form of the crew of a ship from the Soviet Union .
8th episode
The hearing (EA: February 26, 1977, 75 minutes)
A hearing takes place in front of the GDR Sea Chamber , to which Captain Karsten is appointed as an assessor and Gerd Peters is seen as the average commissioner . It is about the grounding of a ship that was under the command of Captain Langhans, a good friend of Karsten. The first signs and clues speak in favor of Langhans, as he is said to have been incorrectly informed by his officer about the position of the ship in the incident that had occurred. During a break in negotiations, the young officer discovers that his vacation love is Langhans' daughter, and he now wrongly suspects that the apparently chance acquaintance is nonexistent. In his position, the officer withdraws his statement and explains that he was able to inform the master of the error in good time. Now testimony stands against testimony. Fearing for his captain's license , Langhans now tries to blame the young officer for the ground contact. Dagmar, his daughter, goes through hours of fear and does not know how to behave in this conflict or who to believe. In the meantime, Captain Karsten realizes that the young officer is not responsible for the grounding and he tries to talk Langhans into conscience. He waits in vain for his confession and is therefore forced to present his findings to the court. Only now does Langhans come out with the truth and lose his captain's license for two years.
9th episode
Two captains (EA: March 4, 1977, 64 minutes)
Shortly before Christmas, the mood in the team is pretty depressed because you have to take over a shipment to Cuba at short notice. The crew members actually wanted to spend Christmas and New Year's Eve at home with their families, as they had always been at sea during the previous years and had already been underway again for 176 days without interruption. The mood on board is also clouded by the icy relationship and the unbridgeable tensions between Karsten and Langhans. Langhans was hired to replace the post of first officer for the trip and has still not forgiven Karsten for not remaining silent during the trial in front of the sea chamber. Langhans, who has long since realized his mistake, cannot jump over his shadow and has an icy relationship with Captain Karsten. On the other hand, he is well received by the team and has earned great respect and recognition from them for his ability and courage in rescuing shipwrecked people. The crew, who wanted to be home again for Christmas, have to go to Havana roads because a tropical storm has devastated the port. There is even now a danger that not only will they miss Christmas, but they will not be home for New Year's Eve either. On the bridge there is a dispute between Karsten and Langhans about which is the cheapest route home. Against the advice of Langhans, who for the first time also admits to Karsten in the dispute that he was to blame for the grounding, the crew opts for the North Passage, which is risky at this time of year and on which icebergs are possible at this time of year. When the zone of greatest danger approaches, Karsten has to hand over command to Langhans because of a tropical cold. Aware of his great responsibility, the Langhans stands on the bridge day and night and tries to maneuver the spruce through thick fog and icebergs, because he knows that success in this matter will also determine his captain's license. So he literally throws the sick Karsten off the bridge when the feverish and visibly ill wants to support him. The ship reached Rostock on the morning of December 31, but was supposed to remain in the roadstead. Now Langhans angrily unloads on the radio, so that the ship arrives in port on time. Ultimately, Langhans and Karsten reconciled and Langhans got his patent back as captain.
The ship
The ship was launched on October 30, 1948 under the French flag for the France-Brazil-Argentina liner service and was originally called Claude Bernard . On August 7, 1962, the VEB Deutsche Seereederei Rostock took over the ship as a cargo and training ship and gave it the name of the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte .
DEFA wanted to shoot the series on a more modern and larger ship. It would not have been as easy to accommodate the film crew there as it was on the now outdated and outdated combined passenger and cargo ship, with which the DSR never wanted to carry passengers. The ship was only acquired as a training ship, but due to its history it had plenty of cabins for the film crew. You can see that in the pictures of the film. It is not uncommon for shots to be shown with imaginary simple sailors who are actually housed in first-class cabins. Only the actors were accommodated in these cabins, but not the normal deckhands of the ship. The French lettering on machines, measuring devices and display boards can also be seen again and again. The filming of the nine-part television series on the ship finally took place from the summer of 1974, including during a regular trip to Cuba . Most of the time, the ship was chartered for filming during its stays in Rostock's home port . The film crew also jokingly called the ship Die Johann Schrottlieb Fichte due to its age and condition .
On July 9, 1979, the ship was finally decommissioned and sold. It then drove for two more years, most recently as Pegancia , under different flags. Under this name, the ship was towed to Gadani Beach ( Pakistan ) for scrapping on April 28, 1981 .
Relation to other television series
In addition to the US series The Love Boat , Zur See Wolfgang Rademann also served as inspiration for the series The Dream Ship . Four years after the first broadcast of Zur See , the series was broadcast for the first time in Germany on ZDF . However, Zur See describes life on board the GDR's merchant ships as well as the experiences of the crew in the socialist and capitalist countries visited and not life on a cruise ship.
There were also cruise ships in the GDR such as the Völkerfreundschaft and the Arkona . Long before the West German series, at the end of the 1950s, DEFA had made a film entitled “The Dream Ship”. This program was filmed on the old Rostock steamer , which was the Hamburg steamer in the film .
The basic idea of Zur See was followed in 1985/1986 by the GDR series Treffpunkt Flughafen , which tells similar stories of an Interflug crew.
DVD
The series was released on DVD on October 12, 2009. In 2014 there was a new edition.
Web links
- At sea in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Footnotes
Remarks
- ↑ A list of almost all actors in the series and their roles can be found on Peter Flieher's website: ZUR SEE (GESAMTÜBERSICHT) (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 1. DIE BEWÄHRUNG (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 2. THE WEDDING SURPRISE (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 3. DER LADUNGSBRAND (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 4. THE COLLISION (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 5. CALL TO RÜGEN-RADIO (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 6. TWO LETTERS (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 7. PILOTS ON BOARD (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: ZUR SEE: 8. THE NEGOTIATION (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Peter Flieher: TO SEE: 9. TWO CAPTAINS (1976) . From fernsehenderddr.de, accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Matthias Stark: "Take the stork for the water scenes" . On January 24, 2017 from freitag.de , accessed on April 23, 2019
- ↑ Ray van Zeschau : "A popular figure without equal, one of our best", interview with Günter Schubert, KINOKALENDER Dresden, September 2008
- ↑ Erik Heier: To the sea . On December 13, 2002 at tagesspiegel.de , accessed on April 23, 2019