On the hunt for criminals for 30 years: Tom Turbo stays on the trail

Tom Turbo and Thomas Brezina are puzzled. Once again. The “boss” sits on his desk and turns to the television audience: “Detectives, now it’s your turn.” Then a question is displayed, plus several clues and letters, and the iconic Tom Turbo tune plays in the background. “Write down the correct letter, collect today’s five solution letters and crack the top-secret code word at the end of the case,” says “mastermind” Thomas Brezina to the fan community. The ORF children’s program Tom Turbo is characterized by the fact that viewers can guess in their living rooms. It was interactive from the start, says Brezina. “And Tom was sort of the ancestor of e-bikes.”

When the detective duo went on a criminal hunt for the first time, however, the hype surrounding e-bikes was still far in the future. It was September 17, 1993, a Friday exactly 30 years ago. The very first episode of Tom Turbo ran in the ORF children’s program. “Haunted in the Museum” marks the beginning of hundreds of adventures. Tom, Thomas and the TV audience solved exactly 407 cases. “Back then, nobody would have thought that Tom Turbo would be one of the ten longest-running crime series in the world today,” says the “creator”, who also celebrated a milestone birthday this year. When Thomas Brezina created his “hero”, he was 30 years old himself.

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Why Tom Turbo isn’t a horse

Thomas Brezina revealed that he fulfilled a childhood dream with Tom Turbo. “I always dreamed as a kid that my bike could fly and swim, and I built different things on it.” Originally, the author and presenter was commissioned to create a new crime book series for children. The main character was initially a talking horse. This should take the role of the detective. “But I didn’t really think of anything about that,” says Thomas Brezina. That’s how he thought of his previous bike. “Tom Tiger” he called the miracle wheel with the tiger stripes, which was supposed to put a stop to criminals. Because this name was already taken, the detective was renamed “Tom Turbo”.

Well-known actors in Tom Turbo

The idea turned into a success story. “It’s the highest award for a television series when, like Tom Turbo, it can already inspire the second generation,” says Brezina. Tom Turbo is not just a talking bike with 111 tricks, but “simply the best friend that children would like to have”. Brezina is particularly proud of the fact that many actresses and actors who are very well known today are also with Tom turbo appeared – for example Valerie Huber with her first role. Cornelius Obonya, Katharina Stemberger, Karl Merkatz and Bibiana Zeller were also in front of the camera for the children’s series.

Who is behind the mask of Fritz Fantom?

The ORF takes the anniversary as an opportunity for a program focus including a look behind the scenes:

On Friday, September 8th, Brezina will be our guest “Good morning Austria” on ORF 2 and talks about the anniversary. This will be the focus again on the same day at 10:15 p.m. on ORF 1 when the “Television story(s): Thomas Brezina – 30 years of Tom Turbo” you can see. In the production you learn, for example, why Tom turbo is not a horse, how many tricks he can really do and who is behind the mask of Fritz Fantom. Also former Tomturbo-Kids, Tom turbos Voice Peter Faerber and Brezina themselves have their say. In an interview, the bicycle detective himself gives information about his wishes and dreams as well as his alleged addiction to lubricating oil.

A week later is the season opener of “What’s new?” (September 15, 10:40 p.m.) in the name of the successful series. And on Sunday, September 17, there will be three adventures and the film in the children’s program from 7.55 a.m “Tom Turbo – From 0 to 100” to see. Who apart from the TV program Tom turbos Anyone who would like to celebrate the anniversary has the opportunity to complete a puzzle rally through the media campus in the ORF center.

Even if no new Tom-turboTV episodes were produced, Brezina continues to write the series. “I can always think of something,” he said. In the meantime, over 50 titles have been published by G&G Verlag, which have been translated into numerous languages ​​and have sold over 50 million copies. The latest work is a “Tom Turbo Secret Book” with riddles, mini-cases to guess and detective training.

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