| Schloss Einstein | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Soap opera |
| Creator(s) | Season 1–10: Katharina Rietz, Martin Hofmann (Askania Media Filmproduktion GmbH) Season 11: Katharina Rietz, Hans-Werner Honert (Saxonia Media Filmproduktion GmbH) Season 12–13: Katharina Rietz since Season 14: Yvonne Abele, Hans-Werner Honert |
| Country of origin | Germany |
| No. of episodes | 647+ (as of March 19, 2011) |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | KI.KA |
| Original airing | September 4, 1998 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
Schloss Einstein (SE) is a is a long-running, popular German television program, designed as a teenage soap opera, which describes the life of teenagers in the fictional boarding school Schloss Einstein. The series combines different genres from comedy, action, drama (first love, problems with parents and schoolmates) and infotainment (natural science).
Up to now (November 2011), 680 episodes in 14 seasons have been aired, a milestone in German television programming. Worldwide Schloss Einstein is the longest running fictional television program with children for children.[1] 688 episodes are planned for season 14. A 15th season for 2012 has already been confirmed.
Contents |
The first episode was aired on September 4, 1998 on the German television channel KI.KA.
Originally only 76 episodes were planned. Because there was a success, the ARD decided to produce continuations yearly. Up to June 2007, 480 episodes were produced.
The first episode of Schloss Einstein, set in Erfurt, Thuringia, (tenth season) was aired on January 5, 2008.
At the (fictional) village Seelitz near Berlin in the German state Brandenburg Dr. Stollberg realizes a dream — he establishes a private school in an old castle named Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium, Internat Schloss Einstein. The private school bears the name of the founder of the theory of relativity because the school is a natural science school. The students abbreviate the long name of the school — and Schloss Einstein is born.
Dr. Stollberg wants to provide an education for his students using his best strength, personal tutoring. Violence is forbidden. Problems that arise should be solved peacefully and if possible by the children themselves. Newcomers receive an older student as "godparent". Of course this does not always go smoothly — but teachers, educators and students have to master their everyday life under a common roof.
At the center of the television program is the personal responsibility of teenagers from the classes 6 to 8. Because there are no parents, the children must make decisions for themselves and be prepared for the consequences. The few adults appear as advisers or counselors. The students experience problems like grades, puberty, friendship, divorce or unemployment of the parents, envy, alcoholism, dreams of jobs, the first big love or cabals from the schoolmates. In lots of stories, they experience adventures and learn how to manage conflicts — they also have fun with all kinds of tricks, jokes and tom foolery. There is a special tension between the students of the boarding school and the children living in the village.(Seelitz) They do not really appreciate each other but they have to get along with each other. Compromise and tolerance are important in these relationships. In the newer episodes, set in the city of Erfurt, there are no "village students" present. There are however students that attend other schools present from time to time.
Schloss Einstein was shot from 1998 to 2007 on the grounds of the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam (Brandenburg). At this location the interior rooms of the school and additional wings were located — for example ice-cream parlor, nightclub and storage hall. The Jagdschloss Grunewald in Berlin served as wings of the building. Outside filming was done in the Klein Glienicke quarter of Potsdam and at surrounding villages which together form the wings of the film village Seelitz.
Since September 2007 Schloss Einstein has been filmed at the Kindermedienzentrum Erfurt and is produced by Saxonia Media Filmproduktion GmbH. In the show, the school has two different buildings: the school building and the dormroom building. The Kindermedienzentrum Erfurt contains the sets for the SE school. There are classrooms, a cafeteria, hallways, stairs, and even a gymnasium for P.E. class scenes. It also contains the sets for the dormroom building. These include: 6 dormrooms (1 of which is used for both a girls dormroom and a boys dormroom), the janitor's apartment, the entrance hall of the building, and the "Powderhall" (the freetime center for the students.) Outside filming is done at the egapark ground,in the Schlosspark Arnstadt, and in various places in Erfurt.
Schloss Einstein is a television program for kids which accompanies the viewers through the whole year and offers them identifiable figures. The figures can be judged by the viewers. The viewers can identify with them or reject them. Because the actors are the same age as their viewers, their actions look authentic.
In the representation of the lessons real knowledge flows again and again. So the television program offers entertainment and learning in a similar way; the public broadcasting fulfills its order to provide education in a relaxed way. With this conceptSchloss Einstein is unique worldwide. The television program has been the object of several scientific studies.
The television program has received two awards. On March 1999 a jury of 32 children awarded the Goldener Spatz to Schloss Einstein in the category Fiktion kurz (= short fiction) in setting of the eleventh Deutschen Kinder-Film und Fernseh-Festivals (= German children film and television festival). On July 1999 Schloss Einstein won the Goldener Telix from the TV guide Gong in the category Serie oder Film mit Schauspielern (= television program or film with actors).
The success of popular viewership does not show up only in the high TV ratings. Schloss Einstein is not only shown in Germany, but also in many other countries — for example in Norway, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Belgium and the Netherlands. Even a school textbook for German schools with themes from Schloss Einstein was published.
Schloss Einstein is a production by ASKANIA MEDIA Filmproduktion GmbH by order the ARD for KI.KA under the auspices of MDR and WDR. Starting in September 2007 Saxonia Media Filmproduktion GmbH took over the production. Schloss Einstein is produced by scripts from more than ten famous television authors.
Between the first and the end of the eighth season there were always new opening credits which were similar. In all opening credits the current actors who play the schoolmates are shown with the respective character names. In the background the viewers can hear the song Die Einsteins feat. Julian – Alles ist relativ. All opening credits until the end of the fourth season had a duration of 47 seconds. As of the fifth season the opening credits and background music were prolonged by seven seconds (= 54 seconds) so a few more actors could be presented. The listeners can hear a minimal difference in quality of the music between the opening credits of the first and the ninth season.
The ninth season features a completely redesigned and "loosened up" opening credits sequence, which lasts 54 seconds. The 19 main characters from the school generations 6 to 9 are now presented on-screen in 13 short scenes showing several characters at once. Teachers, other adults and children (e.g. the village population or guest actors) are omitted.
Starting with the tenth season completely new opening credits were developed. The background music was minimally modified and the length of the opening credits were lengthened. All main characters are presented with their character names. They appear as one or two persons.
Because the television program gave the show their own genre as Kinder-Weekly (= children weekly) there were no experiences with a series of this nature. ARD went to yearly sequels after they knew it was a success. Since then, all seasons of production consist of 52 episodes which are shot in 13 blocks per four episodes.
| Season | Episodes | Episode- number |
Date of first Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1–76 | 76 | Friday, September 4, 1998 (5:05 pm)until Friday, February 18, 2000 (5:05 pm) |
| 2 | 77–116 | 40 | Friday, February 25, 2000 (5:05 pm) until Friday, November 24, 2000 (5:05 pm) |
| 3 | 117–168 | 52 | Friday, December 1, 2000 (5:05 pm) until Friday, March 2, 2001 (5:05 pm) Saturday, March 10, 2001 (6:00 pm)until Saturday, November 24, 2001 (6:00 pm) |
| 4 | 169–200 | 32 | Saturday, December 1, 2001 (6:00 pm) until Saturday, July 6, 2002 (6:00 pm) |
| 5 | 201–232 | 32 | Saturday, July 13, 2002 until Saturday, February 21, 2003 (6:00 pm) |
| 6 | 233–272 | 40 | Saturday, February 28, 2003 (6:00 pm) until Saturday, February 15, 2004 (6:00 pm) |
| 7 | 273–336 | 64 | Saturday, February 22, 2004 (6:00 pm) until Saturday, November 22, 2004 (6:00 pm) |
| 8 | 337–392 | 56 | Saturday, November 29, 2004 (6:00 pm) until Saturday, February 12, 2005 (6:00 pm) |
| 9 | 393–428 | 36 | Saturday, February 19, 2005 (6:00 pm) until August 27, 2005 (6:00 pm) Saturday, September 3, 2005 (5:20 pm)[2] until Saturday, March 25, 2006 (5:20 pm) |
| 10 | 429–480 | 52 | Saturday, April 1, 2006 (5:20 pm) until Saturday, September 16, 2006 (5:20 pm) Saturday, September 23, 2006 (5:15 pm) until Saturday, December 2, 2006 (5:15 pm) |
| 11 | 481–532 | 52 | Saturday, January 5, 2008[3] until Saturday, February 23, 2008 (2 Episodes: 4:50 pm und 5:15 pm) Saturday, March 1, 2008 until Saturday, July 12, 2008 (5:15 pm) Saturday, August 30, 2008 until Saturday, December 13, 2008 (5:15 pm) |
| 12 | 533–584 | 52 | Saturday, January 3, 2009 until Saturday, January 31, 2009 (2 Episodes: 4:45 pm und 5:10 pm) Saturday, February 7, 2009 until Saturday, November 21, 2009 (5:10 pm) |
| 13 | 585–636 | 52 | Saturday, January 2, 2010[4] until Saturday, December 25, 2010 (5:10 pm) |
| 14 | 637–688 | 52 | since Saturday, January 8, 2011 until Saturday, May 7, 2011 (5:10 pm)[5]after Saturday, March 14, 2011 (2:10 pm) |
New episodes of Schloss Einstein are currently shown on Saturdays at 5:15 p.m. on KI.KA. Starting on March 14, 2011, the new episodes will be shown on Saturdays at 2:10 :p.m. on KI.KA. Older episodes are showen from Mondays to Fridays starting at 2:10 p.m. in the afternoon program of KI.KA.
In irregular intervals, different events with the actors of Schloss Einstein take place in all of Germany. Up to now altogether 76 events have taken place (October 28, 2007). To the important or big events belong among other things the Gi’me-5-KI.KA-Party (day for friendship and tolerance, August 31, 2003); the International children’s party (23 Nisan) in Berlin (April 24, 2004); the KI.KA-Party for the 300th episode of Schloss Einstein (June 7, 2004); the Schloss-Einstein-Sommerparty (= Schloss Einstein summer party, June 27, 2005) and the KI.KA. summer tours, which take place each some. It was recently announced (March 2011), that the 2011 KI.KA. Summertour was canceled.
On June 10, 2007 there was a final ceremony in Potsdam-Babelsberg because of the last shooting day.
Up to now 16 volumes or novels were published. The volumes 1 to 5 were written by Simon Hauser; the volumes 6 to 10 by Uschi Flacke. In 2000 the book Schloss Einstein – Das Klassenbuch. 100 Folgen Schloss Einstein (= “Schloss Einstein — The classbook. 100 episodes of Schloss Einstein”) was published where are presented the main actors and the contents of the previous episodes. This book was published by vgs verlagsgesellschaft. Moreover the posterbook appeared and a friendship book.
In addition to the novels there exist three Schloss Einstein Exklusiv (= “Schloss Einstein exclusive”) books where are further told the histories of the main actors belonging to the first season.
|
|
In 2004 a music album (with many bands)was published, several radio dramas on cassettes and CDs, a magazine for the television program (2001 to 2003), the cookbook Kochen mit Schloss Einstein (= “Cooking with Schloss Einstein”) and a best-of DVD have also been released.