Kommissar Rex (English title: Inspector Rex, Italian title: Il commissario Rex) is an Austrian police procedural drama that aired from 1994 to 2004 on ORF 1. In 2008 the series was revived under Austro-Italian production on Rai 1, and has since 2009 been made fully in Italy, with occasional episodes set in Austria. RAI cancelled the Austro-Italian production in June 2015, after eight Italian seasons.
The show follows the German Shepherd police dog Rex, his partners, and the rest of the team at the Vienna Kriminalpolizei homicide unit, as they work together to solve crimes. Since 2008, the show has been set in Rome.
A spin-off series, Stockinger, that focuses on Ernst Stockinger, one of the original members of the homicide division, came to TV in 1996. A Polish spinoff, Komisarz Alex (English title: Inspector Alex), which takes place in Åódź, Poland, started airing in 2012. A Russian spinoff, Muhtar's return was broadcast on Russia-1 and NTV (Russia) from 2004 to 2015.
Synopsis
The original series is set in Vienna and focuses on the three-man staff of an office of the Kriminalpolizei - the Austrian Criminal Police - specifically a Mordkommission (homicide unit). In addition to the three policemen, the office is staffed by a German Shepherd called Rex, the main star of the show, who functions variously as a cadaver dog, a sniffer dog (for both contraband and narcotics) and as another pair of eyes and ears for his team.
The original team at the office consisted of Richard Moser, Ernst Stockinger and Peter Höllerer. This team was also assisted by forensic expert Dr Leo Graf and retired policeman Max Koch. The show had many changes in characters, including Christian Böck replacing Stockinger, Alexander Brandtner replacing Moser and former statistics officer Fritz Kunz replacing Höllerer. The final Austrian incarnation of the series featured a male-female duo of the clumsy Marc Hoffmann and a female officer Nikki Herzog working alongside Kunz. Dr. Graf is the only character to remain for the entire Austrian production of the series.
In season eleven, the action moves to Rome, with Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri taking charge of the dog. The show is now shot in both Italian and German. At the end of the season, Rex is apparently mortally wounded when he jumps on Fabbri's head to protect him from a bullet, but is shown in close-up still slightly breathing just before credits roll. The beginning of season 12 shows that Rex survived the bullet, when Fabbri takes Rex to the animal hospital.
Production
For the first ten seasons the show was scripted entirely in German, where most characters spoke with Austrian dialects. It was shot on location in Vienna and its surroundings, though the usage of areas in production was often geographically incorrect. While subtitles were used for most international markets, the series was dubbed in some countries, including France.,Greece and Italy. Following declining ratings during the eighth and ninth seasons, the series was cancelled mid-production in 2004, leaving the tenth and then final season with only four episodes and no finale that concluded the story. As the series was still highly popular abroad, particularly in Italy and Australia, the show remained in syndication for many years. In 2007, following negotiations, Italian broadcaster RAI secured the rights to revive the series, with production moving to Rome. For the first season of the new series, numbered as season eleven, it was produced in both Austria and Italy, with production moving to Italy full-time for the twelfth season. Currently, fifteen seasons have aired, with a sixteenth season currently in production. While there are still occasional episodes set in Austria, the show has been scripted and filmed primarily in Italian since 2008.
Australian season numbering
For Australian markets, season numbering was altered for airing on SBS, and this numbering was also used on the DVD sets, leaving some viewers confused as to how the European episode lists correspond with the Australian ones. For the DVD sets, seasons 1 to 8 have been re-arranged to seven longer seasons (the chronological episode order remaining unchanged), with the ninth and tenth season being labeled as "season eight". They have since followed the official lists, with season eleven labeled as season nine, season twelve as season ten and so on.
Characters
Rex
A trained police dog, Rex (revealed in the Pilot to be registered as "Reginald von Ravenhorst") is the legitimate star of the show. Establishing shots frequently show him demonstrating a new trick - unlatching doors, pushing trolleys, pointing to drugs or corpses - which then turn out to be useful in the course of the episode. He is often used to stalk suspects, often with a GPS-type object attached to him so that the officers can keep track.
Rex was stolen by criminals as a pup, but managed to escape and befriend a boy, where he helped to solve his first case with the boy.
Initially, Rex and Moser share an apartment at Marrokanergasse 18, Wien-Landstraße, however the pair go house-hunting quite early in the series. The house they eventually find is owned by a man who does not want dogs there, however Rex is able to alert him to a gas leak and in gratitude he allows Moser and Rex to stay.
Rex is frequently called upon to resolve difficult situations, including helping a young girl in shock, preventing a woman from committing suicide and helping to get Moser's mobile phone when a crime has been committed. One famous episode features Moser using Rex to resolve a hostage situation by telling him to creep up behind the criminal and "frighten him" (following Rex's earlier success at frightening Stockinger by jumping on him from behind).
There is also a considerable element of humour in Rex's activities. He constantly annoys Stockinger by pulling on his coat and stealing his ham rolls. Later, Höllerer keeps a running score of Böck's success against Rex - not a flattering result for the officer. While not chasing criminals, he often plays pranks on the officers or fails to obey orders to help with the housework.
Rex reacts particularly badly to words like "Frau" (woman) and, later, "Tierarzt" (vet), as he disapproves of his masters' attention to women. During a scene in which Koch claims that Moser "doesn't understand women at all now", Moser tells Koch, "Don't say that word. Every time you say 'woman' he [Rex] runs off with my laundry". Koch asks him what Rex does with it, to which Moser replies, "He washes it". Later, after the departure of the vet, Moser is working undercover and needs to ensure Rex won't greet him. He tells Stockinger, "You only need to say 'vet' to him and he'll stop whatever he's doing", a statement which results in a memorable scene involving Stockinger walking after Rex at a crime scene calling out "Vet! Vet!"
Rex has an uncanny penchant for ham rolls, or "Wurštsemm'ln" in the local dialect. He is introduced to them by Moser, who tells him, "I practically live on these".
Rex has to date been played by three dogs. Until 2000, he was played by Santo vom Haus Zieglmayer, also known as 'Beejay', and was then replaced by Rhett Butler. For the 2008 revival, Rex is played by a dog named Henry.
Rex's partners
Richard Moser (Tobias Moretti, 1994â€"1998)
The first "team leader", Richard "Richie" Moser is a hard-bitten cop who, as the first season begins, is going through a bitter divorce from his wife Gina, who takes all their furniture. Moser is also attempting to quit smoking, due to medical problems with circulation. An ex-truck driver, Moser credits Max Koch with keeping him from a life of crime, at one point telling Koch that "I'd be on the wrong side of the law too, just like him", referring to a young pickpocket he has just chased through central Vienna.
Moser has befriended Rex after Rex's former police trainer, Michael, who was shot and killed by an escaping suspect; in order to save the dog from being put down, Moser has "adopted" him without ever completing any of the official paperwork. He famously declares at one point, "My taxes pay for this dog, so why can't I give him a better home?". Moser, in contrast to his successors, is shown to be quite athletic, often performing acrobatic stunts while chasing suspects.
As Moser's personal life improves, his sense of humour returns. This is noticeable in the general lightening in the tone of the show from the initial episodes ("Diagnosis Murder" being a prime example) to ones with more light-hearted banter among the officers. Being a bachelor, Moser flirts with many of the attractive women featured in the storylines. However, with the exception of a brief and work-interrupted relationship with his local vet (of which Rex thoroughly disapproves), he forms no permanent romantic attachment.
In the final scenes of the movie Inspector Rex: Moser's Death, Moser is killed in the line of duty by an escaped 'border-line psychopath' played by famous German actor Ulrich Tukur (Das Leben der Anderen) while Moser is rescuing his lover, Patricia Neuhold (a psychologist who has been helping with the case). The escapee commits suicide just after he kills Moser, and Rex shows almost-human emotion over Moser's body at the hospital.
Alexander Brandtner (Gedeon Burkhard, 1998â€"2001)
Alex Brandtner replaces Moser as team leader. Following Moser's death, Rex has become depressed and refuses to eat, wanting to stay near Moser's house all the time. However, Brandtner succeeds in helping Rex out of his depression. Brandtner had lost his former dog, Arko, in a bomb explosion, while also injuring his own left ear, and does not want to work with dogs again, until he meets Rex. The explosion has also robbed him of his hearing in his right ear, a fact he confides only to Rex. Brandtner moves into the house that Moser and Rex used to share, apparently because Rex does not want to leave. Brandtner is athletic and performs various physical stunts throughout the series, such as diving over car bonnets, engaging in fast-paced chases on foot and dives. His living room is filled with boxing and fitness gear and he is portrayed as very attractive to women. He had once gone undercover in a prison and also as a drunken homeless man, for instance. On his first appearance in the show, he dives into the Danube Canal to retrieve a vital piece of evidence, and later in his debut episode he parachutes from a light aircraft, along with Rex, in order to apprehend a suspect. He also seems to have an uncanny instinct for sensing if a suspect is guilty or innocent, even without evidence. During the time Burkhard was on the show, the international ratings for the series increased. Burkhard's looks were also exploited by the producers of the show. In one episode, a bank burglar that Brandtner had once caught re-offended again after being released, and managed to take him hostage during the climactic confrontation. He then forced Brandtner to strip to prove that he was unarmed, before parading him through the street in only his underwear.
Marc Hoffmann (Alexander Pschill, 2002â€"2004)
Replacing Brandtner as team leader, Hoffmann is a very eager detective. Hoffmann is portrayed as being very witty, outsmarting murderers. He is also portrayed as being stouter, yet more muscular in comparison to Brandtner and Moser; in one instance he is shown doing various workouts. He shares a close relationship with Niki Herzog, and they soon live together, but sometimes have disagreements.
Apparently Hoffmann had studied forensic science under Graf, and the two men still seem to share a somewhat master-student relationship, with Hoffmann often deferring to Graf's judgement (where Brandtner and Moser had previously not always done so).
Lorenzo Fabbri (Kaspar Capparoni, 2008â€"2012)
In season 11, Rex moves to Rome, where he meets his new partner, Italian homicide detective Chief Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri. Rex seems to understand the Italian language quite easily. In the second episode of season 14 (entitled "Amidst the Wolves") Fabbri dies in the explosion of a car during a trap prepared by a Mafia boss.
Davide Rivera (Ettore Bassi, 2012â€"2013)
Davide Rivera replaces Fabbri as team leader in season 14. Rivera becomes a friend with Rex after the loss of Inspector Lorenzo Fabbri. He follows his grandfather's advice and, eventually, Rex stops avoiding him.
Rivera appears for the last time on the episode "Legami di sangue", the last episode of season 15. It is unknown why he does not appear in season 16.
Marco Terzani (Francesco Arca, 2013â€"2015)
Marco Terzani replaces Rivera as team leader in season 16.
Other detectives
Ernst Stockinger (Karl Markovics, 1994-1996)
The "straight man" to Rexâ€"and, increasingly, Moserâ€"Ernst Stockinger ("Stocki" for short) is a character who becomes much more likeable as his part in the series develops. Stockinger is thin and always has a very serious demeanour. In later episodes, this is revealed as a cover for his schemes to outsmart Rex, who seems to instinctively want to associate with (or tease) him. Stockinger is by no means a dog lover.
Stockinger is married and uses his marriage to jokingly claim expertise over Moser in regard to women. Frequently, when a case hinges on the behaviour of a female witness or suspect, Stockinger gently tells Moser, "Richard, since your divorce, you've lost your touch with women". Stockinger's wife, it seems, is not greatly pleased with her husband's choice of career at times, and Moser often reminds him of this.
Another of Stockinger's idiosyncrasies is his constant references to surgery which has been performed on him - most likely for stomach ulcers. He seems to delight in telling stories about this surgery at the most inappropriate moments, such as when the others are about to eat.
Eventually, Stockinger is transferred to Salzburg and leaves the series. In this final episode, Rex saves Stockinger by leaping across a classroom just as a disgruntled divorced man was about to stab Stockinger in the throat during an attempted kidnapping attempt on his child. Moser, in a farewell speech, jokingly tells Stocki that, "You have been a bad cop, a bad man, and not at all a good friend". Stockinger later features in a spin-off two season television series, Stockinger, featuring him at his new police department. He is replaced by Christian Böck.
Peter Höllerer (Wolf Bachofner, 1994-1999)
The obese Peter Höllerer is a constant source of comic relief in the series. Generally found ensconced behind his desk working the phones, his face visibly falls whenever Moser and Stockinger (or, later, Brandtner and Böck) require him to do fieldwork. That said, he is capable of surprising speed when running and can also demonstrate driving skills on a par with other officers.
Höllerer tends to take a co-ordinating role when an operation is being planned, rather than actually going undercover or making the arrest himself. In these situations, he reveals himself to have a very clear head and to be capable of coping with even the most unusual situations that his partners get involved into.
Höllerer has a soft spot for Rex as the series progresses, after first voicing concern that Moser did not adopt him through the proper channels. This is shown by his keeping score between Böck and Rex in the early episodes featuring the former. Höllerer takes inordinate delight in seeing the dog outsmarting the man.
Höllerer's departure from the series is brought about by his retirement to care for his ailing mother, a woman about whom he often speaks. He is replaced by Fritz Kunz.
Of all the recurring characters in the series, Höllerer's accent is the thickest. Viewers familiar with standard German will often have difficulty understanding his Viennese dialect.
Christian Böck (Heinz Weixelbraun, 1996-2001)
Böck is first introduced as a somewhat suspicious-looking character, a member of a borderline-illegal car club who is not even trusted by his club mates. During the course of his investigation into this club, Moser begins to suspect Böck, but he turns out to be an undercover policeman making similar investigations.
The two eventually combine to solve the relevant case, and Moser convinces Böck to transfer to his team. Böck's undercover skills are largely ignored after the transfer, but his personable manner proves an advantage when it comes to interrogations (particularly contrasting with the somewhat dour Moser). By the time of Brandtner's arrival, Böck's youth and athleticism have resulted in his frequently being involved in chasing criminals on foot. The dynamic between Böck and Kunz forms an almost constant source of comic relief. Most notable in this is their dialogue when trying to establish the angle from which a witness would have seen a certain event - each man speaks at cross-purposes to the other and both end up totally confused. Böck and Rex share a rivalry, with Böck trying to outsmart Rex, but Rex wins nearly all the time. Böck is also one of the few who question Rex's abilities as an elite police dog, but Moser keeps telling him that he has always been this way.
Fritz Kunz (Martin Weinek)
Replacing Höllerer after the latter's retirement to care for his mother, Kunz has been drawn from the statistics section of the force. Initially he is very much out of place in the slightly freer atmosphere of Brandtner's office. A running gag in his early appearances deals with his obsessive-compulsiveness and fussy attention to the placement of his desk stationery (e.g., pencils arranged from tallest to shortest and paper clips aligned) only to have Rex or one of the others move everything around.
Kunz's background in statistics is also often the source of amusement, as he is seemingly able to deliver, from memory, obscure statistical information about the activities of criminals. He tends to be used to man the phones during investigations, rather than on active duty. However, he is also occasionally required to go undercover (once as a kitchen hand, another time as a stable hand and another as an entertainer in a street market), much to his chagrin.
Nikki Herzog (Elke Winkens)
The only female officer played by Elke Winkens in the history of the show, Herzog is paired with Hoffmann (Kunz is almost entirely desk-bound in this incarnation of the series), and sexual tension constantly results. The pair spend the night together, before starting their new jobs, without realising that they are both police officers. They soon share a house (with Rex) and are often disturbed in the middle of a romantic moment with news of a case.
In contrast to Hoffmann, Herzog tends to be more level-headed and capable of performing physical acts. Her physical appearance also serves the team well in relating to suspects, as she is frequently underestimated and sometimes taunted by brash male criminals.
Giandomenico Morini (Fabio Ferri)
Morini is a colleague of Lorenzo Fabbri and they work on every crime together. Rex does not obey Morini at all, however in one episode he takes care of Rex because Fabbri has broken his ankle. At the beginning of the 14th season he is transferred to Milan and leaves the series.
Alberto Monterosso (Domenico Fortunato)
Alberto Monterosso replaces Morini.
Other characters
Dr Leo Graf (Gerhard Zemann)
Dr Leo Graf is the forensic pathologist consulted by the detectives. On occasion, he is found at the crime scene itself, however he is normally to be found in his pathology laboratory, and occasionally comes into the police office. Gerhard Zemann is the only actor to appear as the same character throughout the long-running series.
Dr Graf is a sometimes prickly personality, but underneath this exterior he has a very dry wit - frequently regaling the detectives against their will with the gruesome details of a murder.
Naturally he is quite comfortable in his lab, surrounded by dead bodies, even if others are not. Many of the earlier episodes highlight the contrasting reactions of the policemen (especially Moser and Stockinger) and Graf to the death all around them.
At times, however, Dr Graf clearly resents the pressure put on him by the policemen. One memorable telephone exchange involves Moser agreeing to pay Dr Graf a number of Cuban cigars for working on the weekend. Another time, Graf's car is towed while he is investigating a murder scene. The resulting invective he uses towards the authorities responsible is caustic.
Where Graf is very amiable towards Moser's team, this relationship progressively changes as Brandtner arrives. Early episodes featuring Brandtner show Alex and Leo using formal language - generally involving the German "Sie" form of address (the polite form). Eventually, this exterior is broken down and the new team is invited to call him Leo - a sign of considerable familiarity in German or Austrian society. Accordingly, Brandtner's greeting to Graf alters from the formal "Guten Morgen" to the more familiar "Servus".
With Hoffmann and Herzog, however, the relationship with Graf is more of a teacher-student one. It emerges early that Hoffmann had been taught forensic techniques by Graf, and it is clear that some of the awe felt by the considerably younger policeman for his mentor is still present. Graf also assumes a much more advisory role with this team, appearing only once during each investigation instead of being constantly on call.
By the time Rex moves to Rome with Lorenzo Fabbri of the Italian police, Dr Graf still serves as Vienna's main forensic officer as seen in a Rex special as Rex and Fabbri return to Vienna to investigate a case there.
Max Koch (Fritz Muliar)
Familiarly known to all as Max, Koch is a retired policeman who saved Moser from a life of crime and became something of a mentor to him. Many early episodes feature Moser asking Koch for advice - often in a café or a pool hall. It is, in fact, advice from Koch which is responsible for solving many of the more baffling cases, as his insights into human psychology - particularly female psychology (something he often claims Moser has had no knowledge of since his divorce) - prove correct.
Max is also occasionally asked to look after Rex, and Rex seems to be comfortable with him.
As the series progresses, Koch's role alters to that of being a useful spy for Moser in certain situations where his team is too well-known. It is Koch's visit to a restaurant which provides the breakthrough in one case. In another he stumbles upon the solution to a particularly brutal homicide while sitting in a park with Rex. Koch is increasingly reluctant to help Moser with his work, although he is always told that this will be the last time. As Stockinger points out, it always is the last time… until the next request. Moser also tries to appeal to Koch's sense of adventure which, as Max famously explains, is satisfied by eating goulash and not knowing if he will suffer from "Rinderwahnsinn" (Mad Cow Disease).
Following Stockinger's transfer to Salzburg, Koch assists the team to reorganise the office. His snide remarks about Stockinger's files result in Höllerer telling him to read through them all (to which Koch responds that he's doing more work since he retired than he did when he worked). He also spreads out his pipe collection on Stocki's old desk and declares that he will "open a pipe shop" while the team attempts to find a replacement for Stocki.
Katia Martelli (Pilar Abella)
Katia Martelli is the forensics officer in Rome. She is seen as a romantic interest for Fabbri, but Rex is opposed to this. She is always looking for an opportunity to ensnare him. At one point, when Fabbri is injured and is at home researching a murder related to role playing games on his computer, he asks for a gaming police officer to be sent to his house to brief him about computer game culture. Martelli takes this opportunity to enter his house and seduce him, and creates an RPG profile for him so he can befriend the suspects onlineâ€"the figure she chooses for him is a model of Fabbri wearing only a towel.
Morini constantly goads Martelli and Fabbri into coupling. After one case is solved, Fabbri takes her home to wine and dine her, much to Rex's chagrin. At the start of the next episode, they drunkenly awake in Fabbri's bed.
Filippo Gori (Augusto Zucchi)
Filippo Gori is Fabbri's boss who hates Rex when they first meet, and vows to eject him for being unauthorised. Eventually, he accepts that Rex can solve crimes and lets him stay; this came after Rex and Fabbri had brought down a prostitution and sex slave racket run by some illegal Chinese immigrantsâ€"Fabbri leaked the story to a journalist friend so that Rex was photographed on the front page of a newspaper. In the episode "A Man Alone" his partner is murdered. Although all limited evidence points to Gori, Fabbri proves that he is not the culprit.
Filippo (Morini's fish)
Filippo is Morini's fish. Morini got a fish because he was jealous of Lorenzo. Morini does not realize that he has named his fish after his boss, so when Gori comes in he says his fish is called Filiberto.
Episodes
Broadcasters
Kommissar Rex has been shown in the following countries:
Current
Former
Inspector Rex is so popular in Australia on the SBS network that it has been parodied by the local comedy show, Newstopia, with a series of station advertisements for a fictional TV show called 'Inspektor Herring'. Supposedly featuring a crime-solving fish, Herring is usually shown out of water in scenes one usually expects to see in serious crime dramas. The final episode of Series 3 starts with Shaun announcing, "This is the last Newstopia, let's make it the best one ever", however this then turns into a half-hour episode of Inspektor Herring as a spoof "replacement programme" due to supposed technical difficulties.
Dubbing
DVD releases
In Europe, no episodes have been released officially on DVD, although the first three seasons were available in VHS box sets. These sets are now out of print, and the only home media releases of the series are the Australian DVD sets.
In Australia, Region 4 English-subtitled DVDs of Inspector Rex are currently available for the first sixteen seasons (labeled as fourteen in Australia; see Australian numbering). The Italian seasons of the show were released under the special title "Rex in Rome".
On 10 October 2007, a special DVD, "Rex By Request" was released featuring the five favourite Kommissar Rex episodes as voted by fans. Also included is an interview with producer/writer Peter Hajek and an hour-long dog-training segment featuring Rex and his trainer Teresa Ann Miller.
Australian Releases:
- Inspector Rex - Series 1 (4 Disc Box Set) - June 20, 2005
- Inspector Rex - Series 2 (4 Disc Box Set) - September 22, 2005
- Inspector Rex - Series 3 (4 Disc Box Set) - January 24, 2006
- Inspector Rex - Series 4 (5 Disc Box Set) - March 31, 2006
- Inspector Rex - Series 5 (4 Disc Box Set) - August 16, 2006
- Inspector Rex - Series 6 (4 Disc Box Set) - November 10, 2006
- Inspector Rex - Series 7 (4 Disc Box Set) - February 7, 2007
- Inspector Rex - Series 8 (4 Disc Box Set) - June 7, 2007
- Inspector Rex - Series 9 (2 Disc Set) - November 17, 2008
- Inspector Rex - Series 10 (3 Disc Set) - November 27, 2009
- Inspector Rex - Series 1 To 5 (21 Disc Box Set) - December 1, 2010
- Inspector Rex - Series 6 To 10 (17 Disc Box Set) - October 5, 2011
- Inspector Rex - Series 11 (3 Disc Set) - November 2, 2011
- Inspector Rex - Series 12 (3 Disc Set) - November 20, 2013
- lnspector Rex - Series 13 (3 Disc Set) - November 5, 2014
- lnspector Rex - Series 14 (3 Disc Set) - November 4, 2015
References
External links
- Beta Film REX Website
- REX french site
- Kommissar Rex (1994) on Internet Movie Database
- Il commissario Rex (2008) on Internet Movie Database
- Hungarian fansite