Line #119 Series/AlleinGegenDieZeit


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Allein_gegen_die_Zeit_1302.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:It's ''Series/TwentyFour''... [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN A GERMAN MIDDLE SCHOOL]]! [[note]]from left: [[TheLeader Ben]], [[TheLancer Leo]], [[TheBigGuy Jonas]], [[TheSmartGuy Özzi]] and [[TheHeart Sophie]].[[/note]] ]]
3
4	'''''Allein gegen die Zeit''''' ('''''Alone Against The Clock''''') is a German teen suspense drama series produced by the public children’s TV channel ''[[UsefulNotes/GermanTVStations KiKa]]''.
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6	It is set in and around the [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland city state of]] [[UsefulNotes/TheBerlinRepublic Berlin]], and focuses on the adventures of couple of students and their teacher of the ''Otto-Hahn-Gesamtschule'' (the ''Otto Hahn Comprehensive''), located in downtown Berlin.
7
8	The series has two seasons with thirteen episodes each. It plays in RealTime much in the style of ''Series/TwentyFour'', so every (30-minute) episode covers one hour of the same day, and each season takes place in a time span [[ExtremelyShortTimeSpan 8 am to 8 pm]].
9
10	These guys are:
11	* [[TheLeader Ben Funke]], the rather depressed and [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest semi-orphaned]] NewTransferStudent. [[spoiler: Really called Ben Brehmer, living in hiding.]]
12	* [[TheLancer Leo Largareta]], a shy girl who also happens to be a [[IKnowKarate hobby Teakwondo fighter]].
13	* [[TheBigGuy Jonas Stürmer]], a rough and difficult [[spoiler: and diabetic]] delinquent from an affluent family.
14	* [[TheSmartGuy Özgür „Özzi“ Delikaya]], a nerdy [[TokenMinority Turkish]] boy who is the resident GadgeteerGenius.
15	* [[TheHeart Sophie Kellermann]], the young, optimistic and extremely intelligent daughter of a famed psychiatrist.
16	* Dr. Michael Funke, Ben’s beleaguered father, a science teacher and the detention supervisor in the Otto Hahn Comprehensive. [[spoiler:Really a physicist and nano-engineer called Michael Brehmer, living in hiding.]]
17
18	The story also follows:
19	* Three of their classmates.
20	** [[IJustWantToBeBadass Badass wannabe]] Lenny.
21	** [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Two]] {{Valley Girl}}s Jackie and Miri - the former of whom is Özzi’s [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love interest]].
22	* Özzi’s [[BigBrotherWorship cool big brother]] and small-time crook Cenk and his ArchNemesis Marvin.
23	* The two [[HelloAgainOfficer Berlin police officers]] [[ByTheBookCop Harald Jakobs]] and [[FairCop Tanja Greve]]. [[spoiler:Promoted to BKA in season 2.]]
24	* Sophie's mother Dr Kellermann [[TeamPet and her dog, Frisby]].
25
26
27	In the first season, Ben, Leo, Jonas, Özzi and Sophie are attending detention class in their school on a weekend, with the only other people there being the Astronomy class making ready for a school trip, led by Dr Funke. That's certainly reason enough to consider it a bad day, but then things go FromBadToWorse; A group of [[WesternTerrorists terrorists]] takes over the building, booby-trapping all the windows and doors with electric grids and explosives, and takes the astronomy class hostage. Nobody knows what they came for and what their goals are, until they start calling out a certain Dr Michael ''Brehmer'', who supposedly teaches Science at the school, and is Ben's father. The detention class, which went unnoticed by the terrorists, must find a way to escape the school and call for help. [[YouCantThwartStageOne Ironically enough, escaping the building turns out to be the easiest thing...]]
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29	The story is continued in Season 2, which is even DarkerAndEdgier, where the main 5 win a free ticket to a Jet-sky ride at a lake just outside of Berlin, but instead they end up stumbling upon a dying man in a nearby forest, who warns them that everyone will die unless “they” are stopped. A short time later, Ben gets abducted by a group of thugs who hide out in a former Soviet military base, which is owned by a suspicious pharmaceutical company...
30
31	!!''Allein gegen die Zeit'' contains examples of:
32	* ArcNumber: Thirteen. [[spoiler: It's even on the timer of a bomb!]]
33	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: In-universe with Jackie. She really doesn’t know that Rome is the capital of Italy?
34	* ArtisticLicenseSpace: Jackie again, who doesn’t know the difference between astronomy and astrolo''gy''.
35	--> '''Lenny''': You’re even stupider than you look.
36	* BigBrotherInstinct: Özzi's wellbeing is the driving force behind Cenk's role in the plot.
37	* {{Blackmail}}: The Omega Ring tries to pressure [[spoiler:the German government into paying them 130 Million Euros so they won't release their biological weapon.]]
38	** Also, in Season 1, Kern uses his knowledge of [[spoiler:Harald Jakobs cheating at his entrance exam]] to pressure him into backing off his case.
39	* BrickJoke: The plastic dog dirt.
40	* ButtMonkey:
41	** Rocky, aka [[EmbarrassingFirstName Roland]], the mildly psychotic NewMeat of the terrorists. Also, though to a much lesser extent, Özzi, who manages to get himself into all sorts of dangerous predicaments (especially if they aren’t even his fault).
42	** Also Cenk, who is the type of hipster who gets mugged by everyone, be that terrorists, other mobsters, or [[ObstructiveBureaucrat the police]].
43	** And also Tom the terrorist's K9 'expert', who is mercenary NewMeat himself in Season 2.
44	** Also Lenny, especially in season 2. Whatever he does, it has some kind of negative repercussion.
45	* ChekhovsArmoury: The detention teacher's locker of confiscated things, that includes, among others, cherry bombs, a smoke bomb, dozens of mobile phones, a plastic dog turd and a remote control car.
46	** And in season 2, there is Özzi's bagpack, which holds a lot of things, whether electronics or not, that will be helpful later.
47	* CloakAndDagger: The standard procedure of the BND.
48	* ContrivedCoincidence: A lot of how the plot evolves and resolves depends on the magic that is ContrivedCoincidence. A popular variant: phone or radio calls coming in at an extremely convenient (or inconvenient) moment. Also, characters just ''keep'' running into each other.
49	** However, there is also the possibility that there simply are so many characters and plotlines told in the condensed story (two hours told in one), that it simply seems like contrived coincidinces happen all the time because everything else was filtered out (similar to the Musical adaptation of ''Theatre/LesMiserables'').
50	* CurbStompBattle: A handful of terrorists with batons against a whole group of mobsters with baseball bats? Yeah.
51	* DaChief: For Jakobs and Greve it's Kern, who is a comissar and a senior. But once it becomes apparent that something is wrong with him, they turn to ''his'' superior, [[BenevolentBoss Komissar Bauer]]. In Season 2, after they are [[spoiler:promoted to the BKA]], their new Chief is much stricter, though he does have his reasons.
52	* DarkerAndEdgier: Meta example - For [=KiKa=], which is aimed at kindergarden-aged kids at the least and young teens at the most, it was ''Allein gegen die Zeit'' that crossed some borders. After all, season 1 treated such ''wonderfully whimsical'' topics, like school hostage takings, a fascist political conspiracy, attempted mass murder, an unvilified portrayal of ethnic gang members, police corruption, depression, gun violence and liberal swearing.
53	** Hell, the second season was ''even'' DarkerAndEdgier than the first, throwing [[CruelAndUnusualDeath cruel and unusual deaths]], terrorism, espionage, and lethal biological weapons into the mix.
54	* DeathByOriginStory: Ben's mother died in a terrorist bombing. [[spoiler:Except she didn't, and was kidnapped and held hostage by the BigBad prior to the detonation after she aided the BND in a sting against said BigBad.]]
55	* [[spoiler:DetectiveMole]]: [[spoiler:Komissar Kern.]]
56	* DirtyCop: Both [[spoiler:Kern]] and [[spoiler: Hajo]] are on the respective season’s BigBad’s payrolls. Then again, the latter is additionally a [[spoiler:BND-agent]], which makes him a [[spoiler:DoubleAgent]].
57	* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:Lenny]], who strikes a deal with the terrorists to sell out the main characters.
58	* DramaticDrop: When Dr Funke uses the copier, he spots the terrorists on the schoolyard. Shocked, he drops his hand on the keyboard display, accidentally requesting 11111 copies.
59	* EasyAmnesia: When one of the kids escapes the terrorists' grasp, she gets hit by a car, and suffers a loss of short-term memory, though thankfully for only an hour or so.
60	* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: After all, the SEK are an elite among the German police!
61	* EnemyMine: [[spoiler: Marvin, the leader of the mobsters from the 'EvenEvilHasStandards' example below]].
62	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Berlin’s Turkish mobsters may be bad enough to press people out of their money, and steal and resell mobile phones, but even they can’t stand terrorists. Especially the kind of terrorists that WouldHurtAChild. [[BigBrotherInstinct Especially their own family]].
63	** Also, one of the terrorists in the school [[spoiler: is against killing the children, as he only joined because of the nanobots' cancer-healing abilities, and decides to help the protagonists]].
64	* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: Thirteen hours - a ''buttload'' of plot.
65	* FamilyFriendlyFirearms: The main weapon of Season 1's terrorists are police-style batons, and only one or two of them ever carry guns. Later, the BigBad draws his to control the hostages, but the only shot he ever fires from it is a test shot. Appropriately, [[spoiler:[[LampshadeHanging they get their asses handed to them by a group of teens with bats]]]]. But then, two henchmen enter,''submachine guns'' blazing. ''Then'', [[spoiler:the SEK arrives, packing submachine guns, shotguns, assault and sniper rifles, and Forck gives Rocky his gun, who promptly empties the magazine at the schoolyard]]. The only gun-related casualty is [[spoiler:the SEK sniper who gets [[PistolWhipping pistol-whipped]] [[TapOnTheHead unconscious]] by Kern]].
66	* FreeRangeChildren
67	* GenreSavvy: Lenny.
68	--> '''Lenny:''' "Of course they're not going to let us go! Why do you think they pulled off their masks? Don't you know what that means in movies?!"
69	* GoshDangItToHeck: Averted altogether. This series contains lots of very school-typical cussing without any sort of {{Bowdlerisation}}. Probably because swearing is much less of a thing in Germany that it is, say, in the US.
70	* GrammarNazi: Tom, who likes to correct his foreign comrades on their German metaphors. This does not help his ButtMonkey status in the slightest.
71	* HeelFaceTurn: It's suggested that half of the people working on the terrorist plot are in it for the [[spoiler:nano-bots' purpose of healing cancer and wish to finally bring them on the market rather than using the for the fascist ideals of the GreaterScopeVillain. Appropriately, two of them turn against their cronies when informed of the bots' actual purpose.]]
72	* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor:
73	** [[spoiler:Officer Hajo. Is he merely an ObstructiveBureaucrat? Is he even working for the police? Who is he taking orders from? The BND, or the BigBad? Is he still working for the BND? Is he aware of the BigBad plot? Is he getting qualms about working for the BigBad? Is he trying to stop the scheme or not?]]
74	** Also [[spoiler:Lenny]] in season 1. [[spoiler:Is he going through with the terrorist's deal, or is he merely tricking them into releasing him?]]
75	* HelloAgainOfficer: Jakobs and Greve are two perfectly ordinary beat cops, and they get sucked into the story by repeatedly running into characters that are involved in the ongoings in the school. First, they arrest Cenk, who has been framed for traficking mobile phones. Then they encounter Leo and Jonas, who tell them what's going on. Then they file a missing report in the name of Dr Kellermann, Sophie's mother. In the end, they are the first and (temporarily) only people aware of what is actually going on.
76	* HeroicBystander: When Jackie, who has spent much of the time being a ValleyGirl, decides to smuggle Jonas' [[spoiler:diabetic kit]] out of the classroom, while risking being caught doing it.
77	* HollyWoodTactics: [[spoiler: Police snipers don't usually participate in building raids themselves, especially not while wielding their bulky rifles.]]
78	* IKnowKarate: In the beginning, Leo off-handedly gives Jonas a flyer for a Taekwondo event. The real significance of that is thoroughly explained later, with many fights getting decided by Leo's fighting prowess.
79	* {{Jerkass}}:
80	** Lenny, who ranges all the way from TheBully to DirtyCoward.
81	** Also Jonas. He is a cynic, a delinquent and a nihilist, which makes it really difficult, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold though not impossible,]] to like him.
82	* JerkassHasAPoint: Then again, despite of being an idiot most of the time, Lenny does genuinely try to help. And he is a GenreSavvy.
83	* JurisdictionFriction:
84	** Two BKA officers (Bundeskriminalamt - Federal Criminal Police Office) rescue top-secret documents from the Ministry of the Interior's archives from two shadowy figures. They later get suspected of being part of the conspiracy when it turns out that said shadowy figures were in fact investigating BND agents (Bundesnachrichtendienst - Federal Intelligence Service).
85	** Also, the BKA vs a Brandenburg State Policeman.
86	* LoveDodecahedron: [[spoiler: Sophie]] is interested in [[spoiler: Özzi]], who has an unrequited crush on [[spoiler: Jackie]], who in turn is attracted to [[spoiler: Jonas]], who's more interested in [[spoiler: Leo]], who can't decide between him and [[spoiler: Ben]].
87	* MacGuffin: The [[spoiler: nano-bots]] in Season 1, and the [[spoiler:orchids]] in Season 2.
88	* [[spoiler:MindControlEyes]]: [[spoiler:Played straight partially. Greyed-out irises merely signify that a person has nanobots in his system, but not necessarily that he/she is controlled by them.]]
89	* MindManipulation: [[spoiler: Dr Brehmer's nano-bots can attach themselves to cancer cells and destroy them. They can also be used to attach to a person's brain cells and manipulate the thought process, which is the why the terrorists want it so badly.]]
90	* NewMeat:
91	** Roland ("[[InsistentTerminology Rocky!]]") is the NewMeat of the first season's baddies, being obviously the youngest of the group.
92	** In season 2, Tom, the dog handler, is the NewMeat of the Omega Ring. He is even called something along the lines of "mercenary-in-training".
93	* NewTransferStudent: Ben and his father came to Berlin only a few months prior. It turns out that they now live in hiding, their real family name is Brehmer, and that 'Funke' is just their new identity.
94	* TheNicknamer: Özzi, also known as ''The Özzman'' and ''Hero24''.
95	* NobodyCanDie:
96	** In the first season, there is a lot of talk about killing, as well as a lot of threatening with death. However, no one actually ever ''does'' it, although many are definitely planning to do so, but opt to leave them alive for later.
97	** Averted with Season 2, where the deaths come not only early, but are quite unsettling to boot.
98	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: [[spoiler: The head-of-state conference]] is attended by a number of lookalikes of actual (then-contemporary) European leaders, such as Angela Merkel and Gordon Brown.
99	* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: [[spoiler: When Dr Kellermann gets hold of Forck's gun]].
100	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Hajo, the small town cop in Brandenburg [[spoiler: who is a BND undercover agent who was bought off by the BigBad]]. This can go both ways, as he will not/cannot pursue certain complaints without outrageous amounts of formalities, but will also [[spoiler: at first]] not attempt to arrest characters without a valid reason.
101	* PoliceAreUseless: Only when given the situation. Seeing how [[spoiler:Kern is working against his colleagues]] most of the time, this is even more justified in the ensuing confusion. Otherwise they are ''very'' effective, as demonstrated by Jakobs and Greve themselves ([[spoiler: as well as the SEK]]).
102	** IFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon: The police are usually just as capable to deal with the threats as they are in real life; the big challenge lies in alarming them in time.
103	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Komissar Bauer is friends with Kern. But when Jakobs and Greve accuse Kern of corruption [[spoiler:(which turns out to be true)]], he does the only reasonable thing; he relieves the two beat cops and orders Kern back to his desk until the evidence arrives.
104	* TheScream: Jackie and Miri scream at anything that is considered at least mildly shocking. Ironically, many of these screams are even heard by characters in other story arcs (as a reminder of the temporal consistency of the events).
105	* ShoutOut:
106	** Roland ''[[InsistentTerminology wants]]'' to be called 'Rocky', "[[{{Film/Rocky}} like in the movie]]".
107	** Also, many of the story's elements are homages to ''Series/TwentyFour''. It's more a WholePlotReference than anything else.
108	* [[spoiler:SixthRangerTraitor: Lenny in the season one.]]
109	* [[spoiler:TakeOverTheWorld]]: [[spoiler: Or rather Take Over Europe. With the help of the nano-bots, Dr Andreas Schier wants to unite all of Europe under a fascist dictatorship, in order to turn it into a world power that would be able to rival both America and Asia]].
110	* TapOnTheHead: At one point, [[spoiler:CorruptCop Kern]] has to pistol-whip an SEK sniper from behind, knocking him out. Said sniper recovers a short time later, bleeding all over the place from the wound behind his ear.
111	* TeamPet: Frisby the dog.
112	* TokenMinority: Özzy is the only Turk in the group. It is justified however, seeing how the Turkish-German minority is one of the biggest in the country.
113	** TwoferTokenMinority: He is also the group's {{Hollywood Hack\|ing}}er nerd.
114	* TriggerHappy: Rocky, when given a gun.
115	* ValleyGirl: Jackie and Miri have thick traces of this. They are BookDumb {{Drama Queen}}s, who like to [[TheScream scream a lot]].
116	* WesternTerrorists: Forck and his cronies are Type I (with some political traces of [[spoiler:Type III]]): Mostly German, and they work for a German GreaterScopeVillain too.
117	** The same can be said for season 2’s ''Omega Ring''. They are Type II: An international assortment of mercenaries out for money, including Germans, Spaniards and Slavs, and are led by a Frenchman.
118	* WholePlotReference: See image caption.
119	* YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo:

Context Series / AlleinGegenDieZeit