Imagining a Better Future by Re-imagining the Past

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Babylon Berlin

During times like these Netflix is a blessing from the gods. One of the great series on it is the crime drama Babylon Berlin.


Babylon Berlin is a German neo-noir television series based on novels by author Volker Kutscher. The series takes place in Berlin during the Weimar Republic in the late 1920s. The central characters are Gereon Rath, a police inspector on assignment from Cologne who is on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring, and Charlotte Ritter, police clerk by day, flapper by night, who is aspiring to become a police inspector.

Babylon Berlin realistically captures Berlin during the Weimar Republic. It was a time when crime, drug abuse, and prostitution had largely taken over the city. In many ways, Berlin of the Twenties was the embodiment of the Dark Deco style of Dieselpunk. The only thing missing is retrofuture tech to make Babylon Berlin Dieselpunk.

Germany, of course, got to view season 3 back in January. For those of us here in the States Netflix recently loaded season 3 of Babylon Berlin just this month.

I’m a big fan of Babylon Berlin and I highly recommend it to any Dieselpunk.

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