Following is a list of recurring characters in the German Gag Series Raumschiff GameStar.
The GameStar crew:
Tropes describing the crew as a team:- Bad Job, Worse Uniform: In addition to being routinely subjected to lethal dangers, all crew members (except the Captain and the Doctor) must wear bright orange overalls and khaki vests—a uniform closely associated with waste collectors in Germany.
- Berserk Button: Nobody says "garbageman" to a GameStar crew member.
- Hero with an F in Good: As lampshaded in season five opener.
Captain Langer
The Captain of all three GameStars, hailing from the Game Reviewers' Planet (a.k.a. Feldkirchen).- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all his quirks, he is quite a commander.
- The Captain: Played for Laughs.
- Catchphrase: "Oh Gott, wir werden alle sterben..."
- Ink-Suit Actor: Named and styled after the GameStar's original editor-in-chief (who left simultaneously with the end of the show).
- The Kirk
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: After a Shout-Out to the line, he mutates into a monster in his fury right afterwards. Or just tries to strangle Dr. Chris to death after the latter wakes up.
- My Future Self and Me: In the first season finale, Langer goes back in time to warn his younger self about the Empire's attack on Feldkirchen and disappears shortly afterwards due to the paradox.
Charles
...a.k.a. "The Grim Glimm".Captain Langer's Hypercompetent Sidekick throughout season one, who makes a brief cameo in the first episode of the second season and never appears again.
- Anti-Hero: The best example in the show.
- Cowboy
- The Gunslinger
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Whenever the Captain calls out "Charles?", expect the current problem be solved quickly and awesomely.
- Karma Houdini: Zig-Zagged: Charles kills Mick for destroying his house of cards (which Mick wasn't even guilty of), then Mick comes back as a terminator to kill him—but Charles avoids him until saved by the Captain. And then Charles is killed by the mutated Martin—along with most of the crew, on an entirely unrelated score.
- No Smoking: Introduced chomping on a pen in place of a cigarette.
First Mate Martin
First Mate on the second GameStar. Officially born on the Game Reviewers' Planet, he is actually an unwitting android/cyborg. His actor left the show in the fourth season.- Killed Off for Real: When his actor left the show in the fourth season.
- Number Two: To the Captain.
- The Spock
- Robotic Reveal: Discovers that he is a robot (more accurately, a cyborg, since he was able to partly mutate in the first season) after he withstands Darth Vader's evil presence, which no human theoretically could. After the Captain confirms that, Martin self-terminates since he can't live with "no heart, just a puny Pentium CPU", prompting the Captain to hire a new First Mate in the next episode.
Dr. Chris Schmidt
The medical officer aboard the second and third GameStars. In season one, he works as the assistant of Gunnar the Ghost Buster (who later becomes known as Darth Lott).- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He may be slightly insane, but still capable of healing weird stuff like "advanced Croftization".
- Mad Doctor
- Mad Scientist
- The McCoy
- My Future Self and Me: Reprises his role as his young self and the older future self in the 2009 trailer.
- Techno Babble: Delivers a perfect example in episode 20 before being reminded that he is not in a Medical Drama.
First Mate Stangl
The First Mate on the third GameStar, who replaces Martin in season four. His background is unknown, except that he is almost a carbon copy of the fearsome Stanglnator (except for the hair).- Drill Sergeant Nasty: A bit more benign than most examples but he still gives his crew some tough training times.
- Number Two: To the Captain.
- Straight Man: Stangl is usually the most Comically Serious of the bunch, often delivered the punchlines to jokes set up by others (or completely ruining them with straightforward common sense). This is in particular contrast to the original First Mate Martin's crazy antics.
Security Officer Peter
The go-to guy when you need Stuff Blowing Up. He starts off as a fighter pilot on the Death Star but is coerced to join the RSGS crew in the first season.- Ax-Crazy: Quite literally on occasion. For instance, when Dr. Chris fails to get a Vader mask off Mikkl's head, he pulls out a fireman's axe with this gem of a quote:"When medicine fails, it's time to unbury the hatchet!"note
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Strikes down Darth Vader not once but twice (both times from behind).
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: In one outtake, Peter's actor Peter is reluctant to hit Darth Vader on the head, as instructed, saying that he is a peaceful person and doesn't want to hit anyone. And then he asks why he cannot just shoot Vader instead.
- Properly Paranoid
Communications Officer Mikkl
Originally a fighter pilot on the Death Star, alongside Peter, he briefly returns to The Dark Side in season three and leaves the show afterwards.- Deal with the Devil: Head for soul.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Starts off evil, reforms to good, is turned evil again, reforms once more, leaves the show.
- Off with His Head!: Loses his head to an explosion in season three. It doesn't kill him, though...
Communications Officer Frank
Replaces Mikkl as the radio operator.- Just a Stupid Accent: "Chekov accent".
Prof. Dr. Test
The rarely-seen chief of the GameStar R&D labs.- Killed Off for Real: Dies in the final battle for the Golden C64 in season four.
- The Professor
Cadet Klinge
The first (and last) space cadet on the GameStar. "Promoted" after season four.- Butt-Monkey: For the good guys.
- Ensign Newbie: Though he doesn't get to command anyone.
- Rank Up: Played for Laughs: After securing the Golden Commodore 64, Klinge is "promoted" from a simple Cadet to an "Acting Commanding Cadet". His position on the RSGS stays exactly the same. Made even funnier by the fact that his actor, Heiko Klinge, would become real-life GameStar's editor-in-chief twelve years after the show's cancellation — meaning that had it continued, he would have been The Captain by now...
The Empire
Tropes describing the Death Star crew as a group:- Black Cloak: Every Darth in the series has to wear a hooded black cloak (except Vader, whose iconic mask replaces the hood). The Emperor just wears a cloak without the hood.
- The Dark Side
- Harmless Villain: As lampshaded in the season five opener.
The Emperor
The leader of the villains from season two onwards, the Big Bad of the show and Captain Langer's Arch-Nemesis. His background is a complete mystery.- Affably Evil
- The Emperor: Played for Laughs.
- Enemy Without: His evil persona in season four.
- Mysterious Past
Doc/Darth/Lord Vader
The Big Bad of season one, he becomes a recurring villain in later seasons.Darth Lott
The Strategist of the Empire and the Emperor's Number Two. He is introduced as a Ghost Buster late in season one but is drawn to the Dark Side by Vader and becomes a major villain. His father was the first German space minister who initiated the GameStar program.- From Nobody to Nightmare
- Hoist by His Own Petard: It was his own idea to resurrect the Stanglnator...
- Killed Off for Real: Early in season four, the Emperor sacrifices him to resurrect the Stanglnator.
- Number Two: To the Emperor.
- Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: Particularly fond of planting bombs via different means onto the Gamestar.
- The Strategist
Darth Mopp
Originally a janitor on the second Death Star, he is turned to the Dark Side by the Emperor and Darth Lott when they first require a silent lackey to carry out their schemes.- Butt-Monkey: For the bad guys.
- From Nobody to Nightmare
Darth Schmitz
Darth Lott's replacement as the Emperor's right hand in season five. Before her turn to the Dark Side, she owned a computer store in The '80s and snuck aboard the Death Star during a Time Travel instance.- From Nobody to Nightmare
- Number Two: To the Emperor.
- The Strategist
- Token Girl
Others
The Wise Man from the Mountains
An aloof ally of the GameStar crew who helps them out of many predicaments. Also, he turns out to have possessed the Golden C64 all along.The Stanglnator
The feared monster first mentioned in the very first episode, but only seen in season four, when the Emperor resurrects him at the cost of Darth Lott's life to sick him on the GameStar crew.- Cool Shades
- The Dreaded
- Evil Twin: To Stangl.
- Hell-Bent for Leather
- Instrument of Murder: The Battle Guitar. He is eventually defeated when Cadet Klinge plugs its output cable into a high-voltage power outlet (never mind that it looks like an acoustic guitar).
- Mythology Gag: Stanglnator was originally a one-shot character in Multimedia Leserbriefe, a show produced by Toni Schweiger for the PC Player magazine before moving to GameStar and producing RSGS.
