A few weeks ago I found a videotape buried in my closed: a copy of "Krieg der Sterne" -- that is, "Star Wars" dubbed into German. It was a gift from a German exchange student a few years ago. I put it on a little while ago for some "practical" practice in listening German. (The terrible sound quality of the tape and my crappy TV notwithstanding.)
It's weird hearing all the characters in different voices, but the worst is the fact that whoever did the voice of Darth Vader doesn't have one quarter the quality of tone as James Earl Jones. I'm not even sure if they put in any auditory filter to the guy's voice. (OTOH, I dunno if they did that with Jones's voice either... though I've always thought they did.)
This is the first time I've watched any American movie dubbed into German (or any other language), so I must say I've discovered great sympathy for those non-English-speaking fans!
Posted by Dr. Phlox (Member # 878) on :
Dubbed Star Trek is always funny. German Mr. Spock is very scary, at least in ST:VI. Most of the other characters sound fairly normal though.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Apart from Monkey (cause I've only ever seen the English dub and that's how I remember it from childhood) - dubbed things seem silly to me - why not just subtitle the bloody things!?!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Because dialogue-heavy films would tend to be unwatchable?
Also, far more importantly, Monkey?
Posted by EdipisReks (Member # 510) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Because dialogue-heavy films would tend to be unwatchable?
deaf people seem to manage.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Great!
Manage what?
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
...to read the subtitles!
Anyway, I have started watching Star Trek (and any other film/series) in German of course, but since I have been to England countless times since I was 2 1/2 years old, I prefer the original versions any time. That's why I love DVDs so much, having the original AND (if necessary) the German version.
Interesting sidenote: the German voice of Captain Kirk is the same as the German voice of Sean Connery. So if you watch the early James Bond movies and close your eyes, you think Jim Kirk is talking.
Also interesting, they changed the German voice of Picard somewhere during the run of TNG. Now in the movie Outbreak, The "bad" general (played by Donald Sutherland) and the "good" one (the other actor with the distinct white hair) have the two different Picard voices. So close your eyes and you can listen to Picard arguing with Picard - it's quite fun!
[ November 16, 2002, 11:12: Message edited by: Austin Powers ]
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
Star Trek TNG in English is much better than the German version. On the other hand, Ally McBeal is much better in German IMHO. LotR was better in English, but Harry Potter was better in German.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Because dialogue-heavy films would tend to be unwatchable?
Also, far more importantly, Monkey?
Oh, I pity your un-fulfilled childhood!! Monkey - a Japanese series from 1979-1982 about the Journeys of the boy-priest Tripitaka accompanied by three Demons, Monkey - king of the Apes, Pigsy - a Pig-demon and Sandy- a Water demon. Tripitaka travels on his horse which was originally a Water Dragon. They are on their journey to India to fetch the scrolls of Buddha to bring back to China.
Brilliant series.
Posted by Nimpim (Member # 205) on :
Dirty Harry in german, now THAT'S scary. Sounds like he's gonna force himself upon anyone he's currently adressing.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
Nothing--I say again, NOTHING--is better than watching dubbed movies in Spanish on Telemundo. "True Lies" en Espa�ol? Cinematic greatness. "Field Of Dreams" was pure genius.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Monkey", "Pigsy", and "Sandy" have to be the worst names for demons I've ever heard. No wonder they follow some kid around. Everyone in hell probably makes fun of them all day.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Shrek in Spanish is great. "Hable... hombre el pan?"
Posted by Bernd (Member # 6) on :
No TV series can be better in the dubbed version. Something is always lost, be it a dialect, a pun or some other in-joke that simply can't be translated. Fortunately, there are genres like science fiction or fantasy where it is still possible to retain the original meaning and tone. But especially American comedy in German is simply awful (but this may be also because I don't like American comedy shows anyway).
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Hable... hombre el pan?"
Far be it from me to pretend to know Spanish, but... "Speak... man the bread?"?
[ November 18, 2002, 19:49: Message edited by: TSN ]
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
The scene where the King is torturing the Gingerbread man!?! I would guess.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by TSN: "Monkey", "Pigsy", and "Sandy" have to be the worst names for demons I've ever heard. No wonder they follow some kid around. Everyone in hell probably makes fun of them all day.
For the sadly uninitiated:
from monkeymania.co.uk:
quote:The story of Monkey
The story of Monkey! is very loosely based on a 16th century Chinese book, Journey To The West by Wu Ch'eng-en, which is a collection of stories about the real-life journey of Hsuan Tsangof, a 7th-century monk.
In Wu Ch'eng-en's stories, the Monk, Tripitaka, embarks on the pilgrimage from China to India accompanied and protected by Monkey, Sandy and Pigsy, each a symbol of different types of human nature. Their task is collect Buddhist scriptures from India, and return them to China for translation. In the book the pilgrimage to India is completed, though the same can not be said of the TV series: however if the series had continued to further seasons, who knows?
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Bernd, I totally agree - nothing is more horrible than German versions of US comedy shows.
Best example "Eine schrecklich nette Familie" better known around the rest of the world as "Married with children". I hated Al Bundy before I saw an episode in England one day and noticed what our translation had made of it - butchered would be the better word. Simpsons is kind of a mixed bag. I sometimes find the German version even better than the original. Strange. Might be because I find the original voices horrible to listen to. Just the sound of them.
Anyway, I prefer any version of Star Trek in the original to any dubbed version.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
I liked watching Southpark dubbed in german.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
quote:Originally posted by Austin Powers: Simpsons is kind of a mixed bag. I sometimes find the German version even better than the original. Strange. Might be because I find the original voices horrible to listen to. Just the sound of them.
When I did German lessons we used to watch the german versions of The Simpsons (not sure why). It always amused me when they switch between the dubbed voices for the speech and the original voices for the songs. Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
Heh, I once saw an anime movie that was translated into "engrish", in case no ones ever heard of it, engrish is poorly dubbed japanese (most of the time) it kinda sounds like Yoda talk, but worse. Half the time i spent laughing, although it was supposed to be a serious movie. Meh, I guess it lost a "bit" in the "translation". Posted by LET CAPTAIN = MIKE THEN GOSUB 420 (Member # 709) on :
and now all of your base are belong to them...
my friend Jaffet is from Peru, he's been informing me of the shows he watched when he was a boy.. Batman was called Batman, but in dubbed versions Batman's secret identity was always 'Bruno Diaz'
Knight Rider was called 'El Auto Fantastico'.. and the A-Team was simply known as 'Los Magnificos'
God Bless America..
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
About the switching during songs...: The Insurrection DVD shows an interesting example: in both the English and the German version, Picard, Data and Worf are singing in English. But on the Hungarian version they translated the song. Funny to hear Worf singing Hungarian - English-Hungarian phrasebook anyone?? Hungarian sounds a bit like Klingon in fact!
About why they also included a Hungarian version on the DVD, don't ask me why - I haven't got a clue. It would be more fitting to have a Turkish version for the German market - as they do with the Disney DVDs.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
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