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Discussion about Space:1999.
French dubbing
Has it mysteriously improved Year Two?
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| Author | Post | ||
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| RBAdams 13 Jan 2003 15:52:41 |
I'm noticing that Year 2 episodes are getting quite a bit of support from our friends in France. This makes me wonder if the dubbing into the French language has mysteriously improved oddities of dialogue and dialect that make the English language versions absolutely wretched, such as: Brian the Brain's awful Catskills comedian accent (what kind of drugs was Freiberger on, anyway?) The Irish cowboy in "All that Glisters" Not to mention various dialogue clunkers. When watching Japanese anime, I've seen some pretty wide variance between English dubbing and the original Japanese soundtrack, and sometimes this dubbing has actually been an improvement, much as I hate to admit it. (Personally, I like the original language track and subtitles.) This makes me think the same thing has happened to Space: 1999 Year 2. |
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| F-9000 13 Jan 2003 16:11:16 |
Hi RB Adams, What do you mean about various traductions? French version was mixed in Montreal, not in France. It's Brian for you and Marcel for us.  Lee Russel for you and Dick russel for us Eagle One and aigle Noir (=Black eagle, because problems of pronouciation) In "All that glisters", the cow-boy is not irish but American (the Dom Juan of texas, Koenig says). Did you notice other differences? You are canadian, aren't you? F-9000  |
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| Validus 13 Jan 2003 18:24:42 |
"Black Eagle"? That's funny considering they are as white as Pat Robertson. I wonder how many French-fans scratch their heads at such an obvious discrepancy. Hmmm. | ||
| Cindy 13 Jan 2003 18:40:41 |
I think differences between french version and english version are not very important. Second saeson stays worst. | ||
| RBAdams 14 Jan 2003 01:54:03 |
F-9000: No, I'm American . . . but extremely aware of my position as a world citizen first.  (Actually, Space: 1999 is largely responsible for shaping my view of the world. As a child, I thought it perfectly natural that there should someday be an international space station on the moon, and that there would be a unified world government centered somewhere in Europe. Space: 1999 helped me escape a lot of the formative jingoism that infects so many Americans, and thank God for that!)Cindy: You're very right, Year Two remains worse . . . but I still think that changes in the dubbing may have helped Year Two seem a bit better to non-English speakers than it does to those of us who are used to the original English voice track. Not better than Year One by any means, but . . . better . . . than Year Two is in English. The true horror of "Brian the Brain" lies in his awful voice. I'm sure that "Marcel" in the French language version can't sound nearly as bad. And translators for non-English dubbed versions of Space:1999 easily could have improved upon some of the laughable dialogue from Year Two as well. For instance, as F-9000 points out, the French language version of "All That Glisters" turns the "Irish cowboy" into a real American cowboy, which makes SO much more sense. Definitely an improvement. "Don Juan of Texas" -- that's great! |
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| JYM 14 Jan 2003 04:58:41 |
Back in 1975, dubbling was not what they can do today. The show is more credible in english but the french version is nostalgia for me. | ||
| Validus 14 Jan 2003 07:38:16 |
To all French-Speaking fans, I was just wondering.....did any of you see Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace in French? If you did, what did Jar Jar Binks sound like? Does he sounds every bit as stupid as he did in English, or did they opt to give him a "normal" French voice? I know this has nothing to do with Space:1999, but this discussion raised my curiocity and I'm dying to know......  Thanks... ValidusRex@AOL.com |
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| F-9000 14 Jan 2003 09:08:47 |
RBAdams, it's great to meet you. Although I possess the DVD, I've not heard your English version but I 'll try to do that. Brian's voice might be more horrible than marcel's however I repeat : I like this episode. For one time, Maya does not transform into a martian frog or a poor gorilla like in "Space warp" or "The lambda factor".  I know there are a few differences of traduction. In "Voyager's return", the keller effects kills 2000 peole in French and only 200 in English. In "A Matter of balance" Shermeen becomes Armelle. Then there surely are lots of non-sense : in "Mission of the Darians", our French Kara says they have discovered the Survivors 20 years ago. Your English Kara says it's been 880 years since they have been dicovered. So when did the darians discover the savage? In 1979 or in 1119?  Validus, I don't know you US version of Phantom Menace but I can assure you that, in our Menace fantme, Jar-jar Binks speaks in "little Nigger". He also looks crazy, escaping from a lunatic asylum. We wonder why George Lucas made a so stupid creature! In Year Two, there's a problem of new voices : in "The Seance Spectre" for example, Sanderson's grey-haired-friend has exactly our Paul Morrow's voice. But in Ring around the moon, I can assure you triton's voice does not look like Paul's. There was a lack of people indubbling! F-9000 |
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| Cindy 14 Jan 2003 23:08:46 |
In french, I like Marcel (Brian) so French dubbing is probably nice. The problem in French: in year two, Tony has the same voice that Paul. |
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| Eagle One 17 Jan 2003 00:03:48 |
Very cheap ones no doubt. Being an audio engineer/support specialist, that voice (Brian's) annoys me to no end. I can believe that dubbing could clean up some of the worst dialog. |
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| Cindy 19 Jan 2003 18:12:53 |
I think anyway french dubbing doesn't change the story. | ||
| RBAdams 20 Jan 2003 22:53:53 |
I'd agree with that, Cindy. The stories remain the same with the dubbing . . . but the dubbing likely made some of the bad English dialogue over into better French dialogue. And then, of course, there's Brian the Brain's voice. I'm wondering if anyone can post samples of Brian's voice in the English version so that our French-speaking friends can understand what's so truly horrible about it? | ||
| Senmut 12 Aug 2003 04:45:38 |
Well I can't speak for RBAdams, but I seem to have escaped my formative years with all my American jingoism intact and functional, thank God! Long may it wave, and citizen of the world stuff be damned! As to Brian's voice, well, yes it has its llimitations (okay, it's terrible!!), but there are three possibilities. Captain Michael may have been in the early stages of vocal programming when Brian killed him, and thus nothing was ever done to improve it, it might have been the actual voice of one of the dead crew of the swift, or, Brian may have decided that such a voice, sounding innocent and even a little "slow" was more effective in deceiving his potential victims into trusting him. I opt for a mix of 1 and 3. Just a thought. Y'all? |
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| Otis 13 Aug 2003 21:03:14 |
Hi, I'm french speaking but I've been looking at my DVD in english. I'll try in french one day so I can answer the question. What I can tell you : Eagle One becomes"Aigle Noir" because of the roundy mouth that the prononciation of "one" commands, unlike with "un". By the "L'aigle Noir" is a very romantic and respected song, one of the best of our repertoire, and that song was not ten years old when Space was released. Maybe an influence ? I suspect that they give Brian/Marcel a neutral voice. But when I hear Brian in englisn, it does actually not bother me. I feel it as remote, I appreciate the fun, the clownesque and I don't feel annoyed by sounds which after all remain foreigner. Now, my question : why on hell are you blaming so much Y2 ? OK, it's weaker, and yes, maybe some aspects are more painfull in english. But basically, it's still Space and it's nice, non ? Suppose only Y2 exists, would you like it ? By the way, if the monsters are "cheesy" in Y2, let's see the fact : Space Y1 and 2 had had problems with the aliens. They're basically all failures. The barely dressed and sometimes dirty guys of Y1 were not so much better. Aliens are Space Achille's foot, every years. Otis  |
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| moonbasealpha_s1 14 Aug 2003 00:00:44 |
Non et Non....  |
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| captphil 14 Aug 2003 04:30:15 |
Top Ten reasons for blaming so much Year Two: http://new.wavlist.com/soundfx/027/drum_snare1.wav 10. Covers up the pain of no second season of The Starlost 9. No more Paul and Tanya Guitar lessons 8. Prog rock Arkadia music replaced by Disco Hawaii 5 0 7. Long awaited guest star Ricardo Montebahn never gets booked on show 6. Sure they have that damn Solarium but where the hell is the Starbucks! 5. Terrible high school incident involving water pistol stun gun, term paper and mint Jello. 4. No more Vic Elms! 3. Sandra or Sahn? After Paul, Peter, Mike and Alan what did she think? Changing her name would get her MORE dates? There's only 310 up there to start with so make up your mind fast! 2. Damn you skirts and jackets I want my Gernreich NOW!!!! and the # 1 reason to blame year two.... http://new.wavlist.com/soundfx/027/drum_snare1.wav 1. Show got cancelled before MECO could make disco version of main theme! Good Night!     |
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| RBAdams 14 Aug 2003 07:18:39 |
Capt. Phil, that was friggin' hilarious!!! Otis:
Much of Year Two is very entertaining in exactly the way FF wanted it. But it's not the same show that Year One was. It's like having Stanley Kubrick direct the first half of a film and then Michael Bay directing the second half. You may have some of the same characters but the tone is vastly different. We may be seeing a cultural schism here, that may have something with the wonderful French ability to appreciate irony better than Americans or Brits (though Brits do have a leg up on Yanks in that regard as well). Perhaps Year Two was always meant for the non-English speaking market? Please also see Dada Baggin's startling quote about Year One's "Dragon's Domain" being the worst episode of the series in the following thread: index.php?a...t=ST&f=14&t=137 His bald statement about "Dragon's Domain" being bad may, once again, be representative of the English-to-French translation causing a different view of the episode. Truly something was lost in the translation, if that's the case. |
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| Dada Baggins 14 Aug 2003 17:50:30 |
Hello, I think that Y2 is "projected" towards American world...just pay attention...the "Main Mission" of Y2 is named Command Center. "Center" is typically American.... In Y2 an other person takes the place of Sylvia Anderson as the producer, to "overhaul" the plots of the episodes. And the philosophy changes at all.... I know the new producer said that he didn't like the final parts of the episodes, full of "philosophical meditations". He said that was better to end the episod with a laugh... I think he's not right.... Bye, Dada Baggins |
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| Senmut 15 Aug 2003 03:18:38 |
Totally right, Dada. I much prefer the philosophical meditation aspect. It added alot to the eps. And RB? That should be more like the first half being directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the the second by Franco Zeferelli. |
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| Otis 17 Aug 2003 13:22:37 |
.Hello, now I tested Brian in french : the voice is ridiculous too. For Glisters, the Irish-Texan has not got any particular accent. That is the terrible thing with french cinema I think, and one of the reason it has lost its success : there are no more accents. All the actors have the same middle of the road way of speaking. Holding an accent is a shame. I know it for carrying one as a belgian, when traveling in douce France. Meanwhile, for instance, Connery is loved by anglophones for his shtrrong akchent. But dubbed Connery in french and hop ! lost it. Back to Glister : I think that no one has noticed the caracter was Irish. Tony mentions it in english, not in french. I must say I was upset to see an irish man made ridiculous, so maybe it's beter if I believe he's texan.  I suppose that my relationship to Y2 is like beeing grateful for a refill after the meal. One does not criticise the little free glass that the host gives away. Beter than nothing. Something like that. But Y1 is still the standard for when giving a statement about "what is Space". I'm very impressed by all the qualities some people are according to french speaking viewers. Thank you !! There are good things in Y2. Maya is a good help for the powerless alphans. Her caracter brings something to the show. Somebody mentionned her as the more human person of Y2. There is a balance between her and the needs of alpha in continuation of the Y1 philosophy. It's not Maya the problem, but the rest of the crew ! Let's do a Y3 with Maya only. The music is the biggest problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The philosophical moments of Y1 were splendidly enhanced by drammatico-zen piece of music. Then the Command center. How do you want to philosophise when one cannot swing a cat ? Philosophy needs the ability of leaning back in one's chair. Captphil, your ten points must be very funny. I unfortunately cannot understand everything. Otis |
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