Adventures in German Star Trek

[{ Emilia }]

So since I moved to Germany I sometimes watch Star Trek in German. The dubbing is usually pretty good and at times there's just no English version available.

Anyway, so here I am... watching Star Trek's 3rd season in German and there so many lame puns and terrible jokes and I'm wondering: Why did they do that?

So I check the English version and it turns out... the German translation just made that shit up.

From "That which survives"

Exhibit A:

Original version:
UHURA: Mister Spock! Are you all right?
SPOCK: Yes. I believe no permanent damage was done.
UHURA: What happened?
SPOCK: The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the chair.
UHURA: No, Mister Spock. I meant what happened to us?
SPOCK: That we have yet to ascertain.

German version (translated into English for you guys):
UHURA: Mister Spock! Are you all right?
SPOCK: Yes. I believe no permanent damages was done.
UHURA: What happened?
SPOCK: The occipital area of my head seems to have impacted with the chair.
UHURA: Come on, Mr. Spock, can't you say that a little more colloquially?
SPOCK (in a casual tone): I bumped my nut.


Exhibit B:
On the planet surface there's an earthquake.

Original version
SULU: What kind of earthquakes do they have in this place?
KIRK: I don't know. Any more like that and they'll tear this planet apart.

German version
SULU: That was quite the bang. Was that an earthquake?
KIRK: Since we're not on EARTH it can't have been an EARTHquake.

*groan*


Exhibit C:
They're stranded on the planet.

Original version:
KIRK: This is a matter of survival, gentlemen. Without the Enterprise, we need food, and we need water, and we need them fast. I want a detailed analysis made of this planet, and I want it now.

German version:
KIRK: I guess we need to find some water and we don't wanna starve either. Know what, you guys go look if you can find some nice supermarket 'round here. I'd like some juicy steaks, but well hung!



And so on and on. A lot of perfectly normal sober dialogue is replaced with extremely casual, colloquial language, too.

So. Irritating.

I wonder if they felt the need to make it all seem more casual and less "militaristic" for Germany. Are there any other fun examples from other languages? What do you guys think about this?

 

[MANT!]

Translation is an imperfect science, and with television translation, often the translators will change phrases to match lip movements a bit better..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...matters-the-unsung-heroes-of-world-literature

a bad translation /dubbing job without syncing lip movements somewhat will detract from one's viewing pleasure (or at least that's the theory)

Besides Germany already has it's version of Star Trek

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJI4J92Btis[/yt]

 

[{ Emilia }]

That's obvious and I know they can't always literally translate everything. I speak about a handful of languages fluently and even without taking lip movement into account it's often not possible to literally translate something.

You do realize that's not what happened in the German translation, right?

In the German dubbing there's a deliberate and obvious shift of tone. That's a creative decision and not one dictated by "lip movements".

It's also not happened with any of the other Star Trek shows over here. The German dubbing for the other Trek shows stays true to the original tone.

 

[MANT!]

Fair enough, I'm thinking of English/Spanish translation, often the entire meaning is almost lost..

Now was TOS translated during the 70s perhaps? or is this a newer translation?..

in the 60s and early 70s Science Fiction with recurring characters was seen as almost children's programming.. if the translation job was done back then, the tone shift might be explained as someone marketing the series to snarky preteens and teenagers..

 

[{ Emilia }]

From what I've read they experimented with adding "funny lines" to the dubbing because they thought that would improve ratings.

The prime example is a British series called The Persuaders! that flopped in the US but was a major success in Germany because they completely changed the tone and made it "funny".

I suppose it's true that genre shows and also literature (mostly SciFi and Fantasy) was seen as "trivial literature" in Germany for decades but it's still odd. I think Raumpatrouille Orion was relatively serious business.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

KIRK: Since we're not on EARTH it can't have been an EARTHquake.

[...]

KIRK: I guess we need to find some water and we don't wanna starve either. Know what, you guys go look if you can find some nice supermarket 'round here. I'd like some juicy steaks, but well hung!

They. Didn't. Did they?!?

That's just taking the piss!

 

[1001001]

"I bumped my nut."



I actually like that better.

 

[danielcw]

German herer, with a strong interest in Star Trek, German dubs, and the German dubs of Star Trek in particular.

So I have a lot to tell here:

Translation is an imperfect science, and with television translation, often the translators will change phrases to match lip movements a bit better..

Now was TOS translated during the 70s perhaps? or is this a newer translation?..

in the 60s and early 70s Science Fiction with recurring characters was seen as almost children's programming..

There is some truth to all of that.
Star Trek came to Germany in the late 70s. And not all of it. Only 39 episodes were selected. Cherry-picking the best, or what the people in charge considerred the best, and suitbale for German audiences. The episodes were also cut down, both to improve the pacing, and to fit a timeslot. A simple example, most ad-breaks, the fade out and the fade in, were cut, if the scene resume at the same place. Also the opening and closing parts with the credits were usually lost.

Many creative changes or "improvements" were made, to made the dialog more exciting or fun. See the OP's example.

For a long time the believe, or hyperbole, that they watned to turn Star Trek into a childern's show became gospel, or even a fact among German fans.
But today it seems pretty certain, that the people in charge really wanted to do their best, to make improvements, to make Star Trek in German the best it could be, well it least in their opinion.

For example they added an extra synthesizer sound when the Enterprise zooms by in the opening.
Here is the German opening, listen to the extra sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awH9FvLZUCo

The series title means "Starship Enterprise".
The narrator (it is not the German voice of Kirk) actually sets the series in the year 2200. A crew amount of 400 people is given for a year mission: "to explore new worlds, new lives, and new civilisations. Many light-years away from earth, the Enterprise enters galaxies (!), that no human has seen before"
The last thing you see at the end of the opening is the episode title.

The dub was not cheap compared to others, and the poeple behind the scenes are, among dubbing fans, considered the among best in the dubbing business back then.

But yeah sometimes they made big errors, or failed to understand important parts. Or sometimes big changes were made on purpose.
"Amok Time" was changed, so that a lot of the plot is revelaed to be a dream of Spock, after he was given medication by McCoy.


For decades, these 39 edited episodes, were the only thing German fans know.
When the first movie entered cinemas, it had a dub that made no creative changes and sticked to the original.
For English speaking fans, the movie already felt less fun then the series. Imagine how big the changes must have felt for German fans, who were used to the "funnier" version.
When the tone shifted for Wrath of Khan, it felt closer to home for German fans.
Unfortuntely the poeple responsible for the dubs of the movies were not as good as those who wrote for the original serie's dub, and the quality of the dub of "Kahn" and "Search For Spock" got worse and worse.
So bad that 4 German fans were able to convince Leonard Nimoy and Harve Bennett, that their input is needed. From "Voyage Home" to "Into Darkness" their always has been some fan input in the movie's dubs, and for the most part the dubs are enjoyable, almost free of problems and errors, and dare I say good.

The rest of the original series episodes were dubbed in the 90s (at the same time when TNG was a ratings hit (up to 30% share)).
The dub of those episodes was closer to the originals, but still kept some of the changes and traditions of the German version.
One episode was not dubbed back then, "Patterns Of Force". It got dubbed years later for a VHS release.

In the 2000s, when the DVDs came, the cut down episodes had to be reconstructed to fit the international picture of the European DVDs. Many of the missing pieces were dubbed, and bigger errors were corrected.
But the "fan" in charge, while using the chance to correct some mistakes, also wanted to keep as much of the original dialog as possible, to keep the spirit of what made German Star trek a hit back then alive, and to not rob the fans of the experience they grew up with, the experience that they grew to love.
Unfortunately many of the original voice actors had died in the meantime, so the voices change a few times during the episodes now.

I guess the version the OP heard, is that corrected and reconstructed version.
The original German version has not been broadcasted for years, and was never available on DVD.


EDIT:
That are a lot more details and stories that can be told about the German dubs of Star Trek. Probably also by people, who have better knowledge than me.
Most of the information is out there on websites and in books. But unfortunately, most, if not all of it is in German.

An on the other hand, I would really like to know, what interesting or even basic facts are there about the other dubs, in other languages.
For example, the Spanish dub of TOS seems to be incomplete as well. Why is that?

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

For example they added an extra synthesizer sound when the Enterprise zooms by in the opening.
Here is the German opening, listen to the extra sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awH9FvLZUCo

Doohan was added to the main title! He should spent his convention years in Germany, and maybe he would have toned down his "I was pushed down / Shatner hate" noise for all of those decades.

The series title means "Starship Enterprise".
The narrator (it is not the German voice of Kirk) actually sets the series in the year 2200. A crew amount of 400 people is given for a year mission: "to explore new worlds, new lives, and new civilisations. Many light-years away from earth, the Enterprise enters galaxies (!), that no human has seen before"
The last thing you see at the end of the opening is the episode title.

"Many light-years away from earth, the Enterprise enters galaxies, that no human has seen before"

That has a nice, important ring to it. Reads as the most serious mission in humankind's history.

"Amok Time" was changed, so that a lot of the plot is revelaed to be a dream of Spock, after he was given medication by McCoy.

Now that is...shocking.

One episode was not dubbed back then, "Patterns Of Force". It got dubbed years later for a VHS release.

I heard about that....

 

[Kilana2]

Translation is an imperfect science, and with television translation, often the translators will change phrases to match lip movements a bit better..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...matters-the-unsung-heroes-of-world-literature

a bad translation /dubbing job without syncing lip movements somewhat will detract from one's viewing pleasure (or at least that's the theory)

Besides Germany already has it's version of Star Trek

Yes, I think about changing my user name into Leutnant Tamara Jagellovsk one day.

The soundtrack is great, but the make-up/setting is cheesy including the weird dance....