Did you watch a dubbed version of tos?

[FreddyE]

Who here used to watch a dubbed version of tos (no matter which language)? I would be very interested if there were any changes made in your language.

Here in germany they made pretty heavy changes to the show. Dialog was "translated" in a way that made the show funnier then it actually is. They would often cut up to 6 minutes from some episodes. Since those cuts were made directly to the master copy before dubbing, no dubbed versions of those "lost" scenes existed. Often actually important scenes had been ommited. They had to be dubbed with new voice actors for the DVD-release. TAS turned out even worse...the german version of TAS basically almost entirly consists of the crew making stupid jokes.

The episode "Amok Time" is most infamous for changes. Its story had been changed heavily: Instead of "Pon Farr" Spock is going thru a kind of "space fever", which lead to him dreaming / imagening fighting and killing kirk.

Another episode that lost much of its actual intent is "Metamorphosis". Much of the explanation why the companion acted the way "she" did was cut.

 

[BillJ]

Those wacky Germans.

 

[Count Zero]

Meh. Americans do similar things to shows in other languages (e.g. Japanese ones). there just aren't that many that get shown.

I also watched the German version of TOS as a child and in reruns although I don't remember that Spock seemingly killing Kirk in Amok Time was shown to be a dream since he isn't really dead in the original, either.
When I first saw an episode in the original version (Patterns of Force which was shown on Austrian TV in the original with subtitles) I was taken aback because the tone of the show was rather different. It was one of the reasons I'm now firmly in the OV camp as far as TV shows and movies are concerned (well, that and the abysmal dubbing of Futurama).

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

This is a bit OT, but I watched a TNG episode while in Warsaw, Poland that had been "dubbed" into Russian by ONE MAN! He was basically making a voice-over paraphrasing what each character said and you could still hear and understand the original English beneath. It was WEIRD!

Then I could tell ya about "Driving Miss Daisy" dubbed into Turkish....

 

[horatio83]

TOS is basically unwatchable in the German dubbed version. I only got into the show when I watched the original.

 

[gottacook]

While visiting Zürich in 1976 I saw two episodes dubbed into German (which I'd studied in high school and would study again in college): "The Changeling" and "Requiem for Methuselah." I thought they were both quite satisfactory, although in Uhura's reeducation scene, the humor of her trying to read the word "blue" and saying "...blooey?" was completely lost because you can't achieve the same effect with the word blau; German doesn't have any silent vowels to mispronounce. I hadn't previously seen an uncut version of "Requiem" and so heard the full-length and much more interesting Brahms waltz for the first time.

I once read someplace that the German-dubbed "Amok Time" was rewritten such that the whole thing was a dream, either Kirk's or Spock's. Is/was that true?

 

[Redfern]

Around 1980 or so, a local network affiliate, WCTV, serving north Florida/south Georgia, somehow wound up broadcasting a French dubbed version of "The Apple". The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper ran a short fluff article about the bizarre incident the next day using an image from the short lived Star Trek newspaper comic strip to highlight the topic.

No, I tell you much more because I didn't see it myself. Well, I started, but when I recognized the opening shots establishing it as "The Apple" (an episode I didn't particularly like at the time), I turned off the TV before I heard any character speak.

I've occasionally wondered if some wayward French speaking station in either France or Canada got stuck with the reel meant for our station.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[FreddyE]

I once read someplace that the German-dubbed "Amok Time" was rewritten such that the whole thing was a dream, either Kirk's or Spock's. Is/was that true?

Yes thats true. The german title of the episode was "Weltraumfieber" (space fever). It was heavily cut. For the DVDs it has been restored to its full length and is now called "Pon Farr". Any scenes that had been cut are easily to point out because Nimoys voice-actor changes to the one used in the later TOS movies. There is pretty much no episode without any cuts.

 

[bbailey861]

I would be interested in seeing the German versions that are sub-titled into English to see what changes were made. At least those episodes that have major changes like 'Amok Time'.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I watched some of the German version as a fun way to help with my German classes in college.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uPtPRkUT9U[/yt]

 

[scotpens]

This is a bit OT, but I watched a TNG episode while in Warsaw, Poland that had been "dubbed" into Russian by ONE MAN! He was basically making a voice-over paraphrasing what each character said and you could still hear and understand the original English beneath. It was WEIRD!

They do that to movies and TV shows all the time in Russia and Poland. Apparently they're too cheap to do actual dubbing.

As for the bizarre story changes in some of the German-dubbed TOS episodes, can anyone explain why those changes were made?

 

[iguana_tonante]

I was watching Star Trek on tv way before I had access to any original language material, so I was accustomed to it being dubbed in Italian before I ever heard the original voices (the same was true for TNG as well, albeit to a lesser degree).

The Italian dubbing was generally good, done by excellent voice actors (as it's usual in Italy): the tone and real dialogues of the series weren't changed (opposite to what I'm learning happened to the German version).

The problem was more with the translation, especially about technology (phasers were sometimes called "lasers" or clumsily translated as "fasatori", for example) and military ranks and positions (they used an uneven mix of literally translated of US Navy/Starfleet ranks and actual Italian Navy ranks (both "tenente comandante" and "capitano di corvetta" for lieutenant commander, for instance). Sulu was often called "Helm" (untranslated) as if it was his first name, instead of his post (in Italian, "timoniere"), and a few other assorted weirdness.

 

[scotpens]

. . . The problem was more with the translation, especially about technology (phasers were sometimes called "lasers" or clumsily translated as "fasatori", for example) and military ranks and positions (they used an uneven mix of literally translated of US Navy/Starfleet ranks and actual Italian Navy ranks (both "tenente comandante" and "capitano di corvetta" for lieutenant commander, for instance).

That's interesting. How were Trek-tech terms like "warp factor," "transporter," "communicator," "subspace radio" and "turbolift" translated into Italian?

 

[iguana_tonante]

That's interesting. How were Trek-tech terms like "warp factor," "transporter," "communicator," "subspace radio" and "turbolift" translated into Italian?

During TOS, most of them were translated quite inconsistently: warp factor became "fattore warp", "fattore di curvatura" (literal), "fattore di velocità" ("speed factor"); transporter became "trasportatore" and "teletrasporto"; communicator and subspace radio were usually translated literally as "comunicatore" and "radio subspaziale"; turbolift was transtated as "turboascensore" or "turboelevatore".

Only since TNG they picked a choice and stuck with it ("fattore di curvatura", "teletrasporto", "turboascensore").

 

[scotpens]

^^ Well, all of them sound prettier in Italian.

 

[Ziriath]

I know the German version. But I am not good enough in the language to fully understand and spot mistakes. Many Czech fans got to know Star trek before the revolution thanks to Austrian TV.
Czech dubbed version is well made- I like especially Spock's voice actor. But some background sounds are quite muffled, so I prefer the original version with subtitles. Some mistakes were made, like when they confused words 'helm' and 'helmet'. The dubbed TOS is much better than TNG and the movies, because TOS was dubbed in 2001, and TNG shortly after the revolution, in early 90's.
Some words:

Turbolift= turbovýtah
Phaser= Phaser
Transporter= transportér
Subspace radio= hyperprostorové rádio
warp factor= nadsvětelná rychlost
communicator= komunikátor
shuttle= raketoplán

 

[FreddyE]

There are multiple reasons. The standard time slots for episodes were shorter then the original running time of TOS, so they had to cut for time. The story changes were done when there was stuff deemed to be to "risky". For that reason "Amok Time" was changed to remove the "vulcan sex stuff". Lengthy discussions also seem to have been trimmed a lot. Another reason is that during that time scifi was seen as stuff for kids.

Especially in the first few episodes there were instances of "weird" translations. For example the transporter was called the "Beamer" in one episode, and the transporter beam was called the "Beamstrahl" (which is total nonsense, because "Strahl" is the direct translation of "beam". So they were calling it a "beambeam".) "Warp" was called "Sol" in most episodes.

 

[Oso Blanco]

Regarding German dubbed Star Trek, TOS is by far the best ... technically speaking. Brilliant voice actors who were able to get across the spirit, but the translation was really bad and often had nothing to do with the original.

On TNG/DS9/Voyager the dialogues were better, but the voices were woodden and lifeless, techno babble terms were translated differently from one episode to the other ... I was glad to be able to buy the UK VHS tapes back then, oh my ... I spend so much money on those, just to give them away for the DVD release!

 

[NTRPRZ]

I did three tours in Germany during my time in the USAF, and enjoyed shows such as Star Trek and Bonanza, among others, in German. Particularly during my first tour from 1973 to 1975, knowing the dialogue in English already was a big help as I tried to learn the German language.
One thing that really surprised me was during my favorite episode, "The Doomsday Machine." In English, as Kirk tries to get off the Constellation, Scotty kept working to keep the systems from burning out. Just as the transporter shorted out for the second time, I remember Scotty growls "Ach!" as he climbs back unto the Jeffries tube.
In German, that "Ach!" was translated into the equilvalent of "sh*t!"
Boy was I shocked!

 

[FreddyE]

In German, that "Ach!" was translated into the equilvalent of "sh*t!"
Boy was I shocked!

Even back then "sh*t" (= "scheisse" in german), was a mild swearword in germany. Was it a big deal in the US back then?