38 years ago...

[ST-One]

Today, 38 years ago on May 27th 1972, Star Trek premiered as Raumschiff Enterprise on German television...

(... with terrible dubbing and as part of the children's programme of the ZDF [the channel that showed it])

[M]

Wow, was it really that long ago?! I knew that in Germany Raumschiff Enterprise was broadcast on ZDF first, but wasn't aware of it being part of the children's program. Do you know at which time it aired and which shows came immediately before and after it?

Personally, I became a fan much later, when they first showed Deep Space Nine on Sat.1. I watched a lot of Das nächste Jahrhundert before that, but didn't really consider myself a fan. It was only years later when I rewatched the original again and fell in love with it. Today it's my favorite together with Deep Space Nine.

And yes, the dubbing was terrible. The voiced were good (I still miss Spock's German voice in the latest Star Trek movie), but I don't know why they felt the need to so often twist the meaning of what they were really saying. Or why every other line had to be a stupid and unfunny remark, totally out of place in the Trek universe. And I can't understand German fans who to this day still prefer the dubbed versions.

[Jeri]

My husband and I met as university exchange students in 1986 at the GHKassel; we got to see STIV at the movie theater first run there, dubbed into German. That was pretty weird!

[ST-One]

I have no idea what shows were on before and after Raumschiff Enterprise - I wasn't even born back then (Jahrgang 80 ).

I too have first seen it on SAT.1 - it was on either before or after 'Glücksrad'...

This awful kind of dubbing must have been an illness of the 70s. It worked great for The Persuaders,but is just stupid for TOS.

[scotpens]

NCC-1701 wrote:

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. . . And yes, the dubbing was terrible. The voiced were good (I still miss Spock's German voice in the latest Star Trek movie), but I don't know why they felt the need to so often twist the meaning of what they were really saying. Or why every other line had to be a stupid and unfunny remark, totally out of place in the Trek universe.

Really? Sacrilege! Can you give any specific examples of the German dubbing that differed from the actual dialogue?

[Myko]

I understand there's a good story about the German version of Amok Time, maybe someone with more details than me can expand?

[JarodRussell]

If Star Trek was called Enterprise, what was Enterprise called then?

[Shatnertage]

I'm curious--how did the dubbed voices compare to the real voices of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, etc. Did the Spock guy have Nimoy's gravitas? How did they give McCoy a Southern accent?

[M]

scotpens wrote:

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Can you give any specific examples of the German dubbing that differed from the actual dialogue?

Oh boy, this would be a very long (and I really mean loooong) list. Just to give you an idea: The iconic "to boldly go where no man has gone before" in the opening monologue was changed to "many lightyears away from earth the Enterprise probes into galaxies never seen by man", indicating the ship would acutally leave the milky way. The "warp drive" became the "sol drive", for some reason Pavel was always called "Pane" and they took every chance to plant a stupid, flippant remark on one of the characters (most of which I couldn't translate).

Myko wrote:

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I understand there's a good story about the German version of Amok Time, maybe someone with more details than me can expand?

For whatever reason they decided to cut every reference to the pon farr and made Spock suffer of "space fever" (which was also the German title for the episode). They also made it so that for the most part the episode was only happening in Spock's mind. All of these errors, however, were finally corrected for the DVD release a few years back.

JarodRussell wrote:

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If Star Trek was called Enterprise, what was Enterprise called then?

Star Trek was called Raumschiff Enterprise. Enterprise/Star Trek: Enterprise was called Enterprise/Star Trek: Enterprise. Mentalities have changed in Germany; often television stations don't feel the need to translate series titles anymore.

shatnertage wrote:

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I'm curious--how did the dubbed voices compare to the real voices of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, etc. Did the Spock guy have Nimoy's gravitas?

Well, look (and listen) for yourself.

I don't think the dubbed voices are particularly similar to the originals, but in most cases they managed to find a fitting equivalent. To me Herbert Weicker's distinctive voice was perfect for Spock, whereas Gert-Günther Hoffmann sometimes gave Kirk to much joviality.

shatnertage wrote:

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How did they give McCoy a Southern accent?

They didn't. But then again, how could they?

[Shatnertage]

NCC-1701 wrote:

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They didn't. But then again, how could they?

I don't know--is there a part of Germany culturally equivalent to the US South?

[Noname Given]

Wow - in the opening they also set a date for the series - the year 2500. And they state the ship has a crew of 400 on a 5 year mission.

I assume that when TNG came over, they 'corrected' themselves, or did they date it at 2600 or something?

[M]

shatnertage wrote:

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I don't know--is there a part of Germany culturally equivalent to the US South?

What use would it have to give McCoy a regional German accent? The viewer is intelligent enough to understand that – despite the German dub – McCoy isn't a German character, but of North American descent. There's just no credible way of portraying McCoy's accent in a dubbed version. Giving him a regional German accent would be laughable.

Noname Given wrote:

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Wow - in the opening they also set a date for the series - the year 2500.

They give the year 2200, not 2500.

Noname Given wrote:

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I assume that when TNG came over, they 'corrected' themselves, or did they date it at 2600 or something?

The opening monologue of Das nächste Jahrhundert sets the story in the "remote future". No specific date is given.

[ST-One]

NCC-1701 wrote:

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The opening monologue of Das nächste Jahrhundert sets the story in the "remote future". No specific date is given.

I hated it when they used the American pronunciation for 'Commander' in the first season of TNG.
This sounded so wrong.
I was glad when they switch to the British pronunciation.

As for the 'funny' dubbing in TOS...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIHaYWjypqk
When they enter the system L-374 and that female officer walks past by Kirk, the good Captain remarks:
'I have to make sure these skirts get a bit longer again.' (or something like that)

I don't remember what they originally say when they get the Constellation on the viewer, but here Spock remarks:
'We have to be very cautious. We don't know who is on board there now.'

To which Kirk responds:
'We'll see about that!' (Instead of his 'She was attacked!')

Damn, what were they thinking?