Star Trek International

[Michael]

I know the Star Trek series have been translated into several languages worldwide with only a handful of countries also dubbing the episodes (I know at least of German, French and Spanish versions). Since there are many international posters on this board I'm curious to get to know a little more about foreign versions of Trek. I'm from Germany where especially the dubbed version of the Original Series is notorious for unintentionally funny translated episode titles. FYI, here are some of the rather odd German translations:

The German title for the classic "Balance of Terror" is "Spock unter Verdacht" which means "Spock Under Suspicion". "The Galileo Seven" has been inexplicably retitled "Notlandung auf Galileo 7" ("Emergency Landing on Galileo 7"), which begs the question if the responsible dubbing director ever bothered to watch the episode (he seemed to think Galileo 7 is a planet ). "Space Seed" became "Der schlafende Tiger" which translates into the rather histrionic "The Sleeping Tiger". Maybe the biggest oddity is the German title for "Amok Time": "Weltraumfieber". A heavy edit of the episode changed the plot in a way that suggested Spock suffered from "Space Fever" (the episode was later restored and retitled as "Pon Farr"). Furthermore "That Which Survies" became "Gefährliche Planetengirls" ("Dangerous Planet Girls") while "The Enemy Within" changed into the mathematic "Kirk:2=?".

Most of these mistakes occured in the 70s when the series was first broadcast in Germany. Beginning with TNG the translations became much better. Also, many German fans (like me) have abandoned the dubbed versions in favor of the English originals.

So, are there similar things in other countries as well? Are the French episode titles always correct translations? What about the Spanish titles?

 

[Unicron]

"Kirk:2=?"

 

[Michael]

^ Yeah, that one is really stupid. No wonder many people in Germany don't take Star Trek seriously.

 

[Kelso]

"The Sleeping Tiger" isn't bad.

 

[Michael]

^ I too like it. Somehow I can see Khan as a tiger.

 

[Unicron]

Sometime I should listen to the translated versions of TWOK DE I have. I did once listen to part of the French translation, and was amused by the guy who did Chekov's French lines. He has this really deep voice that doesn't sound remotely like Walter Koenig.

Out of curiosity, Belar, are you familiar with Engrish?

 

[Michael]

Sometime I should listen to the translated versions of TWOK DE I have. I did once listen to part of the French translation, and was amused by the guy who did Chekov's French lines. He has this really deep voice that doesn't sound remotely like Walter Koenig.

Out of curiosity, Belar, are you familiar with Engrish?

No, that's new to me. But we have something similar in Germany: Denglish (Deutsch + English). That's virtually the same phenomenon. Here are two good examples:

Your language is confusing us!

 

[idreamedmusic]

Out of curiosity - do you know if "Patterns of Force" was finally shown on Free tv here? I only recall seeing it on pay TV once. For years and years that was the only TOS ep I hadn't seen.

But ya, better to watch the shows in the original if one can. I'm not a big fan of dubbing in general.

 

[HoundDog]

"Kirk:2=?"

Yeah, and the german title for TNGs "Second Chances" is - believe it or not -Riker:2=?. That's creative, isn't it?

 

[Michael]

Out of curiosity - do you know if "Patterns of Force" was finally shown on Free tv here? I only recall seeing it on pay TV once. For years and years that was the only TOS ep I hadn't seen.

No, unfortunately not. It was broadcast on Austrian television though. Several southern areas of Germany were able to watch the episode because they were in broadcast range. In Germany only pay TV has shown "Patterns of Force". Free TV still seems to shy away from showing it, which is kind of odd since the episode is also available on VHS and DVD.

As an aside, where are all the other foreign fans? AxelFoley, I know you're from Sweden. Were the TOS titles always correct translations in your country?

 

[Trek1701]

TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and all movies were dubbed in Portuguese Brazilian. At the moment, only TAS and ENT weren't dubbed.

 

[Defcon]

Free TV still seems to shy away from showing it, which is kind of odd since the episode is also available on VHS and DVD.

As far as I know this episode was rated FSK 16 back in the 70's and was never reevaluated, so they would be forced to show it after 22 Uhr (10pm), but since Star Trek usually runs in the afternoon, that's the most likely reason it never was shown on Free TV. On Pay TV you can enter an extra pin per remote control to watch FSK 16 stuff before 10 pm, so there it isn't that big a problem.

 

[idreamedmusic]

Out of curiosity - do you know if "Patterns of Force" was finally shown on Free tv here? I only recall seeing it on pay TV once. For years and years that was the only TOS ep I hadn't seen.

No, unfortunately not. It was broadcast on Austrian television though. Several southern areas of Germany were able to watch the episode because they were in broadcast range. In Germany only pay TV has shown "Patterns of Force". Free TV still seems to shy away from showing it, which is kind of odd since the episode is also available on VHS and DVD.

Ah, thank you and Defcon. The rating probably is the main reason now, since I can't see them shying away from the Nazi stuff anymore. They really should re-rate things after a certain amount of time. Last time I checked "Some Like it Hot" was FSK-18 still.

The Austrian broadcast was subtitled, no? I don't think I've ever seen that ep in German, come to think of it.

 

[Michael]

I've found this interesting site. Unfortunately it only has info about the international versions of TNG. Additionally the site seems to be a bit dated. Here is some of the most interesting stuff from it:

• In Finnland the series is called "Star Trek – Uusi Sukupolvi" ("Star Trek – The New Generation").
• In Hong Kong the series is called "Space Adventures". It airs on an English station though.
• In Israel it's called "Masa beyn haKokhavim, haDor haBa", which, literally translated, means "Trek Among The Stars, The Generation the Next". It airs in English with Hebrew and Arabic subtitles.
• Japan has TNG as "Star Trek '88: SHIN UCHUU DAISAKUSEN", which means "Star Trek '88: New Mission In Space".
• In Lebanon it's "alrhlt byn alkwakb aljyl alqadm". I'd like to know what that means. Does someone know?
• Mexico and Puerto Rico have it as "Viaje a las Estrellas La Nueva Generacion", which means "Trip To The Stars the New Generation".

But what about the other series? And what about the episode titles? It's hard to believe they are always translated correctly.

 

[HoundDog]

Japan has TNG as "Star Trek '88: SHIN UCHUU DAISAKUSEN", which means "Star Trek '88: New Mission In Space".

So the next time someone calls me while watching TNG and asks what I'm up to, I know what I'm going to answer!