Futurama Dubbed

[on:]

Hi everyone.

When I have some spare time, I like to visit youtube and watch Futurama clips in English and other languages.  I often watch italian clips to understand the ridiculously fast speed they speak (I'm somewhat conversational in italian).

If it's one thing that stands out it's the voice actors from other countries.  I've listened to Bender, Leela, Fry, Professor Farnsworth and even Doctor Zoidberg in Spanish, Italian and German, and feel that whoever is voicing these characters doesn't do the show justice.  In italian, Fry and Bender sounds like pip-squeaks.  Bender lacks that "hoarse" voice that we've all come to love and to enjoy... and I feel that doesn't do the character or the show justice.

Please do not get me wrong: I'm not saying english is the only way you should enjoy watching this show.  Obviously, I'm glad the show can reach audiences that do not understand english and I rather them watch the show however they can than not at all.  Maybe it's a production thing, but the least the voice actors from other countries can do is "come close" to the original voices.

I know PEEL has a few German members, and I'd like to hear some input from them.  There are many countries in Europe (excluding UK) whose populations are fluent (even better than the US) in English.  For all those that are fluent in English as a second language, which Futurama do you prefer to watch (assuming the show is dubbed in your native language in your home country)?  Do you prefer to watch the series in its original form or edited into your native language?

I once again CANNOT stress that I'm 1) not bashing any language, 2) insulting your country and culture or 3) claiming that the English original version of Futurama is superior to other versions.

Thanks guys.

[Reply #1 on:]

I'm American and a native English speaking (in other words, not who you're asking to hear from), but I have heard that when shows are exported to other countries, it is often the same group of people who do most of the dubbed voice acting. This is understandable because they are not trying to recreate a show or an experience, but rather to translate it. What you end up with, however, is an intrinsically less powerful performance. As much as I love Billy West, it would be weird if he did half the voices for half the shows on TV.

[Reply #2 on:]

I hate dubbing in general - I can't really think of anything I would rather watch dubbed as opposed to subtitled.

When something is dubbed, you lose the original performance of the piece that was created by the actor and the director and are left with someone else's interpretation of an actor's interpretation of the dialogue.

Plus, they always change the line to both make it fit the time/mouth movements better and also to be more culturally relevant to whatever market they're taking it to.

[Reply #3 on:]

Subtitling is the way to go, in my opinion as well. I hate watching dubs because clearly the voices don't match the movements, and the actors typically don't display the level of genius the original cast do.

I hear that some dubs are very good such as the English Trigun dub, but I've never heard it myself.

Edit - and I take exception to your disclaimer claiming you're not stating that the English version of Futurama is the best. I typically think that things are the best in the language they were written and performed in. If I don't know that language, then I'm happy to take a translation but I'm not going to tell myself that the changes to accommodate my inability improve the show.

I may also be biased toward subtitling because I'm a quick reader and I'm extremely used to watching movies with the captions on. I'm sure some people find them more distracting and pesky than hearing the voices performed by some random schlub.

[Reply #4 on:]

I agree with TMC that generally things should be watched in the language they were created in. I don't know that I've even ever watched dubs, I always just go for subtitles. I've heard the Futurama voices in other languages from a bonus feature on one of the movie DVDs and you're right, it's different in a way that I'd say is inferior. Because the English version is the actual one, the original. If the show was originally produced in Spanish then I'd be claiming the Spanish version is the best.

[Reply #5 on:]

I agree with all of you when you say that subbing is far superior to dubbing.  When voice actors dub shows (like some pretty good anime series) it REALLY takes away from the originality and authenticity of the cartoon.

MadCapper I agree, as well.  Futurama is the best in the original language it was conceived in.  However, I didn't want to sound as if I was bashing anyone's language, country or culture, so I threw that disclaimer in.   And I still don't mean to insult anyone, either.

Anyone from a foreign country that is fluent in English: which Futurama version do you prefer to watch?  English or your home country?

[Reply #6 on:]

I'm German, and the German dubbing of Futurama is really bad.
Farnsworth and Bender are okay, but Fry and Leela sound like spoiled, whiny kids (The guy speaking Fry does also the German "Butters"..his Butters is great, though).
Also, the early German dubbing killed many jokes, even those not based on a pun. (E.g. in "Leela's homeworld", "Also spanking" was translated to "Ich kann auch pruegeln", which means "I can also fight/brawl"...didn't make too much sense).

A pity that they chose Futurama to mess up, for German dubbing is usually quite good, done by well trained actors. (E.g. the dubbed O'Neil in the Stargate movie was imhO better than Kurt Russels original voice. Or "Bastian Pastevka", who did the German "Megamind", is a well know comedian, often playing weird/somewhat neurotic characters, so his voice was absolutely perfect for Megamind).

I do not prefer a specific language per se, but decide on a case-by-case basis.
(Futurama the English version, obviously )

[Reply #7 on:]

I guess not too many Futurama jokes are pun-based, so most of them should translate okay. It's unfortunate that they can't choose quality actors for the dubbing. Futurama just must not be as big of a deal as Megamind.

[Reply #8 on:]

I know for sure that the Arabian dub is one of the worst.

[Reply #9 on:]

How mant different dubs are there of the show?

In general, dubbing is just...weird. The voices are different, people are ethnicities they were never meant to be...except in Bender's case if the show were dubbed in Spanish :evilllaugh:

[Reply #10 on:]

In Latin America, the spanish dubbing was kinda nice since the group that dubbed The Simpsons also dubbed Futurama (and I've always watched the Simpsons in spanish).

There was flaws... sometimes they missed jokes that could be easily translated to spanish ("Young lady, I'm an expert on humans" was translated to "Jovencito, soy experto en humanos" ..and 'jovencito' means 'young boy'), perhaps because they needed to match the lips.

Sometimes they changed names with people from the cast (Sean became 'Humberto'.. Humberto Velez is the original voice of Homer and The Professor in L.A. Spanish). You can hear them in the first 4 DVD sets.

Since the Simpsons dubbing group was fired (they wanted more money per episode), and other group started dubbing them, the same happened to Futurama. Awful voices, Amy is dubbed like the classic chinese stereotype (where every single R sounds like an L), the professor sounds terrible, cheap imitations, bad voice direction and conception of the dialogues. I think you can hear that bad dubbing in the Movies and the Volumes 5 and 6 (I've never used that audio track..  ).

The big issue: New dubbers that had to imitate the previous spanish dubbers so people "can't notice the difference".. Since that happened, I lost the little interest I had in The Simpsons, and I've always watched Futurama in english since 1999 thanks to SAP.

BTW, I'm from Ecuador in South America, if you didn't know

[Reply #11 on:]

In Latin America, the spanish dubbing was kinda nice since the group that dubbed The Simpsons also dubbed Futurama

They also dub Family Guy