It's always fascinated me what stuff is called in other languages. When I was a birdwatcher I used to know loads of birds' names, for example Chiff Chaff is called Zilp Zalp in German and Tjifttjaf in Dutch, all three being onomatopoeia for the distinctive call of this summer visitor.
The same fascination extends to TV Shows and toys. Here are a few I like:
The Avengers [Steed and Peel, not the comic] - Schirm, Charm und Melone in German, meaning Umbrella, Charm and Bowler.
Follyfoot - Die Follyfoot Farm in German meaning The Follyfoot Farm, which was made not far from my home in West Yorkshire [unsure of the Lightning Tree is still there]. It was partly produced by ZDF of Germany and has its own fan site there.
Belle and Sebastian - Belle et Sebastian in French. I loved this show about a boy and his dog.
Thunderbirds - Donnervogeln in German.
Catweazle - Catweazle in Dutch [fan site here] and German too. His malapropism Electrickery was called Elektrik-Trick in German.
Major Matt Mason - Capitan Meteoro in Mexico.
Callisto - Cripton in Mexico
Sesame Street - Sesame Park from 1996 in Canada.
What were kids' favourite TV shows, including Gerry Anderson's, called in your neck of the woods?
The silliest renaming exercise was renaming the "Top Cat" cartoon "Boss Cat" on reruns on the BBC, because, I presume, there was a Top Cat cat food, and they didn't want to advertise! It was nevertheless obvious from the title music what the name really was.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Scarlet was just plain Captain Scarlet in America.There was some re-tooling of many Japanese cartoons,two examples are Yamato(Star Blazers) and Gatchaman(Battle of the Planets).I hope these aren't too obvious,but at the moment nohing else comes to mind.
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