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Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

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Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#41

Post by Joeboy »

CalRobert wrote: post #5

There's a deeply frustrating infantilisation when something is localized in the same language. My kids and I love Bluey, an Australian show, but apparently the producers had to refuse to have it redone with US and UK accents to stop it happening. Never understood what the problem with having David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver narrate Planet Earth was either.

I guess David Attenborough probably isn't so well-known in the US? It's apparently much harder to get people to show up for something without a big name attached.

Edit:

> Actress and conservationist Sigourney Weaver was brought in to replace David Attenborough as narrator, as it was thought her familiarity to American audiences would attract more viewers.[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Earth_(2006_TV_series)

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#42

Post by vlunkr »

CalRobert wrote: post #5

There's a deeply frustrating infantilisation when something is localized in the same language. My kids and I love Bluey, an Australian show, but apparently the producers had to refuse to have it redone with US and UK accents to stop it happening. Never understood what the problem with having David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver narrate Planet Earth was either.

Bluey is a fantastic show, and the fact that it's unapologetically Australian is part of what's so fun about it. I think it's just the choice of nervous higher-ups to localize things like this, and not actually what people want. Like Douglas Adams says, people can survive hearing references they don't understand. And they might even learn something about another culture.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#43

Post by Abekkus »

CalRobert wrote: post #5

There's a deeply frustrating infantilisation when something is localized in the same language. My kids and I love Bluey, an Australian show, but apparently the producers had to refuse to have it redone with US and UK accents to stop it happening. Never understood what the problem with having David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver narrate Planet Earth was either.

The first planet earth wasn't just given different voiceover for American audiences, it was recut. The brass called the Attenborough cut "excruciatingly slow-paced", so once they decided to re-edit, it was probably easier to recast the narration than to try and edit down Attenborough's own speech.

The Attenborough cut is my personal preference too.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#45

Post by lbriner »

causi wrote: post #6

‘Disused lavatory’ has been changed to ‘unused lavatory’ and I’m not sure why. As an American it baffles me that an American editor would change the word disused but not the word lavatory. One other thing. I’d rather have characters say ‘What do you mean?’ than ‘Whadd’ya mean?’ Again baffling. Whadd'ya mean is an accent, not a word choice. Changing it in text is as ridiculous as writing 50 as "fifdy" when it's an Ame…

Well I suppose they are called an Editor for a reason. They change the wording to reflect how they picture the character and might think that "What do you mean" is too formal, even in England we are more likey to say "What d'ya mean".

I guess the main thing was that Douglas Adams had the chance to review it and gave helpful feedback.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#46

Post by tombert »

technothrasher wrote: post #36
CalRobert wrote: post #5

There's a deeply frustrating infantilisation when something is localized in the same language. My kids and I love Bluey, an Australian show, but apparently the producers had to refuse to have it redone with US and UK accents to stop it happening. Never understood what the problem with having David Attenborough instead of Sigourney Weaver narrate Planet Earth was either.

When my son was little we used to watch "Bob the Builder" together, but apparently the producers didn't feel the same as the Bluey ones or didn't have as much sway. Our local station switched to a dubbed version with American accents and it was just awful and pointless. So now they say "soccer" instead of "football", so what? It lost most of its charm.

Honest question: how did it lose charm by switching to American accents and localisms?

I'm not disagreeing (I'm a bit too old for Bob the Builder and I don't have kids), I'm genuinely curious.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#47

Post by lucumo »

capitainenemo wrote: post #31
NeoTar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great argument for using the 24h clock ;-)

Ever seen the 24h analog clock? :) https://m8y.org/images/24.svg

I've been staying at that click for a solid ten minutes, but I can't figure out why minutes and seconds start on top, but hours on the bottom. Any idea why that particular choice was made?

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#48

Post by egypturnash »

jawns wrote: post #7

His argument about digital watches did not age well. My kids have known how to understand a digital clock since they were toddlers, but even now, in elementary school, they require entire lesson units in school on telling time from a clock face. Beyond that, he argues that pie charts tell us more about the relationship between things than tables of numbers, and a clock face is "the world's most perfect pie chart." Bu…

seriously, I am a GenXer who grew up with mostly digital clocks and I still have to stop and think to get a time out of a clock dial.

But then again as Adams said elsewhere, Time is an illusion; lunchtime doubly so. That one still rings true, especially if you're a freelancer like me who never needs to get up and go to an office at 9AM.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#49

Post by tallanvor »

sillyquiet wrote: post #15

e.g., Philosopher's stone -> sorcerer's stone. Science-fiction and fantasy UK book covers were better too, which is another example of the same weird parochialism of the U.S. publishing industry as it was. My probably unpopular opinion is that it's a reflection of a more general, largely un-self-aware New York City parochialism, which was where most of the big publishing firms were based, at least until the last deca…

Eh, it's something people sort of laugh about now, but in 1998 it was probably the right choice to change it to sorcerer. It made it much clearer to children (and adults, to be honest), that it was a book about magic. And 1998 was still a time when many families didn't have internet access, so you were more likely to run into it at the bookstore or library, so the title needed to be more descriptive.

Re: Please don’t let anyone Americanise it (1992)

#50

Post by tomc1985 »

llimos wrote: post #9
_trackno5 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny how we got downgraded into "smart watches" that barely hold a charge for a day and are good at everything other than telling the bloody time. Having an always on display is an actual feature nowadays lol

Why else would God have given you two wrists?

So that people can look as ridiculous as possible, it would seem
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