Question about the Ep. 1 and 2 DVD's

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-12-24 04:03pm

When the DVD got more than one language, is the crwling taxt at the beginning in the selected language, or did they use the cheap variant of subtitles?

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-12-24 04:21pm

No, I don't think so. Opening crawl, like any other stuff you see in the movie, is part of the movie's visual track and cannot be changed just like that. On DVDs, subtitles are digitally inserted on the screen, and they aren't actually part of the movie (I hope you understand what I'm trying to say).

I reckon that in some countries like Germany and France where foreign products are heavily localized and - God forbid - dubbed, they even go as far as making own opening crawls in German and French for the movie.

IMHO dubbing and other heavy localization is a crime. It's understandable if they dub a children's movie so that kids can understand it too, but other films should be left alone and only subtitled. Here they do it just like that. Once you get used to subtitles, you actually don't pay any attention to them. And with DVD, you can easily turn them off if you like.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-12-24 04:38pm

What crawled in your ass?
Bet it's only, because there aren't much finish (correct for the language in Finland?) translated movies.

To make myself clear:
I would find it cheap and somewhat disappointing, if the DVD would have the opening crawl NOT in German (I'm German, by the way). I have seen both movies in the cinema, and the translated crawl text was great. So if they would not translate, the whole atomsphere goes good-bye......

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-12-24 05:08pm

Oberleutnant wrote:Once you get used to subtitles, you actually don't pay any attention to them. And with DVD, you can easily turn them off if you like.

One of the main reasons I prefer DVDs over Video tapes is that I can switch the subtitles off, they are redundant.

Tribun wrote:Bet it's only, because there aren't much finish (correct for the language in Finland?) translated movies.

Thank goodness for that, I wish that there were no dubbed movies at all. It's Finnish, not finish.

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-12-24 05:39pm

Tribun wrote:What crawled in your ass?

Excuse me? Why the need for this juvenile crap?

Tribun wrote:Bet it's only, because there aren't much finish (correct for the language in Finland?) translated movies.

Are you implying that only Finns use subtitles in foreign movies? Well, that is not the case.

Edit: Ah, ok. I think I understand what you are saying. The only foreign movies you see dubbed here is the stuff aimed for children under seven years or so. That's the way it should be done everywhere.

Just for fun: the German dubbed trailer for Return of the King. Aragorn sounds ok, but Frodo...

Tribun wrote:To make myself clear:
I would find it cheap and somewhat disappointing, if the DVD would have the opening crawl in German (I'm German, by the way). I have seen both movies in the cinema, and the translated crawl text was great. So if they would not translate, the whole atomsphere goes good-bye......

Sorry, but you're contradicting yourself. First you say that you'd find it disappointing if the opening crawl was in German, and then you say "if they would not translate, the whole atomsphere goes good-bye".

I've seen the German trailer for "Episode Zwei: Angriff der Klonkrieger", and I cringed every time when I heard someone say something. At least the lipsync seemed marginally better than in most dubbed movies I've seen.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-12-24 06:02pm

Oberleutnant wrote:
Tribun wrote:What crawled in your ass?
Excuse me? Why the need for this juvenile crap?

Tribun wrote:Bet it's only, because there aren't much finish (correct for the language in Finland?) translated movies.
Are you implying that only Finns use subtitles in foreign movies? Well, that is not the case.

Edit: Ah, ok. I think I understand what you are saying. The only foreign movies you see dubbed here is the stuff aimed for children under seven years or so. That's the way it should be done everywhere.

Just for fun: the German dubbed trailer for Return of the King. Aragorn sounds ok, but the hobbits are horrible, especially Frodo.

Tribun wrote:To make myself clear:
I would find it cheap and somewhat disappointing, if the DVD would have the opening crawl in German (I'm German, by the way). I have seen both movies in the cinema, and the translated crawl text was great. So if they would not translate, the whole atomsphere goes good-bye......
Sorry, but you're contradicting yourself. First you say that you'd find it disappointing if the opening crawl was in German, and then you say "if they would not translate, the whole atomsphere goes good-bye".

I've seen the German trailer for "Episode Zwei: Angriff der Klonkrieger", and I cringed every time when I heard someone say something. At least the lipsync seemed marginally better than in most dubbed movies I've seen.

I have forgotten the "not". Now my post is corrected.
By the way, how many people live in Finland? Translation would be not considered, when the market is too small....... (Compare it with the 100million + market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland)

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-12-24 06:19pm

Tribun wrote:By the way, how many people live in Finland? Translation would be not considered, when the market is too small....... (Compare it with the 100million + market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland)

Finland has 5.2 million inhabitants.

The size of the population is definetely one of the reasons why Nordic countries and Netherlands don't dub their movies. However, before you jump to any conclusions, ask yourself why several other smaller countries, such as the three Baltic nations, use dubbing.

By the way, what exactly did you try to accomplish with this question? Was it a clever way to remind us all of how "big and powerful" Germany is?

Dubbing still sucks.

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-12-24 06:55pm

It is also worth while to note a that most childrens movies are dubbed in Finnish for release in Finland, even though their market is even smaller then say LotR or SW movies.

McNum · Post by **McNum** » 2003-12-25 04:06pm

I have the Danish version of the DVDs and the opening crawl does indeed change accoring to what set of subtitles you choose.

I think the Finnish version is on there as well, but I havent checked recently.

Oberleutnant · Post by **Oberleutnant** » 2003-12-25 04:29pm

Okay, thanks for letting us know, McNum. That's pretty ingenious actually. I guess the DVD contains individual versions of the opening crawl for each included language like this: Scene 1A (Danish), 1B (Swedish), 1C . . . etc. After it has finished playing the specific version of the first scene, the movie continues to play like any other DVD.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-12-30 02:34pm

Well now I got both movies, and the crawl is translated, and also the English version is included.
By the way, I don't know if I only imagine things, but I'm sure, that the opening crawl of Ep. I+II is a bit more orange than the pure yellow of Ep. IV-VI.
Do I imagine things?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-12-30 02:42pm

You could be imagining things, but the technique is different now so there may be some differences. There are a bunch of things that could account for the difference, placebo effect aside.

Stravo · Post by **Stravo** » 2003-12-30 02:50pm

When you switch to Spanish, the opening crawl is in Spanish. BTW the Spanish dubs of LOTR is EXCELLENT. The voices match each character and I have rarely caught them cheating in the translation.

Tribun · Post by **Tribun** » 2003-12-30 02:52pm

Look here:
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/galaxy.html#prologue

Compare the ATOC crwl to the TESB crwl, this definatly an other color. I think I'm not imagining things.....

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2003-12-30 03:30pm

Tribun wrote:Look here:
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/galaxy.html#prologue

Compare the ATOC crwl to the TESB crwl, this definatly an other color. I think I'm not imagining things.....

That's because the screen cap of AOTC is from a DVD, and the screen cap of TESB and ROTJ on there are from VHS. I'd bet that with the OT DVDs, the color of the crawl will be the same yellow as in the PT.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-12-30 07:10pm

Robert Treder wrote:That's because the screen cap of AOTC is from a DVD, and the screen cap of TESB and ROTJ on there are from VHS. I'd bet that with the OT DVDs, the color of the crawl will be the same yellow as in the PT.

Despite VHS's well-known problems with color information, it's entirely possible that ILM didn't quite match the color for the newer computer-generated one.

zombie84 · Post by **zombie84** » 2003-12-30 07:18pm

I've noticed that too. The answer is that it was re-timmed for various releases.

My old pre-THX original edition of the OT has distinctly dark yellow text, while the Special Editions and the prequels too i believe have a much lighter yellow. I guess Lucas just liked the colour better if it were lighter.