January 20, 2013

Individual names for multi-part episodes?

While comparing episode-name translations for the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series by Mike Young Productions, Italy ranks up high with their creative take on some of the translations.

Very curious example comes from the first three episodes of the series. "The Beginning" was originally a pilot movie that later was spliced in three parts and acted as the beginning episodes (no pun intended) for the show.




The title was simply that; "The Beginning". So when it was translated in different countries naturally they followed directly translating the name and adding the accompanying number for which part was at hand, like in Germany:




But not Italy.

The Italian translations take each episode as their own individual story, if you were to simply look at the titles and not know it was meant to be a three-parter. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending how you look at it.

Italian name "L'Inizio" translates as "The Beginning".


Italian name "La Spada di Eternia" translates as "The Sword of Eternia".


Italian name "Scontro Frontale" translates as "Direct Attack".


All these translations are very fascinating. Having individual names for the three parts can make them stand out more. Interestingly the italian translations for later two-parter episodes were true to the name of the episode and simply added part I and II. So "The Beginning" stands out in that regard as well.

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting piece of info. Thanks for sharing. :-)

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  2. Here is the different names of the 200X cartoon series in Spain:

    first season:
    El Principio Parte I.
    El Principio Parte II.
    El Principio Parte III.
    El Valor de Adam.
    Guerra en el Cielo.
    En la Boca de la Bestia.
    Lecciones.
    El canto de la sirena.
    Lazos de unión.
    Los hijos del dragón.
    Cambio de Bando.
    La Tristeza de Mekaneck.
    Las Bestias de las Sombras.
    El reino de Subternia.
    El monstruo interior.
    El Secreto de Anwat Gar.
    La Jugada De Roboto.
    Confianza.
    El jardín de Orko.
    El orgullo de Buzz-Off.
    El Foso de los Reptiles.
    La isla.
    El dulce olor de la victoria.
    Separación.
    La Asamblea del mal Parte I.
    La Asamblea del mal Parte II.

    second season

    La Ultima Resistencia.
    Caminar con los Dragones.
    Saliendo del Pasado.
    El Ataque de los Hombres Serpientes Parte I.
    El Ataque de los Hombres Serpientes Parte II.
    El Precio del Engaño.
    Maquinas y Humanos.
    Segunda Piel.
    El Poder de Grayskull.
    Red Maligna.
    El Movimiento de la Serpiente.
    Historia.
    El Despertar de la Serpiente.

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