I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned the TV show Smallville a few times on this blog, but here I go again. I don’t really watch the show that much, but it’s just that I saw most of this “last” season on Sunday nights at Angela’s parents’ house, and I have to admit that it’s a pretty good show. I know that the syndicated episodes here are at least one or maybe even two seasons behind the US, and it’s also a bit confusing because I never saw any of the first four or five seasons. At the same time, another network station is playing the older seasons in syndication, and now I’m not sure whether Clark is going to be back in high school or if he’s going to be headed to Lex Luthor and Lana Lang’s wedding.
In any case, the company I work for has cable, and there’s usually a TV or two turned on in the lunchroom. The other day, it was tuned to some English station, and I saw Lex’s bald head (that handsome bastard) and I thought, “Hmm, Smallville; I’ll check it out while I have a bit of coffee.” So I sat down and noticed that the voices were really, really weird. Then I realized that I’d never actually seen the show in English, and that I had only heard the dubbed Spanish voices. It’s strange how much a voice can help form your impression of someone.
In the Spanish Smallville, most of the male characters have extra-deep voices, and they sound like a typical male from any run-of-the-mill telenovela. And the women have exaggeratedly high-pitched voices, or maybe it seems like that in comparison to their male counterparts. Basically, though, the English voices were weird, weird, weird; it was like waking up one morning and going to the breakfast table, only to discover that your entire family went through puberty overnight. Lionel Luthor sounded especially strange. In Spanish, he sounds like the type of guy who’ll seduce a room full of women and then steal their money, but in English he just sounds like an old(er) Michael Douglas.
Oh well, I suppose it’s just another one of those things that gets lost in the translation and dubbing. And by the way, “Esmoby” is how they pronounce the word “Smallville” around these Spanish-speaking parts. But that’s another story altogether.
(Extra note: Just yesterday my coworker Angie told me that she had all six seasons of Smallville, and that she'd loan them to me and Angela. Thanks Angie, and for everyone else, you can expect to hear from me again in about 7 weeks!)
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4 comments:
Hell yeah, Smallville rules. Casey got me into it a couple of years ago. I've watched the first three or four seasons, and then the most recent three seasons. Although, I can't really imagine what it's like dubbed in Spanish. So, are you a Chloe guy, or a Lana guy?
I'm glad you are enjoying the DVDs. I gotta admit I was a bigger fan when the show started. Oh, the voices in Spanish are kinda funny. I especially like Lex's.
Angie--Yes, thank you for the DVDs. And for my decreased productivity.
Zach--Thanks for the comment. As for a Chloe Guy or Lana Guy, I guess I'm not sure yet. I didn't even KNOW there were Chloe Guys. I know I'm only partway through the first season, but I guess I just assumed that Chloe would turn out to be a lesbian around season 2 or 3. Just one of those suspicions. So I guess Lana by default (and she's pretty, despite the turtlenecks throughout season 1). Although I do like Chole, even if she's got a stupid and trendy name (wait, do I know anyone named Chloe?...guess not. Looks like I'm safe).
And the other thing about Lana: I guess we have to question whether she's worth a damn if she hangs out with her douchebag boyfriend Whitney (I've started calling him Shitney). If she can't see past that, does she even deserve our admiration?
Oh, and by the way, the voices, as I've said, are weird, but the weirdest thing is the opening credits. In this show, as in many shows from other countries, they actually have a voice-over that says the name of the show, and then the actors' names. And for "Esmoby," it's the deepest and cheesiest of deep and cheesy voices. So when the opening credits start with the meteor blazing across the screen, you hear a voice say:
"Esmoby!..... Protagonistas: Tom Welling..... Kristen Kreuk..... Michael Rosenbaum..... etc."
That actually led me to know the actors' names before the characters' names. My favorite is "Actuation especial de John Eschneider como Jonathan Kent."
Good times, good times.
It also really drives Angela crazy when we watch the show in English and I say the names in the deep, cheesy Spanish voice. She said it was because she thought I was making fun of her, but I've convinced her that she doesn't sound anything like an evil villain from a telenovela.
Anyhow, thanks for reading!
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