I have the OMWF DVD in German. It's great to watch.

Simon | November 15, 17:04 CET

Simon, actually I hate OMWF in the German dubbed version. So much of the fine dialogue is lost in the translation that it always makes me sad.
Until now, I've only taken a look at Serenity the pilot. But the dubbing of firefly seems to be better than Buffy - my guess is that after Buffy, somebody actually got Joss Whedon's kind of language. And they kept the Chinese of course, which is shiny.

Harridan | November 15, 17:18 CET

Dubbing is evil. This truth is undeniable.

[wcip]Angel | November 15, 17:21 CET

Dubbing is evil indeed, but people here seem to expect it.

I'm glad to hear the german dubbing on Firefly is not that bad, especially as this weekend I have talked a friend into buying the box set.
If the dubbing is not as dumbed down as one might have feared, Firefly and Serenity may find the right audience in Germany.

TactGuy | November 15, 17:58 CET

I also prefer the undubbed versions, especially some of the translations of Buffy still make me shudder, but this should help me to introduce Firefly to even more friends!

Kessie | November 15, 18:04 CET

Just curious, do the dubbed DVD's have the original English as an option? It seems like a stupid question as I write it, because of course it would have the English version. After all, the English versions sometimes have dubbing tracks in other languages...but stupidity is such a common human trait, I have to ask.

Simon and Harridan, Are the singers in the German OMWF better than in the French version?

newcj | November 15, 19:31 CET

@newcj: yes, German DVDs have the original English as option.

I was at a multiplex cinema yesterday (8 screens or so) and they had tons of film posters for all sorts of movies, even one for Pirates of the Caribbean II (which is out in February, I believe) - but not a single Serenity poster!!! I asked the ticket selling guy if they'd show Serenity, but he didn't know.

So I'm not sure how Serenity is supposed to make some money here in Germany if there is literally NO advertising?! (This is supposed to be in reference to the assumption above that Firefly will promote Serenity and vice versa.)

Ariane | November 15, 19:46 CET

@Ariane: the only advertising i saw ( for Serenity that is) until now were a few trailers on MTV and Pro Sieben. I too hope they´ll be doing something more but am not too convinced that will happen.

Kessie | November 15, 20:01 CET

I just checked the website of the cinema and Serenity is listed there, so it seems that it'll be screened there.
There was a standard 2 page review in a movie magazine (Kinomagazin or something like that), but the magazine for November and December was out in early October, so who is going to remember that?

Ariane | November 15, 20:20 CET

Haven't seen any advertising, but this month's issue of our local program listings magazine has Serenity as the opener to the movie review section, on two pages with a Joss interview (from his promotional visit in September). As there seem to be quite a few Joss fans in the german media, I hope for some heavy media coverage around Serenity's opening date next week.

TactGuy | November 15, 20:47 CET

OK... now I realize I am really sick...

I have just finished yesterday to re-watch the whole series, in about 3-4 days: this wasn't a marathon, this was a "the few upcoming days, if there's nothing on TV, I'll watch episodes of Firefly".

I had decided, after that, to continue with a complete re-watching of Buffy and Angel (in a new way for me: I had intended to mix the parallel seasons of Buffy and Angel, that is to say to mix the watching of B-S4 with A-S1, B-S5 with A-S2 etc...). So, tonight, I picked up the boxset of Buffy Season 1, took out the first DVD and, as I was ready to put it in the player, I stopped, amazed by something I was just realizing: that's not Buffy I wanted to watch, but Firefly once again!

And so I did: I put back Buffy season 1 and took Firefly from the shelves where I had, just a few hours before, put it. And it's what it is: I have begun to re-watch Firefly the day after I had finished watching it.

Le Comité | November 15, 23:39 CET

I'm glad some of you mentioned OMWF. I've been considering getting OMWF in German (I know it doesn't have the extras that the season 6 box set will have, but it's cheaper and my students have begged for it) but I've been wondering; does the German OMWF have the songs in German too? I know that with many movies and such, songs are left it English with German subtitles to give the meaning.
Are the songs sung in German? I hope so, but can't tell from the description on amazon.de or on fansites I've visited (even the script site has it in both languages, but doesn't specifically say what language it is sung in). And, are the singers better than the Spanish and French singers (I like the fact that they use the same voice actors to sing it, it's very brave and plucky of them, but sometimes ... OUCH!!) on the US release?

Anna von Ovonov | November 16, 03:50 CET

@anna: Nope its sung in english ( thank god!) and only subtiteled! After watching the Xena muscial in german I was so glad that they didnt do it!

Kessie | November 16, 05:17 CET

Alas... I suppose "Hero Of Canton" will be in English as well. Maybe the "Fruity-Oatey Bars" song will at least be in German. That would be nice.

Anna von Ovonov | November 16, 10:29 CET

The singing, as Kessie pointed out, has not been dubbed. Which is a good thing. Even the subtitles for the songs are very experimental (language- and synchrowise). And I can imagine that the German version is fun to watch (Simon, I didn't want to jump on you with my comment, sorry if I did), especially with switching voices.

I don't dislike dubbing per se. Sometimes (as with evil Episode II), a dubbing voice can even better the performance of an actor (as was the case with Hayden Christensen). After all, actors are chosen mostly for their hot bodies and pleasing faces nowadays, second for their acting skills and lastly for their voices. A decent dubbing can fix that last part and sometimes does because the dubbing voices are well-trained voicing actors.

In Germany, most people speak English on a computer language level, but few can really understand spoken slang or idioms with background noise. Maybe that would change if we had less dubbings and more subs, but I doubt that we will see that very soon.
I still prefer my movies and TV-shows in the original versions, even though that has totally ruined my Oxford-English accent into a southern California one. I just tend to pick up accents. :-)

Anyway. I just checked the "Hero of Canton". It is the undubbed English version without subtitles. Sorry folks!

[ edited by Harridan on 2005-11-16 10:30 ]

Harridan | November 16, 12:27 CET

Wow, guys, this is awesome! An hour ago, the German Firefly set was still at Amazon #64. Now it's #46! It just flew past The Ultimate Matrix collection that is due out in a couple of days and gaining ground on the yet unpublished Lost Season 1 at #41.
Let's see where this leaves us once the movie opens.

Harridan | November 16, 13:56 CET