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Emma Peel Season |
| (The titles included at the top
of each comment are: the original in English and the translation of
the "official" Spanish title, respectively.) |
"The Master Minds" / "The
Superior Intelligence"
This one isn't easy... In the first place, the original title is in plural,
but knowing these "translators" such thing is beside the point...
On the other hand, even though one does a purely literal translation,
how could one begin with master minds and finish with superior
intelligence? Once again, a translation does not imply to find just
the right word. The Geniuses,
for instance sounds much better than The Superior Intelligence.
"The
Town Of No Return" / "Town Of No Return"
Gotcha! After placing lots of unnecessary articles at the beginning
of many Spanish Avengers titles, this time our lazy translators took
a break and added nothing. Ironic, really, as the original title indeed
is preceded by an article!
"A
Surfeit Of H2O" / "An Excess Of Water"
An usual case where the public is underestimated. If the original title
does not read A Surfeit Of Water, but A Surfeit Of H2O
then why did they replace H2O with "water"?
You think the scriptwriter chose the chemical formula of water just
for fun? Or maybe because the episode is partly set in a place where
chemists, laboratories, pipelines and racks are shown? Perhaps they
thought the audience would confuse H2O with some
puzzling acronym... Wish we could smash their heads in with a bottle
of C5H5N! (that's pyridine,
one of the most foul-smelling chemicals in existence). Had they applied
the same translation standards used for cinema, the episode might well
have been called Killer Rain.
"Dial A
Deadly Number" / "To Dial A Mortal Number"
Oh, this repeats itself throughout the translated titles, as though
these guys were in the habit of placing the verb in infinitive when,
in fact, it's not preceded by "to" in the original title.
Please, Dial a Mortal Number
for the "translators," will you?
"Small Game
For Big Hunters" / "A Simple Game For Big Hunters"
One wonders how on earth an uncomplicated word like small can
turn into simple? Philip Levene, in addition, made a clear play
on words in the title, not only as a kind of false oxymoron (small-big),
but also in the use of the expression "big game". Of course,
the translators ignored (or didn't know) all this, but our friend Guillermo
Clausi, of the Santa Fe province, Argentina, pointed out that at the
time The Avengers was first aired in this country through dubbed
episodes, this one was called Small Prey
For Big Hunters. Now that makes a difference!
"A Touch
Of Brimstone" / "A Diabolic Touch"
Once again, in titles like this the translators' suitability is put
to the test to see how capable are they of getting the original idea
instead of merely reducing it to a literal phrase or an idiomatic whim.
Everyone who watched this episode knows that there's nothing "diabolic"
in it; on the contrary, the plot deals with a subtle perversion. It
seems to us that Clemens used brimstone to suggest something
perverse, although in an indirect, more poetic way.
"The Danger
Makers" / "The Danger Lovers"
It's true, those men acting like "irresponsible beatniks"
love danger, to such an extent that they create it by themselves, risking
their life and getting the adrenalin going. Hence the original title,
which should have been translated more appropriately as The
Danger Manufacturers or maybe The
Danger Seekers.
"What The
Butler Saw" / "What Did The Butler See?"
Well, not bad... but it's wrong too. In fact, the original title in
English asks nothing. It only tells what the butler saw.
"Quick-Quick
Slow Death" / "A Fast, Fast, Yet Slow Death"
Excuse us, do you work this translation out? Don't worry—we neither.
How could you imagine death being fast, fast...
and then slow !? However, that's how the Spanish title reads.
If someone sought to ruin the scriptwriter's intentions, well... they
made it! Obviously, these folks know nothing about dance, or the "quick-quick
slow" (QQS) system. We don't know either, granted. But the whole
thing could have been solved so easily. Does it sound cryptic, translators?
Then why not watch the episode??
"How To Succeed...
At Murder" / "How To Succeed... At Crime"
Almost perfect, only that murder is a homicide, while crime,
besides homicide, also implies other law violations, although colloquially
the word is used for a wide range of misdeeds. Even though in this episode
we notice that large sums of money are being embezzled, for some reason
Brian "Hope-I-don't-seem-too-male-chauvinist" Clemens
did not use the word crime. Besides, following this logic, The
Murder Market should have been translated as The Crime Market .
But luckily, it wasn't.
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