Translating Trek: Rewriting an American Icon in a Francophone Context Caroline-Isabelle Caron
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Translating Trek Caroline-Isabelle Caron 329 Translating Trek: Rewriting an American Icon in a Francophone Context Caroline-Isabelle Caron Italian translators use a now well-known stage direction of Michel Georges.1 The transla- cliche´: ‘‘Traduttore, traditore.’’ Translating is tion available to all French audiences is Patrouille betraying. It refers to the tension between the du Cosmos, though in France it was re-entitled necessity of rendering meaning (or interpretation) Star Trek: Classique.2 and that of rendering style, metaphors, and images Dubbers often translate for audiences that may within the original source text. This tension is a or may not be familiar with the universe of the profound one in literature. In translating televi- story being told (Dutter; Luyken 155). When sion dialogues and in dubbing episodes, many dealing with TOS, these difficulties are more than more exigencies come into play. Television obvious. Patrouille du Cosmos was one of the translators have to take into account questions very first television series ever dubbed in Que- of synchrony, linguistic limitations, the various bec.3 The Quebec dubbing tradition was still dubbing traditions of different countries, and being invented when this translation was pro- their own poetic license. The main challenge of duced. The dubbers had to adapt and interpret television translation is to find a balance between dialogues taking place on other planets, pro- being true to the source text and the sometimes nounced by aliens in silly make-up and starship necessary falsification of the original dialogue in officers wearing goofy clothes. Furthermore, order to accurately render the story being told. these shows were metaphors for profoundly Those factors come into play when translating American stories of frontier exploration and for Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. The societal debates that meant very little to the largely visual Trek universe, with its own voca- average Que´be´cois in the early 1970s. The bularies and traditions, is a special challenge for dubbers needed to make all of this intelligible to translators. French-speaking audiences while remaining true This is especially true when translating Star to the original concepts, storylines, and ultimate Trek: The Original Series into French. In 1971- moral messages of each episode. As I will show 1972, all seventy-nine episodes were dubbed in here, they had varying levels of success. Montreal, and the series was renamed Patrouille Today, Patrouille du Cosmos is as widely du Cosmos (Cosmos Patrol). It has aired nearly known in Quebec and France as Star Trek is in every year since. Sonolab (now a subsidiary of the United States.4 But Patrouille is not quite the Covitec) was responsible for the dubbing; the same show as TOS. The ‘‘filter’’ of translation has texts were written by Michel Collet and the created a similar yet distinct cultural product dubbing actors worked principally under the from its original English version. In this study, Dr. Caroline-Isabelle Caron is an assistant professor of history at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She specializes in the cultural history of Que´bec and Acadian Francophones in Canada. 330 The Journal of American Culture Volume 26, Number 3 September 2003 I will explore how the transformations resulting semantic, phonetic, psychological, aesthetic and from the dubbing process have changed Star Trek semiotic considerations’’ (19). into Patrouille du Cosmos, and how, as a result, Whitman-Linsen divides between visual/opti- Francophone audiences have been watching a cal and audio/acoustic synchronies (19). Of the different show than Anglophones. This study is former, she identifies lip synchrony, syllable based on a review of all seventy-nine episodes, articulation synchrony, length of utterance syn- and I will refer to fourteen selected episodes chrony (gap synchrony or isochrony), and gesture representing all three seasons. When quoting and facial expression synchrony (kinetic syn- dialogue, parentheses ( ) indicate off-screen dialo- chrony). Of the latter, she categorizes idiosyn- gue, E indicates the original English text, Q the cratic vocal type, paralinguistic elements (tone, Quebec translation, and LT the literal English timber, pitch of voice), prosody (intonation, translation of the Quebec text. The literal melody, tempo), cultural variations, and accents translations are my own. For E and Q, the and dialects. In order to produce high-quality dialogue is in quotation marks, since it was versions into other languages, most (ideally all) of actually spoken, as opposed to LT. Character these synchronies must be realized; failing that, name codes and the names of the dubbing actors the viewers may not believe the televised perfor- are in Appendix 1. I will give examples of the mance they see and hear. various types of transformations and of some of Television translators and dubbers also face the most striking translation challenges faced by practical constraints. The dubbing of audiovisual the dubbers. The purpose of these examples is to media is almost always done with a minimal offset how the TOS stories and characters were budget and under strict time constraints. It is modified—in short, how they were ‘‘betrayed.’’ I therefore difficult to produce quality dialogue will also posit hypotheses as to how Patrouille du (Pommier 104-45). The casting of actors is not Cosmos was incorporated into the French- always easy and is always expensive.5 In a few language collective imagination and culture. Patrouille du Cosmos episodes, the same actor dubbed two characters, changing his voice and accent in the process. Most of the time, only a The Challenges of DubbingTrek very attentive ear will detect it. But this can also lead to problems. In ‘‘Balance of Terror’’/‘‘Zone de terreur,’’ for example, the actor dubbing Scotty The process of dubbing a television show poses also dubbed another character, Lieutenant Stiles. special challenges for the translators. Television In most episodes, this would not be a problem, shows, like all audiovisual productions, ‘‘have since the second character would usually have so generally as much to do with music, images and few lines that the actor’s double duty would go acting as with words’’ (Luyken 149). Translators, unnoticed. But in a scene where both characters therefore, have to take into account that the texts have to speak in close proximity, this difficulty must be spoken (their ‘‘actability’’) and that the had to be resolved somehow. This is what happens sounds of the translated texts must more or less fit in Act 4: what is being seen, especially the lip movements (Whitman-Linsen 14; Ladouceur 20-21). In short, K: E ‘‘Weapons’ status.’’ the translated text must be in synchrony with the Q ‘‘L’e´tat des armes?’’ visual portion of the production. In her book LT The state of the weapons? (Sc): E ‘‘We’ve only the forward phaser- Through the Dubbing Glass, Candace Whitman- room, Captain.’’ Linsen breaks down the different types of Q [line omitted] synchronies into categories that are both inter- K: E ‘‘Fully operable, Scotty?’’ twined and mutually dependent. As she explains, Q ‘‘En e´tat de marche, Scotty?’’ ‘‘All of the types are highly woven in with LT In working order, Scotty? Translating Trek Caroline-Isabelle Caron 331 (Sc): E ‘‘Yes, sir. But specialist Tomlinson is keep an eye on the dubbed scene at all times, keep manning it alone. No stand-by crew the other on the scrolling band, and pronounce available.’’ every word, every syllable at the precise moment Q [line omitted] when they scroll past the timing indicator, a St: E ‘‘Sir, my first assignment was veritable ocular gymnastic (Pommier 39; Whit- weapon’s control.’’ Q ‘‘Monsieur, ma premie`re affecta- man-Linsen 75). As a result, the dubbers’ acting tion e´tait le maniement des faisseaux.’’ performance is not always believable, or simply LT Sir, my first affectation was beam not very inspired, no matter how good the handling. translated text (Pommier 105-06). Most Patrouille du Cosmos episodes suffer from this kind of The narrative was clearly modified here. It was flattening. As a result, the grand eloquence of decided to omit Scotty’s lines altogether. Contrary William Shatner is more tame, and Spock’s to the original, when Kirk calls Scotty, he only original neutral, logical tone is sometimes nothing hears silence and his questions serve to emphasize short of somber in the Quebec version. Scotty’s lack of response. What the Quebec Inevitably, dubbing is a difficult process. The version implies is that the engineer has been hurt linguistic elements (vowels, syllables, lip move- in the previous battle and cannot answer the ments, and so on), paralinguistic elements, facial bridge. The original indicated that Scotty had his expressions, body movements, and breathing are hands full in engineering and needed help. But in inherent to all performed texts (Ladouceur 20-21). French, when Stiles offers to man the forward The translation of dialogues must therefore phaser room, he is acting as a proficient officer provide for coherence in all of those categories. replacing an injured comrade. The result is a This is not always possible. In every case of visual dramatic scene in which the actor did not have to media translation, the translators and dubbers are speak the lines of two different characters in forced to accept some level of compromise. succession and give himself away. In some cases, compromising means sacrificing Such acting constraints are compounded by the meaning for better lip synchrony. For example, techniques used for voice-overs in various coun- in the episode ‘‘Assignment: Earth’’/‘‘Mission: tries. In French-speaking countries, dubbing is Terre,’’ the principal character ‘‘Gary Seven’’ be- done with the bande rythmo method in which the comes ‘‘Gary Savant’’ in French. The number source text is divided into one-minute segments seven translates as ‘‘sept’’ in French, and clearly and shown to the dubbing actors on a screen at couldn’t be used.