Mecha Talk

In the interests of keeping everything organized, discussion of season 1, now airing on the Sci-Fi Channel, will be limited to this thread. The original 00 official thread will be devoted to season 2, so nothing should be posted here regarding season 2.

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Okay.

Well, the obvious difference between the Japanese and English versions is the dub. I haven't watched the first episode in English (I don't live in the States), but from what I've heard the dub was significantly better - or at least more tolerable - than the trailers had led us to believe. Which is a good thing; Gundam is once again back on American T.V., and therefore a serviceable dub will increase its odds of surviving the axe.

Specific performances were alright, and many people thought that Lockon was played the best. Feldt and Christina apparently sound the same (according to one guy at least), and Sumeragi was ably played (not surprising, given that her VA also did Murrue). I heard that even Graham was better, although Patrick lacks the (supposedly) endearing quality he had in the original.

It is also interesting to note that they cut out the part about Sumeragi taking alcohol onto the bridge; does censorship know no bounds?

I don't know if it was because of censorship, really. There's a suitable level of cursing throughout, in the right places and in the right amount, that showing a little beer probably isn't going to put anyone off. I think it's more because they had to cut things because of there being more commercials (I wish we had as few commercials as Japan...), and that part didn't serve much of a purpose in the grand scheme of things.

Also, something else that I've seen a lot of people say (and agree with myself) is that Sergei lacks the fatherly, kind edge to his voice that I think a lot of people associate very deeply with him. His English VA doesn't seem to exude that at all. Though, notably, we haven't had a chance to see him acting like that either yet. It's sort of hard to imagine it with that voice though.

The dub voice acting for OO was better than that of any other gundam series I've heard. I've seen most of the first season subbed elsewhere, but I personally am just unable to get as much out of it watching subs as i would dubs.

Damn good job. I hope that this can be the beginning of Gundam's comeback in the US.

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It was refreshing to hear Setsuna's voice not sound like the Amuro/Quatre voice we all know Brad Swaile for.

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I'm still put off by Setsuna's voice. His voice is deeper than I would like a pissed off Kurdish dude to have. Also, a few (maybe 2 or 3) lines sounded a bit iffy, though that might've been due to bad translating or just a bad script.

Example:
Lockon: We just picked a fight with the whole world. Do you know what that means?

Setsuna: Yeah, I know because we're the Gundam Miesters of Celestial Being.

Setsuna's line sounded kinda stupid.

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You do know that its probably quite close to his original Japanese dialog, right?

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Quite a bit of it actually sounded very close to the Japanese dialog, at least as far as I could remember. Something I don't think many, if any, have mentioned so far is that they have been admirably accurate in both translation and scripting.

At least I think so; it has been a while since I've seen season 1.

that's true but just because it is accurate does not mean it will sound as good in English.
i thought a few lines just sounded a little off, not flowing as well as they did in Japanese. this is something that can not be avoided with out altering the lines, which is rarely a good thing

And if they change it to suit the English language better, then other people will bitch about it being not true to the Japanese wordings.

Funny how that works.

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yea people will bitch ether way. i dont mind some minor edits in word ordering or choice of word as long as the meaning is the same and its not too different.

That wasn't censorship. Sci-Fi just has an obscene amount of commercials and sometimes cuts a minute or so because of it. They did the same thing with Gurren Lagann.

Thankyou for setting me straight.

I hate commercials, especially the huge breaks that frequently popup nowadays. We are talking about three minute plus breaks shown three times per half-hour, which turns out to be 30% of the screentime just taken up by advertisements.

However, if their revenue allows for more Anime on T.V., then I suppose they are a necessary evil. I will concede that Gundam with a lot of ads is better than not having Gundam and still having the ads. Of course, as you just pointed out, we are sacrificing some Gundam just for the ads, and that does rankle me. Though it did set up Sumeragi's character being an alcoholic, it still wasn't all that important. But still, it does seem like an unreasonable price to pay. Hopefully by skipping or shortening the OP and ED of later episodes they can avoid cutting out more scenes, while still being able to afford bringing Gundam to our - I mean your - television screens.



(I apologise for ranting and getting a bit off topic there)

I only watched the ep once, but I believe the scene where Sumeragi comes onto the bridge with some alcohol and the others call her on it was cut from the first episode. I can't remember seeing it.

A couple snips from Exia's battle with the Enacts too. I don't remember Exia deploying its beam gun...but I'm less sure about that.

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it comes down to the US TV has more ads then Japan does. this is because in the US a Network pays to air a show. and needs to make it back or they loose money. i believe it is the other way in Japan

But have you noticed they seem to be cutting all of Sumeragi's scenes? First the drinking on the bridge, then when she passes Tieria and Allelujah in the corridor in ep.2

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I think mostly because they're just not particularly important scenes to the rest of the show. It's like a choice between cutting her introductory drinking stint on the bridge, or Kyrios' first launch. Since the show's main focus to many (not necessarily all) is the Gundams, SciFi no doubt prioritized those things to showing a beer-guzzling tactical forecaster.

Ideally you wouldn't want to cut anything away, but if you were a completely new viewer who they wanted to catch the attention of and drag in, they'll probably cut the stuff that won't make a big impact and keep the things that are likely to make you 'wow' to yourself or whatever and keep your interest focused.

It is frustrating to have some minor things cut, but they'll still be on the DVD's. If people show their support for Ani-Mondays perhapes advertisers will be more willing to allow one commercial break at a longer period of time, keeping the show intact. This way people will no longer view them as the cause for the shows treatment as a slice and dice. Time will tell, as will ratings.

I watched it last Sunday and I found it quite enjoyable to just sit back and relax while listening to the dub. I, like others, found Sergei's voice to be the most out of place. Also, Haro sounds far too robotic. Haro is a constant throughout most Gundam series and yet he always sounds a certain way. Heck, even my Haro alarm clock sounds correct. I can't really excuse them for screwing up Haro so badly, but oh well, Haro doesn't have too many lines anyways.

You mean Monday right?
And while Haro may not have many lines, it could turn one line it had in particular that was rather dramatic and heart wrenching, into a Narm, which would kill the drama of the original.

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