It's a duck - blur!

December 31, 2010 5:02 PM

The intro to Duck Tales in Arabic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish. (MLYT)

Bonus: Korean

posted by inedible (50 comments total)

Great now I'm going to be singing "duck tales ooooooo" all night.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:04 PM on December 31, 2010 [4 favorites]

Already finding ones I missed, like Greek for example.
posted by inedible at 5:09 PM on December 31, 2010

In 3 million years, when some strange fragment version of the Internet is found that only contains this post and the videos it links to, the Duck Tales theme songs will become the Rosetta Stone 2.0.
posted by kmz at 5:15 PM on December 31, 2010 [14 favorites]

after watching the many videos, its amazing how little one knows about foreign languages. the only word i reconized was oooooooo. Is there a new years countdown here on Metafilter? OK, starting here now, there is six and one half hours left in 2010.. H N Y yo all..
posted by tustinrick at 5:16 PM on December 31, 2010

It's interesting which languages translated "Ducktails" and which left it in English.
posted by The Whelk at 5:18 PM on December 31, 2010

Yeah, the pun is totally lost in the Russian version.
posted by griphus at 5:19 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is unexpectedly awesome! Thanks.
posted by sbutler at 5:22 PM on December 31, 2010

And because I've been on a Catherine Tate kick lately, and it's apropos, here she is translator extraordinaire!
posted by sbutler at 5:30 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

sbutler: Reminds me of this scene from The IT Crowd.
posted by inedible at 5:41 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

This might be my only opportunity to say this: Every time I hear the word "hurricane" I think of "Life is like a hurricane" but I don't know anyone who would know what that means. So I will just say it now "Life is like a hurricane."
posted by amethysts at 6:09 PM on December 31, 2010 [7 favorites]

Well. That's certainly...something.
posted by dead cousin ted at 6:18 PM on December 31, 2010

No Klingon?
posted by schwa at 6:24 PM on December 31, 2010

I approve of this message.
posted by djduckie at 6:25 PM on December 31, 2010

No Klingon?

Scrooge McDuck is a petaQ who lacks honor. He cares only for money, like a greedy Ferengi.
posted by lesli212 at 6:38 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

For your viewing (dis?)pleasure: Alternate Ducktales intro by FatalFarm.
posted by nhamann at 6:38 PM on December 31, 2010 [4 favorites]

So, Duck Tales was like the Animaniacs of its time?

I'm still trying to figure out TV from the decade or two that I missed.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:55 PM on December 31, 2010

clvrmnky: Not really. Animaniacs was sort of like sketch comedy / variety show. Duck Tales had cohesive story arcs. It's based on the character Scrooge McDuck, a wealthy tightwad, and his triplet nephews whom he takes care of. In each episode there's usually a conflict that leads to some sort of mystery, which leads to the nephews solving it and learning an important life lesson.
posted by inedible at 7:01 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

We used to end our acoustic sets with a medley comprised of the Ninja Turtle them song, The Facts of Life and finally Duck Tales. Good fun.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:13 PM on December 31, 2010 [2 favorites]

Also, Animaniacs was big on Old Hollywood In-Jokes and acting like "Warner Bros." meant the same thing to its 10 year old audience as it did to their grandparents.
posted by amethysts at 7:16 PM on December 31, 2010

Lovely. Of all the non-Pixar stuff that the evil Mouse Empire churned out, Duck Tales and Tailspin are the only two TV shows I have a soft spot for. Mostly coz it's a crazy reminder of a few lost Sunday mornings, like it was for most folks out here.

This multilingual concotion brightened my day immensely.
posted by the cydonian at 7:31 PM on December 31, 2010

heathcliff theme song (may not work due to liquor)
posted by Ad hominem at 7:38 PM on December 31, 2010

KevinSkomsvold: "We used to end our acoustic sets with a medley comprised of the Ninja Turtle them song, The Facts of Life and finally Duck Tales. Good fun"

Please tell me you have a recording of that somewhere.
posted by theichibun at 8:02 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

How has this not been linked?

It's what-the-finnish-version-sounds-like-in-English. Pure awesomeness, and classic Interwebz.
posted by milestogo at 8:19 PM on December 31, 2010 [18 favorites]

DAMN YOU! I JUST got this song out of my head!
posted by IndigoRain at 9:33 PM on December 31, 2010

Oh yeah, I'm currently watching the entire series with my wife. Yeah, we need to grow up. Or you can look at it and say that I found someone who will watch cartoons with me and I did good.

Either way I get to watch cartoons and sing the song at random times that isn't in front of her parents. We're not that secure about our immaturity.
posted by theichibun at 9:37 PM on December 31, 2010

Of all the non-Pixar stuff that the evil Mouse Empire churned out, Duck Tales and Tailspin are the only two TV shows I have a soft spot for.

Don't forget Darkwing Duck!
posted by janepanic at 9:48 PM on December 31, 2010

Gummi Bears. A completely thought-out, from top-to-bottom, politics and economics, fantasy world - and a melancholy post-apocalyptic one at that. Tale-Spin and Gummi Bears managed to take a mandate from the Mouse and spun pure gold from mediocrity - Make Baloo a star in his own show with Shere Khan as a badguy, make a cartoon about an obscure German candy. The results far outweighed the mandates.
posted by Slap*Happy at 10:41 PM on December 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Awesome! I loved listening to and comparing the various Scandinavian ones. I wonder which was first, and whether the others cribbed from the translation for ideas - I'm pretty sure they weren't completely independent. I was surprised to find I could understand more of the Icelandic one than I expected (I speak Danish and Swedish and have never been able to understand normal conversational Icelandic). I guess the "priming" effect of hearing the approximate same lyrics in the other languages really helped.

I'm going to be going around the house spontaneously calling out "duck-time!" tonight. (The literal translation of the Scandinavian versions.)
posted by lollusc at 10:57 PM on December 31, 2010

Or not. I just listened again, and the Danish one, which I thought was saying "andetid" is actually saying "eventyr". Stupid Danish language :)
posted by lollusc at 11:15 PM on December 31, 2010

theichibun: "KevinSkomsvold: "We used to end our acoustic sets with a medley comprised of the Ninja Turtle them song, The Facts of Life and finally Duck Tales. Good fun"

Please tell me you have a recording of that somewhere."

Sadly, no.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:56 PM on December 31, 2010

How odd. When we visited Northern Europe, the Disney comics in the corner variety store always had Scrooge McDuck on the cover. It seemed odd.
posted by ovvl at 1:17 AM on January 1, 2011

I don't know what this revisionist impostor is doing here, but the Swedish version I'm familiar with from living there until the age of six is completely different

ovvl: don't underestimate the popularity of Donald and Scrooge McDuck in Scandinavia. And they're not called "Disney comics"; they're called "Donald comics", or just "Donalds". At present I find myself forced to throw away portions of them from my childhood. At least I have a choice; my dad's Donalds disappeared in the care of my grandmother.

No discussion of Scrooge McDuck is complete without mention of Carl Barks and Don Rosa. Square eggs!
posted by Aiwen at 2:54 AM on January 1, 2011

The Mandarin version has absolutely no mention of ducks, for better or worse.
posted by Anderson_Localized at 4:47 AM on January 1, 2011

What, no Ian McKellen version yet?
posted by Acheman at 6:50 AM on January 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

Man. Do they still make Disney Afternoon?

Also, when you need help, just call!
posted by functionequalsform at 7:03 AM on January 1, 2011

That's the first time I've heard someone speak German and not sound angry.
posted by lauratheexplorer at 7:27 AM on January 1, 2011

BAHAHAHAHA. This Disney Afternoon stuff -- DuckTales, Gummi Bears, Chip & Dale, etc. -- was hugely popular in Russia when I was growing up, mostly 'cuz high-quality kids' programming was at a premium. Man. Russian Gummi Bears!

Though in fairness the Russians were no slouches when it comes to kids' TV. For example their/our version of Winnie the Pooh was vastly superior to the American version -- with top-notch voice talent. It just wasn't everywhere, all the time, y'know?

To digress a little further, that Winnie the Pooh link illustrates why translating Russian into English is an art and not a science. You wouldn't know it from the subtitles, but this cartoon is hilarious.
posted by eugenen at 7:58 AM on January 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

Unfortunate that the Arabic version is in the egyptian slang dialect :(
posted by mulligan at 8:00 AM on January 1, 2011

I like to imagine that the Icelandic version is a Sigur Rós B-side.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:39 AM on January 1, 2011

mulligan: Unfortunate that the Arabic version is in the egyptian slang dialect :(

Yeah, I wasn't too sure on any of these. I know there's a Spanish (Spain) version, and a Spanish (Latin American) version. There's a Portuguese (Portugal) version, as well as a Portuguese (Brazil) version. I don't know any of these languages well enough to make the distinction. I had to ask my Chinese friend to confirm that the one labeled "chinese" is indeed mandarin.
posted by inedible at 12:11 PM on January 1, 2011

Back when the what-it-sounds-like-in-English version of the Finnish theme was going around, my girlfriend looked up a version of it with properly translated subtitles, so we could see what the Finnish lyrics were actually saying. Ever since then, "sometimes good, sometimes bad: ducks" has been a proverb in our house.
posted by moss at 6:27 PM on January 1, 2011 [6 favorites]

ahhhhhh!!! lol!!
posted by wonderwoman7 at 7:59 PM on January 1, 2011

It's been mentioned in the comments but not linked. So it must be done:

Gummi Bears Theme Song

Ducktales and this are the only theme songs from cartoons as a kid that I still remember. I was just singing the GB theme song to my 2.5 year old godson and he found it (or perhaps my approximation of it) endlessly entertaining.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:37 PM on January 1, 2011

More misheard Scandinavian Ducktales lyrics:

"Push some sister in your krispies / Ant Kid! Woo-oo!"
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:10 AM on January 2, 2011

For your viewing (dis?)pleasure: Alternate Ducktales intro by FatalFarm.

From the people who brought you the Edible Golden Girls, a new nightmare.
posted by kittyprecious at 5:12 AM on January 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

So, Duck Tales was like the Animaniacs of its time?

Animaniacs was probably the apex of cartoon meta-humor; even moreso that Tiny Toon Adventures. It was absolutely laden with jokes about TV history and production. There was an entire episode parodying Apocalypse Now, taking place in a sound studio with Kurtz being played by an insane Jerry Lewis-analogue called "Mister Director." They ran over Jim Morrison on the way there.
posted by griphus at 8:34 AM on January 2, 2011

Ducktales was more than a cartoon: it was a sly satire of capitalism. Scrooge MacDuck was the richest duck in the world, yet completely immature, short-sighted, and lacking in any awareness of his responsibilities as a global citizen. He was always getting his family in trouble, often risking their lives in search of yet more treasure -- as if he needed it. And who always came to his rescue when the situation was most dire? The working class, of course. Launchpad, Gyro, Miss Beakly, and Duckworth always saved the MacDucks' lives in the nick of time, and got basically no credit for it. This cartoon succeeded in teaching a young Afroblanco that the ruling classes are sociopathic, capricious, greedy, parasitic, and rarely (if ever) wear pants.

WHOO HOO!
posted by Afroblanco at 10:05 AM on January 3, 2011

It's been a week now and I still have that stupid theme song stuck in my head. Damn you, inedible.
posted by Quonab at 10:32 AM on January 7, 2011

Trust me, it doesn't go away. Even after years of not watching it. That's why I started watching it again, I magically got the song stuck in my head in the shower.
posted by theichibun at 2:24 PM on January 7, 2011

Re: Quonab - Yeah, therapist says it'd be best for me to externalize, it's a part of healing. I hope in 15 years you might find an understanding community like mefi to help you with your healing process. You've all been wonderful, and I can't thank you enough for the assistance you've provided me in getting over this. Woo-ooo!
posted by inedible at 8:06 PM on January 7, 2011