"Chorion" is walling up!!!

[peppermint peppy]

Thanks PM for the hint with the link.At least a small solace.
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.-"

[peppermint peppy]

Hi Petermax,do you think there are valid reasons for hope?

That letter certainly does make disappointing reading, but is the paper trail regarding the video/dvd rights that complicated? Perhaps the aquisition of the Southern TV back catalogue by DD Home Entertainment can add fresh impetus. My feeling is that this could take years, it's frustrating just to think of all those cans of film in a vault somewhere awaiting digital restoration.

In the meantime, you may be interested to know that there are now German language versions of the Famous Five series on Youtube posted by username hurzhape.

Thanks Petermax.I think I'm in your debt! You made me very happy.The Famous Five vids in German language on YouTube aren't never an alternative for a DVD collection.
But they sweeten the time up to the DVD release and brought back a piece of my youth.
If I should ever meet you in my life I have to spend you some pints.

[Petermax]

If I should ever meet you in my life I have to spend you some pints.

I am quite partial to the occasional pint or two of real ale. I was in Brockenhurst the other day and downed a lovely pint of Ringwood Forty-Niner. Brockenhurst is in the heart of the New Forest, prime Famous Five 70's series territory! I later paid a visit to Lymington, another Famous Five location.

Why not drop Youtube user hurzhape a line and persuade him to upload more episodes? Or better still, he may be able to help you obtain German language copies of the series.

The lack of a DVD release is disappointing, but at least all 26 episodes are fairly easy to obtain on VHS via Ebay. Bootleg DVD copies are also available, but I do not endorse these as they are illegal, very over priced and offer no picture quality advantage.

[peppermint peppy]

Petermax..are you booze-cruise F5 country???
Regarding EBay.I don't like it.I prefer watching F5 vids on YouTube.IT'S MORE LEGAL.
In the meantime the German F5 vids have accumulated.You can download them as flv.

[Moonraker]

Why would anyone want to watch FF episodes in German? [Apart from Germans, of course!]

[Eljay]

Why would anyone want to watch FF episodes in German? [Apart from Germans, of course!]

People wanting to improve their German, perhaps? Or simply out of curiosity, to see how the voices were dubbed. I don't speak German (although I can understand a little), but I nevertheless found it interesting to watch for a few minutes. It seems to be a very literal translation of the original - in the opening of the first episode, Rogers and Aunt Fanny refer to one another as 'Mr' and 'Mrs', not 'Herr' and 'Frau', and Julian refers to 'meilen' (miles) instead of the European equivalent, kilometres. Also, the children's names are unaltered (although I imagine the dubbing studio was simply following the names used in the German version of the books). The voices are not bad - except Julian, who doesn't sound right for the part as his voice is too high and doesn't really stand out above the others'. It's strange that they used real children for the dubbing, as it is more common for children's parts to be dubbed by adults (that was certainly the case with the French version of the 70s FF series, and the Spanish dub of the 90s series), but of course it does make the children sound more authentic.

Is it just me, or do the voices of Rogers and Uncle Quentin sound almost identical to the English ones? We know that Friedrich von Thun and Michael Hinz were German... Did they reprise their roles for the German dub?

[Petermax]

Is it just me, or do the voices of Rogers and Uncle Quentin sound almost identical to the English ones? We know that Friedrich von Thun and Michael Hinz were German... Did they reprise their roles for ther German dub?

Both Michael Hinz and Friedrich von Thun did indeed dub their own voices in the German language versions of the Famous Five.

The translated theme song is very curious, it is performed with military precision by male vocalists, I find it quite hilarious. Could not a more gentle sounding childrens choir have been used?

I notice that numerous Famous Five German dubs are now appearing on Youtube, this is not at all surprising, as the 1970's series has a very large following over there, possibly greater than is the case in the UK.

[Yan]

It seems to be a very literal translation of the original - in the opening of the first episode (...) The voices are not bad - except Julian, who doesn't sound right for the part as his voice is too high and doesn't really stand out above the others'. It's strange that they used real children for the dubbing, as it is more common for children's parts to be dubbed by adults (that was certainly the case with the French version of the 70s FF series, and the Spanish dub of the 90s series), but of course it does make the children sound more authentic.

Hi Eljay

Here in Germany it´s quite usual that children's parts are dubbed by children, not by adults

To be exact, Friedrich von Thun is Austrian. He is still active on German and Austrian TV, while Michael Hinz is rare to see on the TV-screen. He prefers acting on stage.

The translation is okay, although in some episodes there are mistakes (for example in the scene you mentioned, Julian talks about George as "Jeanny" )

I don´t think that Julian´s German voice is too high in the episodes made in 1977. But in the episodes of the second year it really sounds too high, and so does Dick´s. That´s because the dubbing was made in only a couple of weeks - without the boys´ voices getting 1 year elder.

@ Petermax:
Indeed it would have been better if the German opening title was sung by children. But in the Italian version they used a choir of male adults too. Strange.

[peppermint peppy]

Oh yes, the German opening title is really hilarious but very good to sing along.
@Petermax:I can't get enough of watching this old serial in German.I have missed it for almost 30 years.It's as if Christmas had come early!

[Petermax]

@Petermax:I can't get enough of watching this old serial in German.I have missed it for almost 30 years.It's as if Christmas had come early!

Delighted! It may be prudent to download those Youtube clips before they disappear. The Famous Five German language version seems to be very rare indeed, it's certainly not available on ebay.de, although the 90's series DVDs and videos are available there in abundance.

[Laura]

I've just started watching the German clips - as a German student (that is, a student of German), I am always being told that I have to watch more German television, or videos, and where better to do that than watch the Famous Five?! As the language is not too difficult, they are quite easy to understand, and any bits that I don't know, I can remember what it says in the English versions well enough. I shall have to download them asap, if they are going to disappear - they are such a valuable learning tool!

[Daisy]

I wish I could have learned German that way when I was at school but as that was in the '50s no such things existed - and probably wouldn't have been approved if they had been available!

[Moonraker]

It would be quite nice if some people had learned English whilst at school!

[Yan]

I am always being told that I have to watch more German television, or videos, and where better to do that than watch the Famous Five?! As the language is not too difficult, they are quite easy to understand, and any bits that I don't know, I can remember what it says in the English versions well enough.

But be careful with it. As I said - the translation isn't very exact.

[rogoz]

As noted in Wikipedia, the 1978 DVD set was incorrectly issued in Australia in English & I purchased only to find it wasn't the 1996 series, so I had to further purchase a 'revised' set.

The '78 DVD set is fairly poor quality & really needs a studio makeover before it's released again. Not sure what they can do but the colour is lurid & focus poor. Presumably they were made from Master tapes.

I also found some Torrents of the '78 series but these were even worse quality than the DVD's. Looked like scratchy old tapes.

So whatever gets released - don't set your hopes too high !