Canadian series differences
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Astro Forever
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I assume you are speaking of the 1980 series. I haven't seen the English Canadian version, but I've seen the French one (which was dubbed in Canada), and from what I understood here, both had the same cuts: around 4 minutes per episode! 
What a shame! :angry: As a result, the English Canadian dubbing is totally different than the English dubbing for other English speaking countries. Some said it was better, but I can't say, having only heard the "international" English version. 
From memory, I'll list the differences in the first episode of the regular English version and the French Canadian version. In case you didn't know, the first episode of the regular English version itself was created from the first and second Japanese episodes, which had the young Atlas story. Fafner summed it up here; beware, if you are planning on buying the regular English DVDs that are going to get out this month, those two Japanese episodes should be included with subtitles as extras, so this might be a spoiler.
I won't go on with all the differences in the dialogues except when they are related to the cuts.
1- When Boynton orders his assistants to change to design in order to make a boy robot, his assistants wonder why; one says "After all, this is a kids show, isn't it!" and then Boynton gets mad and passes through the phone screen, telling them to shut up! :wahah: I created an animated gif of this:
2- When Toby (Thomas? That's how he was called in French, I know only a few English Canadian characters' names, BTW) has his car accident, we see Jump (the dog) sniffing Toby's cap on the ground, which makes the scene more moving.
3- When Astro's eyes start flashing because of... well, see the link to fafner's site that I gave earlier,
we don't get any explanation for it in the regular English version. But in the Canadian version, a little flashback of Astro crashing into the electric wires a little earlier has been added while Boynton speaks to Miss Ford (his assistant) on the phone. Boynton explains that Astro's condition might be attributable to a short-circuit, in an attempt to explain an otherwise incomprehensible event to the viewers.
4- Boynton, Miss Ford and another man search for Astro in a robot car; the two other scientists want to destroy Astro because they think he is too dangerous. As they are fighting in the car with Boynton, they succeed in shooting Astro, who falls to the ground. His clothes are destroyed. We never see Astro getting shot in the Canadian dubbing.
5- Most of the scenes of the robot car causing trouble and Astro fighting it has been cut. Unfortunately, almost all the fighting scenes have been cut (partially or totally) in every Canadian episode.
6- As Astro is at Boynton's bedside at the hospital, Boynton tells Astro that he is a "big boy" now ("grand garçon") and that he must leave alone while himself recovers; Astro will go on a cruise and promise Boynton to not try to find him for the next two months.
7- Since Boynton is supposed to remain in the hospital, we never see him on the ship. In the original episode, Astro messes up in the bathroom and the bedroom (here are animated gifs of these that I had made):
8- Both Boynton and Astro leave for dinner; again, Astro causes another mess (shown in the Canadian version), but a crucial scene is missing: Boynton then tells Astro that he is not his son, that he's a robot, which causes Astro to leave the dining room and then to meet the circus guy (Hamegg).
9- As Astro is weak after breaking the icebergs (in fact, he is weak for another reason, see fafner's link if you want to know more), he hears Boynton calling him, but Hamegg finds him first. Then, as Astro runs out of power in the box, he still hears Boynton calling him and says "I'm here", but of course Boynton can't hear him.
10- Astro then wakes up at the circus. We are still in the first episode of the Canadian dubbing, but the circus episode is supposed to be totally distinct. At that point, the episode's lenght is less than the more or less 17 minutes of a regular Canadian episode (instead of 21 for the "international" English episodes); I suppose this is why they merged the beginning of the circus episode with this one. In fact, as far as I know, the circus episode is the only one that hasn't been cut in the entire series in comparison with the original English version (if we combine the parts shown in the first two episodes, that is).
11- The second Canadian episode starts as Astro is cleaning the "white lion". When Ochanomizu/Elefun/Peabody is in the car (or maybe still at the circus?), he is asked about Boynton. He replies that Boynton died as a result of his injuries. At the end of the episode, as Astro is in the plane and Cathy says goodbye, she speaks to herself, saying "now he'll learn that Dr. Boynton is dead". But that's the only two allusions to Boynton's death that we ever hear. In the regular English version, we just never hear of what might have happened to him after the cruise.
Imagine what the rest of the series is like. I'm amazed I found it interesting back then now that I've seen what I was supposed to see! This was such a wonderful series that despite all those awful cuts, there was still enough of Astro's spirit left to allow us to like him anyway.
What a shame! :angry: As a result, the English Canadian dubbing is totally different than the English dubbing for other English speaking countries. Some said it was better, but I can't say, having only heard the "international" English version. From memory, I'll list the differences in the first episode of the regular English version and the French Canadian version. In case you didn't know, the first episode of the regular English version itself was created from the first and second Japanese episodes, which had the young Atlas story. Fafner summed it up here; beware, if you are planning on buying the regular English DVDs that are going to get out this month, those two Japanese episodes should be included with subtitles as extras, so this might be a spoiler.
I won't go on with all the differences in the dialogues except when they are related to the cuts.
1- When Boynton orders his assistants to change to design in order to make a boy robot, his assistants wonder why; one says "After all, this is a kids show, isn't it!" and then Boynton gets mad and passes through the phone screen, telling them to shut up! :wahah: I created an animated gif of this:
2- When Toby (Thomas? That's how he was called in French, I know only a few English Canadian characters' names, BTW) has his car accident, we see Jump (the dog) sniffing Toby's cap on the ground, which makes the scene more moving.
3- When Astro's eyes start flashing because of... well, see the link to fafner's site that I gave earlier,
we don't get any explanation for it in the regular English version. But in the Canadian version, a little flashback of Astro crashing into the electric wires a little earlier has been added while Boynton speaks to Miss Ford (his assistant) on the phone. Boynton explains that Astro's condition might be attributable to a short-circuit, in an attempt to explain an otherwise incomprehensible event to the viewers.4- Boynton, Miss Ford and another man search for Astro in a robot car; the two other scientists want to destroy Astro because they think he is too dangerous. As they are fighting in the car with Boynton, they succeed in shooting Astro, who falls to the ground. His clothes are destroyed. We never see Astro getting shot in the Canadian dubbing.
5- Most of the scenes of the robot car causing trouble and Astro fighting it has been cut. Unfortunately, almost all the fighting scenes have been cut (partially or totally) in every Canadian episode.
6- As Astro is at Boynton's bedside at the hospital, Boynton tells Astro that he is a "big boy" now ("grand garçon") and that he must leave alone while himself recovers; Astro will go on a cruise and promise Boynton to not try to find him for the next two months.
7- Since Boynton is supposed to remain in the hospital, we never see him on the ship. In the original episode, Astro messes up in the bathroom and the bedroom (here are animated gifs of these that I had made):
8- Both Boynton and Astro leave for dinner; again, Astro causes another mess (shown in the Canadian version), but a crucial scene is missing: Boynton then tells Astro that he is not his son, that he's a robot, which causes Astro to leave the dining room and then to meet the circus guy (Hamegg).
9- As Astro is weak after breaking the icebergs (in fact, he is weak for another reason, see fafner's link if you want to know more), he hears Boynton calling him, but Hamegg finds him first. Then, as Astro runs out of power in the box, he still hears Boynton calling him and says "I'm here", but of course Boynton can't hear him.
10- Astro then wakes up at the circus. We are still in the first episode of the Canadian dubbing, but the circus episode is supposed to be totally distinct. At that point, the episode's lenght is less than the more or less 17 minutes of a regular Canadian episode (instead of 21 for the "international" English episodes); I suppose this is why they merged the beginning of the circus episode with this one. In fact, as far as I know, the circus episode is the only one that hasn't been cut in the entire series in comparison with the original English version (if we combine the parts shown in the first two episodes, that is).
11- The second Canadian episode starts as Astro is cleaning the "white lion". When Ochanomizu/Elefun/Peabody is in the car (or maybe still at the circus?), he is asked about Boynton. He replies that Boynton died as a result of his injuries. At the end of the episode, as Astro is in the plane and Cathy says goodbye, she speaks to herself, saying "now he'll learn that Dr. Boynton is dead". But that's the only two allusions to Boynton's death that we ever hear. In the regular English version, we just never hear of what might have happened to him after the cruise.
Imagine what the rest of the series is like. I'm amazed I found it interesting back then now that I've seen what I was supposed to see! This was such a wonderful series that despite all those awful cuts, there was still enough of Astro's spirit left to allow us to like him anyway.
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Astro Forever
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I don't know if you browsed through the forum recently, but to add to my last post, the non-Canadian English dubing will be available in Canada tomorrow! :wahah:
Take a look: Amazon.ca
I don't know if the extras will be as good as the Australian release (which I own). But even though this wasn't the dubbing you are used to, considering that each episode has 4 more minutes than the Canadian version, it might be worth it, especially at that price. If you ever found there were many strange things happening here and there, you would finally understand why!
I know I had always found strange the way Pluto transformed himself into a totally different robot in The Greatest Robot in the World, or how Astro got hurt after just falling on the ground in The Death Balloon... :wacko:
Take a look: Amazon.ca
I don't know if the extras will be as good as the Australian release (which I own). But even though this wasn't the dubbing you are used to, considering that each episode has 4 more minutes than the Canadian version, it might be worth it, especially at that price. If you ever found there were many strange things happening here and there, you would finally understand why!
I know I had always found strange the way Pluto transformed himself into a totally different robot in The Greatest Robot in the World, or how Astro got hurt after just falling on the ground in The Death Balloon... :wacko:
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Canadian Astro
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