DIE ZEITREISENDEN!

VOYAGERS! IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

Die Zeitreisenden!

By Martin Moser

VOYAGERS!

Voyagers! is a TV show that has been overlooked by many people for many years. Maybe because it only lasted for 20 episodes or maybe because it never really got the ratings it deserved during its initial run due to bad network decisions.

Anyway, long after Voyagers was first broadcast in the United States (and long after the tragic demise of the show's star Jon-Erik Hexum), Voyagers! or The Time Travelers, as the show is called in Germany moved to the German network RTL+ in 1989 which is now called RTL, today's largest private network in Germany. Since every US show/movie is dubbed for German TV, Voyagers also got a pair of new voices. Usually, the difference between the original voices and voice actors is quite an annoying thing about TV dubs, so I was especially interested in how they managed to give Jeff and Bogg new German characteristics that would enable our children to enjoy the show as much as many, many US kids did during the 80s and beyond.

Still, it seemed to be an impossible act to get hold of a German recording of the show. Only one collector (who seemed to have *everything* there ever was on TV) had it listed as being in his possession, but he wouldn't share it?

So I almost lost hope, but was soon encouraged by an extremely interesting eBay auction that had six episodes of Voyagers listed as German radio play episodes. I immediately bought it (and to a very reasonable price, I must say) and was amazed to find out that this short-lived show that was cancelled after 1 season actually was important enough to German producers to consider it for radio play versions, which were undoubtedly supposed to be part of a marketing scheme for the German version of the show. Strangely enough, nowadays German networks hardly purchase shows that only lasted one season in the States, knowing that such a show can fairly get enough ratings to bring profits. And when people finally start watching it regularly, it's over and won?t continue.

Anyway, the proposition that the voice actors from the radio play version are the same as the TV dub actors, turned out to be false (even though ?featuring the original voices from the TV series? was printed on the cover). I wasn't too disappointed though, because especially Bogg's voice didn't live up to my expectations.

July 2009, however, proved to be an extremely interesting month, since the German version of Voyagers was finally (and unexpectedly) released on DVD in Germany. Amazon.de suddenly had it listed with pictures, reviews and other stuff!!

Of course, I pre-ordered it right away and was more than excited to find that the dub was of great quality and the German script had its own special charm. Interestingly, Jeff was voiced by a 28-year old woman, just like all the children seemed to be voiced by adult actors in the show (I have no idea why).

Some jokes were different and some fans noticed that they got some dates wrong, but all in all, the show's German version is great and highly entertaining. Especially Bogg's voice is really close to Jon-Erik Hexum's. The voice actor Bernd Eichner is still in business today and has given his voice to actors like Bruce Campbell, Bill Paxton and Michael Ironside during his career.

In any case, Voyagers in German is worth a shot, not only because of the quality of the show in general, but also because of the awesome guidebook-like booklet featuring many (new) photos and thoroughly researched background information, not to mention an episode guide with biographies.

Thanks to whoever was responsible for turning the long lost German Voyagers version to such a gem!!

Check out Martin's Youtube channel: BlueCanvas2 featuring fun Voyagers! Fan Videos and Clips for Jon-Erik Hexum.

EIN TRIBUT AN REISENDE IN DEUTSCHLAND

Von Martin Moser

Die Zeitreisenden ist eine Fernsehserie, die viele Jahre von der Mehrheit der TV Zuschauer übersehen wurde. Vielleicht weil sie nur 20 Folgen hervorbrachte, vielleicht aber auch weil sie wegen schlechter Senderplatzierungen in ihrer Erstausstrahlung nie die Quoten erreichen konnte, die sie verdiente.

Lange nachdem die Serie in den USA erstmals gezeigt wurde (und lange nach dem tragischen Unfalltod des Hauptdarstellers Jon-Erik Hexum) wurden Die Zeitreisenden? oder Voyagers!?, wie die Show im Original heißt 1989 vom deutschen Sender RTL+ aufgegriffen, der heute als RTL einer der größten deutschen Privatsender ist.

Da jede US Produktion für das deutsche Fernsehen synchronisiert wird, erhielten auch unsere Zeitreisenden neue Stimmen. Üblicherweise sind die Unterschiede zwischen den deutschen und den Originalstimmen ein Störfaktor bei TV-Synchronisierungen, daher war ich besonders interessiert daran zu hören wie es der deutschen Synchro gelingen würde unseren Helden Jeff und Bogg auch für das deutsche Publikum glaubhaft Leben einzuhauchen, damit auch unsere Kinder die Serie so genießen konnten wie es viele Kinder in den USA in den 80ern und darüber hinaus taten.

Doch es gestaltete sich als unmöglich eine deutsche Aufzeichnung der Serie zu bekommen. Nur ein Sammler (der so ziemlich alles zu haben schien was je im Fernsehen gelaufen ist) hatte sie auf seiner Homepage gelistet, doch er wollte die Serie nicht teilen?

So verlor ich fast die Hoffnung, wurde aber bald wieder ermutigt, als ich eine extrem interessante eBay-Auktion entdeckte, in welcher die Zeitreisendenden als Hörspielversion mit 6 Folgen verkauft wurde. Ich habe sie sofort gekauft (zu einem sehr günstigen Preis) und war wirklich überrascht zu erfahren, dass diese kurzlebige Show, die schon nach 1 Staffel abgesetzt worden war, tatsächlich wichtig genug für deutsche Produzenten war, um daraus Hörspiele zu machen, die zweifellos Teil eines Marketing-Konzeptes für die deutsche Serienversion waren. Das ist insbesondere einzigartig, als heute kaum Shows von deutschen Sendern eingekauft werden, die es in ihrem Ursprungsland nur auf eine Staffel gebracht haben, wohlwissend, dass solche Shows kaum genug Quoten erreichen um profitabel zu sein. Und wenn die Zuseher schließlich doch hängenbleiben ist die Serie zu Ende und keine weitere Staffel vorhanden um den Quotenanteil zu verbessern.

Wie auch immer, die Verkündung, dass die Sprecher der Hörspiele dieselben seien wie die der Fernsehsynchronisation, stellte sich bald als falsch heraus (obwohl groß auf dem Cover abgedruckt war: mit den Originalsprechern der deutschen TV-Serie?). Ich war jedoch nicht allzu enttäuscht, denn besonders Boggs Stimme entsprach nicht wirklich meinen Erwartungen.
Juli 2009 stellte sich als sehr spannender Monat heraus, denn die deutsche Version von Voyagers wurde schließlich (und eigentlich völlig unerwartet) in Deutschland auf DVD herausgebracht. Amazon.de hatte es plötzlich gelistet. Bilder, Reviews und mehr inklusive.

Natürlich habe ich es sofort vorbestellt und war mehr als erfreut herauszufinden, dass die Synchro von hervorragender Qualität war und das deutsche Skript über einen ganz eigenen Charme verfügte. Interessant übrigens, dass Jeff von einer 28-jährigen Frau gesprochen wird, wie übrigens alle Kinder in der Serie von Erwachsenen gesprochen werden (keine Ahnung wieso).

Einige Scherze sind geändert und manche Fans bemerkten, dass Daten verwechselt wurden, aber alles in allem ist die deutsche Version großartig und sehr unterhaltsam. Besonders Boggs Stimme ist Jon-Erik Hexums Stimme sehr ähnlich. Der Sprecher Bernd Eichner ist heute noch tätig und hat in seiner Laufbahn seine Stimme schon Schauspielern wie Bruce Campbell, Pill Paxton und Michael Ironside geliehen.

In jedem Fall sind Die Zeitreisenden auch auf Deutsch einen Versuch wert, nicht nur wegen der Qualität der Serie, sondern auch wegen des wunderschönen Guidebook-ähnlichen Booklets, das viele (neue) Szenenfotos beinhaltet, und der gründlich recherchierten Hintergrundinfos, ganz zu schweigen einem Episodenführer mit Biographien.

Danke an alle die diese lange verschollene Synchronisation der Serie als solches Juwel wiederauferstehen haben lassen!!

LOST IN TRANSLATION?

Bogg's first words are: "Donnerknall!" (Thunder Bang) instead of "Smokin Bat's Breath.

"Smart Kids give me a pain" changes to "Cheeky kids are walking on my nerves." Jeff talks to Bogg in the polite plural at the beginning.

"Moses... looks like Santa Clause with a part in the middle." turns to "Moses... looks like an old man with a bald head."

"You little toad!" turns to "Wise guy" (Schlauberger)

When Mary says "Kiss me", Bogg replies "The solution" (as in: "that's the solution".) instead of "No problem"

When Jeff tells Corporal Rickenbacker that he should be dogfighting and he replies "I hate to tell you, but dogs don't fly", Eddie says in German: "I'm supposed to fly? To be honest, I'm glad I'm still alive."

When Jeff says: "If there aren't any airplanes, the Germans are gonna win the war." it turns to "If there aren't any airplanes, the French are gonna lose the war." (Here you can see what I meant with 'German point of view' ;)

Bogg then replies in German "They didn't lose it?!" while in English he says "The Germans didn't win the war?!"

In Kitty Hawk, Bogg says: "You're dragging me halfway around the Earth to find a couple of guys who are not even here." In German it's: "You're dragging me halfway around the Earth to meet fishermen waiting for fish."

A few moments later when Bogg says: "You're in the same century, so why don't we just forget about it...." he says in German "That's the best I can do for you, so bye bye."

And Jeff replies in English: "You don't know anything about history. You'll mess the whole thing up.", which turns to: "You don't know anything about history. You're a zero without your book." (zero as in 'loser').

In Dayton:"Sometimes you gotta bite the bullet." turns to "Sometimes it's worth taking a risk."

Back in France: "That was another war, kid." turns to "That is a new history now." "Did Mary Antoinette have great legs?" turns to "Do you know what Moses looked like as a kid?"

When Mary tells Bogg she has the feeling that she's met him before, Bogg replies in English: "Maybe in another war." In German it's: "Maybe in another life."

When Bogg tells Jeff: "I never lie. Marie Antoinette had terrible legs." he says in German: "I never lie. He could never have known Moses as a kid." (I really don't get the logic of this translation, sorry :P)

"I'm doing this solo" turns to "That's for adults only."

After the plane fight: "You liked her, didn't you?" turns to "You were in love with her, right?"
It wasn't before I watched the English version that I noticed that Jeffrey is quoting Casablanca at the end of 'Created equal'. In German, instead of the "hill of beans" - line he just says: "Two little people like us don't matter in this crazy Roman empire." and instead of "Here's looking at you, kid" he shouts: "You better get out of the way!"

In his conversation with Calpurnia, when she says: "It's hard to be a good friend." He doesn't say: "It's even harder leaving one" - that means her - he says: "It's even harder losing one." - which makes you think he's talking of Bogg.

And what is ox blood? You can't milk an ox, can you? In German, it's sour mare milk with ox blood. That sounds more logical to me.

Albert Schweitzer and Jeff keep a totally different conversation about "Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben". It goes like this:- What does that mean?- To respect all life.- You mean, even the life of a caterpillar?- This interpretation is a bit superficial, but no man can create life, nobody. And we kill so often out of carelessness and stupidity. But life was given to us to preserve life. Do you understand? That's nice, too. I don't know which one I prefer.

My Thoughts

Voyagers! was officially released in Germany on July 10, 2009. The only significant difference I can tell is the voice dubbing. I've only seen two episodes, and I really liked Bogg's voice actor. You'd almost think it was Jon-Erik was speaking fluent German. Jeffrey was voiced by a woman, so that took some getting used to. The practice of women voice-dubbing kids is done on an international scale. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't.

The DVD cover is similar to the American version, but I like this far better. I love the neutral, earthy shades that represent the bronzed and Steampunk tone of the series. While attractive, the American box is silver, and the saturated colors on Bogg and Jeff look garish. The only "silver" on the show was wicked Voyager Drake's state-of-the-art Omni. Bogg's Omni was not platinum, it was brass, almost gold in appearance.

The vibrant design of the interior and back of the German DVD cover resembles Guidebook leather. The discs have Roman-numeral clocks with floating years on a grungy design with the front cover image. The gorgeous packaging also includes a booklet with loads of info and trivia on the series, and there's a slide show of promotional stills on the DVD.

I'm thrilled that Germany listed my Voyagers Guidebook as a research link! I'd like to think that makes me semi-official. If only America and Universal Productions had taken the same time and thoughtful consideration with their packaging upon their release in 2007. Voyagers! deserved that.

Download the German DVD Booklet

Die Zeitreisenden!

Audio Plays

In 1990, Europa Records, a German label that produced successful children’s radio plays, performed six full episodes (In German of course) and sold them on cassette tape with translated titles. I've sat on these long enough and want to share them with fans. Much thanks to fan Martin Moser for creating the audio files and sharing them with me so long ago.