UK Version

For whatever reason, the show was dubbed into two English releases. The version I've seen, I refer to as the "NA version (North American)", and the other one the "UK Version".

The UK version was made in.. well, you guessed it, the UK. It is the same show, however, several things were changed. The names of all of the characters are entirely new, and the dialogue was completely re-written! The characters all have English accents, as well, and in this new dialogue, they threw in various puns and pop-culture references. The humour is very sarcastic, which is awesome.

The UK version was aired on Channel 4 and was a huge success in the UK. It received a lot of praise in its time, such as..

"One of the greatest things to happen to kids TV for years" - The Daily Mirror

and

"Stunning... Lots of funny one-liners... Always looks marvellous" - The Daily Mail

It was popular enough to spawn six VHS casette tape releases. It makes me wish that the NA version got this much marketing and advertising, which it didn't. Lucky England!

Watching the two versions side by side is definitely an interesting experience. I like to think of the UK version as a "Remix" of the original. You can watch the NA version all the way through, and then pop on the UK version, and you won't get bored; they're like watching two completely different shows, with familiar visuals. It makes being a fan all the more fun, and meeting fans who have never seen/heard of the NA/original version is interesting, too.

The interesting bit is the decision they made to re-name the characters. I've made a small chart to show the comparisons of the different versions. The original French version on the left, the NA version in the middle, and the UK names on the right.

sound comparisons

Whoo hoo! Thanks to Synapse of Insektors Online, I was able to get ahold of an episode of the UK version of the show! Now I have finally seen what the other version was like. I was amused. Thus, I dug up my tape with the episode "Krabo's Kase" (my favorite episode of all-time) and recorded sound clips of it to compare with "Sick At Heart" (same episode, UK version). I recorded clips from the UK version as well, to compare how different the voices and dialogue are. In my opinion, they're both pretty amusing. :D

compare with

They are both amusing in different ways. I laughed pretty hard at the Euro-Walt comment. Up next:

---Kretinus tries to shock him, then insult him, but nothing worked. Launch plan number 3!---

compare with

This whole scene is probably one of my favorites in all of Insektors. Purposely trying to anger Krabo/Draffsack is a rare thing to even consider.. and they could only get away with it when he's depressed. ;P Up next, I skipped a little bit to the last part of the episode; to where they kidnap Fulgore/Flynn and try to force him to play his guitar.

---After bringing Fulgore into the throneroom, they try to piss Krabo off enough to make him normal again... does it work? (This file is 3:36 long. :D)---

compare with

Well. They differ quite a lot, don't they? But I was amused nonetheless. I was disappointed to hear that Krabo's catchphrase "I will have my revenge!" was not in the UK episode... whether it was scrapped in the UK version, I don't know, but. Maybe it's a trait of Lord Krabo and not Draffsack? Hmmmm!