Harry Potter whinge

[Tabbiecat]

Not sure if this is the right bit of forum to say this; but here we go; even Sheldon Cooper, aka Lord Smarty Pants, gets the name of the first Harry Potter wrong (it's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone" not "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone") in "The Toast Derivation"! Sorry, maybe I'm exceeding even Sheldon in my padanticness but does this annoy anyone else?

[netmouse]

I posted the same thing a while back, Tabbie... BUT as it was pointed out to me, they changed the title of the first Harry Potter in America as they believed children would not know what a "philoshopher" was !!

Pffft! I find this totally lame myself, but hey, they also overdubbed "Crocodile Dundee" with American accents as they didn't think they would understand the Australian accent.

[Tabbiecat]

Oh, right... I agree that's a bit naff. I probably didn't know what a philosopher was when I saw the first Harry Potter film, but it didn't effect my enjoyment of it that much. I still went on to read the entire series and watch all the films and generally become a "potterite". Helped by my year three teacher who was a little bit Potter fixated and used a "sorting hat" made of black card and selotape to divide her class into the houses. I was in Hufflepuff. We won. She said for some reason Hufflepuff won almost every year she'd used the sorting hat with her classes.

Anyway, "philosopher" is a good word to learn, widening kids vocab and all that.

[*Matt*]

I was completely unaware of The Crocodile Dundee 'factoid' That is awful!

It does frustrate me the way things are dumbed down so much. EVEN if people didn't know what philosopher was (I cannot believe that) but EVEN if they did, they would learn something new! I am sure the film would have done the same at the box office no matter what.

Matt

---

p.s

(still on my high horse LOL)

I despise the way so many TV series' have to be adapted and re made for American audiences. I can almost imagine a tv executive watching tv and thinking "hmmm great premise, great characters, but Americans don't like to see outside their own domain, lets remake it in New York" etc

I am sure people can handle more than the industry gives them credit for - so what if it is set not in their own country?

I love Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory despite a few things that i have to quickly look up...Jeez you adapt

Matt

[4ofN]

Sorry guys, I know people don't like it when TBBT gets dissed, but I'm going to have to call it. The amount of science in TBBT has been going down as well. And I think its for the same reason - the to move to the mainstream.

[netmouse]

@Matt: the US remake of "The Office" is a perfect example. Steve Carrell saved it from being a TOTAL fail.

[*Matt*]

LOL! Damn you picked the American Office - my wife and I prefer that by far to the British office! but I agree on the whole:)

It doesn't happen the other way around much i.e a British version being made of an American show, which I am very glad, because it is not necessary! I would hate to see TBBT adapted and set in London for example... It is perfect as it is!

I think American comedy these days is top notch and also has changed a lot for the better the last ten years. It has kept it's own style yet has also adopted what the British comedy is known for; sarcasm, irony etc and come up with some of the best shows.

I also think Chuck Lorre is ridiculously talented. I imagine he is a fascinating person to speak too.

Matt

[netmouse]

An even better example is the US version of our iconic Aussie sit-com "Kath and Kim" EPIC fail.

[smeghead]

Pffft! I find this totally lame myself, but hey, they also overdubbed "Crocodile Dundee" with American accents as they didn't think they would understand the Australian accent.

Good oil there Cobba. These bludgers wouldnt have even have a fair go of a Buckley's chance of knowing a grouse from a crook and would have spit the dummy if it wasnt translated for them.

[netmouse]

"200 dollar-ee-doos?? That's a bleeding outrage !!"

best Simpson's aussie-parody EVER :D

[Alien94]

My version says Philosopher's stone,maybe it's different in USA.

[netmouse]

@Alien: yup.. the US title is different.

[bluememaw]

My daughter and I watch more BBC programs than we watch of American produced shows.

The British use real people in their programs. We use sterotypes. Not all Americans are blond and blue-eyed and weigh 100 pounds but if you watch sit-coms you'd think we were.

[ElegantChaos]

If it were me, I would sit my child down and explain to them what a philosopher was and show them in the dictionary. They dumb so many things down for the American audience which is an insult to people that don't think being stupid is the "in" thing to be. It's nice to be given a shot at figuring something out for yourself.

[netmouse]

The latest big thing to do in Australia is to put subtitles up when they interview local Aborigines on the news. (imo they speak better english than we do) !!

PC gone mad.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Americans know the word philosopher... But it has a different meaning here. Philosophers don't make magic stones or magic anything.... They sit around and analyze such questions such as "why are we here?" "is there a God" etc. the term Philosopher in the UK has a different meaning.

The title change to Sorcerer's Stone was a good choice IMO. Going by the American meaning of the word there were NO philosophers in any Harry Potter film.