آل شمشون is the Arabic dub of The Simpsons. Produced in the Egyptian Arabic dialect, it aired on MBC 1 in September 2005. It was an adaptation of the series to a Muslim Arab culture, in order to eliminate many of the references in the series that are offensive to the most conservative currents of Islam in spite of being normal in the West. The result is a product which deviates substantially from the original English version.
The Arab public, who already knew the series in its original language, greatly rejected this dub, which led to its failure. Of the 52 dubbed episodes, only 34 aired.[1]
Cast[]
- This section is on a dub that has a limited amount of information known to the public.
If you know more, you can help The Dubbing Database by expanding it.
| Character | Actor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
عمر شمشون
(Omar Shamshoon) |
Mohamed Henedi محمد هنيدي[2] | |
|
بيسا شمشون
(Bessa Shamshoon) |
Hanan Tork حنان ترك | |
|
بدر شمشون
(Badr Shamshoon) |
Lillian El-Sherbiny ليليان الشربيني | |
|
منى شمشون
(Mona Shamshoon) |
Rogena روجينا | |
|
مقرمش البهلوان
(Moqarmesh the Clown) |
Haggag Abdulazim حجاج عبد العظيم | |
|
هيلاهوب
|
Tariq Ismail طارق إسماعيل | |
| معروفي الولعه | Mahmoud Zaki محمود زكي | ||
|
شفعي
|
Naser Shahin ناصر شاهین | |
Unidentified voices
|
Tariq Ismail طارق إسماعيل | ||
| Ahmed Khalil أحمد خليل | |||
| Amani El-Bahtity أماني البحطيطي | |||
| Nivine Agha نيفين أغا | |||
| Jihad Abou Al-Enain جهاد أبو العينين | |||
| Ahmed Al-Almani أحمد العلماني | |||
| Hossam Adel حسام عادل | |||
| Yasser Abdulaziz ياسر عبد العزيز | |||
| Moawad Ismaiel معوض إسماعيل | |||
| Ahmed Khairy أحمد خيري | |||
| Amany Kamal أماني كمال | |||
| Marwa Farag مروه فرج | |||
| Nariman Niyazi ناريمان نيازي | |||
| الأمير علاء الدين | |||
Singing
|
Ahmed Al-Amir أحمد الأمير | ||
| الأمير علاء الدين | |||
| Hassan Ali حسن علي | |||
| Salma Abdel Wahab سلوى عبد الوهاب | |||
| Alaa Abdel Wahab علاء عبد الوهاب | |||
| Naglaa Abdel Wahab نجلاء عبد الوهاب | |||
| Technical staff | |||
Assistant directors
|
Asmaa Abdel Hamid أسماء عبد الحميد | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yasmine Najeeb ياسمين نجيب | |||
Production manager
|
Ahmed Abdel Hamid أحمد عبد الحميد | ||
Translator
|
Amr Hosny عمرو حسنى[3] | ||
Musical adaptation
|
Salma Abdel Wahab سلوى عبد الوهاب | ||
Dialogue adaptation
|
Essam El Iraqi عصام العراقي | ||
Dubbing studio
|
Feedback Audio Post Productions | ||
Produced by
|
Sameh Elsheikh سامح الشيخ | ||
Technical studio
|
Mash Production | ||
Technical Producers
|
Sherif Abdel Hamid شريف عبد الحميد | ||
| Marwa Abdel Ghaffar مروة عبد الغفار | |||
Text review
|
Mustafa Abu Al-Khashab مصطفى أبو الخشب | ||
Oversaw the production
|
Nidal Zein نضال زين | ||
Supervisors
|
Samar Aqroq سمر عقروق | ||
| Abdel Fattah Al-Masry عبد الفتاح المصري | |||
History[]
In 2005, an Arabic dub of the series was produced by the Saudi-owned media company, Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC), which owns multi-themed channels such as MBC 3. To accommodate the culture of the Middle East and appease various religiously conservative groups and governments in the region, many changes were made to the series.
Prior to the production of this dub, the series was broadcast on Middle Eastern networks such as Showtime Arabia (today known as OSN) and Dubai's One TV in English with Arabic subtitles and little to no censorship.[4] The Simpsons has always been very popular with viewers in the Middle East, and it is known that the series has been frequently aired on the MENA version of the FOX channel (or on the Star World HD channel) in English with Arabic subtitles.
The premiere of this dubbing made news, especially in the United States, causing a series of conflicting reactions.
Censorship[]
- Most of the censorships were done for religious reasons, since they are customs that produce a culture clash with Islam[5]:
- All references to alcohol, especially beer, were removed. They were replaced by non-alcoholic drinks, such as soda.
- Any reference to pork (bacon and hot dogs) was censored: When sausages, or any piece of meat or sausage, appears on the screen, it is indicated that it is beef (Homer eats beef sausages in the dub).
- References to different religions such as Christianity and Judaism were also cut. Reverend Lovejoy, for example, is not shown; The First Church of Springfield also does not appear; and Krusty the Clown's appearances are kept to a minimum.
- Surprisingly, the Treehouse of Horror episodes weren't cut despite being a series of Halloween episodes, which Muslims do not celebrate.
- The censorships were carried out in different ways: substitution of texts (for example: 'soda' instead of 'beer'); massive cutting of scenes; completely rewritten dialogues; etc.
Localization[]
- The family surname was adapted from Shamshoon, a relatively common surname in the Middle East, which is of Indian origin (Shamshun). Despite this, the series is mostly known in the Arab world as Dha Simbsunz, that is, by its transliterated original English name.
- Both the title of the series, as well as the vast majority of the texts in English that appear (letters, signs, flyers, etc.), are fully translated into Arabic. Failing that, everything else is subtitled, including the chalkboard gag. The chalkboard gag remains the same for each episode in this dub, being "I will not Xerox my butt", from season 2, episode 4.
- Although the series still takes place in the United States, it is noted in the dub that it is a city with an Arab majority.
- All names are adapted and changed to proper names from the Middle East region. This is often common in dubbings of children's series, as well as in dubbed shows from nearby regions like Turkey, but English-speaking names are otherwise rarely adapted.
- Springfield's name is changed to Rabeea (literally, spring in Arabic). Despite the change, it still refers to the original name.
Videos[]
Episodes[]
References[]
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