Barbapapa

Barbapapa
Details
Country	United Kingdom
Language	British English
Seasons	1
Channels	BBC One (formerly)
Release	January 17, 1975 – January 30, 1978

Barbapapa is the British English dub of the show of the same name. It aired on BBC One in the United Kingdom from January 17, 1975 to January 30, 1978. This is the first English dub of Barbapapa overall, out of five.

The dub was narrated by Michael Flanders in London, England, with an opening theme being performed by Ed Stewart, Cathy MacDonald, and the London Boy Singers. This dub also appears to have been used as a base for other-language dubs of the series. Only the first season is known to be dubbed.

Cast

Character		Actor
Narrator All characters		Michael Flanders

Music

An album for the series, simply titled "Barbapapa", featuring all the songs in the British dub was released in 1975. The songs are all performed by Ed Stewart, Cathy MacDonald, and the London Boy Singers, and are used as insert songs throughout various scenes in the dub, like the original version.

Song		Singer(s)
Introducing the Barbapapa Family (Theme song)		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Little Shadow		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Be a Thinker		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Barbalib		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
The Greatest Animal Lover		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Barbabeau's Paint Box		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Barbapapa Rock		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Everything Is Singing For Barbalala's Song		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Send for Barbabravo		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
Barbabelle		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers
The Barbapapa Family (Extended theme song)		Ed Stewart
Cathy MacDonald
The London Boy Singers

Notes

• Much like the other dubs, the original French names were localized into English, and would remain mostly intact for the other English dubs:
  • Barbidou – Barbazoo
  • Barbouille – Barbabeau
  • Barbidur – Barbabravo
  • Barbotine – Barbalib
  • Barbibul – Barbabright
  • Barbapapa, Barbamama, Barbabelle, and Barbalala's names remain the same.
• Only the first season was dubbed, like nearly all of the English dubs.
• The transformation phrase that the Barbapapas say when they shapeshift was accordingly translated as "All change!".
• The songs in this dub were sung by Ed Stewart, Cathy MacDonald, and The London Boy Singers, and were all released on an album in 1975.
  • The Canadian English dub used the same songs from this dub.
  • The second American English dub uses roughly the same lyrics for its covers of the songs.
• The role call in the theme tune is unlike the original. The narrator doesn't go over all of their names in the rhythm of the beat, but rather reads them out quickly, thrice ("Did you miss that? Barbapapa, Barbamama... [...] Again?! Barbapapa, Barbamama...").
  • When aired on TV, all of their names are only said twice: the third time does not occur as the song fades out.
  • In the extended version of the theme tune, the narrator chooses not to say all of the names and instead tells you to re-play the song so that you can listen to him say their names again ("Barbamama, Barbazoo, Barbalala, eyyy turn it up, turn the record over! Back to side 1! You can hear all the names again then, okay?").
• As they were produced around the same time, the first American English dub shares similar lyrics with the theme tune of this dub, the biggest difference being it has no role-call.
• This dub would be used as a base for some other dubs. There is some evidence pointing towards it: such as the Arabic dub that aired on Qatar Television leaving the theme song the same as this version, the Latin American Spanish versions and one of the Putonghua Mandarin versions using the theme song and voicing-over it, and the Danish and second Norwegian dub doing the exact type of role call as this dub.
• No physical media was released for this dub, and after its brief few year run, it would not be seen or released anywhere again. In the United Kingdom, VHS releases of the series were distributed by Spectrum in 1981, however they featured the Canadian English dub, which was officially advertised as the "Americanised version" (despite a separate dub recorded from the United States also existing at the time).
• This is not the only time that English Barbapapa media would be recorded from the United Kingdom, as the 2019 reboot Barbapapa: One Big Happy Family! utilizes voice actors based in London for its English dub.

References

v - e - d Dubs Albanian • Amharic • Arabic (Qatar Television • SharingCode) • Basque • Bulgarian • Danish (1974 • 2006) • Dutch • English (BBC • Magno • TVO • The Video Warehouse • Centauro) • Finnish (Yle • Golden Voice • HBO Max) • German • Greek • Hebrew (Channel 1 • Hop!) • Hindi • Hungarian • Icelandic (1980 • 1989) • Italian (Rai 2 • Cine Video Doppiatori • Studio P.V.) • Japanese (TV Tokyo • Aniplex) • Korean • Mandarin (1988 • 2013) • Norwegian (VHS • TV2) • Persian (IRIB • Roudaki) • Polish • Portuguese (Brazil • Portugal) • Serbian • Slovak • Latin American Spanish (1986 • 2003) • European Spanish (TVE • Nickelodeon) • Swedish (SVT • Wendros • HBO Max) • Turkish Voice-overs Russian Songs Voici venir les Barbapapa