KAGENAMI Q: [in quiet reflection] "Pally."
SIMONE MAXWELL: "Pally." God help us...
KQ: I'm trying to figure out just what it is they're doing to Duo, but I can't quite...I can't quite define it. I was hoping you could.
SM: What, you mean his voice? Well, is what he's saying pretty much what he was saying in the Japanese version?
KQ: Yeah--they've just run with it a little bit. I do like what was done with some of his lines. It's just the voice, and some of those lines...
SM: I think it's probably just early, and they're probably still undergoing some experimentation.
KQ: It seems like they're just taking extra steps to have him be more macho. It's this weird, slangy thing--like "pally." [laughter]
SM: Well, he's an American, and the "pally" thing is probably just a lip-flap problem. In the late-night version he probably calls him "asshole," or "dickweed," or "dumbfuck," or "dillshit," or something...[laughter]
KQ: "Dumbfuck"? Yeah, there is hope! [laughter] But that's a little harsh. Maybe "jerk" or "idiot"...
SM: It's early, and they're still feeling out the character. Pun unintended--I know many people would love to feel out Duo, you and me included. They're probably still settling into the role. I really severely doubt that they had a detailed write-up as to what each character was like for the voice-actors, I really doubt that. And as long as there's nothing really off the wall in the translation of the script...I mean, I understand what they're doing with him, kind of. I can't really explain it, but, you know...
KQ: You can't explain it either?
SM: I can't explain it. It's like, you know, [imitates English-version Duo voice] he's a regular American guy, and it's going to be on a regular American TV network! [back to normal voice] So they have to make him more...dopey, I guess. I'm not sure I'm really seeing the macho that you're seeing.
KQ: He's got a deeper voice than I'm used to--than in the Japanese. I just don't know..."Pally" didn't help.
SM: No, "pally" did not help. That is really wonky.
KQ: I mean, who says "pally"?
SM: People that have watched a lot of Leo Gorcey?
KQ: Or The Honeymooners?
SM: Or The Honeymooners. If he says, "Twenty-three skiddoo," we'll know what the problem is! [laughter] If he starts calling Heero "Norton..."
KQ: Well, he called him "buddy" at one point. Brak would be proud.
SM: I'm waiting for him to call him "dude." I'm waiting for that...
KQ: But that's only one syllable! [laughter] But he hasn't called him "dude" yet, has he?
SM: No. But, see, the surfer dude accent was a little less obvious yesterday, wasn't it?
KQ: Yeah. It's kind of like they're going in a different direction.
SM: You see? They're still experimenting with it. I think that's all there is to it. And there may have been a certain amount of rush to this; they may not have had as much time to play with it as they would have liked to have. And what's with "Instructor Noin"? It's like "Inspector Gadget"! [laughter]
KQ: What did you think of the scene [on the afternoon version] where Heero's strapped down and there's just this dripping sound with no visible reason?
SM: Oh, the dripping sound! [laughter] He wet himself! Oh, incontinence--it happens to us all... [laughter] Yeah, I know. There was blood dripping off the table, right? Was that the problem?
KQ: Yeah, there was a pretty good amount of it. He actually has a pretty steady trickle coming from his wrists.
SM: Because he's been chucking at the straps?
KQ: Yeah.
SM: Well, I'm sure they left it in place on the midnight version. But yeah, you're going to wonder about that dripping sound--your obvious conclusion is that he peed himself! [laughter] I think he's going to be on commercials like George Bush--y'know, [old fart voice] "I occasionally have problems with incontinence, and so, I'm wearing Depends!" [laughter]
KQ: So I guess they can't alter sound effects. "We can alter the picture, we can alter the dialogue, but we can't take out the sound of dripping..."
SM: Well, maybe they were like, "Oh, well, there's a faucet dripping somewhere. It's Chinese water torture!"
KQ: That's it!
SM: Maybe it just didn't occur to them to take the sound out.
KQ: At one point, Quat says, "Crap." And that just didn't seem right, and I wondered, what are they going to have on the nighttime version?
SM: "Fuck! Shit! Piss! Crap! And all the other dirty words I know!" [laughter]
KQ: "Crap" just didn't sound refined enough for Quat.
SM: Well, "crap" is more refined than "shit," right?
KQ: Yeah...I mean, "damn" would've worked...
SM: But I don't think you can say "damn" on daytime TV. It's weird, isn't it? You can say "crap" but you can't say "damn."
KQ: And yet these are the guys [Turner] that have WCW, and they're saying...
SM: They say "ass" with amazing regularity. I don't know--it's odd. We didn't get a chance to watch the midnight one for this episode [#3] yet; we've got to watch that tape today. It'll be interesting to see.
KQ: Well, I dunno where Duo's going to end up with what they're doing, but...
SM: What do you mean by that?
KQ: Well, just...you know...with the...I dunno...
SM: With the stuff and the things and the stuff?
KQ: The stuff and the things and the stuff, and the "pally"!
SM: Oy...
KQ: Maybe he will say "dickweed."
SM: Yeah, I think "pally" was a little bit of a mistake.
KQ: "Dickweed" would gladden my heart. [laughter] But I don't think it's going to happen. [laughter] We'll just have to watch the episodes today and see what happens.
SM: [in fairy princess voice] I am eagerly looking forward to it. [abruptly brought back to normal by the actions of a less-than-upright citizen] Look, this dickhead took my parking spot! [shouting] You nosewipe!
KQ: [shouting too] Hey, pally!
[laughter]
Go to Chapter 2 "Five Good-Looking Japanese Boys From All Walks Of Life!" (on Romper Room on Speed, Heero and Trowa and Sylvester and Daffy, the Princess Mononoke Press Guide, 'Handing It' To Paul Lynde, and More Praise For Gundam Wing Episode 1)
Go to Chapter 3 "What Were They Thinking?!" (on Bad Accents from Star Blazers to Giant Robo, Tomino's Monkeywrench, Photoshopping Heero's Shorts, the Quest for Two-Flap Swear Words, Duo Gets His Gun, and Gundam Wing Episode 2)
Go to Chapter 5 "There Should Be About 57 Dots Between the 'Umm' and the 'Okay'..." (on the appeal of Noin, how Sid & Marty Krofft swayed Wufei, crunchy fruity rebels, fear of Freeza, and Gundam Wing episodes 4, 5 and 6)
Go to Chapter 6 "The Hell With the New Possibilities--She Wants To Plook Heero!" (on the World's Smallest Violin, the Unfortunately-Named General That-Part-Of-Your-Nose, Ringo Starr Meets Turn A Gundam, Memories of Pleading For Heero's Medical Prognosis, and Gundam Wing Episodes 6 and 7)
Go to Chapter 7 "Why Don't You Gundams And The Colonies Get A Frickin' Room?" (on Zechs Failing Shop Class, Quatre Raberba Jonny Quest Winner, Simultaneous Possession By Dr. Evil, Heero's Difficulties With Modern Technology, Pagan's Surfing For Smut, and Gundam Wing Episode 17)
Go to Chapter 7.5 "Silence Nowwwwwwwwwwww!" (on Heero's Holster, Explaining Headcheese, Sally and Cher Po, the Gundam Wing Voice Actors Revealed, Kudos For Correspondents, and Gundam Wing Episode 20)
Go to Chapter 8 "God Forbid Little Kids Get Ideas..." (on the Great Houdini vs. the God of Death, Keeping Duo from Damaging Impressionable Young Minds, Oz Fashion Don'ts, Duo's True-Life Nature Adventure, a Left Turn into Trigun, and Gundam Wing Episode 23)
Go to Chapter 9 "Stay Away From Those Oz Burritos!" (on the Gundam Wing Language Rules, the Great Destroyer Vs. Great Mazinger, Trowa Markets the Oz Viewmaster, the Omnipresent Mr. B Natural, and Gundam Wing Episode 24)
Go to Chapter 10 "I Don't Usually Use 'Clown' In That Context..." (on Epyon's Sex Appeal, Duo Hitting the [Soy] Sauce, Wasabi Wars, Catherine Gets a Trowagotchi, Evoking Bozo, More Language Rules, and Gundam Wing Episodes 36 and 37)
Go to Chapter 11 "Ralphie Does Not Want To Sit On Santa's Lap Any More..." (on Howdy Doody's Enduring Fashion Influence, the Real Reason the Cartoon Network Wanted Gundam Wing, Duo's Cheeks, Epyon Vs. Sam The Snowman, Feeling Bad For Freeza, Singing the Praises of "Pants," and Gundam Wing Episode 39)
Go to Chapter 12 "He's Not Having Mental Problems--He's Having an Epyon Moment!" (on Push-Up Bras of the Future, More Things To Put In Heero's Pants, Soulmates Zechs and Shatner, Epyon and Secretariat's Love Child, the Nice People at McFarlane Toys, Bandai-ing Dolls About, and Gundam Wing Episode 41)
Return to MIND EDUCATION: Kagenami Q's Gundam Wing Doujinshi Reference Digs
This page was created March 9, 2000. Last updated November 23, 2004.