A few days ago while watching MBC, they were showing some of the stuff they’ll be airing in Ramadhan, which is just around the corner now, and to my surprise an Arabic version of “The Simpsons” is in the schedule.
It will be called “Al Shamshoon” and dubbed in the Egyptian Accent.
Mohamed Heneidi will be lending his voice to Homer (Omar in the Arabic version), Hanan Turk to Bart and Lisa, and Rojeena to Marge.
The Arabized, or should I say Egyptianized, versions of animations that I’ve seen before were pretty decent and sometimes funny, but I’m not so sure about how “The Simpsons’ would turn out.
Shows like “The Simpsons”, “Futurama” and “Southpark” for example aren’t really the kind of shows that could be translated well into our language and culture, especially when you mean to show it in Ramadhan.
A lot of references to Alcohol, sex, God and other taboos that just won’t fit in.
“Southpark” was actually arabized in Kuwait, but they took the idea and redid the whole thing with new characters and another approach to its humor.
Maybe it would have been better to do something like that with “The Simpsons’.
Anyway, I’ll be checking it out, and I hope it turns out good, although the bits I saw in the preview weren’t too promising.
Other blogs talking about this: Savior Machine, Symbols.