Ducks, Dogs et al in the year 2001

[RMorris306@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/16/01 7:04:09 AM, dcml-request at stp.ling.uu.se writes:

<< 
Donald has supposedly been asleep 40 whole years
and believes it's now 1990. Well, even 10 years later
it doesn't quite look like that, fortunately.>>

    Ah, yes! We've been going through some years well covered in prominent 
media science fiction without incident...those of us who saw 1984 come and go 
with no sign (well, not TOO many signs) of Big Brother have now lived through 
1999 without the moon being sent into space, 2000 AD free of the likes of 
Judge Dredd, and now, alas, are in 2001 with no giant black monoliths or 
space stations with Howard Johnson's restaurants on them. (Indeed, the space 
station is now more likely to become reality than the Howard Johnson's 
restaurant on it...)

<<It's hard to translate into a language one's not entirely fmiliar with, but
leaving it
untranslated is sometimes even worse... :-)  One classical example is a
Swedish
slogan for the swedish Donald Duck (Kalle Anka & C:o) "Full fart med Kalle
Anka & C:o"
(Translation: "Full speed with ...") but many americans find this amusing...
:-) 
Especially when the slogan is published together with a Barks-drawing of a
Firefighter
Donald with a dustcloud behind his tailfeathers.. :-)

I presume that such a sign would be offensive to many english speaking
persons
SOMEWHERE if it wasn't translated. >>


Don't go there...especially when Don Rosa still hasn't forgiven Disney for 
its flatulence jokes in THE LION KING? (Although, now that I think of it, are 
they any worse than what Disney once did with Donald himself...in the WWII 
cartoon "Der Fuhrer's Face" with its lyrics, "Ve heil...heil...right in der 
Fuhrer's face?" (Complete with appropriate sound effects, which I don't 
recall from THE LION KING.)

    But perfectly innocent words have a different meaning in different 
languages. (Not too long ago I saw a French comic book translation of a 
famous Warner Bros. cartoon series: SYLVESTER ET TWEETY. I could just imagine 
Sylvester licking his lips at THAT prospect...)

    <<People are asking about Donald's dog "Fido"...
    No, he isn't the same as Bolivar. For reasons unknown to me, Bolivar
and Behemoth were dropped from the Donald daily strip around 1950 and
replaced with Fido, a rather generic spaniel-type dog. Originally shaded so
he was white with black ears, but I've seen him colored any which way in
various reprints (including some dailies in recent Egmont weeklies).>>

    Well, since we know that Al Taliaferro based Bolivar on his own dog, and 
real dogs, unlike Disney characters, are only mortal, I wouldn't be surprised 
if he eventually lost his dog and acquired a new one, so had Donald do the 
same. In fact, I seem to recall reading that he did just that, though I can't 
cite the source.

    <<The bloodhound, Plasma, whom Eta found is a different character.
 >>

    Obviously different from a St. Bernard or a spaniel...and I presume 
anyone on the list would recognize him if he were based on a famous Disney 
bloodhound like Pluto or General Snozzle (the Official Hound) or even Trusty 
(from LADY AND THE TRAMP and its spinoff series in the comics featuring the 
title characters' son Scamp). When and where did Plasma appear, and did he 
belong to Donald, the Junior Woodchucks, or someone else?


Rich