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"It's a Biker, Biker, Biker, Biker world!"
Something I found interesting was the fact that the characters' names were frequently changed for foreign audiences. Thanks to my bros and sis's at the Unofficial Biker Mice from Mars Fan Club, I've been able to compile some of those names here. Let's begin!
In Italy, according to Rea Cat, Throttle was known as "Sterzo", Modo was "Pistone", and Vinnie was "Turbo." Thankfully for those of us who don't speak Italian, she also included translations of the first two names: "sterzo" is Italian for "steering" and "pistone" means "piston." Buell recently informed me that Greasepit had the monoinker "Morchia", which means "grease." In addition, Rimfire was called "Scoppio," which literally means "explosion," "outburst," or "bang" (are we both talking about Rimfire here?), Carbine was "Carabina" ("carbine"), and Karbunkle was "Carbonchio" (Carbuncle). Most other characters, according to Dhalo, kept their original names.
The bros got decidedly human names for their broadcast in Brazil, says Babsy. There, Throttle became "Todd", and Modo took on "Brad" as his appellation. Interestingly, Vinnie was still Vinnie, just spelled "Vinny." The villains got new titles as well. Limburger was called "Bochecha", which means "cheese" in Portugese, and Greasepit was called "Bandalha", which means "mess." Charley, Stoker, Rimfire, Carbine, and Harley, however, kept their respective appellations.
In Denmark and Germany, only Throttle was assigned a new name. Everyone else got to keep their old one. In Denmark, according to MP, he's "Speeder", and in the German version, our favorite shades-wearing mouse is called "Rieco".
Ana Mars just sent me some info on the mice's names in Spain. There, Throttle took on the monoinker "Bujias", and Greasepit was called, "Grasas," which apparently translates to "fats." Right-o. As in Denmark and Germany, all the other characters got to keep their original names.
Now, Swedish names! Camilla tells me that most of the main cast kept their American names for this broadcast, with the exception of Greasepit, who was named "Smörjan," meaning "grease." A few supporting characters also got their names changed, including Stoker, who was "Eldarn" and Fred the Mutant, who was "Fredrik." Both names are approximations of their American versions ("Fredrik"="Fred"; "Eldarn"="Stoker").
The mice's Finnish aliases sounded pretty cool. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) got new names. Throttle became "Turbo" (the name given to Vinnie in the Italian broadcast), Modo was "Moto" (okay, not much change there), and Vinnie took "Vinski" (full name "Vinsetti"). The baddies got equally interesting names, with Limburger as "Lalli Leipäjuusto", meaning breadcheese, Greasepit as "Rasvanahka", Karbunkle became "Professori Nuikki," Fred the Mutant was Vihainen (meaning "angry") Fredrik (nicknamed "Mutantti"), and Mace was translated rather straightforwardly as "Masi." Every other Martian mouse also got a new name: Carbine was "Minni" (there's something wonderfully funny about a hard-ass like her having the same name as Disney's delicate mousy flower), Rimfire was "Miihkali", Stoker became "Rontti", and Harley became "Anni" (hey, that's kinda pretty). Thanks to Anu for the wonderfully comprehensive list!
That's all the official names I have on me at the moment. So, to summarize the list so far (blank spaces indicate that the character name either doesn't change, or nobody told me what it was):
| Italy | Sterzo | Pistone | Turbo | Morchia | Carbonchio | Scoppio | Carabina | |||||
| Brazil | Todd | Brad | Vinny | Bochecha | Bandalha | |||||||
| Denmark | Speeder | |||||||||||
| Germany | Rieco | |||||||||||
| Spain | Bujias | Grasas | ||||||||||
| Sweden | Smörjan | Eldarn | Fredrik | |||||||||
| Finland | Turbo | Moto | Vinski | Lalli Leipäjuusto | Rasvanahka | Professori Nuikki | Miihkali | Minni | Rontti | Anni | Vihainen Fredrik | Masi |
As a final note, as an anime fan, I've often wondered what the names of our heroes would be in a Japanese broadcast (I doubt the series actually made it over there). Generally, anime revels in using English characters names for its characters, so they probably wouldn't have changed much. More likely than not, Vinnie would be Vinnie, Modo would be Modo, etc., just all pronounced with a heavy Japanese accent. Throttle's name is the only one that might have been changed at all, and then only a little. The Japanese word for "throttle" is "surottoru". If you say it out loud, you realize that it's just an accented pronunciation of "throttle". But that's all just speculation.
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