Doctor Who rants, collages and moodboards ✨️ If one of the pictures I used is yours and you want to be credited, please send me a DM, I'd be glad to! Also 13 you have all my heart
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan), Thirteenth Doctor & The Master (Dhawan), Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan, Thirteenth Doctor & Ryan Sinclair, Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan & Ryan Sinclair
Characters: The Master (Dhawan), Thirteenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Thirteenth Doctor's Fam (Doctor Who), Yasmin Khan, Ryan Sinclair (Doctor Who)
Additional Tags: Angst, Butt Dialing, more like pocket dialing, but the principle remains the same, Emotional Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Unreliable Narrator, Eavesdropping, Canon Compliant, Character Study, One Shot, the Master needs a hug, But He'd Kill You if You Tried to Give Him One, pre-spyfall, Mid to End of Season 11
Summary: The Doctor accidentally pocket-dials her old friend Agent O during the middle of a conversation with Yaz and Ryan. He should hang up. He doesn't.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: The Thirteenth Doctor, The Master (Dhawan)
Relationship: Thirteenth Doctor/The Master
Genre/Tags: Episode: s12ep10 The Timeless Children, Angst, Missing Scene, Obsessive Behavior, Blood and Violence, Mild Blood, Forced Proximity, Hatred, The Doctor is allowed to beat the shit out of the Master
One-shot: 2,788 words
Summary:
The Doctor’s life had always been about restraint. Restraint in her past, restraint in her present, restraint in her future. Restraint against friends and enemies alike. She knew this, and had always made sure to keep the proper safeguards around her. Companions were walls of flesh, living barriers of compassion and forgiveness containing a being older than their own planet, whose thoughts could spiral at any moment if pushed too far.
Except now there were none of them.
No Yaz with her bright smile, no Ryan with funny jokes, no Graham with wise eyes. There was just her, her, her hatred, the smell of burnt grass, the ghosts of wailing children and the back of the Master guiding her deeper into the heart of his destruction.
DW: A Rant on the importance of Translation in Thoschei dialogue, Part 2!
Another post with me back on ranting about translation!
Okay, so I’ve been looking across Thoschei scenes for interesting stuff about the translation in French, and I’ve finally found one! In this post I will study the choices the French translators made for the scene between the Thirteenth Doctor and the Master at the very end of the Timeless Child, right before the Death Particle is released on Gallifrey.
This case is interesting because this time it’s not really about how to “translate” well, but the choices the translators willingly made to carry a certain point across, to maintain coherency and highlight the Thoschei tension!
To illustrate my point, I will underline what sentences stuck out to me in the next dialogue:
English:
Master: The Cyberium lives in me now, Doctor. Yes! See. I’ve been looking forward to seeing your face about that. I can feel it, flowing around in me, the information, the strategy, the… the consciousness. It’s a beautiful thing. And look at us. I have broken you and created a new race. And now… Well, now I shall conquer… everything.
Doctor: You think you’ve broken me? You’ll have to try harder than that. You’ve given me a gift. Of myself. You think that could destroy me? You think that makes me lesser? It makes me more. I contain multitudes more than I ever thought or knew. You want me to be scared of it because you’re scared of everything! But I am so much more than you.
French:
M. : Le Cybérium vit en moi désormais, Docteur. J’attendais votre réaction avec tant d’impatience ! Je le sens couler en moi, ses informations, sa stratégie, sa conscience… C’est magnifique. Regardez-nous. Je vous ai brisé, Docteur. J’ai créé une nouvelle espèce. Et maintenant, je peux conquérir ce que je veux.
D. : Vous croyez que m’avez brisée ? Il va falloir faire mieux que ça. Vous m’avez fait un super cadeau. Et ce cadeau, c’est moi-même ! Vous pensiez pouvoir me détruire ? Vous pensiez pouvoir m’affaiblir ? Au contraire, ça m’a rendue plus forte ! En réalité, je me suis aperçue que je suis bien plus que ce que je croyais, ou ne savais ! Vous vouliez me faire peur, parce que vous-même, vous avez peur de tout ! Mais en fait, je vaux tellement plus que vous.
Analysis:
Sentence 1 : The Master
Original version: Well, now I shall conquer… everything.
French translation: Et maintenant, je peux conquérir ce que je veux.
French translation in English: And now, I can conquer whatever I want.
Okay, so I’ll start with the Master’s dialogue. What stuck out to me when I read this sentence is that the original version is a very simple sentence to translate in French; there are no metaphors, no weird semantics, the structure and the meaning are clear, yet! The translators still chose to bring a tiny little twist into it, which changes a bit the meaning to a French viewer, and I was very curious why. Indeed, “I can conquer whatever I want” brings focus back on the Master as the threat, whereas in the English dialogue, the emphasis is put on the victim (the universe) being at risk. The focus of the sentence encompasses the “whole” of what is threatened, but not the threatener himself. In the French version, the Master’s desire becomes the active threat. The shift is brought not to the consequences, but to his participation, his involvement in the threat. The translators made the choice to bring the Master forward as the villain in the French dubbing, to emphasize just how dangerous he is for the rest of the universe instead of what his success could mean for the rest of the universe. It’s very interesting! Another thing is that the translators chose this sentence to facilitate the lip-syncing in French. Dialogues are often reworked in other languages with sentences that fit better the original movements of the mouth of an actor, to avoid reworking the footage again and again. The goal is to give a natural impression, that the actor is already speaking in the language the viewer is listening to. “ce que je veux” could fit the Master’s own movements, and so maybe the translators focused on this solution rather than another.
Sentence 2: The Doctor
Original version: You think that makes me lesser? It makes me more.
French translation: Vous pensiez pouvoir m’affaiblir ? Au contraire, ça m’a rendue plus forte
French translation in English : You thought it would weaken me? On the opposite, it made me stronger!
This one is a good example of which terms are unable to get across in another language because of the barrier. The concept of “less” and “more” exist in French but not in the abstract sense they can have in English, and especially no the one the Doctor is using here. The closest the translators could get to was “weaken” and “stronger,” which, although more generic, give the idea of a more classic hero vs villain fight. In English, the Doctor is speaking in a “philosophical” way, about her character, what makes her who she is and why, whereas in French, the emphasis is put on her willingness to fight. The moment is turned into an empowering sequence, and I think that’s a really good idea the translators used!
Sentence 3: The Doctor and her lives
Original version: I contain multitudes more than I ever thought or knew.
French translation: En réalité, je me suis aperçue que je suis bien plus que ce que je croyais, ou ne savais !
French translation in English: I’ve actually realized I am much more than I ever thought or knew!
Now I’m not a fan of this one. I thought the original version was nice because it showed just how richer those unknown lives had made the Doctor, but the meaning is sadly lost in French. The translators used a translating technique, “l’étoffement,” which is used to flesh out a sentence when the meaning is judged too hard to get in the other language without some explanation. The result here is not bad, but in my opinion it becomes more generic, and doesn’t emphasize enough the fact that the Doctor has lived multiple lives and is proud of it, that she has grown from learning this. The viewer will remember that she is strong, yes, but maybe not the multiple unseen experiences she is willing to embrace in order to reach that strength.
Sentence 4: The Doctor and her worth
Original version: But I am so much more than you.
French translation: Mais en fait je vaux tellement plus que vous.
French translation in English: But it turns out I’m worth so much more than you.
Now this one is very, very interesting. Just like the Master’s first dialogue, this sentence is very simple to translate. In French, it should give this: “Je suis tellement plus que vous.” The meaning is exactly the same, nothing is lost for the viewer, but the translators chose a completely different route!
In my first post, I discussed how the Doctor is objectified by the Master in the French dubbing. He reduces her to an object he can easily possess. What’s interesting here is that the Doctor voluntarily objectifies herself in that sentence: she spins the focus on her value as the Timeless Child, not as who she is, a living being, the Doctor. At first, it could be odd to think that she would willingly do this, but on the opposite, it’s very clever! She weaponizes his own view of her and turns it against him: she may reduce herself as an object, but she highlights how much better she is than him, even as an object. She increases her own “value” while subtly demeaning his own. It’s very harsh, insulting, and it cuts straight to the point. She plays right into the objectification, which maintains coherency with the Master’s view of her in French, and keeps their dynamic going! That also makes the Doctor more ruthless, perhaps, in the eyes of a French viewer. She doesn’t hesitate to twist the knife right where she knows it will hurt, and thanks to Sacha’s incredible acting after this (almost tearing up, unable to answer), the insult is very believable. I think it’s also a nice way of showing the Master’s deep insecurities, which may be sometimes difficult to get with foreign dubbing.
There it is, another post! I hope this was clear enough to read, thank you for reading!!
Here's the link to part 1 if you're interested for more!
P.S. i don't want to see any negativity about the era in the tags. leave that to yourself please
[id: digital painting of the thirteenth doctor. she's floating in space, surrounded by various stars and planets. her eyes are glowing yellow, with ornate golden fire-like light emanating from them. there's a bright orange galaxy behind her, that at the same time might be regeneration energy. /end id]
Still yearning for a scene where the Master crashes out in pure jealousy after he discovers the Doctor is in love with Yasmin Khan a mere HUMAN who is BENEATH HIM but whom the Doctor loves SO MUCH MORE
