The fourth in my new way of breaking down the individuality and special needs of different shows. This goes beyond simple entrances and exits, and dives a bit more into the nuance and specificity of each program. The Small Screen Diaries are on hiatus, which was more concerned with mentioning everything I had watched with audio description, and this is designed more to directly address specific programming needs, and whether or not those shows are meeting them. Occasionally, a show may not have audio description at all.
Time Bandits (Apple Plus) S1E1 and S1E2
Kevin is an 11 year old history nerd who has his world turned upside down when his wardrobe ends up being a portal through time, and he is introduced to the titular group who are running from the Supreme Being. As this might be his only chance to see history, Kevin takes the leap, joining the Time Bandits on their misadventures as they jump from Stonehenge, to Mayans, and even Prehistoric times. I can’t imagine this show was produced cheaply.
What I Look For In The Audio Description: It’s a comedy, so we are constantly going to be battling that amount of dialogue, but the series is so entrenched in science fiction and history that it would be a mistake not to take full advantage of what were likely difficult set designs, that are used for a short time before the bandits leap again. What would be the point of traveling everywhere from Troy to a Pirate Ship out on the ocean if we don’t get a good description of the historical surroundings? As this is also the premiere of the series, this is where we really look to character introductions. How much are we allowed to know about these characters? this is where you can tell if a series is going to decide if race/ethnicity is important moving forward, or the level of breakdowns we will get. Will people be defined for a multi-episode run by the color of their hair? Who is taller than everyone? Who is hefty? What makes each character unique and different? This is something not only do the audio description writers have to contend with on a visual level, but very much also the actual writers of the show. Making each character feel like they are individuals from the beginning, so later in season 4 when the audio description isn’t telling us anything about their physical looks, we have such strong groundwork already built in. this show also deals a little bit in the unreal, with a supreme being, pure evil, and some demonic characters that have no real basis for us to work off. Sometimes, you can rely on telling someone that a character is a Viking, and your audience has a built in reference for that, but when creatures are created out of thin air, more work has to be done. Lastly, this is a comedy, which does mean the show needs that comedic timing in the audio description. there might be a punchline, and it could be visual, always following those jokes to make sure they land is important. It isn’t the easiest show in the world to describe, but it is so very important when talking about the first episode that you lay substantial groundwork, because we won’t expect character descriptions later in the season, or even in a multiple season run, for characters who were in the pilot.
What It Actually Does: It’s not just an audio description problem, but really also a problem by the writers of the show. The bandits lack distinct personalities iin the way we’ve come to expect from a Taika Waititi show. Star Lisa Kudrow absorbs most of what the bandits do and say, leaving her character and Kevin as series leads above the other (rather small) set of bandits. It would be like doing friends all over again, and only ever really getting to know Phoebe and Joey. the audio description is faced with a conundrum, and accepts the conundrum as an exit strategy. The scene where the bandits are technically first on screen is very involved, and it is easy to take that as a free pass on character introduction description. however, considering we likely will spend seasons with them, we should probably know more about them than their hair color. It’s not that no description at all was given, but defining a character I might spend six seasons with (the length of What We Do In The Shadows, another Taika Waititi show), knowing just hair color is underwhelming. I also felt, for a show likely using a lot of money on these location shoots to recreate many different points in history, all of those descriptions were rather surface level. Either the show is poorly designed, and there was nothing to see, or the show is under describing these historical sets, which are largely the gimmick of the show. What it does do well, is comedic timing. Roy Samuelson’s narration is perfect here, as he is familiar with taika’s rhythm coming off being the narrator of Our Flag Means Death, and all of the punchlines landed, and the jokes timed well. It’s just that we barely know anything about the bandits, or these fantastical locations they want to steal from. there were a few of the fantasy creatures that had some better description, like one character having its face where its stomach is, but we spend less time with Supreme being/Pure Evil/ and the others.
Final Thoughts: I’m a big Taika fan. I don’t think there’s anything of his that just hasn’t worked for me on any level, but this isn’t a great start for him. I know he’s pairing with Jermaine Clement, and perhaps that’s changing it a beat, but this isn’t What we Do in the Shadows, or even Our Flag Means Death. It is currently just a really nice showcase for Lisa Kudrow, and that’s it. The writing for the show needs to develop the other bandits, but my greatest fear is that we’ve missed the opportunity to offer the character descriptions these series regulars so richly deserved by using their first scene as a cop out. If I’m here to celebrate excellence in audio description, this isn’t it. This is simply the functional minimum to get by, sadly narrated by one of my favorite talents.
Land Of Women (Apple Plus) S1E6
And on the other side, we have a season finale. In the finale, everyone has to decide what future they want to choose for themselves, as Gala is presented with an exit option with her treacherous husband, at the same time her friend flies in to sample the wine from the co-op. Has Julia repaired her relationships or will she be anxious to go? As Kate continues to wrestle with the implications that her ex-girlfriend’s father is trying to kill her, she has some big choices to make about her future as well.
What I Look For In The Audio Description: This is a bilingual show, with half of the show being in Spanish, if not more. There are characters who don’t speak any Spanish, and Star Eva Longoria really balances both pretty well. I certainly thought about representation in audio description, and how when we dub, we often end up whitewashing films and television shows. there isn’t a real instant magical fix, except to simply mention that the best way to ensure that representation is happening is in the casting process of these narrators. Yes, the narrators involved here *should* be of Latinx heritage of some kind, instead of hiring a bunch of Caucasian actors or black actors to speak for them. But, as I said, that is a broader representation problem in dubbing, and one that I don’t think can be fixed just here. If I felt that was happening here, i certainly would love to take extra notice of it, but I also can’t hold it against the show as I feel that very few programs do this. but, we do get to have an interesting conversation about dubbing. Some shows recently have tried to pass off one narrator doing everything. that’s cheap. I understand that’s what the producers are willing to pay for, but I refuse to acknowledge audio description for a show done in another language as excellence, when one poor man is tasked with narrating all the action, and doing all male and female voices. Recent examples of this include the Emmy nominated Shogun, which sadly used one narrator for everything, but also cinematically with The Teacher’s lounge, Germany’s Oscar entry last year, whose audio description track is one person doing everything and having conversations that become rather unintelligible as a result. Sometimes, one narrator is able to manipulate their voice, as is the case with Tokyo Vice, which had the narrator trying to find different pitches for different characters, or with This Fool, which has one narrator somehow convincingly sounding like both genders. This series also takes place in a quaint town in Spain, and often with these location based shows or films, where an American goes under the Tuscan sun to find themselves somewhere in Europe, it is very much about the beauty and simplicity of the area around them.Racial definition here is a bit more assumed, since they are openly talking about their heritage, and going back to this area where the mother grew up. In a weird way, this is defaulting, but it is more because the show takes place in Spain. that would leave an interesting opportunity to give specific description of the tiny fraction of the characters who are not of Spanish heritage. there’s a minor amount of action, but mostly this is a fluffy comfort series that would attract people who really loved Eat Pray love.
What It actually Does: So, there is at least one female narrator here. For sure. There are a lot of women, as you might expect in a show called “Land Of Women”, and the primary narrator (a man) also does male dubbing. So, that’s not my favorite thing in the world. but, it is better than some of what we’ve gotten. I’ve seen other content in other languages really go broad in their casting of voice talent for the dubbing, but this at least recognizes that one voice doing all is insane. I’m fairly certain there’s no representation here, but since that rarely happens, I can’t really use that as a negative, but I would love to someday use that as a positive. there has been some pretty decent description of the ensemble and the area they are filming in, giving us a lay of the land. In the final episode, we already know all these characters, so there aren’t any introductions.
Final Thoughts: It isn’t breaking new ground or setting the bar in terms of audio description for a program not entirely in the English language, but to compare it with the most nominated show at this year’s Emmy awards, Shogun, I definitely don’t think we should be sending Hollywood a message that single person narrated programming like that is “excellence”. I’m not sure this is the best audio description of the year, but I’m far more comfortable with this being nominated for an audio description award over Shogun. I don’t think this show is coming anywhere near the Emmy’s, and that just highlights how disappointing cutting corners can e. when a fluffy six episode Eva Longoria show can pay for multiple people, but the sprawling epic and front runner for Best drama Series cannot, we have a problem. And that problem, sadly, is greed mixed with apathy over what blind and visually impaired people really should get as quality audio description that engages them as viewers. I still would love to feel like these narrators weren’t just whitewashing this cast, but I feel that about most films and shows that utilize this.
