Spanish
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EL DOCTOR MISTERIO
To Latin American audiences, Doctor Who is known as El Dr/Doctor Misterio (Dr Mystery) (El is Spanish for "The", the definitive article.)
In the newspapers, the programme was billed as Dr Who, El Dr Misterio or just Dr Misterio. (According to the 1983 Radio Times 20th Anniversary Special, some Latin American countries knew the series as Dr Insolito (Dr Strange), but we have found no evidence of the series having ever been called this in Spanish-language countries.)
WILLIAM HARTNELL
Twelve of the first seventeen William Hartnell stories, comprising 56 episodes, were dubbed into Spanish and sold to Latin American countries. Some of the Spanish titles assigned to the episodes differed from the English titles; those that varied significantly are noted:
| Title | Spanish | Variant Translation |
|---|---|---|
| An Unearthly Child | ||
| An Unearthly Child | Senorita Sistema Solar | Miss Solar System |
| The Cave of Skulls | La Caverna de las Calaveras | |
| The Forest of Fear | La Selva del Terreno | The Forest of the Land |
| The Firemaker | El que Sabe Hacer Fuego | The One Who Makes Fire |
| The Daleks | ||
| The Dead Planet | El Planeta Muerto | |
| The Survivors | Los Sobrevivientes | |
| The Escape | La Huida | |
| The Ambush | La Emboscada | |
| The Expedition | La Expedición | |
| The Ordeal | El Ataque | The Attack |
| The Rescue | El Rescate | |
| Inside the Spaceship | ||
| The Edge of Destruction | La Edad de la Destrucción | The Age of Destruction |
| The Brink of Disaster | Al Borde del Desastre | At the Border of Disaster |
| The Keys of Marinus | ||
| The Sea of Death | El Mar de la Muetre | |
| The Velvet Web | La Trampa de Terciopelo | The Trap of Velvet |
| The Screaming Jungle | La Selva de los Gritos | The Forest of Shouts / Screams |
| The Snows of Terror | Las Nieves del Terror | |
| Sentence of Death | Sentencia de Muerte | |
| The Keys of Marinus | Los Micro Circuitos de Marino | The Microcircuits of Marinus |
| The Aztecs | ||
| The Temple of Evil | El Templo del Mal | |
| The Warriors of Death | Los Guerreros de la Muerte | |
| The Bride of Sacrifice | La Novia del Sacrifício | |
| The Day of Darkness | El Día de la Obscuridad | |
| The Sensorites | ||
| Strangers in Space | Extraños en el Espacio | |
| The Unwilling Warriors | Guerreros Involuntarios | Involuntary Warriors |
| Hidden Danger | Peligro Oculto | |
| A Race Against Death | Carrera Contra la Muerte | |
| Kidnap | Secuestro | |
| A Desperate Venture | Una Aventura Despesperada | |
| Planet of Giants | ||
| Planet of Giants | Un Planeta de Gigantes | |
| Dangerous Journey | Jornada Peligrosa | |
| Crisis | Crisis | |
| The Dalek Invasion of Earth | ||
| World's End | El Fin del Mundo | |
| The Daleks | Los Dalekios | |
| Day of Reckoning | El Día del Juicio | The Day of Judgement |
| The End of Tomorrow | El Fin de la Mañana | |
| The Waking Ally | El Vigilante Aliado | The Allied Vigilante |
| Flashpoint | Exterminación | Extermination |
| The Rescue | ||
| The Powerful Enemy | El Poderoso Enemigo | |
| Desperate Measures | Desesperación | Desperation |
| The Web Planet | ||
| The Web Planet | El Planeta Misterioso | The Mysterious Planet |
| The Zarbi | Los Zarbi | |
| Escape to Danger | Escape del Peligro | |
| The Crater of Needles | El Cráter de las Agujas | |
| Invasion | Inserción | |
| The Centre | El Centro | |
| The Space Museum | ||
| The Space Museum | El Museo del Espacio | |
| The Dimensions of Time | Las Dimensiones del Espacio | The Dimensions of Space |
| The Search | La Búsqueda | |
| The Final Phase | La Fase Final | |
| The Chase | ||
| The Executioners | Los Verdugos | |
| The Death of Time | La Muerte del Tiempo | |
| Flight Through Eternity | Vuelo a Traves de la Eternidad | Flight Across Eternity |
| Journey into Terror | Viaje al Terror | |
| The Death of Doctor Who | La Muerte del Doctor Misterio | |
| The Planet of Decision | El Planeta de la Decision |
Five stories were not dubbed into Spanish: Marco Polo, The Reign of Terror, The Romans, The Crusade, and The Time Meddler. One possibility as to why these historicals were not dubbed - but that The Aztecs was – is that the programme purchasers (or maybe the BBC itself?) considered that stories set in 13th century China, revolutionary France, Nero's Rome, Palestine during the Third Crusade and 1066 Northumbria would hold little interest or historical significance to Spanish viewers. The sole historical that was dubbed into Spanish, The Aztecs was, of course, set in Mexico, and therefore had some relevance to Latin Americans.
Interestingly, at the end of the final episode of The Web Planet, the Spanish narrator still gives the title of the next episode as "EL LION", although The Crusade was not dubbed into Spanish.
These stores were sold to the following countries:
BBC Archive Holdings
In late 1976 when the Lively Arts documentary Whose Doctor Who was being researched, the BBC held at least the following prints with Spanish soundtracks:
| K | The Dalek Invasion of Earth | 6 |
| N | The Web Planet | 1-6 |
| Q | The Space Museum | 4 |
By late 1978, only The Web Planet part 6 was still held.
A Spanish print of An Unearthly Child part one surfaced at the BBC in 1978, while Inside the Spaceship part one, and Planet of Giants part three are known to exist in private hands.
Extracts on DVD / Video
- The Spanish soundtrack for The Web Planet part six appears as an alternative language option on the DVD release of that story. Interesting, in the original English, the voice of the Animus is female, but in the Spanish dub, it is male.
.
TOM BAKER
Within a year of Doctor Who taking off in the United States in 1978, the existing Time Life videos of the first 23 Tom Baker stories (98 episodes, complete with Howard da Silva narrations), were dubbed into Spanish for the Latin American market, covering Central and South America.
The first two countries to air these stories were Mexico and Chile; interestingly, the broadcasters of these countries sometimes assigned different titles to the stories:
| Title | Mexico | Chile |
|---|---|---|
| Robot | El Robot / Robot | Muerte de un Robot (Death of a Robot) |
| The Ark in Space | El Arca del Espacio (The Ark of Space) | El Arca Espacial (The Spacial Ark) |
| The Sontaran Experiment | El Experimento del Sontaran | |
| Genesis of the Daleks | El Genesis de los Dalekios | |
| Revenge of the Cybermen | La Venganza del Hombre Cibernetico (Vengeance of the Cybernetic Man) / Los Hombres de Metal (The Men of Metal) | La Venganza de los Hombres Metalicos (Vengeance of the Metal Men) |
| Terror of the Zygons | El Terror de los Sigons | |
| Planet of Evil | El Planeta del Mal | |
| Pyramids of Mars | Las Piramides de Marte | |
| The Android Invasion | La Invasion de los Androides (Invasion of the Androids) | |
| The Brain of Morbius | El Cerebro de Morbius / El Cerebro del Doctor Morbius | |
| The Seeds of Doom | Las Semillas del Mal (The Seeds of Evil) | Las Semillas de la Ruina (The Seeds of Ruin/Decline) / Semillas de Maldad (Seeds of Evil) |
| The Masque of Mandragora | La Mascara de Mandragora | |
| The Hand of Fear | La Mano del Miedo | |
| The Deadly Assassin | El Gran Reto del Amo (The Great Challenge of the Master) | |
| The Face of Evil | La Cara del Demonio (The Face of the Demon/Devil) | La Cara del Mal (The Face of Evil) |
| The Robots of Death | El Robot de la Muerte | |
| The Talons of Weng-Chiang | Las Garras de Weng-Chiang | |
| Horror of Fang Rock | Horror en Fang Rock | |
| The Invisible Enemy | El Enimigo Invisible | |
| Image of the Fendahl | La Imagen de los Fendalines | |
| The Sun Makers | Los Forjadores del Sol (The Forgers of the Sun) / Los Hacedores del Sol (The Makers of the Sun) | Los Summakers |
| Underworld | El Mundo Subterraneo | Bajo Mundo |
| The Invasion of Time | La Invasion del Tiempo |
- One of the two Mexican titles for Revenge of the Cybermen is in the singular, whereas the other and the Chilean is in the plural!
- The Chilean title "Los Summakers" could be a printing error, with the English title getting scrambled in the translation (one Chilean paper, El Sur, sometimes did print the English title). However, this 'error' appears in two different newspapers, so it's likely that both papers were supplied with the 'wrong' spelling of the title direct from the broadcaster itself.
Airdates for the following countries are recorded in BroaDWcast:
The following countries are recorded in BBC Records as having bought these Baker serials, however we have not been able to acquire airdates:
- See also THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING MISTERIOS
A number of Baker serials also aired in north west Spain in the late 1980s, but for those broadcasts, they were specially dubbed into the regional language Galician.
