TMBTM said:
I'm french and I must say that the dubbing of the original trilogy, except the various, but subtle, changes of names between Ep 4 and the rest of the saga, is GREAT. I guess some of you listening to Francis Lax dubbing Harrison Ford would not agree with me (because it makes Han's voice sound more high peached), but for a french audience who grew up in the 80's it is an iconic voice. I must say that I still almost prefer the french version over the original, surely part because of a nostalgia factor, but not only.
Funny thing is that one thing that I hated in the PT is that they finally called C-3PO by his "original" name instead of Z-6PO in the OT. I think 6PO sounds way better in french that 3PO and sounds more, well, like 3PO in english, if I make myself clear! Let's say that in the 80's people who made the dubbing had a LOT of time to make the voices "their own". They tried different things, that could end being a bit too far from the original source for american fans BUT that could better suits the foreign audience. Today dubbing actors can't change one line of dialogue (by contract) to better match the lips movement like they did before and they have just some days to make their job at best when they had weeks in the 80's. I talked with the guy dubbing Bruce Willis in french (Patrick Poivey) and he strongly agreed with me to say that today's dubbing are not at the same level than before.
I think I can understand you. Here in Germany, the old Bud Spencer films have a huge cult following, and I bet that's also because of the excellent and very funny dubbing by Wolfgang Hess. It would definitely feel "wrong" if I watched them in English or Italian (which I don't understand well enough anyway).
An extreme example of dubbing gone crazy (in a positive way) are the Bill & Ted movies. I've never seen anything like the German dub for these movies. I don't know what the guys who did the dubbing were smoking, but they even inserted (funny) jokes where there are none in the English version.
As for Star Wars, I am glad the German dub is so close to the original. That made it easier to "switch" to the English version. The German Luke even has the same slightly whiny tone in his voice as the English one.