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Info Wanted: Sherlock Hound - original dub/HBO 1983 Version

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Hi there,

I’ve been trying to figure out where to ask about this, since finding information about this dub has been a needle in a haystack. I figured this forum might know or might know where to send me to ask!

A long time ago, on DIVX’s level 5 website – if people remember that – an alternate dub of Sherlock Hound appeared which had completely different voices from the rest of the series. The episode that leaked on there was the production order episode #1: A Small Client. I have this. It unfortunately has no opening or closing credits whatsoever.

What I do know is that the version of the episode that showed up on Level5 had a 1982 copyright. Here’s the title screen:

http://i.imgur.com/5stWOK2.png

I’ve been trying to figure out where this episode came from, and my best guess is this:

In 1983 Sherlock Hound aired on HBO very briefly: http://www.theguidearchive.com/info.php?ID=1240

At the time, as far as I know, only about 6 episodes had been completed. Production on the show had been halted in 1981 when there were issues with the Conan Doyle estate. It was around 1984 or 1985 when the show came back.

What I’m trying to figure out is if anyone happens to have old VHS recordings of Sherlock Hound from HBO anywhere, and if they do, if we could see if the dub matches this older-sounding dub OR the more popular one that appears everywhere else. Further, figuring out just how many eps appeared on HBO would be great as well.

If I’m on the wrong track and people have any kind of actual information on the earlier dub IN GENERAL that would be amazing too.

What’s interesting about this dub is that it sounds more authentically British than the one which ultimately came out. I’m keen to hear more of it, if it exists!

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If you're still looking out for more information, count me in as someone else who's been interested in it for a while.

As far as I can tell, however, there was no "true" earlier dub (in that multiple episodes were produced)-- the one you've described is the only episode with these alternate voices that exists. It seems to have aired, as you said, several times on HBO throughout the month of November 1983, always the same episode about counterfeit coins, under the name "The Adventure of Sherlock Hound" (as far as I can tell from various archived TV schedules).

Through searching around, I've found something that seems to confirm this, from a published work called The Anime Encyclopedia (preview can be seen on Google Books): "The first episode also exists in an alternate dub made by TMS for promotional purposes, which showcases more realistic British accents and renames Todd and Smiley as Nigel and Bruce." If this was the case in the version posted online, I believe these two "alternate dubs" were one and the same.

As this episode aired in the US a full year before the show premiered in Japan, it is unlikely that any further episodes of the series were dubbed due to several of the Miyazaki episodes being partially unfinished by then and the remaining episodes probably not even having been produced. The more mainstream dub was completed in 1984-1985, and even that was shortly before the Japanese audio tracks were recorded (apparently the English version was done first, to be used as the basis for most foreign dubs).

I think that's all the information available-- I'd be interested in knowing if your version uses these alternate names.

All that said, your post seems to imply that you still have a copy of the episode. When I found out about the existence of this dub, the original video and an HBO commercial advertising it had long since been removed. Is there any chance you could potentially upload it somewhere for comparison purposes?

I'd personally love to hear this alternate dub-- what little apparently exists of it. I doubt the voice actors' names would be available anywhere due to the lack of credits, but someone could possibly identify them.

EDIT 12/29: Have just viewed a copy of this dub; it is definitely the one mentioned in the encyclopedia. 99% certain it's the only one that was made from that time, then.

It's interesting to hear how a few of the lines are identical to those from the 1984 dub-- I guess whoever was in charge of adapting the scripts used this dub as a basis for some of that episode's dialogue. Can't say I prefer the voice acting, though.