MovieChat Forums > Les mystérieuses cités d'or (2012) Discussion > Enjoyable, but no Language Barrier is an...

Enjoyable, but no Language Barrier is annoying

posted 4 years ago by warrior-poet (1333)
6 replies | jump to latest

I quite enjoyed this, probably more for nostalgia reasons than anything else, despite it's stylistic changes and less grounded storyline. But first season the protagonists are in China, second season in Japan, and the writers don't even try to explain why they can all understand each other's language? It really bugs me and detracts from it quite a bit. I might have accepted that this is some alternate universe where everyone on Earth speaks the same language, except that they actually mention their various languages a few times. There's no hint that they're studying these complex languages, or that all the Chinese and Japanese people they're meeting can speak Spanish so.... it bugs me. Wish this had been handled differently.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

No-one comments on the "universal translator" aspect of Doctor Who or Star Trek, so why should they here?

[–] warrior-poet (1333) 3 years ago

I beg to differ. Plenty have commented on those exact things long before the internet age, and have created memes about them since. But there's a pretty glaring difference. Those shows use a handwave story mechanism to get past it, yes, but at least they throw something in there. MCOG season 2 didn't even try. They just for some reason had everyone speaking the same language.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

What gets me is what you said and I missed it before:

"But first season the protagonists are in China, second season in Japan"

In the first season, our heroes were in South America. You mean the second and third seasons, surely?

[–] warrior-poet (1333) 3 years ago

Yeah I meant the first season of this sequel series. It actually started over with a season 1 instead of considering it season 2: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2563792/episodes?ref_=tt_ov_epl. Although probably either way would be a legit way to look at it.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I think that's standard practice on IMDb, if a TV show has had no new episodes for so many years, even if it's a continuation when it comes back, they make a new entry as you've highlighted. The same thing happened with Doctor Who.

As for the original topic, I see your point, there should be massive language barriers everywhere with such a mix of nationalities and cultures, but then this is a work of fiction, and I think other stories have also benefited from ignoring this inconvenient fact.

[–] warrior-poet (1333) 3 years ago

You're right, others have done the same thing, which I consider lazy writing. This show in particular is for kids (these two seasons are noticeably less mature, in tone, writing and animation, than the original series), so I can kind of understand why they wouldn't worry as much about it, but on the other hand for a show that seems to have an educational aspect it seems very strange to completely ignore it. There could have easily been a device written in that would allow them to communicate.