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Author Topic: Bleep  (Read 3867 times)

Snowth Woogle

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Bleep
« on: October 10, 2012, 04:51:41 pm »
This is one of my favorite episodes, because I see it on a level of unintentionally funny... I mean, for a little kiddie show to suddenly have an episode where you're constantly hearing bleeping throughout... that doesn't happen very often.

Now then, at the risk of sounding overly curious, has anyone else besides me wondered just what exactly the word was that D.W. learned? I know at least some people who have seen the episode have tried to figure it out, but what makes it difficult is of course D.W. doesn't know what she's saying or what it means (nor do any of the other little kids who end up learning it from her and the Tibbles), so the context of the word's use constantly changes throughout the story.

I personally have at least a couple of theories, but I don't know what kind of censorship rules Hubert has implemented here, so I'll exercize some descretion: considering the word obviously has two syllables, since those who say it move their mouths twice when they say it, my thinking is that it's either a certain D-word accompanied by "it", considering the teenager's reaction to his mom not letting him go to the concert... but also, considering Mrs. Read gives D.W. the explanation that swear words mean "I WANT to hurt your feelings", my other theory is perhaps the word is "F-bomb you".

I think I'm looking too deeply into this. ><
I stretch like a snake, and I shimmy and shake, and I bounce like a ball, and I say something cute when you give me a squeeze!

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YoshiWii1

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2012, 08:28:54 pm »
I think it was b****
« Last Edit: October 12, 2012, 02:51:09 pm by Muppetfan »
Arthur: I told you...NOT TO TOUCH IT!!! Captain Falcon: Falcon Punch! Terry Bogard: Are you okay!? Buster Wolf!

Muppetfan

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2012, 02:55:03 pm »
(Please note that I edited the above post to cover up the word a bit more, so that people who want to still know what word it is, yet so much of it isn't exposed)

I think it was b****

The thing is, as Snowth said, the characters move their mouths twice when saying it, meaning that it has got to be either a two syllable word, or, as said, possibly a swear with an additional word added on.

Sergeant Slink

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2012, 09:37:23 pm »
I would say that in reality it is not a specific word. The constant changing of context and the number of syllables is to just so that you can't actually figure out for sure what they are saying *shrugs*
Buster: "Hey fresh dudes, mind if we chill your crib?"
Slink: "WHAT?!?"
Buster: "Me and my homefry here wanna be in your possum, I mean, posse!"
Toby: "What's he trying to say?"

Muppetfan

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2012, 01:12:57 pm »
Well, the changing of context is due to the fact that it was trying to be simulated that the only people saying the word didn't know exactly how it was to be used.

Sergeant Slink

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2012, 02:02:43 pm »
Yeah, but that doesn't mean they had a particular word in mind when writing the episode. I think you guys are reading too much into it  :-\
Buster: "Hey fresh dudes, mind if we chill your crib?"
Slink: "WHAT?!?"
Buster: "Me and my homefry here wanna be in your possum, I mean, posse!"
Toby: "What's he trying to say?"

Muppetfan

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2012, 03:49:10 pm »
Right, I get that they may not have had a particular word in mind. I'm just noting that the change of context was due to preschoolers saying it, whereas the impression you gave me in your led me to believe that you thought they changed the context so know one could figure out what it was.

MCCJ

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2012, 05:30:09 pm »
It's safe to assume we will never find out as it will forever be one of the great mysteries of the Arthur world. I can assume the word starts with an A, but that is the best I can guess at this time.

LovingBeagles

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2013, 03:20:20 am »
If it helps, I read on a Facebook post (a conversation was prompted by some concerned viewers) that the word the voice actors used when talking it out was "chicken"?
Though, if they were going to bleep out the word anyway, why have an actual word to say in place? My guess is to account for an accurate length of time for such a word (as in the word had to be about 1 second or so in length in order for the animation and audio to sync up)

MCCJ

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2013, 05:13:47 pm »
If it helps, I read on a Facebook post (a conversation was prompted by some concerned viewers) that the word the voice actors used when talking it out was "chicken"?
Though, if they were going to bleep out the word anyway, why have an actual word to say in place? My guess is to account for an accurate length of time for such a word (as in the word had to be about 1 second or so in length in order for the animation and audio to sync up)

If it's chicken that's kind of ironic. That word has been used several times in the show and we never hear the bleep. :P

Snowth Woogle

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2013, 11:10:55 pm »
Maybe Earwig can share some insight with us on this.

In a way, it may make some sense: I don't know of the ages of some of the kids who were supplying voices at the time, but I suppose in the best interest of everyone involved, it probably would have been a smart move to have the child actors say a random, innocent word that would later be bleeped, as opposed to actually having them say a swear/curse word.
I stretch like a snake, and I shimmy and shake, and I bounce like a ball, and I say something cute when you give me a squeeze!

Mr. Rocketburn

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2013, 11:49:29 pm »
If it helps, I read on a Facebook post (a conversation was prompted by some concerned viewers) that the word the voice actors used when talking it out was "chicken"?
Though, if they were going to bleep out the word anyway, why have an actual word to say in place? My guess is to account for an accurate length of time for such a word (as in the word had to be about 1 second or so in length in order for the animation and audio to sync up)

If it's chicken that's kind of ironic. That word has been used several times in the show and we never hear the bleep. :P

"Now everybody can enjoy my tasty tender (bleep) made with real (bleep) flavor! Ain't that right, Funky (bleep)?"

 :D

LovingBeagles

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #12 on: April 10, 2013, 12:50:25 pm »
If it helps, I read on a Facebook post (a conversation was prompted by some concerned viewers) that the word the voice actors used when talking it out was "chicken"?
Though, if they were going to bleep out the word anyway, why have an actual word to say in place? My guess is to account for an accurate length of time for such a word (as in the word had to be about 1 second or so in length in order for the animation and audio to sync up)

If it's chicken that's kind of ironic. That word has been used several times in the show and we never hear the bleep. :P

"Now everybody can enjoy my tasty tender (bleep) made with real (bleep) flavor! Ain't that right, Funky (bleep)?"

 :D

Good one, made me laugh a bit.

Snowth Woogle

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2013, 03:56:18 pm »
See what you guys made me do?

I stretch like a snake, and I shimmy and shake, and I bounce like a ball, and I say something cute when you give me a squeeze!

Earwig

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Re: Bleep
« Reply #14 on: May 12, 2013, 11:43:23 am »
There was a specific word in the script that was used for the recording. The word was chicken but could have been many other words that would have achieved the same result.

 It was supposed to be "**** off" and "chicken" gave the same mouth positions in animation. In animation the dialog is recorded before animation and it was animated in a non English speaking country. Korea in this case.
The process is like this. Write the script and record the dialog. The storyboard artist is told that the word "chicken" actually means '**** you" in this show so they aren't confused.

Then the voice recording is broken down phonetically frame by frame on the animation exposure sheet. An animator in Montreal that speaks English assigns one of 6 mouth positions for every frame of the show based  on the phonetic breakdown. THE six mouth positions are numbered A,B,C,D,E,F.
' A ' being a closed mouth for "m" , "b", "p" sounds, B mouth for most consants, C mouth for most vowels except "00" and "OA" sounds  and 'F' is for "oo" or "r" sounds. 

In this case to say "**** off" you would use the mouths in the sequence  B,C,B,C,B. Also to say "chicken" you would use B,C,B,C,B.

When the Korean animator does his animation he follows the appropriate mouth position that is written on the exposure sheet by the Montreal animator and  that he gets the correct mouth position from the model sheet. The animator doesn't even need to know the meaning of the words.

It's the same mouth system used at Hanna Baraberra starting from the Flintstones era. Some animation uses a different system that has  2 extra mouths to make a sound "LLL" and one for the "V" and "F" sounds. Arthur uses the 6 mouth system not the 8 mouth system. If Arthur used the 8 mouth system there would have been different mouth positions on the "f" sounds.

We could have just used the word '**** off' in the recording since we were going to bleep it anyway but then the script and the recording would have have the swear word in it, and that would have made the clients WGBH  and Marc Brown too nervous during the process.