Al-Shamshoon
Al-Shamshoon (Arabic: الشمشون) was the Arabic dub of The Simpsons. It first aired in September 2005 and was produced by the Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC). Before the Arab world had an Arabic subtitled version of the English episodes.[1]
Background
It was dubbed in Arabic (with subtitles provided for shots including written English, such as the chalkboards), references to alcohol (Duff Beer and Moe's Tavern), pork (bacon and hot dogs), and numerous other themes have been deleted or significantly modified. For instance, Homer drinks soda-pop instead of beer and eats beef sausages as opposed to pork and all references to Moe's Tavern were cut.[2]
The characters were also given typical Arabic names such as Omar, Mona, Bessa, and Badr for Homer, Marge, Lisa, and Bart respectively as part of the retooling, while voices were provided by leading actors including Egyptian film star Mohamed Henedi as "Omar" and Hanan Tork as Lisa. Their hometown "Springfield" was called "Rabeea" (Arabic for "Spring") and made it look like an American town with a major Arab population. The series did not fare very well and only 34 of the 52 adapted episodes aired.[3]
Amr Hosny served as the writer for the dub.[4]
