Space-Time Detective Genshi-Kun/Flint the Time Detective Episode 8: Sphin’s Riddle Sub/Dub Comparison

Plot: The Space-Time Monster, Sphin, is in ancient Egypt under TP Lady’s control. She has taken over as queen with a legion of slaves who have been brainwashed by Sphin. He possesses the power to put anyone under mind control if they fail to solve his riddle. Genshi winds up under Sphin’s spell after failing a riddle. Tokio and Sora have been fighting lately, but can they come together to save Genshi and Sphin?

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Title Change: Sphin’s Riddle is changed to Lynx.

The first shot of the episode was originally a panned still shot of the sphinx in Egypt. In the dub, it’s replaced with an outer shot of the research facility.

Sora was explaining (and basically foreshadowing) how legend states that the sphinx would posit difficult puzzles to wandering travelers, and how the sphinx and pyramids were symbols of the power of the pharaoh. In the dub, Sarah basically just explains what the statue of the sphinx is and that it dates back to over 2500 BC.

Tokio originally just wants Sora to help him with his research paper whereas Tony wants her to copy her own work and give it to him. Yeah I’m so sure the teacher wouldn’t notice that.

Sora tells Tokio that, if he can’t even do his own homework, he’ll never be a Time Detective. In the dub, she tells him that she refuses to cheat.

Then Tokio tells Sora that she’s making too big a deal out of it, since he could do his homework just fine if he wanted. Sora argues that he can’t do anything on his own, and they pout. In the dub, Tony whines that he thought he and Sarah were a team (and thus she should feel obligated to let him cheat?) Sarah argues that they are a team, but being a team means he has to do some work too. Tony argues that he is doing his best, but she’s always hogging the computer. Sarah retorts by saying he’ll never be a Time Detective without her. Uh, yeah, Tony’s argument doesn’t really stand up. 1) He’s not doing his best if he’s not even trying to do his work and is just asking her to cheat for him and 2) she was done with the computer – he could have done his work then.

They splice in a closeup shot of Jillian between when Flint and the others pop up but before she introduces Lynx.

Name Change: Sphin is changed to Lynx.

The original specifies that they’re going to Giza, which the dub omits, but then the dub adds that they’re going to 323 BC, which wasn’t specified in the original – they just said ‘ancient Egypt.’

When they arrive in Egypt, we see a closeup of the sphinx, which has now been altered. In the dub, we get the panning shot of Egypt that was removed before, only this time it’s reversed.

Likewise, Tokio asks what’s up with the sphinx but Tony just says he senses something weird.

TP Lady points out how she altered the sphinx to look….like her I guess? I really don’t get what they did to the sphinx. It does obviously look wrong, but it doesn’t really look like TP Lady.

In the dub, she just goes on about how she’s more beautiful than that ‘hag’ Cleopatra.

Despite the dub not mentioning the changes made to the sphinx, they decide to leave in that TP Lady wants to also put her face on a pyramid (to help the masked dude find her faster) but the way they wrote it is weird. She, again, wants to sleight Cleopatra and says she’s going to carve HER face into a pyramid, acting like Cleopatra either had her face carved into the sphinx and she’s trying to one-up her (I guess, because the sphinx would obviously draw more attention) or she’s trying to copy something Cleopatra did…..both of which are wrong.

The Great Sphinx of Giza is suggested to emulate the face of the pharaoh, Khafre. While this has been debated a few times, I’ve found no theories suggesting Cleopatra was the model for the sphinx head. In fact, she was born way, way, way beyond when the sphinx would have been created (She was born in 69 BC and the sphinx has been estimated to have been created sometime in the 2500’s BC) – and archaeologists have even been debating the age of the sphinx as being much older than originally cited.

There are much smaller sphinx statues, one even depicts female pharaoh, Hatshepsut (For an awesome re-telling of her story, check out Puppet History’s episode on it. It’s a great series as a whole if you like cool stories from history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm9t94mpkjo ) but not a one that depicts Cleopatra.

As for carving her face on a pyramid, as far as I can tell, this is also false. She did have a massive carving of her likeness embedded into the side of the Dendera Temple, but that’s about it. There have been tons of art made in her likeness, including statues and busts, but when it came to glorifying her in massive statues and buildings, there’s not much to discuss. Even her and Antony’s tomb has never been found.

Interestingly, in 1998, a small sphinx was discovered underwater that was said to emulate the features of Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII Auletes, but again, nothing directly about Cleopatra.

In the end, I have no idea why they’re so hung up about Cleopatra at the moment in the dub, especially considering they’re a few hundred years behind her birth, but that’s Saban for ya.

They add in a further shot of the scene after Petra points out that the kids are here, and there’s no dialogue so it’s just a really awkward pause for no reason, and they add a closer shot of Petra talking while she summons Lynx.

Sphin’s name plate is removed.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Also, it is frickin’ adorable that Sphin barks.

Sphin’s little asp thing asks “What’s something that you use when you’re not using it and that you don’t use when you’re using it?” In the dub, it asks what’s everyone in the world is doing at the same time.

The answer is a bath plug. In the dub, the answer is that everyone’s getting older at the same time.

Tokio originally just says they should leave. In the dub, he suggests Lynx ask Pterry a riddle. Wow, so you want Pterry to be enslaved too? Nice, Tony.

Tokio originally tells Sora that she should’ve known about Sphin’s power (….How? Rei gave them nothing but vague clues about it.) then Sora accuses him of the same and they argue. In the dub, Tony pretends like he knew all along about its power, but then Sarah calls out his BS and they argue.

I know Petra was saying “All I wanted was a back rub, but I end up getting stomped by a bucking bronco boy!” But I had to double take when she first said that because I would’ve sworn she said “fucking bronco boy.”

Ya know, considering how strong Genshi is overall and the crazy things Genshi tries to eat, Sora’s arm should be either bleeding profusely, broken or both after being bitten like that. He’s even gnawing on her.

Sphin asks “What kind of bird is always a lonely bird?” In the dub, Lynx asks “What can you catch but not throw?”

In the original, the answer is “One person” or “Hitori” since one person is lonely and “tori” is Japanese for “bird.” In the dub, they insert more talking from Lynx between when he asks the riddle and when Sarah answers. Also, the answer in the dub is a cold, because that is one of the easiest riddles in human history.

Next, the original asks “What is something that will always mirror something else?” In the dub it’s “What runs but has no legs?”

The answer in the original is a mirror. In the dub, it’s a nose.

They do keep the next riddle, more or less “What reflects like a mirror, but never shows itself?” the answer is also kept the same – an echo.

Originally, Kyoichiro was silent when he was miming the echo….because….ya know….that’s how miming works. Also, he’s trying to stay silent so he won’t draw attention to himself. In the dub, he’s making noise and talking, which is stupid because he might as well just say ‘Echo’ outright if he’s going to talk.

We don’t see Kyoichiro vanishing in the original like we do in the dub. I’m to assume they just reversed the footage of him appearing.

Tony: “We’re in big trouble if you muck this one up.” Okay, first of all, stop saying things that sound like you want to say fuck but you can’t. Second of all, big trouble how? Lynx is already basically defeated, and Dino and Mite are of no concern.

Sora’s riddle is kept the same.

They add another shot of Dino and Mite talking before Sarah gives the answer.

The answer to the riddle, “What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?” is a human, but the dub keeps saying ‘man.’ I get that people can interchange ‘man’ with humanity, but in this context, it sounds like Sarah’s saying only men go through these stages.

The man that Petra was laying on was actually cleaning her ears. In the dub, he says “Peel your own grape.” which is weird because what he’s holding is clearly white and fuzzy, not a grape…unless the grape is moldy or something.

Name Change: Waruphin is changed to Lynx-kon.

Name plate removed.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

Does anyone else think Waruphin looks like a sports mascot?

Usually, the abilities of the transformed Space-Time Monster are a more powerful version of the original’s powers, but for some reason Waruphin’s power is to…trap people within itself?

I get that we’re going for a teamwork moral this week, but neither Tokio nor Sora is needed to turn Tanegun from a fossil into its creature form. Ototan can move on his own, and Love-Love was the one who pushed the button.

Ah hey they’ve finally gotten a reinforcement where they don’t immediately bitch about their efforts to help. Good job.

Name Change: Super Tanegun is changed to Bubblegum Master.

Name plate gone.

Subbed:

Dubbed:

They shift TP Lady’s tantrum from after Genshi eats to before.

They insert a shot of Pterry talking before Getalong brings the drumstick for some reason.

Also, again with the ‘we need to feed Genshi so he can fight’ thing.

Originally, Sphin makes a pretty cool almost singing-like sound when he uses his sonic beam. In the dub, he just growls and laughs.

They repeat shots of Genshi talking and Shin reacting after he’s saved.

Originally, TP Lady, Dyna and Mite yell out ‘Spinning’ over and over after Super Tanegun shot at them, but that doesn’t make any sense because they’re not spinning. In the dub, they just scream, which actually fixes this problem.

Oh NOW Love-Love remembers he has powers that literally make people get along. Why bring this thing everywhere if you’re only going to sparsely remember it has that power? Why is he even using it now? Sphin is basically back to normal and is becoming friends with Genshi.

Wait…..are Sora and Tokio actually making up right now or are they just under the effects of Love-Love? The one time they remember to use Love-Love and it’s not only pointless, but it also basically forces the conflict resolution. And even this is pointless because they were bound to make up after all of that.

Again, Tokio asks Sora if she’ll help him do his research paper. In the dub, he asks if she’ll do his homework.

The dub adds an establishing shot of the Land of Time and some old repeat shots of Toki-G before we see the continuing shot of everyone dancing.

Toki-G only wishes he could be with Genshi and the others. Old Timer tells a riddle of his own while saying he should visit Egypt again sometime.

So uhm, important question….is anyone going to bring up that they DESTROYED THE GREAT SPHINX OF GIZA?! Its face is gone and most of it crumbled. Even if the TP Lady part was a big stone mask, the face underneath was completely blank…also the crumbling thing. Geez, reminds me of Dinosaur King where they were destroying ancient Egyptian monuments left and right and no one gave a single shit.

Sora was even writing a paper on it before. If it’s destroyed, then is her paper now wrong?

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Overall, I liked this episode. I love ancient Egypt, and this was a pretty fun plot they had going here…..even if the destruction of the sphinx was quite annoying. I loved Sphin, though more in the original than the dub because he sounds cuter. The aspect of riddles being used as a method of mind control was a neat concept, and it has a very good design, even if its bad transformation form is just weird.

The teamwork part of the story was….admittedly kinda forced. It does make sense for Genshi to be out for a good chunk due to not being smart enough to figure out the answer to the riddle, the kid barely understands words let alone word problems, but he needed to be taken out three times in this episode. Once through mind control, another being trapped in Waruphin’s body and the final one because he was, yet again, hungry. And all to allow Tokio and Sora to take the reigns so they can show that they do need each other.

I was disappointed because I thought we’d finally get some development with Tokio and really understand what he brings to the table as a team member. He’s the one really gunning to be a Space-Time Detective, but as far as I’ve seen he doesn’t really deserve to be anything more than what he is. He’s lazy, he bickers with his sister and he doesn’t have any outwardly useful traits that no one else has.

Sora is clearly the brains of the outfit, and Genshi is the brawn, Putera is more brains on the side of the technical aspects of being a Time Detective, Ototan helps fossilize and de-fossilize Space-Time Monsters and is a usable weapon, Love-Love has a power that would destroy the entire fabric of the series but is poorly utilized, and Tokio’s….what? The helper?

Even though Sora’s role as the brains is definitely highlighted here, what did Tokio do? He helped hold up Ototan, who didn’t need it (he just needed someone to press the button) and he saved Sora from a rock, which was good, but Genshi could have done the same, and Sora was kinda dumb to just stand there waiting to die.

In regards to comparison, this episode didn’t fare that bad. Typical scene swapping fare, name plate removals and some dialogue changes, but nothing too bad.

Overall, still a good episode, but the teamwork aspect could have used more work.

Next time, we head to 19^th century Paris where the Space-Time monster, Horurun, possesses the ability to bring drawings to life. I love the concept of bringing drawings to life, so I look forward to this one.

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