Though, I would translate "belle" as "pretty", not as "little". "Pretty" and "little" have the same amount of syllables, so it shouldn't throw off the rhythm of the translation, and it would provide some word variation, and it would be a more faithful translation.
I didn't translate "belle" exactly, because I was waffling about the appropriateness and the distinction between French and American culture and a whole bunch of stuff, but "pretty" is technically more accurate, yes.
It was more that you can get away with "pretty" in a French song, and less so in an American song which is theoretically about how competent the character is. In the former, it's a standard compliment. In the latter, it's a weakening of the message.
I don't know for sure that she was exactly the star per se, but it seemed that the show was a bit more balanced between herself and Gadget - they both had their own stories.
Gadget was still clearly the protagonist, driving the action and story forward through sheer idiocy, but Penny/Sophie had the roles of detective and MacGyver racing against time firmly wrapped up.
The American version did seem to weight it more towards the action, using Penny only to explain how Gadget managed to not kill himself five times over every episode and how the bad guys always got defeated.
I'm not entirely sure how much of this was cultural, and how much was deliberate on the part of the translators and/or production companies, either.
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I didn't translate "belle" exactly, because I was waffling about the appropriateness and the distinction between French and American culture and a whole bunch of stuff, but "pretty" is technically more accurate, yes.
It was more that you can get away with "pretty" in a French song, and less so in an American song which is theoretically about how competent the character is. In the former, it's a standard compliment. In the latter, it's a weakening of the message.
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Gadget was still clearly the protagonist, driving the action and story forward through sheer idiocy, but Penny/Sophie had the roles of detective and MacGyver racing against time firmly wrapped up.
The American version did seem to weight it more towards the action, using Penny only to explain how Gadget managed to not kill himself five times over every episode and how the bad guys always got defeated.
I'm not entirely sure how much of this was cultural, and how much was deliberate on the part of the translators and/or production companies, either.
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I was surprised some time ago to hear the Inspector Gadget theme as a small piece of melody in an old Jazz classic. Can't remember what it was, now.
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