Imagine a world where “Bluey” didn’t know what a dunny or a bin chicken was, or where she sounded more like Skye from Paw Patrol than her true-blue Queenslander self.
It’s indeed awful to imagine, but according to multi-platinum musician Megan Washington, that’s almost what happened when Ludo Studio was trying to work out how to take the beloved show around the world.
“I remember 100 years ago, when I was in the Ludo offices and the question of the day, or the problem of the day was, were they going to have to dub the show into an American accent for American audiences?”
Megan, who plays Bluey’s teacher Calypso, said on an interview with Robin Bailey and Kip Wightman on KIIS 97.3 [Australia radio station].
“It was the true question of the day: ‘How are we going to deal with this? What’s going to happen?”
In the end, the idea of dubbing “Bluey” was impossible; removing the accents can’t erase the inherent Australian-ness of the show.
Megan said she was impressed with the decision not to dub.
AP
“Just the way they were able to stick to their guns and now there’s like American kids that say ‘dunny’ and ‘bin chicken’.”
“Bluey” was going to be dubbed for American kids
Megan said in the end, the creators were more interested in preserving the true spirit of “Bluey” rather than turning it into something that was a guaranteed international money-maker.
And it seems staying true to “Bluey” was exactly what makes “Bluey” one of the most popular shows in America and the UK.
ABC Australia
“The biggest sort of takeaway creatively has been just how inspiring it is that they’ve stuck to that idiosyncrasy, and they’ve really maintained the identity and the very unique character of the show,” Megan said.
Megan Washington records “Bluey” before going into labour
For many reasons, “Bluey” is close to Megan’s heart, not least because recording the voice of Calypso was the last thing she did before going into labor with her son Amos.
“So I came to “Bluey” because I’ve got a friend called Daley Pearson, who’s one of the producers at Ludo, and so he texts me in 2018 and said, ‘We’d love you to do the voice of this thing,’ and I was actually very heavily pregnant with my son and about to have him.
AP
“So it was like 15 minutes in the booth, and that was actually the last thing I did before I went to hospital to have him. It was literally like I went from the voice booth to the hospital.”
Megan Washington son recognises mum’s voice on Bluey
In April, Megan told Today Extra that being part of “Bluey” has been life-changing for her, but for her son, it’s nothing special.
“When he was really young, about 18 months old, he was watching and episode and he sort of clocked that it was me and he looked straight at my husband, Nick and said, ‘What’s your dog?’.”
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