El Chavo (live-action TV series)

***El Chavo del Ocho*** or simply ***El Chavo***, is a Mexican series created, shot, directed and starring Roberto Gómez Bolaños (known as Chespirito), produced by Televisa, that aired on Canal 8 from February 27, 1973 to January 7, 1980.

El Chavo is the most watched comedy series in history in Spanish-speaking countries, which has been very popular among adults and children for decades. The series focuses on the vicissitudes of El Chavo, an 8-year-old orphan boy who lives in a neighborhood in Mexico City, and shares with many neighbors, each with their own characteristics, including his best friend and rival Quico, a spoiled child, and a bit selfish and cocky; his ladina friend Chilindrina and his father Don Ramón, a charismatic man with a good heart, but with an explosive character; Quico's mother, Doña Florinda, a grumpy widow who is always angry; and Profesor Jirafales, the teacher at the children's school, who is in love with Doña Florinda. There is also Señor Barriga, the owner of the neighborhood, who is often teased by the children for being very fat, and always suffers the blows that El Chavo gives him, which are always by accident, and not on purpose.

The peculiar characteristics of each character cause misunderstandings to break out between them, which are very funny. Although they always argue and fight with each other, there is always a common brotherly feeling.

## إل شافو ديل أوتشو

### Status

**Existence Unconfirmed**

***إل شافو ديل أوتشو***, is an alleged Arabic dub of El Chavo. Various media outlets over time have pointed out that the series has supposedly been dubbed into 50 languages, something that has never been proven, and is only an urban legend. The first time this data appeared was in the Mexican newspaper Excelsior, on June 19, 2011. This claim has been pointed out by major Hispanic media outlets such as Univision, and is even mentioned on the Spanish Wikipedia. Likewise, supposed dubs are mentioned, which will be mentioned in the following sections.

Some time ago, a now deleted video of the alleged Arabic intro was uploaded to YouTube, but this was a very coarse fake video, which only had the Arabic song from Spacetoon's *Tom and Jerry Kids* in the background. Since in Latin America, this Arabic dub is unknown to the majority, many people took this video for real at first, but later the fake was discovered. Nevertheless, on YouTube there is a very strange version subtitled in Arabic. It is unknown if this version is real, and it is most likely a fan edit.

### Greek

??
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### Status

**Non-Existence Confirmed**

In media such as the aforementioned, it is alleged that the series was broadcast in Greece. This is false, since there is no mention of this ancient series on any Greek website.

## Cecco della BotteUn'autentica peste

### Year(s)

1980s

*See more on The Dubbing Database and Lost Media en Español*
***Cecco della Botte*** or ***Un'autentica peste*** is the Italian dub of El Chavo. It was broadcast in Italy in the 1980s. First, it was broadcast locally on Lombardy Channel 3 (currently Antennatre), and later nationally, through the now-defunct Rete A channel.

Unlike other dubs, its existence has been fully confirmed. For a long time, a large part of this dubbing was lost, having discovered only loose scenes recorded from the last channel that broadcast it, the missing Rete A. During the last days of 2022, and the beginning of 2023, the YouTube channel Roxanthony uploaded a considerable number of episodes of this dub, being mainly from the 1974 and 1975 seasons, being the first time that these complete episodes appeared on the Internet.

During the last days of 2022, and the beginning of 2023, the YouTube channel Roxanthony uploaded a considerable number of episodes of this dubbing, being the first time that these complete episodes have come to light. By March 2023, 29 complete episodes have been published, plus another 3, which have been found only partially, or almost completely; In addition, the existence of another 17 that have not yet been published has been confirmed. In total, are 49 confirmed episodes, mainly from the 1973, 1974 and 1975 seasons.

#### External links

* El Chavo italian dub - Download Episodes (MEGA)
* El Chavo italian dub - Dowload Episodes (Google Drive)

#### Videos

Sigla iniziale e finale Un'autentica pesteItalian Intro & Credits.

## 8のチャボ

### Status

**Existence Unconfirmed**

***8のチャボ***, is an alleged Japanese dub of El Chavo. This "dub" managed to go viral in the 2000s, when the alleged Japanese dub was uploaded to YouTube and various sites, but it was a fandub made by a Brazilian fan. Subsequently, other similar videos were uploaded again, which were fandubs made by another Brazilian fan with Asian features, possibly Japanese, or an Asian user who simply speaks the language.

However, as can be seen on sites like Japanese Wikipedia, the series has its own translated title. In addition, the series is mentioned in Japanese parody pages, such as Ansaikuropedia (Japanese version of Uncyclopedia), where it is pointed out repeatedly as a gag: *it's a very popular series, but in Japan it is not known at all*. Also, repeatedly, the same wikipedia page has been edited adding data about alleged seiyus who expressed themselves in the dub, and alleged channels that broadcast the "dub", such as WOWOW, or TV Tokyo, the same ones that have been deleted. by users for being data lacking proof, or clearly invented. However, nothing is known about the veracity of this dub, although unlike previous cases, this one is at least not ruled out.

In 2019, an alleged Japanese opening theme song was uploaded to YouTube. This includes translated credits. The veracity of this video is doubtful, and it is possible that it is, again, just a fandub.

## 엘 차보 델 오초

### Status

**Non-Existence Confirmed**

***엘 차보 델 오초***, is an alleged korean dub of El Chavo. Various media outlets over time have pointed out that the series has supposedly been dubbed into 50 languages, something that has never been proven, and is only an urban legend.

On the Korean Wikipedia, there is an article on this series, which points out data that would confirm the "existence" of this Korean dub, noting that: *"In Korea, it was broadcast for the first time in 1984 on MBC, SBS and EBS with a total 290 episodes. Then, in 1996, the show was redubbed on Tooniverse."* These mentioned data are hard to believe, since they seem clearly made up. Interestingly, the IP that added this data is not from Latin America, but from the Philippines, which makes things much weirder (although, the IP was probably changed on purpose). Until recently, a video, now deleted, of the alleged Korean intro with translated credits had also been uploaded, which may have been false.

Given the lack of information, the existence of this dub can be ruled out. Curiously, in South Korea DVDs of the series was sold and auctioned on pages like Interpark, despite the fact that today it is illegal. This is a DVD that is distributed in the USA, which presumably came with the subtitled version of the series. The DVD sold for ₩20,900 (approximately US$17). Given that it is no longer sold, when the stock runs out, today it is difficult to know how real that DVD was, since it could have been a scam.

### Mandarin (China)

??
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### Status

**Non-Existence Confirmed**

In media such as the aforementioned, it is alleged that the series was broadcast in China. This is false, since there is no mention of this ancient series on any Chinese website. The same websites (deleted and inaccessible today, and the aforementioned Univision site) also mention that the series was rebroadcast in China recently, but there is no information about this, so it is only speculation. The first product that came to this area of Asia, and that has its Chinese Mandarin dub, is the animated series based on the character, which was broadcast on CCTV-14.

## Chaves

### Year(s)

1984-2020

*See more on The Dubbing Database, and The list of Chaves episodes, in Fórum Chaves*
***Chaves*** is the Brazilian Portuguese dub of El Chavo. This dubbing has a history of more than 30 years, in which various chapters have been dubbed over time, many of them more than once. It is one of the dubbings most loved by the Brazilian public, being the main reason for the enormous success that the Mexican series had in the South American country. Outside of Brazil, the series was broadcast on the Portuguese-speaking channel TLN Network, from Televisa, in Angola and Mozambique.

During its more than 30 years of uninterrupted broadcast, the series has had several redubs, this because episodes have been lost in this dub for various reasons: From Mexico, the complete series was never sold at once, but packs with random episodes were sold, which were repeated many times. These are called "lotes" in Brazil, and they are considered to be 4: the 1984 (original), the 1988, the 1990, and the 1992 dubs. Many dubs of these episodes in these packs today are lost-media, and others were broadcast once or a few times in the 1980s and 1990s. Others would already be re-released in the 2010s, as "unpublished chapters".

Added to the above, SBT (the channel that broadcast the series for the longest years), issued or presumably lost several chapters. It is pointed out that many of them were lost because the tapes that contained them have technical problems, although there are several that were omitted on purpose, because they were episodes with repeated plots and scripts, with only a few changes (something common in Chespirito's television series). Many of these chapters would be broadcast in Multishow with another dub, making the original dub of these a complete mystery.

The search for these lost episodes has been going on for almost two decades, and all the information we have is thanks to a large number of Brazilian fans who have been eagerly searching for it for years. As additional information, the series in its original version in Spanish also has episodes that are lost-media, which, ironically, exist today in its Brazilian dub only.

#### Videos

EPISÓDIOS PERDIDOS- UMA HISTÓRIA - DocumentárioDocumentary in Portuguese, made by the Chespirito fan club in Brazil, from the Fórum Chaves website, which explains in detail the matter of the lost episodes of the series, and its unpublished or lost dub. Edgar Vivar, one of the actors of the original cast in Spanish, even participates in this documentary.O QUE SÃO os EPISÓDIOS PERDIDOS de CHAVES?Explanatory video of the Brazilian channel "Vila do Chaves", which summarizes the history of Brazilian dub, and talks about the lost dub.

### Thai

??
--

### Status

**Non-Existence Confirmed**

In media such as the aforementioned, it is alleged that the series was broadcast in Thailand. This is false, since there is no mention of this ancient series on any Thailand website. Interestingly, when looking for this translated name in Thai (เอล ชาโว เดล โอโช), it is often confused with the nickname of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who has a similar nickname: "Chapo".

## References

1. ↑ https://www.excelsior.com.mx/node/745890
2. ↑ https://www.univision.com/noticias/noticias-de-mexico/el-chavo-del-ocho-su-conquista-por-el-mundo-en-otros-idiomas
*"This show has been dubbed into more than 50 languages and has been seen in countries as far away as China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Morocco, Greece and Angola. Currently, the show is shown in 20 countries, including China, Russia, India and Italy."*
3. ↑ https://youtu.be/F2pDQ9LXMzo
4. ↑ https://youtu.be/iJuXKdybp\_o
5. ↑ https://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm31239236
6. ↑ https://youtu.be/VmcL5-H65b8
7. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%83%81%E3%83%A7
8. ↑ https://ansaikuropedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%83%81%E3%83%A7
9. ↑ https://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AA%E3%83%81%E3%83%A7&diff=prev&oldid=74164952
10. ↑ https://youtu.be/mKkfgxDmu2g
11. ↑ https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%97%98\_%EC%B0%A8%EB%B3%B4\_%EB%8D%B8\_%EC%98%A4%EC%B4%88
12. ↑ https://book.interpark.com/product/BookDisplay.do?\_method=detail&sc.saNo=001&sc.prdNo=241697391&product2020=true
13. ↑ https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/TLN\_Network
14. ↑ https://youtu.be/mx6QL2UBrlk
15. ↑ https://www.google.com/search?q=%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A5+%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%A7+%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%A5+%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%AD%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%8A&rlz=1C1CHBF\_esCL979CL979&sxsrf=AJOqlzUW7AFwM3MW7VV3h3MjW26XYDC0Ng:1673357479576&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj32Juxjr38AhWxH7kGHQiGBCwQ\_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1280&bih=577&dpr=1.5