Star War The Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West

***Star War The Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West*** often referred to as ***Backstroke of the West*** or ***Backstroke*** is a bootlegged version of *Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith*. The bootleg contains hilarious English subtitles translated poorly from Simplified Chinese and back again. It is highly likely that the broken English is the result of being machine translated from the Chinese script. There are however several lines added that indicate it was not just from a machine translator. For example, "Just as Count Dooku predicted" becomes "Kill these two republics bodyguard" and "Have the protocol droid's mind wiped" becomes "I occupy to walk first Is my wife."

It became the subject of an Internet phenomenon when an American named Jeremy Winterson living in Shanghai, China who purchased a DVD of *Revenge of the Sith* and put up various screenshots from the film on his blog containing the humorously translated subtitles. Amongst the most quoted lines is "Do not want", the translation of Darth Vader's already widely parodied "Noooooo!" at the end of the film, although as the pictures above show, his wife said it first. You can view interviews with Jeremy here and here. They cover how he purchased the DVD, his former blog and other topics. The dub was extremely praised - Patrick Shanley from The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a fan-made masterpiece", while Julia Alexander from Polygon called the dub "hilarious". Derrick Rossignol from Nerdist went so far as to say that the fandub was "way better" than the original film.

As of January 2023, the dub has **10 million views** and **105K likes**!

## Reception

Patrick Shanley from *The Hollywood Reporter* described it as "a fan-made masterpiece", while Julia Alexander from *Polygon* called the dub "hilarious". Derrick Rossignol from *Nerdist* went so far as to say that the fandub was "way better" than the original film.

## Opening Crawl Subtitles

The war came!

The republic encountered

Two squares fight the vehemence

The improbity fills the world

The space general of the alliance is skillful

Kidnap the D the speaker the conduct

The proper abruption alliance troops tries

ratio prosperous drive with the

## Characters

The majority of the characters' names were back-translated from the Chinese transliterations, such as "Dáxī Wéidá" (Darth Vader) meaning "Reaching the west of reaches".

* Padmé Amidala: **The Plum Of** or **The Gets the Rice**
	+ Chinese: One of the characters in Padme's name is most certainly 梅 (*méi* - "plum"). Perhaps it is 帕的梅 (*Pàdeméi* - "the plum of a handkerchief"), though it is unusual to use a grammatical particle like 的 as a phonetic. The normal Chinese transliteration of her name is 帕德梅·艾米达拉 (*Pàdéméi Àimǐdálā*).
* C-3PO: **Blow the Skin**
	+ Chinese: 吹皮欧 (*Chuīpíōu*) - 吹 means "blow", 皮 means "skin", 欧 is a phonetic character used in transliteration.
* Chewbacca: **Drag Along**
	+ Chinese: Normally his name is written as 丘巴卡 (*Qiūbākǎ*) or 丘百卡 (*Qiūbǎikǎ*) but the relationship to "drag along" is uncertain, unless one of the characters used is 拖 (*tuō* - "drag") or its synonym. However, 揪 (*qiū*), which could also have the meaning of "drag", could be a plausible candidate to relate the syllable with the back-translation.
* Count Dooku: **The** (Obi-Wan calls him **Drop** in the mistranslation of "**You won't get away this time, Dooku**", which is translated as "**You this time ran to do not, Drop**"). This is debatable; there is no real solid evidence that this is how his name translated into Chinese and back, although the mistranslation of the beginning scroll ends with "the", while General Grievous' line, "But we lost the", replacing "But... the loss of Count Dooku..." makes this likely. However there is a fundamental problem with this as a proposed back-translation: Mandarin Chinese has no word for "the". 杜库伯爵 (杜库 *Dùkù* 伯爵 *Bójué* - "Count") is how the name is normally written in Chinese.
* General Grievous: **Space General**
	+ Chinese: presumably 太空将军 - "space general". His name in Chinese is variously written as 格里弗斯将军, 葛里维斯将军, or 葛瑞菲斯将军. It is most likely that in the original English-to-Chinese translation, "Grievous" was deemed too hard to translate, and the translator simply invented the name "Space General" instead. Ironically, this would make it one of the only names to be accurately backtranslated. Also Commander Cody was similarly translated to **Commanding Officer**, while Senator Bail Organa is simply called **Senator**.
* Obi-Wan Kenobi: He is called **The Willing to Compares** or **Ratio the Tile** and just **Ratio Tile** throughout the movie, but is also called **Ratio Prosperous** during the opening scroll, General Grievous also calls him **Section Ratio General** before their lightsaber duel on Utapau or the Pimping Mainland, which seems to mean "**General Kenobi**" and Bail Organa calls him "**Section pulls the ratio**", which seems to mean "**Master Kenobi**"
	+ Chinese: 欧比瓦·肯欧比(*Ōubǐwǎ Kěnōubǐ*). 欧 is a phonetic character used in transliteration, 比 means "ratio" or "to compare", 瓦 means "tile", 肯 means "willing". The rendering of 欧比旺 (*Ōubǐwàng*) is more standard; 旺 means "prosperous". In Taiwan his name was rendered as 歐比王 (*Ōubǐwáng* - "King Obi") in the non-pirated version of this film. "Kenobi" is more commonly transliterated as 肯诺比 (*Kěnnuòbǐ*).
* Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine: **Mr. Speaker** or **Speaker D**, also sometimes just called **D The Superior** **Although the translation is almost correct in the sense that it refers to Palpatine as a high ranking politician, Palpatine is not the Speaker of the Senate, as Mas Amedda is the Speaker.**
	+ Chinese: 议长先生 (*Yìzhǎng Xiānsheng* "Mr. Chancellor", "Mr. Speaker", "Mr. President"). Also, 帕卜丁 (*Pàbǔdīng* "Palpatine"), where 丁 is the fourth Heavenly Stem. The Heavenly Stems are often used for enumeration purposes, similar to the way the letters of the alphabet are used in English for enumeration. In this case, 丁 is equivalent to D.
* R2-D2: **R2** or **Reach the Man**. Although "Artoo" is the more accepted spelling, this is nonetheless the only correctly translated name in the film. However, other astromech droids in the film, such as R4-P17, are also referred to as "R2". However, Artoo (and R4-P17) are occasionally referred to as 'Reach the Man'.
* Anakin Skywalker: **The Peaceful is Willing To** or **Allah Gold** often shortened to "Gold"
	+ Chinese: 阿纳金 (*Ānàjīn*) is the standard transliteration of Anakin. Perhaps in this rendition, the name was transliterated as 阿拉金 (*Ālājīn*) or 安拉金 (*Ānlājīn*), both translated as "Allah gold" if it is separated into two terms - 阿拉 and 金, or 安拉 and 金. Later in the film, his name may have been translated as 安纳肯 (*Ānnàkěn*): 安 means "peaceful", and 肯 means "willing". Additionally, 安 can mean "peaceful". The character "肯" (Ken) also means "Willing".
		- At one point, Text How Big and Vanquish Is call him "Line". The last name Skywalker is literally translated as 天行者 (*Tiān xíngzhě*), with 行 meaning "line".
* Darth Vader: **Reaching The West Of Reaches**
	+ Chinese: 达西·维达 (*Dáxī Wéidá*) 达 means "reach", 西 means "west", 维 has a number of meanings, including "dimension". The normal Chinese rendition is 达斯·维达 (*Dásī Wéidá*).
* Luke Skywalker: **See Me**
	+ Chinese: 看我 (translated from a Mondegreen)—"Luke" misheard as "look", which translates to "看" in Chinese.) "我", or "I" in English, was added to make the phrase "看我". It was then translated back into English as "See Me", although a more correct translation would be "look at me".
* Leia Organa: See
* Yoda: **Vanquish Is** or **Particularly Reach the Master** (尤达 *Yóudá*, his standard Chinese name, literally translates to "particularly reach"). Yet another usage of "达" as the "da" sound.
* Tarfful: **See again** It is entirely possible that the the translator simply omitted Tarfful's name when translating the phrase as "See again" is the literal meaning of the Chinese equivalent for "Goodbye", 再見, as used in the mistranslation of his line, "Goodbye, Tarrful. Goodbye, Chewbacca. Miss you, I will."
* Mace Windu: Text How Big
	+ Chinese: One character in his name is almost certainly 文 (*Wén*), which means "text".

## Terminology

* Sith Lord: **South Host**. Palpatine also warns Obi Wan and Anakin that Count Dooku is "a big". Obi Wan reassures Palpatine: "Mr. Speaker, we are for 'the big'."
	+ Chinese: "Host" presumably comes from 主人, meaning "master/lord" but also "host", depending on the context.
* Sith: **West** & **Big**
	+ Chinese: 西斯 (*Xīsī*) - a transliteration of "Sith". 西 means "west", 斯 is a phonetic often used to transliterate the "s" sound or to approximate "th", a sound that Chinese does not have.
* Jedi Council: **Presbyterian Church**, **Hopeless Situation Presbyterian** or **Hopeless Situation Parliament**.
	+ Chinese: 长老会 (literally "Council of Elders") or perhaps 长老教会 ("a religious gathering held by the elders"). The Presbyterian Church is ruled by "presbyters", or "elders". Therefore, it is in fact "a religious gathering held by the elders."
* Jedi Knight: **Hopeless Situation Warrior**; "Hopeless Situation" or just "Hopeless" for short. In the later videos, they are referred to as **Hero's Ground.**
	+ Chinese: 绝地武士 (*Juédì wǔshì* - Jedi warrior) - Literally, 绝地 means "end ground". It is used to describe battles with no possible retreat, hence "hopeless situation" and "hero's ground".
* 绝态 (Juetai) also means "hopeless situation")
* Jedi Temple: **Hopeless Situation Temple**
* Galaxy: **Milky Way**. Star Wars is not set in our galaxy, so this would not technically make sense in English.
	+ Chinese: 银河系 - In Chinese this term means "silver river system", referring to the Milky Way. The term can be used loosely to refer to any galaxy, however the more appropriate term would be 星系 ("star system").
* Spacecraft or Spaceship: **Airship**. Just about every form of spacecraft, be it a mothership or a small fighter vessel, is referred to as an "airship".
	+ Chinese: 飞船
* Buzz droids: **Airship robots**.
	+ Chinese:
* Escape pods: **First aid**
	+ Chinese: 急救 - "emergency rescue", also meaning "first aid" in Chinese.
* The Force: **Wish Power**, **Original Dint**
	+ Chinese: 原力，原 means original, 力 means Dint. 願力 ("wish power") may have come from the translation of "may the force be with you" ("the wish power are together with you").
* Dark side of the Force: **Dark World** & **The Black Influence**
	+ Chinese: 黑暗世界，黑暗势力
* Sand People: **Pathetic People**
	+ Chinese: 哀伤人们 - "Sand" having been misheard as "sad" (哀伤), with people being 人们.
* Confederacy of Independent Systems/Separatists: **Abruption Doctrine**, or **Doctrine Alliance**. The droid army commanded by the Separatists is referred to as "the alliance."
	+ Chinese: 独立派- 派 means "doctrine", 独立 means "to separate" or "to become independent." "Abruption" is an overly formal term meaning "separation"; a Separatist is literally "one who subscribes to the doctrine of separation."

## Other words and phrases

* **Do not want** (Nooooooooooooooo!)
	+ 不要 - Chinese, Simplified or Traditional has no word for "no"; instead, the verb would be repeated in the negative. 不要, literally meaning "do not need", also means "don't", "do not want".
* **The Good Elephant** (seems like/it seems/apparently)
	+ Chinese: 好象[sic]. The character 像 (image/likeness) is often colloquially (and strictly speaking, incorrectly) replaced by 象 (elephant) in Simplified Chinese. This causes the translation of 好像 (looks like / seems) as "good elephant".
* **smelly boy** (scum)
	+ Chinese: 臭小子 - "stinky boy", equivalent to "brat".
* **Strong and big** (powerful)
	+ Chinese: 强大 - 强 means "strong" and 大 means "big"; the two characters together mean "powerful," but were translated into separate words.
* **fuck** (to do)
	+ Chinese: 干 - while its most common meaning is the verb "to do", the word also means "fuck" when used independently.
* **On the hoof** (this phrase is used every time someone is supposed to say 'alive' i.e. 'Is the baby on the hoof?' or 'And I guarantee to you as long as he is on the hoof the Parliament will support the war by voting.')
* **A day after the fair** (an obsolete idiom that means "too late")
* **But we can will account, and then account** (spring the trap)
* **I think that I can then extracation he to** (I sense Count Dooku)
* **Resemble the last time?** (Next move?)
* **We must go out, we must be everywhere in search of** (We don't want to get out, we want to get moving)
* **R2, telephone quickly the steps is here** (R2, activate elevator 31174)
* **Pull the name of the gram republic with the space** (In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic...)
* **The disgusting thing came!** (Flying is for droids!)
* **Our Dichotomy opens the combat!** (Let them pass between us!)
* **I feel far from good.** ( I have a bad feeling about this.)
* **This is your own masterpiece** (You have done that yourself.)
* **Pregnancy? Pregnancy.** (Premonitions, Premonitions.)
* **Everybody is good.** (Hello there.)
* **Then his land killed him to let him going to bed** (Then his apprentice killed him in his sleep.)
* **The geography that I stands compares you superior** (I have the high ground.)
* **He is in my behind** (They're all over me.)
* **Good kind of** (In the name of...)
* **We cant throw down him** (His fate will be the same as ours)
	+ Chinese: 我們不能把他丟下。Literally, "we can't throw him down". It is more properly translated as "we can't leave him behind".
* **He big in nothing important in good elephant** (He seems to be alright)
	+ Chinese: 他好象[sic]沒有大礙。 Literally, "he good elephant no have big important problem". Once again, the "misspelling" of 好像 (like) as 好象 (good elephant) gives us a classic line. The more appropriate translation would be "it doesn't look like he's seriously injured".
* **This is really too stick.** (That's wonderful.)
	+ Chinese: 这真是太棒了。太棒了 is the Chinese idiom for "awesome". The characters individually spell out "too" (太) and "stick/club" (棒).
* **The wish power are together with you** (May the force be with you)
	+ Chinese: 願力與你同在。Literally word by word, "may force with you together". The characters for "may force", 願力, form the word meaning "the power of wishes". Note that "force" is usually translated as 原力 ("the original force"). "May the force be with you" is usually translated as 願原力與你同在. The Chinese translation missed a character.
* **You are already at full cock now** (You have done well, my apprentice.)
* **Save me Allah gold!** (Help me. Help me!)
* **I would like to throw in your door is next** (I pledge myself....)
* **Good of Good** (Good...)
* **Only like this you then can become the power like this you then can save to return your** (Only then will you be strong enough with the dark side to save Padme.)
* **The republic organizes afresh become the empire of the first choice!** (The republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire!)

*Unfortunate of is great majority city all on the pimping mainland in this area'* (Fortunately, most of the cities are concentrated on this small continent here on the far side)

* **Mr Speaker we can never compromise to black** (Then the Jedi Council will make finding Grievous our highest priority)
* **Very good, the ratio is prosperous, very good** (Good, Anakin. Good)
* **The nobody greets** (Another happy landing)
* **That hopeless situation killing off just now** (Execute Order 66)

## External links

* Original Star War Episode III: Backstroke of the West screenshot page
* Updated Star War Episode III: Backstroke of the West page
* The full dub in high definition
* LQ version of the dub here.
* Official IMDB page
* Roughly the same set of images on imgur.com
* Original transcript from winterson.com

## References

1. ↑ Shanley, Patrick (2017-01-03). ‘Revenge of the Sith’ Dubbed With Bootleg Chinese Dialogue Is a Fan-Made Masterpiece (en-US).
2. ↑ Alexander, Julia (2017-01-04). Bootleg version of Revenge of the Sith features hilarious and bad subtitles (en-US).
3. ↑ Rossignol, Derrick. STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH Is Way Better with Nonsensical Bootleg Subtitles (en-US).
4. ↑ Shanley, Patrick (2017-01-03). 'Revenge of the Sith' Dubbed With Bootleg Chinese Dialogue Is a Fan-Made Masterpiece (en-US).
5. ↑ Alexander, Julia (2017-01-04). Bootleg version of Revenge of the Sith features hilarious and bad subtitles (en-US).
6. ↑ Rossignol, Derrick. STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH Is Way Better with Nonsensical Bootleg Subtitles (en-US).