'Revenge of the Sith,' Subtitled Using a Clunky Re-Translation, Is Bonkers
Whether Revenge of the Sith ranks in your top 3 Star Wars films or closer to the bottom, you’ll agree that the bizarro alternate version created from it, Star Wars the Third Gathers: The Backstroke of the West, is in a league of its own. The video has been floating around the internet long enough to have a backstory: It began with a Chinese bootleg copy of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which had English subtitles. But the subtitles weren’t the actual, original dialogue — rather, the dubbed Mandarin dialogue was turned into English subtitles via a translation program. If you’ve ever played with Google Translate, you’ll see where this is going: The subtitles are a hilarious mixture of nonsense and on-the-nose interpretation. In 2005, a set of screencaps from the bootleg went viral, specifically one of the newly costumed Darth Vader screaming “Do not want” instead of the film’s actual dialogue: “Noooo!” (Arguably, it’s an improvement.)
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More recently, a group of fans calling themselves TheThirdGathers (the garbled translation of “Episode 3”) dubbed the entire, two-and-a-half-hour film using the infamous subtitles. Uploaded a year ago, but receiving renewed attention now, the redubbed Revenge of the Sith is one-of-a-kind: part fan parody, part gonzo tribute to Star Wars‘ international appeal. Watch a highlights reel, including the infamous Vader scene, below:
And here’s the full film, for your viewing pleasure. You can also take a look at translation highlights (“Jedi Warrior” becomes “Hopeless Situation Warrior”) here.
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‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith’: Watch a trailer (without the input of translation software):
