Pet King

Zhang Zian and Famous walked very slowly. Although there was an absence of the usually consistent camera flashes, they both enjoyed having a moment on the red carpet solely to themselves.

The red carpet wasn’t very long and they soon reached the end.

A member of the staff led Zhang Zian through the theater’s staff passageway, while another staff member called out to the children. “Everyone can come over this way to have your tickets checked for admission. Hurry up; the film is about to begin!”

There was no need for deliberate instructions; the young boys and girls routinely formed into two lines with their tickets ready. The children that had left the venue earlier in the day heard the news from some others still in line and now rushed back to the theater.

After Zhang Zian and Famous entered the theater, they were led around numerous turns before the staff member opened the door to a room.

“Sir, this is the preparation room. You can spend some time getting ready here and we will call for you right before the start of the film. There is a television set right there with a DVD player and the DVD for Dog Warrior. You can use it as you like but… I’m afraid that there is not much time left for you. There might only be enough time for you to quickly go through it once.”

The staff member pointed to the room that was not too spacious and introduced the space and equipment to Zhang Zian.

“All right, thanks,” Richard said in German on behalf of Zhang Zian.

Right before the staff member left, he turned around and said sincerely, “I’m really thankful that you were able to make your way down today––the children would have been really disappointed.”

“You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure,” Richard said.

The staff member nodded and made his leave.

After Zian entered the room, he shut the door and surveyed the room.

It was not very spacious, just about the size of a normal bedroom. There was a wardrobe in the corner that could be used if someone needed to change clothes. Aside from that, there was a television set, DVD player, coffee table, and a two-seater sofa. Other than those items, there was nothing else in the room.

Placed atop the coffee table was the Dog Warrior Blu-ray DVD. It was not one from the official release, as there were various warnings printed on the cover.

Since the film was still in its world premiere phase, the DVD could not be brought out of the room in order to prevent someone leaking the film.

The previous interpreter must have replayed and analyzed the film countless times in the room.

Zhang Zian switched the television and DVD player on and started the film in quick replay. There was no need for him to watch the film––only Richard needed to.

Zian released the other elfins into the empty space in the room and made them invisible.

“Where is this?” Fina looked to its left and right.

“Theater,” Zhang Zian explained. “Dog Warrior will have its world premiere here. This is almost the first showing I guess, so we can all watch it together.”

“Have we not seen it already?” Fina said, quickly losing all interest.

“Nope. The one we saw was the rough cut version, not the official release. Compared to the official release, the rough cut version is less refined and it lacks the additional post-production effects. The small screen in the VIP room cannot be compared to the giant screen of a real movie theater, however––the difference in impact is so huge it could almost be considered two different films.”

Zhang Zian corrected Fina’s misconceptions. The difference between the rough cut version and the official release was no different from the difference between an AVI quality film from a full HD quality film.

Famous walked up next to Richard and worriedly asked, “How is it, Richard? If translating is difficult, don’t worry about trying to make it perfect. It’s fine as long as the general meaning is brought across.”

A simultaneous interpretation by itself was already hard, but adding in emotion to the dialogue was almost the equivalent of translating an entire dubbed work of a foreign film.

Richard stood on the coffee table with one of its bird claws stepping on the remote control. It switched between occasionally playing the film in four times the regular speed, sometimes in eight times the regular speed, and sometimes in regular speed for the key scenes that contained more dialogue.

“Ga ga! Are you looking down on me? Only a challenge of this difficulty can reflect my overwhelming intelligence,” Richard arrogantly cried out.

“But… at the speed you’re going, most of the scenes are just flashing by, right?” Famous reminded Richard.

“It doesn’t matter! Look at that idiot over there. He basically fast-forwards through his Japanese film every time, yet it doesn’t affect his business as long as the key scenes are seen. One stroke, two strokes, stroke, and strokes…” Richard said as he gave Zhang Zian a side glance.

Zhang Zian told himself to hold it in and let Richard off for today. Everything it said was going to be settled when they return to Binhai City.

Seeing that Richard was brimming with confidence, Famous stopped disturbing it and left it to its own devices.

Not much time went by before there was a knock on the door.

“Mr Zhang, it is time. Are you ready?” the staff member asked from outside, his voice a little unsettled.

With 16x speed on, Richard quickly watched the ending before he switched off the television, flapped its wings, and descended upon Zhang Zian’s shoulder.

“All ready! You can begin now,” Richard said as Zhang Zian pulled open the door.

The staff member was still pretty worried. With such a short preparation time, it was hard for him to believe that Zhang Zian was going to be able to complete the difficult simultaneous interpretation successfully. But there was no other option––they could only perform treatment on a dead horse as if it were still alive. To the staff, Zhang Zian’s biggest advantage was his participation in the entire filming process and his ability to speak fluent German. If it wasn’t for all that, the theater’s executives would not have been convinced.

When Zhang Zian and Famous both appeared next to the screen, the theater resounded with a warm round of applause. Zian looked around and noticed that, aside from a few theater staff members and people from the upper management, most of the audience was the young boys and girls of Germany.

Audiences for other competition segments were from all over the world. Only Kplus and 14plus––which were specially created for Berlin with the 4,000 schools in the vicinity, youth clubs, and student unions––consisted of people from Germany.

The staff member led Zhang Zian and Famous to the small podium next to the screen and assisted with adjusting and testing the microphone before he left.

As the applause came to an end, Richard cleared its throat and said in German, “Hello, everyone. I am honored to stand here as the interpreter for today. As all of you know, the star of this film is Famous, and I have also participated in the whole filming process. But what all of you do not know is that I have previously learned the German language and have also undergone professional dubbing training. Today, I invite everyone here to witness the fruit of my training. Thank you!”

Zhang Zian understood nothing of what Richard said; he could only coordinate with Richard by opening his mouth slightly to fake the movement of his lips, while also maintaining a smile on his face. But from the reactions of the audience below the stage, everyone seemed pretty surprised by what Richard said.

Some fabrication and exaggerations were necessary, or else there would be no way to explain why a pet shop owner like Zian was able to take on dubbing works.

Famous sat quietly next to him.

The other elfins curiously walked in front of the widescreen; no one could see them while they were in the state of invisibility.

The theater’s lights quickly dimmed as the film began. The audience turned their full attention to the screen, glancing from time to time at Zhang Zian who stood behind the podium.

It was necessary for Zhang Zian to pretend that he was staring at the screen while he did the dubbing, which meant his back was facing the audience. There was no need for him to continue to move his lips, so he was able to relax. Having to move his lips for the next two hours would have been very tiring.

The film started.

At some fictional police dog training base, a female German Shepherd laid on its side in a kennel. Two vets, a man and a woman both dressed in white coats, helped it with its delivery.

“Come on! It’s almost out! Come on!”

“Breathe! Use more force!”

They both continued to say a sentence each to cheer on the pregnant, female dog.

Soon enough, a cute puppy made its way out from its mother’s body, oblivious as it swayed its head to the left and right.

One of the vets picked it up and looked at its abdomen. “It’s a male. Since you were so impatient in making your appearance, let’s call you ‘Lightning!'”

The scene at the beginning of the film was not in the rough cut edition. Feng Xuan and the others must have added it in afterwards to tell the origins of the protagonist’s name.

Richard’s interpretations were lifelike. Not only did they clearly express the excitement and anxiety in the voices of the two vets, but Richard also emulated the slightly sharp pitch of a woman’s voice and the deep low pitch of a male’s. Richard did not overdo it, however. It was still Zhang Zian’s voice that was used as the base so that the audience would be able to differentiate––if they listened carefully––that a fake voice was emulated deliberately so they could not grow suspicious.

After the beginning scene, Fina, who originally lacked interest, recalled the time when it helped out with the delivery process for the two pregnant, female cats. It immediately felt a sense of empathy and focused its attention onto the screen.

The youthful cheeks of the young audience members below the stage were covered with a layer of faint watercolor from the lights coming off the screen. When the scenes changed, the different colors started to blend on their faces; yet, nobody found it comical.

Richard’s dubbing did not make the young audience members feel any awkwardness. They were completely immersed in the plot that was slowly unfolding. Each and every one of them, with their mouths half-opened, were completely absorbed in the film. The popcorn in their hands was also forgotten as they stopped stuffing their mouths full with it.

It was the same for Galaxy, Old Time Tea, and Snowy Lionet. In the beginning, they were still unable to adapt to the wide screen and surround sound effects––they felt as if their eyes were not big enough––but as they slowly started to adapt, they realized the beauty of the wide screen. It gave them an immersive experience, as if they were there themselves. It was definitely not the kind of shock that one could receive from the audio-visual experience enjoyed at home or in a VIP room.

The adult employees and the theater’s executives all exchanged glances in surprise. Initially, they didn’t hold high expectations for Zhang Zian’s dubbing capabilities. They had all felt that if Famous could make its way down to the showing, it wouldn’t really matter if the dubbing was poorly done as the children would take the presence of Famous into account and not make a fuss out of it. But the effects of Zhang Zian’s dubbing far exceeded their initial expectations––it was of professional standards!

Famous stared at the screen.

Yes, this is the feeling.

It seemed to have recovered a feeling in its memories from close to a hundred years ago.

No matter if it was then or now, the people that have liked its films the most have always been the children.

Choosing to come here instead of the Berlin Film Palace was indeed the right choice.

Famous, too, quickly became immersed in the story of the film that had gone through a meticulous editing process.

As the story unfolded, scenes from when Famous was still filming resurfaced in front of its eyes. The multiple calls of “action” and “cut,” the rivalry scenes with various actors, the numerous times that it fumbled through all the smoke and dirt and solved the obstacles in and out of the film crew… All of the sweat-soaked hard work finally bore fruit and turned into a complete and amazing film, and the days when they had to start work early and end work late were no longer painful.

Leisurely admiring the story on the screen and occasionally glancing over at the dedicated Richard, Zhang Zian was convinced that this was the best animal film out of all of the ones he had previously seen—intense, but yet not too violent; inspirational, but not lacking emotions; and faithfully restoring, with the hot blood and tears expended by the officers of the border defense and the police dogs to protect and safeguard their homeland… Most importantly, the film silently mentioned the crisis Tibet was facing due to the overcrowding of Tibetan Mastiffs. It was subtle and didn’t make anyone feel as though it was too abrupt, while it also took on a certain aspect of social responsibility.

What other animal films could surpass this?

The staff prepared a bottle of mineral water for Zian so that he could soothe his throat during the small breaks in his dubbing.

Zian quietly filled the cap full with water and, using his body as a cover, he brought it up to Richard’s mouth so that it could drink the water with just a light bow of its head.

Time always flew by quickly whenever one watched a film that grabbed them hard and had their full attention throughout.

As the language barriers were shattered by Richard, Lightning’s growth, as well as the addition of the jokes and misunderstandings between Lightning and its trainer during its training process, had the young audience members hugging their stomachs as they bursted out in laughter. Even the adult audience members could not help but smile.

When the border defense police officers led the police dogs into a confrontation with the invading enemy militants, the young audience members below the stage held their breath and gripped their tiny fists as they cheered on the armed officers and police dogs.

There was a mission in the film to break out from the encirclement and seek help and they were assigned to three police dogs. When those three police dogs broke their way through multiple obstacles and dragged their bodies that were covered in scars back to their garrison headquarters, all the young audience members–-with no exception––were moved to tears. The young ladies especially, in their adolescence, cried their eyes out…

In the end, the armed officers were successfully rescued. Together on the rostrum, the officers stood with their police dogs, fitted the medals awarded by their superiors on their chest, and saluted. The film came to a still with the sound of applause from the armed officers and men below the stage.

The young audience members and the small number of adult audience members all stood up together, bursting out in great, enthusiastic applause and whistles. The freckled teen from the front of the theater’s whistles were the sharpest and his applause was the loudest.

Famous still had its eyes on the screen; the screen was rolling out the list of staff names.

Famous had its eyes wide open and finally saw it!

Starring:

Lin Feng as Liu Xiaokai

Famous as Lightning (Provided by Binhai City, Amazing Fate Pet Store)

Although its name appeared on the screen for only a short two to three seconds, it was its name nonetheless.

Famous was reassured; it no longer had to take the name of other dogs… its longtime nightmare had finally come to an end.

The subtitles on the screen continued to roll out.

The staff list included Chief Dog Trainer Zhang Zian, the names of behind-the-scenes producers, the production company and its sponsors. Those names made their way across the screen one by one and, appearing at the end, was a last line of subtitles: “Proper arrangements have been made for all the animals that have made their appearance in this film.”

The subtitles ended here.

The lights brightened up again and Zhang Zian took a bow for the curtain call.

The staff members and the theater’s executives quickly made their way up the stage and took turns shaking hands with Zhang Zian, enthusiastically expressing their gratitude and congratulating him.

The children below the stage were all yearning for more, reluctant to leave the theater. Many of them had expressed their intention to purchase the DVD after the official release of the film so that they could watch it a few more times.

The theater had plans to arrange a car to send Zhang Zian back to the hotel, but he politely declined.

The Alexanderplatz was not far from the Potsdamer Platz and they had taken a taxi earlier, as they were rushing for time. Now that they were heading back, they could return on foot and enjoy Berlin’s scenery along the way.

After leaving the theater, the kids dispersed in groups in all directions.

“Let’s go, too,” Zhang Zian called out to the elfins.

Richard was boasting and bragging about its earlier performance; Fina was most concerned about what they were having for lunch; Old Time Tea was full of praise for the theater’s wide screen and sound effects; Famous was still immersed in his own thoughts and was not speaking a word; Snowy Lionet was making a fuss about having to have raw beef sirloin to celebrate, or else it would pull down Zian’s trousers in the middle of the street…

Galaxy turned its head and stared at a group of children who were moving further away. They were still excitedly discussing the plot with great interest. Within the group, the freckled teen was the loudest with his hoarse voice.

After taking a few steps, Zhang Zian noticed that Galaxy was not catching up.

“Galaxy, what are you looking at?” Zian asked. “Everyone has already left.”

“Meow.” Galaxy happily caught up and said, “There was a kid earlier who might become the Prime Minister of Germany in 30 years.”

“Is that so?” Zhang Zian asked in surprise. He wanted to turn around to see which kid it was to see whether or not he could get chummy with him, but he decided to put that idea away after he gave it some thought. Letting the future hold some uncertainty would make it much more interesting, right?