My French Transformers have arrived! Woohoo! I managed to find an online video company in Canada that had them. Sadly I didn't see the movie in French for sale. I'd love to have it! I ordered The Ultimate Doom (L'Ultime Piège) and Autobots vs. Decepticons, which has Roll for It (Roule qui Peut) and Divide and Conquer (Diviser et Conquérir). Man, it's hard to make these accent marks. I have to cut and paste them! Stupid American keyboard. :) Here's the synopses for those who care:

The Ultimate Doom is broken into two parts: Lavage de Cerveau (Brainwashing) and Recherche (Search). The fools totally left out the third part of it! Urrg!

Lavage de Cerveau:

Le docteur, Arkeville, un diabolique chercheur, s'acoquine à Megatron et aux Decepticosn pour créer une armée d'esclaves humains. Megatron a prévu de transporter Cybertron dans l'orbite terrestre créant ainsi d'épouvantables catastrophes naturelles. Les Autobots réussiront-ils à empêcher le dangereux projet de Megatron?

My pathetic attempt to translate:

Doctor Archeville, a diabolic researcher, allies himself with Megatron and the Decepticons to create an army of human slaves. Megatron has arranged to transport Cybertron in a terrestrial orbit, which creates many natural disasters. Will the Autobots succeed in stopping Megatron's dangerous project?

Recherche:

Les Autobots sont débordés par les tremblements de terre et des raz-de-marée qui secouent la planète. Apprenant que son père a été enlevé et conduit sur Cybertron, Spike supplie Optimus Prmie de l'y conduire pour le sauver. Mais rendu sur Cybertron, Optimus Prime saura-t-il mettre un terme à la soif de pouvoir de Megatron?

here goes nothin:

The Autobots are overrun by the earthquakes and tsunamis that damage the planet. Learning that his father was carried off and taken to Cybertron, Spike begs Optimus Prime to take him there to save him. But by sending them to Cybertron, will Optimus Prime be able to put an end to Megatron's thirst for power?

Random thoughts: The voices were quite odd, and a good deal of them sounded the same. Optimus Prime's voice is gravelly and almost sinister-sounding. Megatron's voice sounds better. I've heard that Starscream has a female voice in the French movie, but in the cartoon his voice is most definitely male. Bumblebee's voice is almost as bad as Starscream's English version one, it's rather high-pitched. Haven't gotten around to watching the second part yet. And why did they lleave out the third part? One thing that I really appreciated was that Spike's French voice was a lot less whiny. :) And the end syllable of Decepticons is pronounced 'can' since the word 'con' is an insult! Something I thought was really weird Optimus tutoyers Megatron! (tutoyer is the use of the informal you "tu" instead of the formal "vous") Is this usual or out of the ordinary? Does this mean that they are intimate enough to call each other tu after their years in battle, or is this a lack of respect? I don't get it! Tu/Vous always drives me nuts.

Roule qui Peut:

Chip un jeune handicapè véritable génie de l'informatique, a accés à la formule secrète anti-matière tant convoitée par les Decepticons. Les diaboliques robots n'hésitent pas et kidnappent Chip. Ils tentent alors par tous les moyens de lui soutirer la formule secrète.

here I go again:

Chip, a young handicapped veritable information genius, has access to the secret anti-matter formula that is coveted by the Decepticons. The diabolic robots do not hesitate to kidnap Chip. They are tempted by any means to get hold of the secret formula.

Random observations: I miss the different voices! Every voice has its own personality in the English episodes, but the French has almost everybody sounding the same. I especially miss Soundwave's musical hum. The "robotic" quality of the voices makes it hard to understand at times, not that I'd get very much anyway. Spike, Chip, and Sparkplug are much less whiny and obnoxious, though Chip is still irritating. I really miss Peter Cullen's voice. *sniff* But it's cool to have these episodes in French, so I won't complain... much. Everyone tutoyers each other! It's amazing! The 'Cons (no offense meant!) do it to each other all the time! Does this mean they're good friends and working colleagues or what?

Diviser et Conquérir:

Optimus Prime, le chef des Autobots, a été gravement touché lors d'un terrible affrontement avec les Decepticons. Avec l'aide de Chip, les Autobots utilisent le pont interespace pour se rendre sur Cybertron dans le but de trouver la pièce essentielle à la restructuration d'Optimus. Réussiront-ils à trouver la pièce, tout en évitant les attaques des Decepticons, et à revenir à temps pour sauver Optimus Prime et détruire le pont interespace?

my pathetic effort:

Optimus Prime, leader (yes, chef is chief, not cook!) of the Autobots, was gravely damaged in a terrible confrontation with the Decepticons. With the help of Chip, the autobots use the space bridge to Cybertron with the goal of finding the essential part to Optimus' reconstruction. Will they succeed in finding the piece, while avoiding the Decepticons' attacks, and return in time to save Optimus Prime and destroy the space bridge?

Random observations: Ironhide talks through his nose! This time Starscream is more respectful and calls Megatron "vous" but Wheeljack tutoyers Optimus! Personally, I would not dare call the Autobot leader "tu". I could understand it between Wheeljack and Ratchet since they're good friends and working partners, but it doesn't work for the commander.