Well, hello there. What do you get when you take an old Marvel Star Wars story full of Hoojibs and Zeltrons and give it to a Danish translator with a somewhat strange imagination? Hard to imagine? Well, read on then.

Chanteuse of the Stars
In the Marvel Star Wars issue called Chanteuse of the Stars (just the name reeks of kitchiness), our heroes from the Galaxy Far, Far Away attend a galla party at the Kabray space station, which is crawling with Hoojibs, Lashbees, Stenaxes and Zeltrons. As you can imagine, this story is somewhat of an epitome of post-ESB Marvel Star Wars. Luke spends most of the story being chased by infatuated female Zeltrons, while Leia ends up performing glamorous cabaret in order to soothe an infatuated Huhk.

Gee... are you little fellows any fun?
While most of the stuff that the female Zeltrons say are attempts to persuade Luke to go back with them to their respective rooms (of course, they wouldn't have to make much of an effort to persuade me, but, alas, I'm but a common Earthling and not a blonde lightsaber weilding galactic Jedi hero). Here's a sample of some of the things they say to poor Luke

Zeltron 1: "Now be a good boy and stop breaking our hearts."
Zeltron 2: "Say you'll come back to our suite with us."

Luke: "I'd like to pass on the hot tub... just for a little while. I was on my way back to the main ballroom to catch the next show. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Zeltron 1: "No. But we'll go to make you happy."
Zeltron 2: "If you promise to make us happy, later."

Zeltron 1: "You promise? Right after the show?"
Zeltron 2: "I can't wait!"
Zeltron 3: "I really can't wait. Let's go back to my room now!"

Zeltron 1: "Relax, darling... enjoy yourself!"
Zeltron 2: "While we enjoy ourselves!"

...and on it goes.

However, one of the few time when a female Zeltron says something that isn't directed at Luke, it's directed at Pliff the Hoojib. What she says is: "Gee... are you little fellows any fun?" This utterance is somewhat ambiguous, intended I'm sure, and may be understood whether she's just asking if Hoojibs are, well, fun in the literal sense of the word, or it may be understood in more kinky terms, conjuring up fragments of images that are best kept unspoken.

How to bag a Hoojib
So, the Zeltron's utterance is ambiguous leaving us to wonder for ourselves whether she's actually making a pass on the furry little engery eater or not.

That is, it leaves those who haven't read the Danish version of Chanteuse of the Stars to wonder for themselves. Because to the Danish translator, the ambiguity simply is not good enough. The Danish translator wants clarity and steamy hot Hoojibophilia, because in the Danish version, the Zeltron says to poor (lucky?) Pliff: "Må jeg ikke nok få dig med i seng?" Here's an image documenting it; it's the pink lady on the far right.

Okay, what does "Må jeg ikke nok få dig med i seng?" mean? It means something like "Can I please take you to bed with me?". Straight on; obviously a woman of action in the mind of the translator. Whatever ambiguity there was to be found in the original English version is totally gone in the Danish version thanks to a Danish translator with a lively but scaringly dubious imagination. Obviously, the translator has the capacity to piece together the above-mentioned fragments of mental images that the rest of us can hardly evoke in the first place.

In-yer-face or sublety?
I'm not sure whether I appreciate the Danish translator's strategy. The translator obviously wanted to get rid of any ambiguities and put the more kinky construal of the female Zeltron's utterance to the forefront. I think I prefer the ambiguity of the original version, because the fact that the reader's left to figure out how to construe what she says has a kind of humorous effect.

I'm sure that some people - probably including the translator - find the thought of a Zeltron seducing a Hoojib quite humorous; and come to think of it, it probably would be a funny sight, yet perhaps disturbing to some animal rights activists. But the charm and suble suggestiveness of the original version is just funnier to me than the outright in-yer-face Hoojibophilia of the Danish version.