Alternate Titles for TV episodes

I reciently added some German TV show which also got an English release, but when I wanted to add the English title, I noticed that the alternate title section was missing. When I wanted to add it later, the option was available again, but I coud olny correct alternate titles, not ad new. When I clicked on corroect, It told me there was no existing data. The IMDb staff should therefore try to fix this problem, since it's most likely a bug.

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davidah_ca

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10 years ago

I believe that IMDb does not currently allow AKA titles for TV Episodes, only for the TV Series.

There is the occasional Episode that will display an Alternate title, but I think that these are items that were originally added to IMDb as standalone titles, but then moved to be an Episode of the Series. This might explain why Add is not permitted, but Correct is.

unknown1000

75 Messages

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1.8K Points

9 years ago

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Can Imdb please allow alternate titles for tv episodes?.

I really wish imdb would allow alternate titles for TV episodes (like Goosebumps, Are you afraid of the dark and various Japanese Anime I'm interested in helping to fix.)

The reason is because I think it would be great for people of Forigen Languages to beable to find their episode titles in their language and also for completeness, also for when Anime companys cut episodes (like Pokemon and Yu gi oh).

thank you. :)

Matt

139 Messages

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3.3K Points

8 years ago

This should definitely be a feature. It's odd that episodes are the only titles that can't have alternative titles. It's not just for foreign languages. The Friends pilot is a notable example of an episode that has multiple names. Also, some episodes have segment titles, which are supposed to be added as alternative titles.

bluesmansf

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236.3K Points

8 years ago

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Haven't done this before...Can episode have AKA Titles?.

Hello all,

This episode www.imdb.com/title/tt0260768 has been released on VHS, then later as DVD, as a stand-alone title, "The Real Buddy Holly Story," as can be seen on the poster art on the page.

Years ago, IMDb listed it that way, but then later changed it to an episode of "Arena" (1975) (TV Series) and the (episode) title to "Buddy Holly."

Since it's available as a single documentary on Amazon, etc., I wanted to add an AKA title but don't see it available. There is, on the Release Dates page, just the release date(s) but no AKA's or way to add one, that I can see. Am I missing it?

Thanks!

nobody_7029854

756 Messages

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29.6K Points

8 years ago

[Matt C. wrote]
"This should definitely be a feature. It's odd that episodes are the only titles that can't have alternative titles. It's not just for foreign languages. The Friends pilot is a notable example of an episode that has multiple names. Also, some episodes have segment titles, which are supposed to be added as alternative titles."

In the history of television, many episodes have had multiple titles, for a variety of reasons.

In addition to the examples already discussed, and among the presumably
many others that could be found, here is just one other random example,
recently reported by IMDb user Robert R.:

An episode of Bonanza titled "The Sound of Sadness" apparently
had an original title or working title of "The Sound of Loneliness".

https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/bonanza-episode-title-sound-of-silence-is-wrong-title-name-i...

But again that is just one further example among probably many others that could be found to support this thread's consensus that it would be useful to be able to add alternate episode titles to the database.

nobody_7029854

756 Messages

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29.6K Points

8 years ago

On February 19 2016, at the end of his reply to a post on the
Contributors Help board, IMDb staff member Will ("swiftw") wrote:

... Unfortunately at present we [IMDb] do not have the functionality
to house alternate titles on episodes.

bluesmansf

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Interesting! I guess I won't hold my breath on this one. I would imagine it's low on the priority list.

Thanks, Nobody...good dig there!

8 years ago

nobody_7029854

756 Messages

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29.6K Points

A common though imperfect workaround is to add a "Trivia" item to note an episode's alternative titles(s). You can find some examples among the results of this search:
www.imdb.com/search/text?field=trivia&q=alternate+title&realm=title&start=14

8 years ago

bluesmansf

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Good idea. I wonder, too...the title appears on screen as "The Real Buddy Holly Story," then during the intro Sir Paul McCartney explains the song at the beginning, titled "The Real Buddy Holly Story" was written by Sonny Curtis after seeing the film, "The Buddy Holly Story" and wanted to tell the real story and that McCartney then wanted to make the documentary to do the same and he says on screen, something like, "So here's The Real Buddy Holly Story."

It's difficult to know what was on screen on the original but with all that in mind, I kind of doubt it was different then...but who knows. I wonder if it's best or even acceptable to change the episode title from "Buddy Holly." It would definitely make it easier to find. I had to do it in a round-about manner just to find it in the first place...and it definitely was listed that way before moved to be part of the Arena series as opposed to a stand-alone documentary film.

Would welcome opinions (even if it's "Shut up about it already!) or a big thumbs up or down about changing it if Michelle or Col are around!

But, thanks, Nobody.

8 years ago

nobody_7029854

756 Messages

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29.6K Points

@ BluesmanSF:

(I haven't done any real research, but just a quick Google search.) FWIW:

Some sources claim that the title "The Real Buddy Holly Story"
was used for a "re-edited" video release.

The BBC website describes the Arena version as
"BBC Arena's film Buddy Holly (1985)."
A 1985 promo clip also did not use the longer title.

I don't know if the full original Arena episode is
legally available anywhere for inspection.

8 years ago

bluesmansf

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The BBC link doesn't work for me (regional thing maybe?).

I didn't know about it (or "Arena" for that matter) until the mid 90's so I've only known it by the "new" name. But I thought that might be the case...though the spoken version matching the title on the (current) box threw me a bit.

Thanks again..I guess best leave it alone (other than, as you said, make a trivia entry, that is) and trust that whomever entered it knew what they were doing. Although, while it's considered complete but waiting verification, there were a ton of cast list errors. Missing names, uncredited, though credited, names, only one order number and it was the number 10 (which was eerily correct...)...how someone listed it as complete is beyond me. But at least they need a second verification and it's now almost complete (and accurate) and was fun to see it again.

All the more reason for having an listed!

Thanks again!

8 years ago

unknown1000

75 Messages

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1.8K Points

8 years ago

This idea would work great for Anime episodes, for example: the Pocket Monsters episode 'Dennō Senshi Porygon' (in Japanese it is でんのうせんしポリゴン ) for the alternate titles it would translate as 'Cyber Soldier Porygon' or 'Electric Soldier Porygon' because people would try searching for those English names and would not find it because it would be in it's only Japanese version. would would make finding episodes titles more easier.

vinc17

58 Messages

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1.5K Points

7 years ago

An alternate title would also be needed for http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6481262/ which was released in theaters under a slightly different title.

brianrisselada

84 Messages

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1.8K Points

6 years ago

Can we please get this implemented? In the meantime, if a TV episode has multiple titles, how do we know which one to use? As an English speaker honestly I'm not sure if I want to submit the original titles for shows in other languages instead of the English title.

eboy

2.5K Messages

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69.1K Points

6 years ago

Brian, it’s not really a question what you ”want” to submit, since basically you have no choice (at the moment). You need to use the original episode titles. Sometimes it can be difficult (e.g. animations where the original on-screen, non-English title card has been replaced in the U.S./UK, etc), but we still have to respect the original filmmakers.

brianrisselada

84 Messages

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1.8K Points

Well currently there are countless instances of where the original title is not the one being used that I am aware of, and I'm not feeling any desire to submit tickets to change them.

6 years ago

jeorj_euler

10.6K Messages

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224.9K Points

Hi, Brian Risselada. Well, would you be interested in dropping a hint?

— Jeorj Euler, an IMDb regular registrant

6 years ago

brianrisselada

84 Messages

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1.8K Points

Not if it's going to cause problems...

6 years ago

Vincent_Fournols

2.4K Messages

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81.2K Points

Brian,

I am puzzled: what are you looking for here, then?

6 years ago

jeorj_euler

10.6K Messages

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224.9K Points

How would it cause a problem?

— Jeorj Euler, an IMDb regular registrant

6 years ago

Matt

139 Messages

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3.3K Points

Even if we had the ability to add alternative titles, you would still need to correct the primary title to the original language.

6 years ago

eboy

2.5K Messages

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69.1K Points

Matt has a good point. (Possible) English alternate titles for episodes won’t override the original titles. But obviously they can be the default episode name for people who live in the US, UK, etc.

6 years ago

brianrisselada

84 Messages

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1.8K Points

Yeah, I'll wait until we have that option.

6 years ago

brianrisselada

84 Messages

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1.8K Points

The problem is that if you are an English speaker and only know the English title name and type that in the search box, it won't come up.

6 years ago

Will

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77.7K Points

6 years ago

Hi all,

Please see my final comment on this previous announcement. https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/alternate-title-policy-change

Regards,
Will

brianrisselada

84 Messages

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1.8K Points

Excellent!

6 years ago

valmed

2 Messages

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70 Points

3 years ago

Please add the possibility of adding titles for episodes

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Alternative titles for episodes

bderoes

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You should probably vote For your own idea.

3 years ago

Marco

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82.3K Points

A staffer should probably merge this thread with this one: https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/alternate-titles-for-tv-episodes/5f4a79558815453dba796935 (and the OP probably wants to vote for this thread)

3 years ago

adrian

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72.5K Points

3 years ago

As the marketplace for television expands to be more and more global, it seems like we need to be able to give TV episodes, not just the name of the show, alternate titles in local languages. I noticed this on the series, Atlantic Crossing. At some point the list of episodes showed a mix of Norwegian and English titles. (It looks like the original Norwegians seem to have been restored.) When I watched episode 4 on 5/2, the was titled, "Fire and Water" instead of "Ild og vann". It seems that this would be resolved without this conflict if we were able to enter alternate titles as we can for movies.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled The need for AKA titles for individual episodes

bderoes

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Adrian, upvote from me.

You might want to vote for your own idea.

3 years ago

Peter_pbn

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47 votes and various merged posts on this:

https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/alternate-titles-for-tv-episodes/5f4a79558815453dba796935

3 years ago

Mohammad_ebz

8 Messages

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180 Points

2 years ago

Unfortunately, at the moment, the titles of the episodes of a series can only have one title and a title in another language cannot be added to it, while the main title of a series can be entered in different languages; Please enable the title of the episode in other languages as soon as possible.

The lack of such a feature on the IMDb website is ridiculous, so if you agree with this suggestion please support. Thankful

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Episode title in other languages

Asura_H

62 Messages

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1.6K Points

I support @Mohammad_ebz

There should be the option to have the title in multilanguage not only for the series but also for each episode

2 years ago

Marco

2.7K Messages

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82.3K Points

You might to read and vote for this thread: https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/alternate-titles-for-tv-episodes/5f4a79558815453dba796935

2 years ago

Asura_H

62 Messages

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1.6K Points

@Marco thank you

2 years ago

agof

520 Messages

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9.3K Points

1 year ago

why can't we have alternative titles for episodes?

starting with foreign serials, half of them are listed in translations half in transliterations, sometimes inside the same entry

then there's censorships and marketing stuns like south park token

and some creators change the names of their online releases 3-4 times in the first month for SEO and marketing

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled alternative title for episodes

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Alternate Titles for TV episodes

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