The Pokémon Movie DVD, Blu-ray & CD Reviews & Information Guide: Discussion and Questions Thread

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

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Welcome! Please use this thread as a place to discuss my Pokémon Movie DVD, Blu-ray & CD Reviews & Information Guide and to ask me any questions about said guide if you have any. This thread exists mainly to keep such discussions and questions all in one place for everyone to easily access, separate from the main page which is intended for information only. Thank you!
Release Index
About this Guide
Glossary
DVD & Blu-ray Release Datachart
CD Release Datachart
Movie Release Image Quality Comparisons
Discussion and Questions Thread (you are here)​

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Just want to thank @InfiniteBakuphoon as I want to buy basically everything from the 1998-2006 English dub for my collection (the original Era forever has my love, despite its flaws), I only have some VHS tapes of Season 1's dub and the DVDs of all the Movies through Destiny Deoxys (I hated the 4Kids to TPCi switch so much as a boy, I boycotted PUSA's release of Lucario & the Mystery of Mew as it came bundled on DVD with the Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon redubbed which I already saw on CN prior: not even kidding, because I thought it'd make a statement at the time- lol, I was a delusional child, I know). I really want to buy Movie 8's dub in the proper aspect ratio, in all seriousness, it was the best dub 4Kids ever put out of any Anime/Movies/Pikachu Shorts in the franchise and while a bittersweet/tragic ending to the OG run, a heart-wrenching film that touched me in ways nothing after ever has.

Not interested in buying anything from the 2007-2023 dubs, so this guide helps me look at the Japanese only releases from Battle Frontier to the end here instead to purchase: the only material I enjoyed was 2013's The Origin dubbed after 2006 all that much in English, but I still think it's a fantastic thread you've started here & I hope it ends up all-encompassing over the 4Kids/TAJ, 4Kids alone, TAJ/PUSA alone, DuArt/TPCi, and SDI/Iyuno Group dubs of the main Anime & associated films/shorts as well as the various spinoffs (Chronicles under 4Kids, Mega Evolution under DuArt/TPCi, Origins, Generations, Evolutions, etc.).

 

[InfiniteBakuphoon]

@AgedVeteranofShow
Haha, thank you! I should’ve figured that you’d be here!

You should note that although the links obviously don’t work yet, haha, everything that has a link in the index right now is a release that I either own or have owned, and which I plan to write an extensive review and discussion on. That also means that I don’t quite own everything, though, and that I’m focusing more on the movies and specials for this guide versus the anime proper.

Meanwhile, speaking of M08, some anecdotes that I’ve caught from others here at Bulbagarden suggests that some of the European and Australian releases might have some surprises on them (such as the possibility of the original Australian DVDs of the first few dub movies being in widescreen, supposedly). That said, as I mentioned in the About section, my current collection is mostly US- and Japan-based, so I unfortunately won’t be able to help you too much with fishing out said surprises from there! That said, I do happen to have access to German Blu-ray copies of M08 and M09 that have an English track alongside the native German track! The only problem being that they’re Region B if you’re American (which there are ways around, but to be on the safe side, I won’t be discussing any methods like that here).

Japan-wise, things are pretty simple if it’s Blu-ray that you’re looking for: if you want the original Japanese versions in HD, then the Premium Box is your only way in. The DVDs are a bit more interesting; I have a lot of work to do to decipher everything that’s available there! (Although, as a quick note, the Box DVD collections tend to exclude special features from the standalone releases, unfortunately.)

If there’s anything that you want to know that I might be able to help you with, feel free to ask!