Dogasu's Backpack Discussion

[ii kanji]

Happy Anniversary and well done for finishing Entei Eneros in time! After spoiling the entire film for myself I'd now quite like to watch it...

I have a question, which scene is referred to here?:

I've seen theories online that suggest that the Rocket trio scene that 4Kids has added to the fourth movie is created because of this line here in the third movie and even though we don't have any proof of that I can't help but think that sounds plausible.

 

[Charmelizard]

Happy Anniversary and well done for finishing Entei Eneros in time! After spoiling the entire film for myself I'd now quite like to watch it...

I have a question, which scene is referred to here?:

He's talking about the scene where Jessie, James, and Meowth are sitting in the Marauder's Mecha, and try to grab a peach from a tree, only to fall out and fight over it.

 

[ii kanji]

What's the bg to this? How do we know that 4Kids added that scene in?

 

[AvatarAce2015]

Great job on the revamped comparison to the third movie, Dogasu; and congrats on the milestone! Still very interesting to see how what's ostensibly 4Kids' best-dubbed movie still has lots of things going on with it. As for Dan Green's role: it definitely takes on new meaning after he lost his wife in childbirth in 2011. Lastly; I can kind of understand 4Kids' rationale for moving up the scenes where Molly's parents come back. Still, it was before a little company called Marvel had this crazy idea to make a cinematic universe of their characters and have little tidbits in the credits setting up their next couple movies or just having their heroes chilling over shawarma. So; few changes as there were, there were still enough to make me not surprised they're now bankrupt. I'm eager to see what predictions you have for the 20th anniversary; since it's clear they're planning a broad spectrum of offerings like I thought they would. #Pokémon20

 

[Dogasu]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone!

I was reading through your Latias and Latios summary to refresh myself on what was changed for that dub (I recall the horrid visual issues), and noticed you said it was your favorite of the original 5---I certainly enjoyed it, and it holds a place in my heart as the first Japanese Pokemon film I watched---but all these years later especially after revisiting the first three for your site's update, do you still feel that way?

...I dunno. Me revisiting these films in recent years has certainly changed the way I feel about them (I like Revelation Lugia a lot more now than I even did five years ago) so I'm sure my opinions will change again when I look at the fifth movie later this year. I just remember really liking the music and the setting of the fifth film a lot.

By the way, what do you think is the best translation of the category of Latias and Latias, "むげん"? I recognize that as usually meaning "infinite", but apparently it can mean "visions/dreams" too?

Yeah, むげん is a homophone; it can be written out in kanji as either 無限、which means "infinity" or "limitless," or 夢幻, which means "dreams" or "fantasy." So really either translation could work.

What's the bg to this? How do we know that 4Kids added that scene in?

It's some stock dub TV series BGM.

And we know 4Kids added it in because it doesn't exist in the Japanese version 4Kids had a number of scenes added / reanimated by Japan for 4Ever and that was one of them.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

I have some things to add about this movie.

Whenever I hear Molly's original name (Mii) or see it typed, I imagine the Nintendo Wii/3DS/WiiU avatars. Just the side effects of seeing the original version after 2006 (I saw it in 2015, by the way).

I'm in 100% agreement that it was unnecessary to change John's name to Schuyler.

And I'm just curious: why does everyone hate the Comic Sans font so much (or did before this guy came along)?

I'm just a little bit surprised you didn't have anything to say about this:

Spoiler: Professor Hale's report on the Unown being in rough English in both versions

(I'm spoiler-tagging it to accommodate for mobile users)

To be fair, the only thing that can be said about this is that it's grammatically correct in Japanese, but not in English. Not to mention obligatory Zero Wing-style jokes. Most importantly, nobody can be blamed for this.

I have to admit, the dub had the better title screen. As you said in the old comparison you did, it's likely because of all the CGI experience 4kids got when they worked on Cubix (sheesh, isn't that an obscure show?). The dub also had the better poster, too. I feel the darker colors of the American poster fit this movie's undertone better.

Spoiler: I think both posters look good, just the American one is slightly better.

I gotta agree with Michael Haigney and Norman Grossfeld about the movies feeling like they end tons of times. I've thought the same thing for years. Although, thank goodness none of them went as multiple ending-crazy as "The Lord of the Rings - the Return of the King" did. Let's hope none of them will.

And needless to say, I don't think the English dub is getting worse; I think it's getting better, and has been a consistently uphill climb since TPCi first got the dub back in 2006 (time flies, huh? It'll soon be a full decade since TPCi got the dub).

And because I feel like sharing this, have another group's look at his movie.

 

[Daren]

Happy sixteebth anniversary! I really appreciate the effort you put into the site; it's interesting finding out about the various changes to the series in the localization process.

 

[MRStealth64]

Very nice comparison, Dogasu! A bunch of interesting insights as always. I never listened to the commentary for this movie, so it is interesting to hear a little of what went on with 4Kids while they were dubbing Pokemon. I still remember that thing about revealing Ash's dad in the fifth season that never happened. Reading all that misinformation really does explain a lot about why 4Kids' dubs in general turned out the way they did. I'm really looking forward to what's in store for the site's 16th year.

 

[ii kanji]

And we know 4Kids added it in because it doesn't exist in the Japanese version 4Kids had a number of scenes added / reanimated by Japan for 4Ever and that was one of them.

----WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
What have I been doing for the last x years that I didn't know this?!?!?!?!!??
Guess I can look forward to Celebi whatevers then in the near future

 

[Galactic_V]

I don't know why but names like "Grindr" reminds me of those brand spoofs Dan Schneider does on his series xD

Now I didn't remember Team Rocket breaking the fourth wall so many times on the movie... I watched it many years ago in my tongue and this detail slipped my mind it seems.
Ah and I find Brock's line "...and I want be your boyfriend" amusing somehow, thought the same as a kid while watching it on the big screen. Inside the show it was already old (in my opinion), yet in this particular instance I liked that.

 

[Nicolas721]

Happy birthday to your site! Congratulations for running it for 16 years.

The movie's dub isn't as faitful as I thought it would be, but it's pretty watchable nevertheless. Some thoughts:

-Entei's voice didn't had a filter in the Latin American dub, if I recall correctly.

-Maybe the version of "Pokemon Johto" used in the movie is not as good as the TV version, but I greatly enjoyed it as a child and I think it fits the clumsy tone of the battle it had.

-Looks like those DVD comments must be cringe-worthy to hear.

----WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
What have I been doing for the last x years that I didn't know this?!?!?!?!!??
Guess I can look forward to Celebi whatevers then in the near future

Yeah, I was also surprised when I read it around 3 years ago. It's a very interesting piece of trivia that nobody mentions. It might become more popular when Dogasu updates the Celebi comparison

 

[SammyW27]

I look forward to your predictions

 

[Dogasu]

----WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT
What have I been doing for the last x years that I didn't know this?!?!?!?!!??

I have no idea! lol It's one of the more well-known pieces of trivia about the fourth movie, I thought.

-Looks like those DVD comments must be cringe-worthy to hear.

They are. They keep doing these really condescending comments about Japanese movies being just random shit that happens for no reason and that Japanese audiences just blindly accept everything thrown their way without questioning any of it. But we Americans require logic in our stories so we fixed all that and made the movie make sense! Aren't we the best? *barf*

 

[Cybersai]

Dogasu, did we ever get confirmation that the Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon special was commissioned by 4kids by their story ideas or plot? I don't know if we ever got confirmation of that or not. That 4kids gave the Japanese writers a story plot/idea they wanted and then it was written.

Stuff like virtual reality pokemon, Misty coming back, a fake Mewtwo, Oak with a Dragonite, May being out of character, etc....it just reeks of 4kids meddling. How ironic that 4kids didn't even get to dub that special they created because they lost the license.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

They are. They keep doing these really condescending comments about Japanese movies being just random shit that happens for no reason and that Japanese audiences just blindly accept everything thrown their way without questioning any of it. But we Americans require logic in our stories so we fixed all that and made the movie make sense! Aren't we the best?

Quite a patriot, eh? Honestly, while they are fun films, Pokemon movies are really not good examples of high-quality Japanese cinema. I highly doubt Haigney and Grossfeld would say those myopic things about Studio Ghibli films or any film by Akira Kurosawa. For goodness' sake, Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" ended up inspiring "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Last of Us".

 

[MizuTaipu]

Happy anniversary Dogasu! I'm excited to see your predictions for the year as well!

Nice work on the Entei comparison as well. I don't have much to say on it since I pretty much agree with you on 4Kids' changes.

I haven't watched the Celebi movie in a long time (and haven't seen the Pikachu short at all) because I really dislike it, but I do remember it as the movie where 4Kids actively spent money to forcefeed their audience an easily understandable plot point so I'm looking forward to your thoughts on that.

 

[Yash]

I actually prefer the movie version of Johto Journeys myself - guess I'm just a fan of the more chill rendition.

 

[Charmelizard]

I would just like to point out that the recent DVD of TJJ and the upcoming rereleases of the first three movies and JLC warrant an update to the site's DVD Guide.

 

[Gabo2oo]

-Entei's voice didn't had a filter in the Latin American dub, if I recall correctly.

Yes he did... It's a different filter than Mewtwo's though, and also the actors are different. By comparision, Entei's filter in the Latin American dub is really close to the English one, while Mewtwo's filter in the Latin American dub is noticeably less powerful than the filter for the English Mewtwo.

-Maybe the version of "Pokemon Johto" used in the movie is not as good as the TV version, but I greatly enjoyed it as a child and I think it fits the clumsy tone of the battle it had.

I love how the music stops at just the right moment (the Japanese opening doesn't do that). It made Pikachu's headbutt against Quagsire much more notable.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

I love how the music stops at just the right moment (the Japanese opening doesn't do that). It made Pikachu's headbutt against Quagsire much more notable.

That's also my complaint about the original opening and kudos to the dub opening. In fact, the movie remix of "Pokemon Johto" was what gave the dub soundtrack the one point that made me favor it 51/49 over the original soundtrack.