Michael Haigney's Podcast - 'Original Pokéman'

[Gabo2oo]

I think it's a nice podcast, but considering how he doesn't do much beyond sumarrizing the episodes and sharing a couple of tidbits, I think it'd be a neat idea to actually e-mail him with feedback, inquiries and whatnot like he's been asking ([email protected]). While listening, I get the feeling there's stuff he may know about, but not recall or regard as notable unless directly asked. Perhaps a byproduct of doing the podcast solo as well.

I personally don't "know the unknowns" of the English dub to think of many questions, but I do know the "no marchandise on-screen" rule he talks about in the 1st episode wouldn't actually come into play until the AG series. So if he's waiting until a paint edit happens to delve into the subject then it's going to take ages.

 

[snowmint]

In the Kanto indigo plateau episodes, scenes with merchandise was edited. I want him to clarify if electric soldier Porygon was dubbed. Maddie and Eric say it was. You never know. Crazier things have happened. Japan banned an Ultraman episode about radiation but the international still dubbed it cause they had the episode on hand and aired it but then banned it again. Maybe a similar situation happened here?

 

[BigDocFan]

I have sent Michael an email and he has replied, he's a very nice man I feel as I asked about him helping out with information for Bulbapedia

Hi, Joe!

Thanks so much for writing.

I love Bulbapedia! What a great resource. Of course, like almost any such site, there can be a few errors and omissions. I'm sure I'm making some of those on my podcast series, and I'm very careful to make that clear to listeners. I've only done podcasts on the first 6 episodes of Season 1 and, because I haven't listened to the shows I worked on since I worked on them nearly 25 years ago, I don't want to put out a definitive list of characters I voiced yet. And I'm sure some of what I claim will be disputed...because that's already happened! I'm doing my best to tell things the way I remember them, but my memories (and those of others connected with any series) aren't always accurate. So I'm happy to make a running list for you of the characters I voiced as I re-hear them. Would that be OK?

Anyway, thanks again for your interest and I'd always be happy to hear your thoughts, comments, criticisms, corrections, and suggestions for my series. Hope you stay in touch.

CHAR CHAR!
Mike Haigney

 

[snowmint]

I wish the output would be a bit faster or that he would attend more conventions so I could ask him the questions about other dubs like Kirby, sonic, F-Zero GP Legend etc

 

[PaperSplash]

I wish the output would be a bit faster or that he would attend more conventions so I could ask him the questions about other dubs like Kirby, sonic, F-Zero GP Legend etc

If you're interested in hearing more from him, this recent interview is a doozy:

 

[snowmint]

Yes. I loved this. Lots of mystery busting. I liked that he basically confirmed 4kids only made 26 F-Zero dub episodes.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

Oh wow, I didn’t even know this was going on. I’ll definitely have to check it out when I get the chance.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Interesting to hear from him after all this time: I'll say this, I think he was the best voice director in the English dub's tenure along with Jim Malone based on the credits, and he clearly knew what he was doing on that front (especially with Stuart's James, he managed to make a fine line between hilarious camp but not too much hammy camp the way Dunstan took it later on in the Series, yet also not stiff/flat like Lewis was in the initial eps, and that's not easy at all IMO).

His scripts were hit or miss: sometimes I would gladly take them over what came afterward at his best, yet other days they were cringy but for the most part he did a pretty decent job all things considered since it was a 1999-2002 dub on TV after all.

Can't say I was a big fan of his attitude back in the 4Kids' days on the first Movie or Grossfeld's, but he really seems to have humbled out since then, and I loved his voices for Psyduck and Charmander in the old days.

 

[BigDocFan]

I've been in contact with Michael Haigney, I won't post the full email but among his reply was

''I'm working on new podcasts, so keep listening and spread the word.''

 

[snowmint]

I wish he would go back on his CAMEO app

 

[snowmint]

He released a new one, but this episode was pretty underwhelming. I wish they would just talk about the juicy things like the banned episodes.

 

[Juliko]

Oooh! How did I not know about this podcast before? It sounds interesting! I think I'll give it a listen during work!

 

[BigDocFan]

Here is a Link to the PodCast

The Water Flowers of Cerulean City

 

[PaperSplash]

I'm glad he explained that seemingly arbitrarily rewritten line at the beginning of EP007. I don't agree with the given reasoning but at least there was a reason given.

Also interesting knowing that he started the whole dub Team Rocket rhyming thing (outside of the motto, anyway), even if it was never ended up being as frequent as in later series like DP and XY.

 

[ii kanji]

I’m not sure I’m going to continue listening to this haha. Poor Michael Haigney just rambles soooooo much that he manages to give almost no new information over a half hour period… The first couple of episodes were interesting to get an insight into how his mind works. 7 episodes in, most of what he says is a repeat of what he’s already said and I just don’t have time for this

 

[PaperSplash]

I’m not sure I’m going to continue listening to this haha. Poor Michael Haigney just rambles soooooo much that he manages to give almost no new information over a half hour period… The first couple of episodes were interesting to get an insight into how his mind works. 7 episodes in, most of what he says is a repeat of what he’s already said and I just don’t have time for this

I could start making "too long, didn't listen" summaries if that would help. (Genuinely offering.)

 

[snowmint]

I honestly wish people would grill him more on his work on the Kirby, sonic, and F-Zero dubs.

 

[ii kanji]

I could start making "too long, didn't listen" summaries if that would help. (Genuinely offering.)

That would be genuinely helpful if you have the capacity! There are interesting nuggets scattered in but I personally just don’t have the time to listen to 30 minutes of waffle to learn one or two new thing about the early dub.

 

[Dogasu]

I finally caught up with all the episodes and to add to what others have already said:

• He really, really needs to have at least one other person with him to help steer the conversation. It's just so, so rambly.
• He chooses the most random, nothing things to go over. He'll spend an excruciating amount of time talking about using the word "battle" instead of "fight," or about how they accidentally left a slap sound effect in, yet he glosses over some of the bigger, more important change (i.e. removing the mention of Satoshi's grandfather from Episode 2).
• The translation he reads out loud of Hitodeman's Pokémon Bestiary entry from Episode 7 makes it clear he's relying on the old PocketMonsters.net fansubs for his information about the Japanese version.
• Speaking of translations...he keeps making this mistake that, to be fair, a LOT of fans make which is to take what's written in the fansubs far, far too literally. "The Japanese version says...." and then he'll quote the fansubs, not realizing (or caring?) that the text in subtitled anime are just one possible interpretation of the original dialogue. To go back to the "fight" vs "battle" thing, for example, the Japanese word used, たたかい, can mean either "fight" or "battle" and the decision to translate it one way or the other is usually not because of any reason other than just whatever the translator felt like writing that day. It's usually not that deep.
• Some of the things he says are just flat-out wrong, like the claim that Nyarth stopped speaking with a cat accent after a "few episodes" when that is objectively not true. Or that it's the writers who decide to include real world animals in the show when that would actually be done by the storyboard artists and/or animators.
• He thinks Episode 7 is a throwaway episode where nothing really happens, LOL what?

The podcast has the potential to be this wonderful peek behind the curtain on the making of the Pokémon English dub but right now it's kind of a chore to sit through.

 

[snowmint]

I wish the release schedule would be more "consistent," but it is what it is.