TCPI doesn't get enough credit for preserving the original 4 kids dub

[Johtoo]

A lot of dubbing companies have recently gone back to redub older anime series (Sailor Moon being one notable example) and it's been met with a collective confusion. Because the new dub essentially erases the nostalgia associated with said show, and the same would be said if it were to ever happen to Pokemon. Thankfully, it hasn't. Watching the Twitch stream a few years ago, there were over 50k people watching the anime at any given time, and I know for a fact they wouldn't have turned out had the original series been redubbed. Even if it had a more accurate redub. The comment section always exploded when Pikachu's jukebox played, or whenever one of those cheesy 4kids late 90s ballads filled in a sincere moment. Even Pokerap was hugely popular on the stream, as well as the witty jokes that 4kids managed to meld into the show. Was it perfect, of course not. But neither was/is the anime. What makes it perfect is we're still able to watch the show in the same form as we did back when it first aired. Everything has remained in tact, and that should really be commended and hopefully TCPI never redubs the original series. The best example of this already going wrong was the CG remake of the first movie. While it was more accurate and preserved the original movies score, it wasn't the same as the first movie for us. It was for those in Japan, but elsewhere we don't have memories of the original version being anything other than the 4kids adaption. Anyway, I think this thread is merely here as a positive reminder that TCPI keeping the original anime in tact is something that should be commended. Of course, I do hope one day they're able to release an official sub for the series, but the original anime should never be touched. The music, the voice acting. Everything remains a time capsule to a lot of our childhoods and it should stay that way.

 

[snowmint]

Isn't it kept the same because the dub has been ingrained to much in popculture and they "hacked up" about 400 episodes with the 4kids run? That is way too much money to go back and redub those shows. Pokemon is moving forward, not backwards. It stinks TPCi didn't improve their dubbing completely during the battle frontier season, but instead gave is 4kids lite. I thought the dub was turning around during the black and white season but honestly the US side doesn't care.

 

[Johtoo]

Isn't it kept the same because the dub has been ingrained to much in popculture and they "hacked up" about 400 episodes with the 4kids run? That is way too much money to go back and redub those shows. Pokemon is moving forward, not backwards. It stinks TPCi didn't improve their dubbing completely during the battle frontier season, but instead gave is 4kids lite. I thought the dub was turning around during the black and white season but honestly the US side doesn't care.

I wonder if it actually costs TCPI anything to keep Pikachu's jukebox or the original karaokemon. Especially the soundtrack from the first First Movie, which featured Christina Aguilera , M2M, etc. I know a lot of animated shows actually had to go back to remove certain songs due to licences, yet TCPI doesn't seem to be faced with that issue at all? It's even more interesting because they seem to not be able to use that music anymore, yet they're able to keep it in the original? It's kinda mystifying, really. I also do agree that they have been on the cheapside lately. Replacing the soundtrack is one of the biggest attributes to that, but i do respect that they have been able to keep 4kids work. For the sake of continuity, they really could have done a cheap redub of the original series so the voice acting would remain consistent with their version.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

TPCI (at least on the English side of things) hasn't really ever gone back and redubbed stuff when it comes to the dub since it'd be too expensive to redub a series this long and there's really not much reason for them to do so.

 

[Dogasu]

I see it less "TPCi is actively working to preserve the 4Kids dub" and more "TPCi just couldn't be bothered to go back and do a proper redub."

 

[snowmint]

It's a lost cause to go back and redub 1000 episodes at this point. Also the pokemon movies keeping the celebrity soundtracks shouldn't be a surprise since the pokemon money pays well enough to keep those licenses.

 

[Ricbolog]

It's a lost cause to go back and redub 1000 episodes at this point.

Maybe they could have redubbed only the first season. Also, weren't a lot of hindi seasons redubbed at some point?

 

[Hidden Mew]

Redubs of older anime aren't a bad thing. I don't think that the new Sailor Moon dub erases the nostalgia people have for the old dubs. It just provides old and new fans with a more faithful dub, especially when Sailor Stars was never dubbed in English before anyway. Plus, usually when anime get redubs, there's a significant demand for it like with One Piece and Sailor Moon. I'm not sure if there was demand for a redub of the 4Kids Pokemon seasons. There's a demand for legal subs, but I don't think I've seen that many people want them to go back and redub over four hundred episodes.

I wouldn't give TPCI credit for not touching the 4Kids seasons mainly because it most likely came down to not wanting to spend the money it would take to redub multiple seasons while still working on current series. With having new content to work on all the time, it wouldn't make sense to redub four hundred episodes, especially if the demand for a more faithful redub wasn't particularly high. Not to mention doing so would have caused more backlash at the time when the voice cast first changed over.

I actually liked Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution. It was a basically a redub of the first movie without actually touching the 4Kids movie. The first movie is still widely available, but we also have a more faithful redub with this CGI remake. They do include some of the more iconic lines near the end, so I'm not sure how faithful it is to the original, but I assume it's closer to the original first movie than the 4Kids version was and I think that makes it more interesting for an English audience at least.

 

[PaperSplash]

Maybe they could have redubbed only the first season.

I think the first season is the one they're afraid of translating faithfully the most, whether for a redub or an official sub.

"Under that girl's skirt" in the opening, Brock repeatedly saying he's looking forward to younger girls turning 18, a little boy asking Misty to breastfeed him, the entirety of Beauty and the Beach (I'm surprised it aired at all over here)...

So even a hypothetical redub of season one would likely be just as "unfaithful" in that regard.

(To be clear, none of that behavior is normal or acceptable even in Japan. But sometimes in Japanese fiction – even family-oriented stuff – there are jokes about it where you're supposed to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Over here, though, that kind of humor simply doesn't exist outside of the raunchiest adult comedies. The Ace Attorney localization head did a good writeup on the subject if anyone's interested.)

 

[Alola]

Lol I think you're giving tcpi way too much credit. Redubbing all of that would be too costly; time and again, they have shown they are a profit-oriented organization. They would also have nothing to gain in doing so due to how well the dub worked already.

That aside, I wouldn't want them to touch those episodes, even with a 30-yard Alolan Exeggutor.

 

[Audino1008]

I don't like the nostalgia argument, it blurs the line between objectively good and objectively bad way too much. And let's be honest, the 4Kids dubs were mostly terrible (King Dedede and Meta Knight from the Kirby Anime being an exception). Pokemon's older seasons suffer from the dub due to a lot of very weird decisions made by 4Kids, and I wouldn't mind if TCPI went back and redubbed them, but it's not very practical. And at the end of the day I'm not a huge fan of the older seasons in general, especially Indigo League.

 

[snowmint]

Nah the Kirby dub is a mess too. It makes no sense why they didn't keep the videogame, like pokemon, in ost tracks in the Kirby and fzero dub, but that dub is whole nother can of worms since it ends with 26 produced episodes that weren't completely released.

 

[Audino1008]

Nah the Kirby dub is a mess too. It makes no sense why they didn't keep the videogame, like pokemon, in ost tracks in the Kirby and fzero dub, but that dub is whole nother can of worms since it ends with 26 produced episodes that weren't completely released.

Yeah, the dub is a mess, I'm talking specifically about Dedede's and Meta Knight's voice actors. I literally can't imagine those characters talking in any other voice.

 

[Momentum]

There wasn't enough support for the 2017 Blu-ray release of Season 1 for TPCi to even justify completing the Indigo League arc in HD, why would they even consider redubbing it at this point? It would just result in an adaptation that stands out like a sore thumb and likely replace even more of the iconic BGM than 4Kids did.

 

[snowmint]

I'm kinda shocked the physical releases of the dub series don't seem to sell too well.

 

[PaperSplash]

I'm kinda shocked the physical releases of the dub series don't seem to sell too well.

Kids today probably prefer streaming services.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm kinda shocked the physical releases of the dub series don't seem to sell too well.

I don't know how accurate that is given that they've been re-releasing the dub on DVD for quite some time. Even after re-releasing the first season, they've been going through other seasons and series, which has been especially helpful given how difficult it was to get DVDs for Johto and AG in particular. They just re-released the first BW season back in July as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the DVD sales aren't that high for a few reasons, but I assume that the dub re-releases are selling at least well enough for TPCI to keep making them.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I don't know how accurate that is given that they've been re-releasing the dub on DVD for quite some time. Even after re-releasing the first season, they've been going through other seasons and series, which has been especially helpful given how difficult it was to get DVDs for Johto and AG in particular. They just re-released the first BW season back in July as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the DVD sales aren't that high for a few reasons, but I assume that the dub re-releases are selling at least well enough for TPCI to keep making them.

Can't say the same for the UK side of things which honestly has been pretty abysmal. After The Power of Us and the Indigo League set which was bloody terrible over here with how bad they fudged it up, there has not been a single Pokémon release (movie or not) ever since. They just unceremoniously stopped with said film and since then Manga Entertainment was folded entirely into FUNimation. We haven't seen any of the other seasons over here and home media wise, you have no other choice but to import to get the other seasons and films.

It's been that bad for a long while.

Even the Warner Home Video VHS releases of the Kanto stuff stopped after only a few volumes.

 

[snowmint]

I'm kinda surprised they even tried to sell season one on Blu ray. I'm sure it's a terrible remaster.

 

[Enzo]

I know, others ha.ve mentioned it, but I'm loving the implication they are keeping the og dub for ''noble'' reasons and not because they don't wanna spend money on a redub.

It's a company people. TPCI wants money. There's no surprise here