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

[Dogasu]

While we're talking about preservation of old 4Kids material...there are a few things that just never got released on home video:

• The entirety of Pokémon Chronicles. The series got releases in both the UK and Australia but oddly enough the U.S. never got one.
• The Kanto episode "Beauty and the Beach." It's not officially a part of any "season" and so releasing it on home video would require cutting through a bit more red tape than usual.

There are also quite a number of things that, as far as I know, haven't been re-released since they originally came out. Have any of the Pikachu shorts been re-released since the early 2000s? What about Mewtwo Returns? How many fans are going to track down a copy of Pikachu's Winter Vacation on DVD?

The main TV series is fairly easy to get, for all intents and purposes, but anything outside that is a different story.

 

[Hidden Mew]

While we're talking about preservation of old 4Kids material...there are a few things that just never got released on home video:

• The entirety of Pokémon Chronicles. The series got releases in both the UK and Australia but oddly enough the U.S. never got one.
• The Kanto episode "Beauty and the Beach." It's not officially a part of any "season" and so releasing it on home video would require cutting through a bit more red tape than usual.

I never understood why they didn't release Pokemon Chronicles in the U.S. Maybe it didn't sell well internationally, but they already dubbed the specials and packaged them into a series. They might as well try to make more money off of it. I don't think it's legally available to buy digitally either.

There are also quite a number of things that, as far as I know, haven't been re-released since they originally came out. Have any of the Pikachu shorts been re-released since the early 2000s? What about Mewtwo Returns? How many fans are going to track down a copy of Pikachu's Winter Vacation on DVD?

The main TV series is fairly easy to get, for all intents and purposes, but anything outside that is a different story.

I don't know about any of the Pikachu Shorts, but I know that Mewtwo Returns hasn't seen a re-release. It is a special instead of a movie, but considering that it's a sequel to the first Pokemon movie, one would think it would have been re-released at least once after all this time, especially when there have been quite a few re-releases for most of the movies too.

 

[Daren]

While we're talking about preservation of old 4Kids material...there are a few things that just never got released on home video:

• The entirety of Pokémon Chronicles. The series got releases in both the UK and Australia but oddly enough the U.S. never got one.
• The Kanto episode "Beauty and the Beach." It's not officially a part of any "season" and so releasing it on home video would require cutting through a bit more red tape than usual.

There are also quite a number of things that, as far as I know, haven't been re-released since they originally came out. Have any of the Pikachu shorts been re-released since the early 2000s? What about Mewtwo Returns? How many fans are going to track down a copy of Pikachu's Winter Vacation on DVD?

The main TV series is fairly easy to get, for all intents and purposes, but anything outside that is a different story.

From what I can tell it seems the Mega Evolution specials never got an English home release either, despite not even having whatever complications 4Kids licensing may have caused.
If so that is particularly awkward since they tie into the main plot of that series.

But I swore some of the old Pikachu shorts got a re-release at some point. Maybe I misremember.

Still it feels like anything outside the episodes+movies is very low priority.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm still hoping that they'll include the Mega Evolution specials when they eventually re-release the XY seasons on DVD. Unfortunately, that is far from a guarantee and they probably won't even start re-releasing XY until late next year at the earliest given the speed of the re-releases.

 

[PaperSplash]

Maybe Chronicles (in the US) and the Mega Evolution specials getting a DVD release isn't seen as sufficiently profitable, but there's no real excuse not to put them on streaming services at the very least. Chronicles aired during the two Twitch marathons and the Mega Evolution specials were available on Pokémon TV for a time, so it's not like TPCi doesn't have the masters readily available.

The Pikachu short situation in the west is weird. Ever since Warner Bros. and Miramax lost the rights to the movies they distributed over here, all of the Pikachu shorts (and other "bonus features") have been inexplicably excluded on re-releases, with the exception of the first three Pikachu shorts which have been included on recent bundles in Australia and only Australia. Even weirder is that the third Pikachu short got pulled from re-releases in Japan over a decade ago due to a controversy surrounding its narrator, so that particular short is effectively exclusive to Australia now outside of the second-hand market. And that's not even getting into how most of the post-4Kids Pikachu shorts were handled...

I think Mewtwo Returns is still stuck in distribution rights limbo with Warner Bros. like the first three movies were for a while. But unlike those, TPCi didn't bother trying to negotiate said distribution rights back.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I feel like with the Mega Evolution specials they could easily put them in the sets as special features or as an extra separate disc which would make things easier than releasing it separately.

But I bet that's exactly what isn't going to happen once they get round to re-releasing the XY series.

 

[ii kanji]

Out of interest, did chronicles ever air on tv in the US? I’m wondering otherwise why they bothered at all…

 

[Eitarou]

Yes. It aired on Toonami.

 

[Johtoo]

With Disney Plus now commissioning Anime, I wonder if TCPI should try to strike a deal with Disney, or keep their pre-existing one with Netflix. However, allow the deal to include every single program related to the anime; i.e., movies, tv show, shorts, specials (mystery dungeon, chronicles) etc. I think a streaming app that boasts every single season (alongside new episodes) coupled with specials and movies that are hard to find around the world would be immensely appealing. If we can't buy these things, then why not offer it to us in another way?

 

[snowmint]

You would think TPCi would be streaming all this content on pokemon com but hey maybe the Japanese side is blocking that.

 

[Hidden Mew]

With Disney Plus now commissioning Anime, I wonder if TCPI should try to strike a deal with Disney, or keep their pre-existing one with Netflix. However, allow the deal to include every single program related to the anime; i.e., movies, tv show, shorts, specials (mystery dungeon, chronicles) etc. I think a streaming app that boasts every single season (alongside new episodes) coupled with specials and movies that are hard to find around the world would be immensely appealing. If we can't buy these things, then why not offer it to us in another way?

I highly doubt that Disney would be interested in having the Pokemon anime on Disney+. If they were interested in the franchise, then I think that they would have aired Journeys instead of Netflix getting a hold of the series. Unless Disney becomes involved with the production of the anime and as a result own it, I don't think that they'd be willing to put it on their streaming service. I am surprised that Netflix hasn't tried to get more of the anime on their platform though. They only have the Kanto arc, SM, Journeys and a few movies. That isn't a small amount by any means, but I thought that they would have gotten at least a few other movies by this point.

 

[PaperSplash]

I feel like with the Mega Evolution specials they could easily put them in the sets as special features or as an extra separate disc which would make things easier than releasing it separately.

But I bet that's exactly what isn't going to happen once they get round to re-releasing the XY series.

Yeah, since they aren't part of any season Viz probably won't bother licensing them, unfortunately.

You would think TPCi would be streaming all this content on pokemon com but hey maybe the Japanese side is blocking that.

Yeah, no, being completely free (forever) is definitely out of the question. But I'm surprised they haven't launched a "Pokémon TV Premium" with a paid subscription or a way to link it to your cable subscription. That would probably do well. But it probably wouldn't make Netflix, Amazon and all of the other existing streaming services TPCi has signed exclusivity deals with happy.

 

[Dogasu]

I never understood why they didn't release Pokemon Chronicles in the U.S. Maybe it didn't sell well internationally, but they already dubbed the specials and packaged them into a series. They might as well try to make more money off of it. I don't think it's legally available to buy digitally either.

It would've made sense to me for them to get a home video release during that three month gap between the end of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends and Pokémon Journeys since, in a way, Chronicles is like a proto-Journeys. Kind of.

I think Mewtwo Returns is still stuck in distribution rights limbo with Warner Bros. like the first three movies were for a while. But unlike those, TPCi didn't bother trying to negotiate said distribution rights back.

Which is a shame because last year's release of Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution would have been the perfect opportunity for a Mewtwo Returns re-release.

(or at the very least Viz could have bothered to bring over Machito Gomi's Mewtwo Returns adaptation from 2019)

 

[Momentum]

I'm still hoping that they'll include the Mega Evolution specials when they eventually re-release the XY seasons on DVD. Unfortunately, that is far from a guarantee and they probably won't even start re-releasing XY until late next year at the earliest given the speed of the re-releases.

I wouldn't hold my breath. The recent re-release of Season 14 (Black & White) simply recycled the original volume discs right down to the Movie 14 trailer at the start. It wouldn't surprise me if they continue to do this for the remaining seasons.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I wouldn't hold my breath. The recent re-release of Season 14 (Black & White) simply recycled the original volume discs right down to the Movie 14 trailer at the start. It wouldn't surprise me if they continue to do this for the remaining seasons.

Well that's unfortunate, but not at all surprising. As much as I appreciate these re-releases, I'm sure that they're done as cheaply as possible, so sticking to the original XY DVD releases when they get to that series wouldn't shock me.

 

[Jared DiCarlo]

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

The remaster is extremely terrible. It’s horridly smeared with DVNR. But on the bright side, it does have the original syndication bumpers and the PokéRap.

 

[snowmint]

The remaster is extremely terrible. It’s horridly smeared with DVNR. But on the bright side, it does have the original syndication bumpers and the PokéRap.

I'm surprised those wouldn't be included in general? They are part of the master's correct?

 

[PaperSplash]

I'm surprised those wouldn't be included in general? They are part of the master's correct?

I don't remember the Pokérap ever being excluded, but I know Netflix and other streaming services have long since cut the bumpers. Which makes some sense since they don't serve a real purpose without commercials, but it's still nice to see them preserved in HD.

 

[Dogasu]

Well, you need to be sure to put "HD" in air quotes. TPCi's Blu-ray release is simply an upscale of the old SD masters they've had since the late 1990s; they didn't go in and rescan all the film elements like you would have to do for a proper HD remaster.

 

[PaperSplash]

Well, you need to be sure to put "HD" in air quotes. TPCi's Blu-ray release is simply an upscale of the old SD masters they've had since the late 1990s; they didn't go in and rescan all the film elements like you would have to do for a proper HD remaster.

Is TPCi even capable of that? I think that's something that would need to happen on the Japanese side.