Unpopular opinion: TPCI's dub has the exact same quality as 4Kids' dub

[TapLover]

...and they're both faithful, excellent and nostalgic!

I still don't know why people still believe in the "4Kids' dub sucks cause they butchered it and aired it out-of-order, TPCI's dub is much better and more faithful!" lies...

 

[KyseL]

I don't really like any of the English dubs for Pokémon, tbh.

I just wish we had a legit way to get the original version in the west.

 

[Prince Enos]

I agree

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I think both dubs are okay really, though I can't really say the same for the music. TCPI's dub music that replaces the original music for stupid reasons sounds so bland and unfitting for the scenes half the time. The 4kids dub music was so much better.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

I still don't know why people still believe in the "4Kids' dub sucks cause they butchered it and aired it out-of-order, TPCI's dub is much better and more faithful!" lies...

How is it a lie exactly? Their dialogue is full of unnecessary changes.

 

[Daenerys]

...and they're both faithful, excellent and nostalgic!

I still don't know why people still believe in the "4Kids' dub sucks cause they butchered it and aired it out-of-order, TPCI's dub is much better and more faithful!" lies...

Er, I prefer the 4Kids dub over the TPCi dub, but the 4Kids dub was incredibly inconsistent. It was most noticeable in the early Kanto saga when they edited so much dialogue and made up so much random crap that it's impossible to call most of the early 4Kids dub faithful to the original Japanese script.

The only things about the 4Kids dub that I preferred were the voices and the music, because even though they edited a lot of music as the series progressed, at least 4Kids' music was marginally better than the music TPCi comes up with.

 

[PTOldMan]

I am from Portugal, so the version I watched while growing up was the Portuguese dub, so I have no nostalgia goggles when discussing this because the 4Kids dub was not part of my childhood. And I can say that comparing the 4Kids' and the TPCi's dubs, the 4Kids' dub is way better. Although they've made a lot of unnecessary changes, 4Kids dub is actually watchable, and I can't really say the same about TPCi's dub. I find it extremely tough to watch an episode nowadays mainly because of the background music, which is really unfitting and ruins several great scenes. The music sounds really cheap. And it makes me really sad thinking that the Pokémon series is ruined worldwide because of TPCi. If they made a faithful dub I am sure the anime would have way more audience.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

I am from Portugal, so the version I watched while growing up was the Portuguese dub, so I have no nostalgia googles when discussing this because the 4Kids dub was not part of my childhood.

Not really. Portuguese dub still had 4Kids' script and musical score, even though its lines are translated into Portuguese.

 

[PTOldMan]

Not really. Portuguese dub still had 4Kids' script and musical score, even though its lines are translated into Portuguese.

Yeah, but it is the same situation regarding TPCi's dub. When TPCi took over that was the version we got here in Portugal.
That's what I wanted to say.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Yeah, but it is the same situation regarding TPCi's dub. When TPCi took over that was the version we got here in Portugal. That's what I wanted to say.

I wonder...what do think about the comparison between Veronica Taylor and Sarah Natochenny? Which one do you think is better at voicing Ash?

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I say both dubs have their problems. The 4Kids stuff is decent but I'd say the Kanto and Johto stuff were easily the peak of that era, afterwards to me the quality really started to go south by the end of Hoenn voice direction wise. A lot of the characters were either straight up just yelling their lines out (Brock and James especially, in fact even Seto Kaiba fell victim to this later on in the Yu-Gi-Oh dub) or they chose voices that didn't fit the character at all (Maxie). To be fair though TPCI did pull the same crap with Ghetsis so...
And Pokemon Chronicles... they also gave us that absolute mess of a dub. But before those they had solid enough voice direction, a script and even managing to keep some of the Japanese OST.

The TPCI era has definitely come a long way from the days of TAJ. I find most of those episodes near unwatchable due to how amateurish the entire Battle Frontier and the first D&P series was whether it be the spotty script or awkward delivery. Since then I've at least fitted in with the company's talent pool (as we already know Taylor, Stuart and the others won't be coming back anytime soon) and most of the voices (except for James though, I just don't know why but JCC's take still doesn't click with me for some reason compared to the early Stuart stuff) though I'd say the things holding them back are the script and voice direction.

Mazlumian's stuff was bad, Tom Wayland was super all over the place and Buchheister's stuff was blegh in general. Lisa Ortiz is at least doing decently enough (well decent in most aspects anyway) but even then some of the voices still sound off, the music being incredibly forgettable dub made fluff and the script leaves a lot to be desired with jokes, quotes or rhyming by TR that makes my eyes roll more than laugh..

Spoiler

I swear Lillie sounds so silly and cartoonish in the later episodes, it's beyond ridiculous.

TPCI's dub as of now is just okay. Not anywhere as bad as most people claim but it still has it's fair share of problems that still plague it and I still believe the NY talent pool has been better served with other stuff.

Spoiler

Just not with Kip Kaplan. Let's never talk about Ratatoing okay?

 

[PTOldMan]

I wonder...what do think about the comparison between Veronica Taylor and Sarah Natochenny? Which one do you think is better at voicing Ash?

I think that Veronica Taylor was more "sweet" and natural, I guess. But I don't think Sarah Natochenny is a bad Ash, my only problem is when Ash screams, I really don't like how she portrays Ash during these moments. But, all in all, I really don't think the voice actors are the main problem with TPCi. I mean, from my point of view there are some terrible voices (mainly Meowth and James, even though there are some moments in which I like James), but most of the voices are bearable.
My main problem really is with whoever is in charge and decides things, again, mainly with the background music. With 4Kids there are some episodes in which everything is different but I can still watch it and enjoy the episodes. For example, AG006, "A Poached Ego", is very different from the Japanese version but still is a nice episode to watch. There was a greater sense of "art" than what we have with TPCi, music replacements were debatable but we could see that at least they put some thought into it (by using that music from the first movie, imagine if TPCi dubbed this episode, they would just use some bland synth music like they did with Dustox's goodbye, completely ruining everything).

 

[Daenerys]

A lot of people claim that Sarah Notmyash Natochenny has grown into the role of Ash, to which I say excuse me no. She can do Ash's mild tone of voice well enough, but she can't handle the emotional scenes like when Ash gets teary. It's literally like listening to nails against a chalkboard whenever she has to do crying scenes, although thankfully those are very rare on this show. And her version of angry!Ash just sounds awful, plus the way that she calls out commands when Ash is battling sends a chill down my spine and not in a good way.

 

[Yash]

The music is still terrible.

And really, addressing that would solve 90% of my issues with the current dub. The script and translation choices err a little on the juvenile side for me (like Bonnie's "veggies" in XY), but eh, it's a kids' show so I'm not too fussed about it.

Whatever changes 4Kids made during their run of the series seemed way more substantial, and you can definitely tell the actors were losing some steam in their later seasons. While much of it is the nostalgia talking, I still think the first few seasons are really entertaining, though I'd also say that has a lot more to do with the show itself as opposed to anything 4Kids did specifically.

Overall I like TPCI's dub more but I don't really like either of them in comparison to the original version.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

I think that Veronica Taylor was more "sweet" and natural, I guess. But I don't think Sarah Natochenny is a bad Ash, my only problem is when Ash screams, I really don't like how she portrays Ash during these moments. But, all in all, I really don't think the voice actors are the main problem with TPCi. I mean, from my point of view there are some terrible voices (mainly Meowth and James, even though there are some moments in which I like James), but most of the voices are bearable.

I asked it because, as someone with almost no past experience with English dub voices, Taylor's Ash voice sounds really whiny to me. I actually prefer her with May.

 

[Daenerys]

I asked it because, as someone with almost no past experience with English dub voices, Taylor's Ash voice sounds really whiny to me. I actually prefer her with May.

Well she was voicing a 10-year-old boy, so at least she was playing the part well by making Ash whiny (Ash was really annoying back in early OS anyways). Sure her Ash voice was rough sometimes, but it's still better than Sarah's lethargic Lana Del Rey-esque voice that sounds like she's bored in the sound booth.

 

[Diamond & Pearl]

I guess I'm the only one who thinks that the BGM TPCi composed for the Battle Frontier and DP series is better than 4Kids' BGM...

 

[TapLover]

Remember when TPCI did their first dubbing efforts (the 10th anniversary special, airing it a BIT too early), Ash had a high-pitched accent when it originally aired?

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Rica puts passion in Satoshi's battle scenes.

 

[Diamond & Pearl]

I actually find that Sarah Natochenny performed really well during the DP series. She did sound lousy most of the time in Battle Frontier but I'll excuse her for that as she had to adapt to Ash's role.

For some reason, I feel as if her performance has been dropping on and on ever since DP ended...