Why was Team Rocket changed so much in the dub?

[Charbok]

Team Rocket are the most rewritten characters on the show. It's a shame because they are my favorite characters and yet I cringe everytime I hear Meowth say "dig it" or everytime they talk in rhymes like they live in Dr. Seuss world. They also insult each other more than in the original and talk in alliterations. What made TPCI change their characters like that? In the 4Kids era and early Battle Frontier at least they talked like normal humans instead of using outdated slang and rhymes. All of the other characters have pretty much the same dialogue and personality as their original version so why was TR changed so much?

I hope that TPCI doesn't have the TRio talking in rhymes and using outdated slang in the dub of Best Wishes because that really wouldn't fit with the way they act in that series.

 

[Musashi]

Well, Jimmy Zoppi has said he doesn't think they're funny in Japanese. I guess all the fighting and rhyming is amusing to him?

 

[Cybersai]

When Best Wishes is dubbed, I don't see HOW they could change TR anymore.

Their interactions wouldn't call for it. I think we're going to see an improved TR in the dub next season/

 

[Eitarou]

When Best Wishes is dubbed, I don't see HOW they could change TR anymore.

Their interactions wouldn't call for it. I think we're going to see an improved TR in the dub next season/

It's TCPi

so I really doubt it

 

[Dogasu]

I wonder if the target audience of this show finds the characters funny in the dub? I mean, it's one thing for us older fans to complain about them, but how about the younger kids? Do they respond well to all that alliteration and rhyming and added jokes?

 

[Yabukuron]

I wonder if the target audience of this show finds the characters funny in the dub? I mean, it's one thing for us older fans to complain about them, but how about the younger kids? Do they respond well to all that alliteration and rhyming and added jokes?

Dogasu's point is extremely valid. And considering it's coming from him, I think it should be heard.

All I hope for is that in the Best Wishes dub is that they're as serious as they should be.

 

[Hassel]

I think I read somewhere that some American kids said that they have no idea what Team Rocket is saying.

 

[Dogasu]

I wouldn't be surprised. A lot of the people here, including me, have had that problem at one point or another.

Does anyone here have siblings who are in the show's target audience? What do they have to say about the way the trio talks in the dub?

 

[Cybersai]

I very much doubt little kids are waking up to watch Pokemon 8am on Saturday Mornings.

 

[Yabukuron]

I wouldn't be surprised. A lot of the people here, including me, have had that problem at one point or another.

Does anyone here have siblings who are in the show's target audience? What do they have to say about the way the trio talks in the dub?

I have my youngest twin sisters who still watch the show constantly. I can ask them in the morning if you want an opinion from that age group. They're 10.

 

[CommanderPigg]

I have a little sister who's 7.

She thinks that the TRio is funny sometimes, but other times, she just kinda looks away from the TV because she thinks their dialogue is...awkward (as do I ). And other times, she just doesn't get their jokes.

I very much doubt little kids are waking up to watch Pokemon 8am on Saturday Mornings.

Wha? Why not? I mean, I woke up at 7 AM every saturday when I was a little kid to watch pokemon :/

And my sister has to wake up at 6 AM for school anyways, so 8 AM is pretty do-able for her.

 

[Eitarou]

I knew it...not even the kids like the kiddy dialogue

isn't that just sad?

I think I read somewhere that some American kids said that they have no idea what Team Rocket is saying.

Why does this not surprise me...

 

[CommanderPigg]

On the other hand, she thinks that Paul and Ash are hilarious I taught her well

As cheesy as the 4kids dialogues were, I preferred them a million times more than the current one...at least for team rocket. Back then, I found them genuinely hilarious (yes, in the dub).

I don't see the need to make their lines rhyme. It serves no purpose and it's just confusing. Reminds me of that one class mate you have that keeps telling bad jokes and then laughing really loud afterward to make it seem funny...

 

[Thingamajig]

I very much doubt little kids are waking up to watch Pokemon 8am on Saturday Mornings.

Well someone must be... I certainly recall that I'd wake up at ungodly hours on weekend mornings to watch Cartoons and I'm sure kids haven't changed that much 10 years.

I don't know whether the script writer is just doing a sucky job at interpreting how 4Kids wrote Team Rocket, or whether Zoppi has just gone mad with power having almost complete creative control over Team Rocket as both writer and voice actor of 2/3 of them, and just puts in everything he finds funny - but I hope it stops with Best Wishes TR.

 

[J J M]

Well, if TR still keeps up the stupid dialogue in Best Wishes...I'll probably give up on them ever being likeable ever again. Though at least their screentime is minimal in BW so... :/

 

[Delrihuzz]

I wonder if the target audience of this show finds the characters funny in the dub? I mean, it's one thing for us older fans to complain about them, but how about the younger kids? Do they respond well to all that alliteration and rhyming and added jokes?

based on some words used by the Rockets, I reckon they don't even understand half of it. I'd be a little confused when I'd start hearing outdated 90's slang if I was 10 years old.

Funny thing, I P.O.'d Zoppi seriously by getting that "Japanese translation isn't funny" quote out ^^

 

[Delrihuzz]

4Kids had them talk like normal people iirc, with only the occasional pun/alliteration. Which was actually funny since it was used in moderation. TPCi (or is it Jimmy Zoppi?) went overboard with that making it so darn grating to listen to them.

Really pains me to say this though. I used to like TR before but now...

TPCi more like. Jimmy Zoppi already adapts the script for every episode since 2002, which was during the Johto saga and thus very much 4Kids.

Or it could be a phase he's going through, thinking it would be funny. I can't remember the TRio being like now during the BF saga. Or at least not as much.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

TPCi more like. Jimmy Zoppi already adapts the script for every episode since 2002, which was during the Johto saga and thus very much 4Kids.

This was ironically the point where I thought that the English dub of Pokemon began its downfall, and this was just a bit before I became part of the internet-based fandom and started reading up on the opinions of others about episodes. I noticed a decline in quality of dubbing from 4Kids during the Johto saga and onwards - from overzealous replacing of Japanese BGM with their own inserts, to increasingly unbearable dialogue.

 

[Kazamatsuri]

Well, Jimmy Zoppi has said he doesn't think they're funny in Japanese. I guess all the fighting and rhyming is amusing to him?

I remember that statement. It's a pretty ironic thing to say considering that (A) when you actually look at the Japanese version and compare it with the English version, there's really no foundation to make such a claim, and (B) and he's not very fond of 4Kids (for obvious reasons) and their rewrites.

I can't help but wonder if this is is how he really feels, or if he's just doing this because of some bitter grudge he has somewhere.

I wonder, can anyone remember if Zoppi's TR lines for were as awkward for Seasons 9-10 as they have been since then.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Does anyone here have siblings who are in the show's target audience? What do they have to say about the way the trio talks in the dub?

My younger sister watches Pokemon, and she thinks Team Rocket's PCI dialogue is extremely obnoxious. She, like myself, loves how they were portrayed under 4Kids and also in Japanese, but she hates them in the PCI dub.