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Dub Voice Actor Guesses/Discussion

PokeMasterLA said:
Hopefully we get a sneak preview of Horizons' English dub soon. If I recall correctly, Sun & Moon released a preview of the first two episodes before the series officially debuted. Hopefully they do something similar with Horizons.
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They kept the OST like XY’s initially and then got Goldfarb’d so it’s why I’m not holding out much hope in that department right now (I truly hope they don’t bring him onboard, JCC no longer being the dub’s only script writer after this Series as he has been since Battle Frontier is on the other hand, for me a welcome change that sadly came under the exact wrong circumstances due to severe illness rather than a willing departure there).

I really hope they don’t go with LA mainstays for the leads, Alejandro Saab as Friede for example is the most predictable, bland, and uninspired choice which is why I think they’ll do that. If they pick a new slate from LA, that would be better than recycling the same VAs nonstop from there, or bring back the old NY talent VAs they arguably did a disservice to after 2006 in lead roles to make up for that. We’ll see.
 
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BigDocFan said:
Sadly Michele Knotz has blocked me on twitter so i can't see the original tweet
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Screenshot_20230607-060906.png
 
BigDocFan said:
A fellow Bulbapedian found this so thought I would post it on here

View attachment 170889
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This could be a big chance to use the current NY talent pool, bring back the big old main 3 as an all new main cast in some form, the old voice directors while Ortiz stays on, and to stop dub music in 2023 with no Goldfarb outside of maybe OPs/EDs but we’ll see. Obviously, they’ll use LA based VAs as they have been for years now, too though.

Will they use this chance wisely, or continue to go on the dubbing path they still are on right now? That’ll determine a lot here, IMO.
 
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Well looks who's over the moon with this news.

Honestly, I was surprised to see this on the SAG-AFTRA database of all things but not only does this mean Iyuno is back on board but for the first time ever in the history of the anime (or so I think anyway) the dub is goin' union baby.

More than happy to see the folks at Iyuno are going to be back for Horizons since I think they did a great job with Journeys (even if it's a season I don't like) and it's stacked cast of NY and LA talent (managing to get some top actors involved as well as some returning faces like Dan Green and Sean Schemmel).

And not only that but it means we may also be seeing some more big name talent get to be a part of the action of this whole new era too.

Personally I think a certain Crispin Freeman deserves to join the series since he did also did script adaptation on the original series years ago.

And on top of that it also means they'll pay for the dubbing agreement and best of all keep the VA's safe from that dreaded AI which makes me so happy to hear.

Hopefully the NY crew will still get to shine though (I think they still will with the new cast of characters) but I'm looking forward to seeing how Horizon's cast will go. It's a new era for the anime and I'm curious to see who will be leading that new era voice wise.
 
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Just to clarify what my last post means for the anime

Tldr the Pokemon dub is going union. The first time the anime has done so, and this will help improve working conditions for voice actors alongside better pay, protection, and more. The only other time Pokemon has been union is the Detective Pikachu movie
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BigDocFan said:
Just to clarify what my last post means for the anime
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They should bring back the following people to the Series, IMO, in Horizons to rectify past errors IMHO in the Ash Anime dub:

  • Agree with @RetroPokeFan Crispin Freeman should be brought back, he was a fine script adapter in the first few seasons under 4Kids (we don't agree on Journeys dub tbh, but that's okay, because he's a nice person and we can agree to disagree sometimes, it's just opinion at the end of the day)
  • Paul Taylor (4Kids' best script writer for Pokemon-- thus arguably in general, tbh & a damn good one IMHO for all the OS/AG Movies he oversaw as he was a translator for their tenure, as he was for a lot of the episodes they handled)
  • Veronica Taylor/Kathleen McInerney (For god sakes, TPCi, I have NEVER seen a company disrespect someone who was once their standard bearer like this- you don't see this w/Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, Digimon up through Tri pre-Reboot as the Reboot is a different incarnation altogether than the OG Adventure, etc. for 8 years in a row like this- give the poor woman a chance to come back already, she's in LA right now in other Nintendo handled properties on the Switch like Advance Wars and in DB Super's FUNimation dub- Natochenny may be your lead Ash since September '06 but still, this bugs me...)
  • Eric Stuart (He had a FINE & well-versed vocal range in the 4Kids dub, and he's a very versatile VA. He even won a voice acting award from BTVA for his Kaiba in the DSOD Yu-Gi-Oh dub in 2017, and many fans consider him the best dub Brock & James in Pokemon despite having not done both roles after 2006- let go of the grudge, TPCi, let it go- he's even worked with Michele Knotz on Shaman King 2021 recently after the dark joke fight they had earlier, realize your mistake execs and give the man a chance from his recording studio: it can be done, so what if he's in TN, he recorded for a VSI Los Angeles dub recently in 2021! Get him out of semi-retirement, his BFF from Slayers Lisa Ortiz is the current VO director for Pokemon! Come on, now!)
  • Rachael Lillis (See Veronica Taylor, she's also a very versatile VA and her Jessie + Misty were fantastic to many fans: you even keep using stock audio of her Jigglypuff in SSB Ultimate in 2018 and she's not personally involved in it- again, TPCi, let the beef go: she's worked with Bill Rogers on some dubs, too- and she was in the mid DP dub as Maylene, so??? Bring her back.)
  • Michael Haigney (On the whole, probably the best VO director the dub ever had)
  • Kathy Borland/Pilon (She already handled the VO director for Masters in 2019, which I didn't like but it was still nice to see her back post-4Kids AG, and she was a good script writer before JCC became the only & chief writer for the dub from TPCi BF onward through most of JN's dub IIRC)
  • We know they'll use their NY mainstays, fine, and LA based VAs, also fine, but please try and bring on new LA based VAs as leads here- no more Price, Hebert, or Saab in particular, quickly becoming the Chris Sabat early FUNi DBZs of LA and I don't mean that nicely tbh: Johnny while he same-voices many roles, isn't cast as often anymore, and he's a nice person like Hebert from what I can recall so no beef there)
  • Stuart Zagnit (He was Cedric in the BW dub, besides the OG dub Oak, with 7 dub VAs to date he's still the fan favorite so...??? Give him a chance, he's still active in the convention circuit like many of these VAs! Leonhart had him on YouTube recently.)

And:
  • Stop dub music in 2023, that TPCi replaced more of the OST than 4Kids in the main Anime and Movie dubs by now is shameful, wake up TPCi. Goldfarb can stay for OPs/EDs, but his OPs need to get better overall if he stays for Horizons, tbh.
  • Stop 30 second length OPs if possible.

Re: the new dub script writer--

I'm happy JCC is no longer the writer for the dub of Horizons (sad it's because of his health though, hope he recovers from his throat cancer, I wish he had left on his own terms not due to illness), but I hope whoever the new one is, finds a style that manages to walk the fine line between faithful translations and not robotic transliterations- also please do NOT repeat what TPCi did w/Team Rocket's dialogue w/Explorers and stop the "so psyched/stoked/down the hatch" verbal tics TPCi gave Ash in the modern dub too for Liko, if possible.

-- Just some hopes since the Pokemon dub COULD reset itself completely here with a new Series, even if it's aimed at the same audience as the Ash Anime/OG Anime is which is children 3-12, and also since it's going Union again)--
 
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Poke Trey said:
Ooooh, so we're unionized now? Plus, Iyuno will stick around with us. Now what about Goldcrest Post our NY branch?
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I think they'll probably stick around, but no confirmation, we'll see.

I hope since they Unionized, they consider just revamping the whole dub here: you look at Generations or Origins keeping the OST, for example, and ask why they can't here?
 
So the SAG-AFTRA database lists Pokemon Horizons which means that for the first time EVER the Pokemon English dub will be under a union contract, which and I cannot understate this, is HUGE! (It also confirmed that Horizons, like Journeys, will be recorded at Iyuno!)

I want to thank PaperSplash for bringing this to my attention!
 
AgedVeteranofShow said:
They should bring back the following people to the Series, IMO, in Horizons to rectify past errors IMHO in the Ash Anime dub:

  • Agree with @RetroPokeFan Crispin Freeman should be brought back, he was a fine script adapter in the first few seasons under 4Kids (we don't agree on Journeys dub tbh, but that's okay, because he's a nice person and we can agree to disagree sometimes, it's just opinion at the end of the day)
  • Paul Taylor (4Kids' best script writer for Pokemon-- thus arguably in general, tbh & a damn good one IMHO for all the OS/AG Movies he oversaw as he was a translator for their tenure, as he was for a lot of the episodes they handled)
  • Veronica Taylor/Kathleen McInerney (For god sakes, TPCi, I have NEVER seen a company disrespect someone who was once their standard bearer like this- you don't see this w/Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, Digimon up through Tri pre-Reboot as the Reboot is a different incarnation altogether than the OG Adventure, etc. for 8 years in a row like this- give the poor woman a chance to come back already, she's in LA right now in other Nintendo handled properties on the Switch like Advance Wars and in DB Super's FUNimation dub- Natochenny may be your lead Ash since September '06 but still, this bugs me...)
  • Eric Stuart (He had a FINE & well-versed vocal range in the 4Kids dub, and he's a very versatile VA. He even won a voice acting award from BTVA for his Kaiba in the DSOD Yu-Gi-Oh dub in 2017, and many fans consider him the best dub Brock & James in Pokemon despite having not done both roles after 2006- let go of the grudge, TPCi, let it go- he's even worked with Michele Knotz on Shaman King 2021 recently after the dark joke fight they had earlier, realize your mistake execs and give the man a chance from his recording studio: it can be done, so what if he's in TN, he recorded for a VSI Los Angeles dub recently in 2021! Get him out of semi-retirement, his BFF from Slayers Lisa Ortiz is the current VO director for Pokemon! Come on, now!)
  • Rachael Lillis (See Veronica Taylor, she's also a very versatile VA and her Jessie + Misty were fantastic to many fans: you even keep using stock audio of her Jigglypuff in SSB Ultimate in 2018 and she's not personally involved in it- again, TPCi, let the beef go: she's worked with Bill Rogers on some dubs, too- and she was in the mid DP dub as Maylene, so??? Bring her back.)
  • Michael Haigney (On the whole, probably the best VO director the dub ever had)
  • Kathy Borland/Pilon (She already handled the VO director for Masters in 2019, which I didn't like but it was still nice to see her back post-4Kids AG, and she was a good script writer before JCC became the only & chief writer for the dub from TPCi BF onward through most of JN's dub IIRC)
  • We know they'll use their NY mainstays, fine, and LA based VAs, also fine, but please try and bring on new LA based VAs as leads here- no more Price, Hebert, or Saab in particular, quickly becoming the Chris Sabat early FUNi DBZs of LA and I don't mean that nicely tbh: Johnny while he same-voices many roles, isn't cast as often anymore, and he's a nice person like Hebert from what I can recall so no beef there)
  • Stuart Zagnit (He was Cedric in the BW dub, besides the OG dub Oak, with 7 dub VAs to date he's still the fan favorite so...??? Give him a chance, he's still active in the convention circuit like many of these VAs! Leonhart had him on YouTube recently.)
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I'm gonna have a go at fan casting! tell me what you think:

Liko - Veronica Taylor
Roy - Cassandra Lee Morris

Friede - Todd Haberkorn
Captain Pikachu - Ikue Otani (of course)
Orla - Cherami Leigh
Mollie - Megan Hollingshead
Murdock - Kevin Michael Richardson
Ludlow - Bill Rogers

and yeah it'd be great to also have the likes of Eric Stuart, Rachael Lillis and other 4kids and TPCi alumni appear in additional roles as well!
 
I recall Eileen Stevens also joined a union, which was why she left midway through SM. That was also the reason why Iris was recast during the Masters 8 arc, and same with Serena's Delphox was limited to a non-speaking role in JN105. If the Horizons dub is indeed working with a union, hopefully that opens the door for Stevens to return as well.
 
Nichole the Otter said:
I recall Eileen Stevens also joined a union, which was why she left midway through SM. That was also the reason why Iris was recast during the Masters 8 arc, and same with Serena's Delphox was limited to a non-speaking role in JN105. If the Horizons dub is indeed working with a union, hopefully that opens the door for Stevens to return as well.
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True to all this. Other actors I hope get a chance are Cassandra Morris and Johnny Yong Bosch mostly.
 
PaperSplash said:
I love Kevin Michael Richardson but he's sadly done only a small handful of anime over the years. Maybe Beau Billingslea or John Eric Bentley?
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yeah I thought the same thing, it's definitely more on the wishful thinking side of things. But it would be cool! And I looked those actors up and ooh yeah, those would be interesting honestly!
 
Poke Trey said:
True to all this. Other actors I hope get a chance are Cassandra Morris and Johnny Yong Bosch mostly.
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Cassandra Lee Morris I recall voiced a COTD back in DP, albeit credited under a different name. I would definitely like to see her back in the series.

JYB I recall was in Pokémon Origins, voiced Nate in Yo-Kai Watch, and of course played Adam Park in the Power Rangers franchise. He’s a very great actor and I would love to see him get a shot in Horizons.
 
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