"Pokemon Adventures on the Orange Islands" DVD Boxset Review Thread

[Pokeyug]

Last week the Orange Islands Boxset containing the entire season was released. Did anyone get a chance to buy this yet? Is it just a repackaging of the old DVDs or did they make new DVDs?

Here is the link to buy it from Amazon for $35.99: http://www.amazon.com/Pokemon-Adven..._bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1212455665&sr=8-1.

The retail price is $39.98.

 

[Lil Brother]

THE FIRST DISC SCREWS UP MY DVD PLAYER.

...

Well, it does. For some reason beyond my comprehension, whenever I put in the first disc in it, the player won't load anything and will just go into a coma. You can't turn it off or eject the disc; you have to unplug the thing, re-plug it, turn the player on, and open it up before it has a chance to read the disc.

None of the other DVD players in my house do this, and only the first disc in the set effects it. Why in the hell is this happening? o.o;

As for the content itself, I haven't done anything but glance at it. The picture quality from the few minutes I've watched isn't as bad as I imagined it would be but still isn't that good. The main menu is the worst DVD menu I've ever seen. Such a sucky release for such a great arc.

Oh, and like I've said before in the Darkrai DVD thread, based on the fact that disc one has a "preview" of Pokémon 4Ever, I'd be willing to bet that the discs have the exact same content as the individual releases. The physical discs themselves aren't the same, though, since the pre-menu Viz logo is the current one (with the V and Z that make the red box spin and the i that "grows").

By the way, does anyone know why the front cover has completely different Pokémon on it at AnimeOnDVD.com?

 

[Katsu Koneko]

o-o $35.99? WTF. I got mine for $27.99 in Best Buy. xD (I still need to get the last Indigo Boxset..-shakes fist-).

Anyways, first disc works fine for me. ^w^ I've watched the first 4 episodes of it so far. So much memories. :3

The weird part of it was that it had the Pokemon 4ever trailer on it. xD (Maybe this is a repackaging? Owners of the old Orange League DVDs help~)

It had the option for dubtitles and also you can play the episode without seeing the OP and Credits in the episode selection.

I like the menu art though, it's pretty. :3

Well Viz is going with Thinpacks now (example: Busou Renkin boxset). Three DVDs. The first DVD cover has Blastoise, second has lapras, and the third has Dragonite.

 

[Dogasu]

I like the menu art though, it's pretty. :3

How in the world is this pretty?

And no, I didn't Photoshop that at all. That's what it actually looks like.

 

[Geodude]

How in the world does something that badly hacked up qualify for a professional release?

 

[Dogasu]

I don't know what I love more; the MS Paint PokeBall, awkward white space between Ash's raised arm and Misty, one-eared Pikachu, half-a-face Togepi, drowning Psyduck, or Lapras-in-the-foreground-but-also-in-the-background.

I've actually been watching the third disc and realized that I've only seen like two of the episodes on the whole thing. Whoops. So I guess this thread would be as good a place as any to type up my thoughts:

"Charizard Chills!" - Not sure why Charizard suddenly decides to trust Ash after getting a massage, but whatever.

"The Pokémon Water War" - Kind of boring and forgettable, really. Though I did LOL when the Blastoise didn't think to push the truck out of the way until after the Wartortle arrived on the scene.

"Pokémon Food Fight!"

"Pokémon Double Trouble" - The Gym Leader here reminds me of a skinnier version of the mom from the Hoenn episode "Disguise Da Limit." Also...yay for double battles.

"The Wacky Watcher" - As much as I abhor complete rewrites of characters, 4Kids making the watcher dude talk like Groucho Marx actually works.

"The Stun Spore Detour" - This was a nice "the other guys" episode. Though I do think it's a bit weird that the Pokedex would have information on a weed, of all things.

"Hello, Pummelo!" - Oh dear God the puns in this one just kept coming and coming and coming. They even managed to fit in a "You don't stand a [purposeful pun pause]ghost[/purposeful pun pause] of a chance!" in there.

Also...why does the dub refer to Drake as a Gym Leader?

"Enter the Dragonite" - Why does the announcer keep referring to Ash as "Ketchum?" Other than that, nothing here really felt too cheap or deux ex machina-y.

"Viva Las Lapras" - So I love how the episode ends without explaining why the hell the other Lapras were acting like such stuck up snobs in the first place.

Also, the Maddie Blaustein pirate's voice was like nails on a chalkboard for me.

"The Underground Round-Up" - Poncho winking at Misty (who's waaaay younger than he is) at the end of the episode really creeped me out.

I'm gonna watch the last two episodes later tonight.

 

[Casual_Furi]

Dr. Quagenporker was one of the best COTDs ever. I bet Tracey admired him because he actually had a memorable character.
How come Misty had 4 Pokemon out in the menu, Ash only had 2 and Tracey didn't have any?
For some reason transformers aired instead of pokemon this morning ;-;

 

[Cybersai]

Speaking of Tracey, the poor guy only gets two episodes that focus on him this entire season. The episode where he captures Scyther, and the Magikarp/Dr. Quakenpoker episode.

Man, the writers didn't even care about Tracey in the short time he was here, did they? At least with Max it looked like they were trying, and gave him an episode from time to time, in addition to Movie 6.

 

[Pokeyug]

The weird part of it was that it had the Pokemon 4ever trailer on it. xD (Maybe this is a repackaging? Owners of the old Orange League DVDs help~)

I guess it is a repackaging because the first volume of the old DVDs also had the Pokemon 4ever trailer. Did they at least improve the quality of the DVDs?

 

[nickstr]

I don't know if that was done but the episodes on the season 1 DVD set are from the original masters that the UPN and later on WB stations got during that time period so the Orange Island episodes should be the same. Why do some people have to nitpick about something as little as the quality of the main menu? It never ceases to surprise me. I am more concerned about the picture quality of the actual episodes which from what I am seeing is exactly the same as it was when these episodes first aired on US television. I will say that some of the episodes from this time period are forgettable but others are very memorable at the same time.

 

[Dogasu]

Why do some people have to nitpick about something as little as the quality of the main menu?

Why should we ignore it?

I am more concerned about the picture quality of the actual episodes which from what I am seeing is exactly the same as it was when these episodes first aired on US television.

Which is terrible considering that these are DVDs we're talking about. Worse-than-VHS quality video on a DVD is totally unacceptable, especially this late in the game.

The Orange Islands deserve better than this.

 

[Casual_Furi]

Well, we need standards. If we let this go unnoticed, then VIZ will do a crap job on their other DVD releases. Then they'll whine "WAAH Youtube is taking all our profits!"

 

[Dogasu]

One issue I have with the Orange Islands saga is that there doesn't seem to be any sense of direction. The gang never plans which island they'll be going to...they just seem to drift aimlessly in the ocean until they randomly come across an island with a Pokemon Gym.

The pacing's weird, too. After the fourth gym, we get a filler episode about Pokemon Watcher, an episode where Kasumi catches Nyoromo, and then...the Orange League finals. What an awful, awful segue.

Speaking of Tracey, the poor guy only gets two episodes that focus on him this entire season. The episode where he captures Scyther, and the Magikarp/Dr. Quakenpoker episode.

He also played a pretty big role in "The Joy of Pokemon" as well. Plus, there's the episodes where he contributes to the plot somewhat even if they're not all about him, such as "The Crystal Onix" (where his pokemon helps find the titular character), "The Stun Spore Detour" (he tells Misty how to find out information about the weed that she needed to get to help them out), and "Viva Las Lapras" (where he takes the iniative to go summon Officer Jenny to stop the pirates).

Kenji is actually a smart guy. The problem I had with him, though, is that he really did come off as Takeshi lite. I mean, how many times did they reuse the old "I thought you were a Pokemon Watcher, not a People Watcher!" gag? And wouldn't taking pictures be a much better way to study wild pokemon than sketching them?

At least his story has a happy ending.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Yeah, I'm not much of a Tracey fan either.

But anyway, Ted Lews did a great job voicing Tracey! ^^


And of course, I love this season. The Orange Islands DVD box set is definitely on my Want List!! :-D

My favorite episodes from this season are: "The Lost Lapras", "Pikachu Revolts", "The Crystal Onix", "Bound For Trouble", "A Way Off Day Off", "The Mystery Menace", "Charizard Chills", "Pokemon Food Fight", and "Viva Las Lapras".

As for my thoughts on puns, well actually, I love ALL the puns that 4Kids used in the episodes. Especially the title puns! XD I was able to memorize pretty much all the titles in the 4Kids dub, thanks to those puns and me being such a rerun fanatic. XD

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

The problem I had with him, though, is that he really did come off as Takeshi lite.

If you notice, his interest in girls seems to be purely artistic. He never shows interest in them outside of his sketchbook.

And wouldn't taking pictures be a much better way to study wild pokemon than sketching them?

Ask Oak, it seemed to work for him, as we find out in movie 4.

 

[Dogasu]

Yeah, it *can* work, but I would think that a camera would be preferred. After all, we're talking about the equivalent of wild animals here; snapping a photo is way more reliable than hoping that a pokemon stands still long enough for you to sketch it.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

It may have to do with how you notice more if you draw it yourself. You'd have to stare at a picture for a really long time to get all the details in, and even that's affected by things like lighting and fur.

And about the standing still part, Tracey seems to have the art speed of Relm Arrowny, so I don't think that's a problem for him.

 

[Dogasu]

It may have to do with how you notice more if you draw it yourself. You'd have to stare at a picture for a really long time to get all the details in, and even that's affected by things like lighting and fur.

While that is true, "a really long time" isn't really something a Pokemon Watcher like Kenji would have if he's researching a wild pokemon unless they're sleeping or doing something else sedentary.

And about the standing still part, Tracey seems to have the art speed of Relm Arrowny, so I don't think that's a problem for him.

I think that's more of the anime just not showing the actual drawing of the picture because they don't think kids would be interested in watching the show go into Bob Ross mode for the five minutes or so it would take to draw the sketch.

 

[MondoTR]

I don't know what I love more; the MS Paint PokeBall, awkward white space between Ash's raised arm and Misty, one-eared Pikachu, half-a-face Togepi, drowning Psyduck, or Lapras-in-the-foreground-but-also-in-the-background.

Psyduck drowning is normal.

How come Misty had 4 Pokemon out in the menu, Ash only had 2 and Tracey didn't have any?

They're in the water.

Yeah, it *can* work, but I would think that a camera would be preferred.

That's why I think of Todd/Snap as possibly being a Pokemon Watcher as well despite him never saying so.

I have the second and third of the old OI DVDs so I think I'll just try to find the first of that instead of get this boxset.

 

[PDL]

I think that's more of the anime just not showing the actual drawing of the picture because they don't think kids would be interested in watching the show go into Bob Ross mode for the five minutes or so it would take to draw the sketch.

But... Bob Ross is the epitome of awesome. All children should watch "The Joy of Painting" at least once in their lives.

But yeah, The Orange Islands felt directionaless because it doesn't follow any game. It was entirely up to the writers of the anime to invent places and other locations and characters, hence why it's refered to as a "filler league".