Pokémon The First Movie - Character Commentary

[Jesse GS the II]

I woke up with this idea yesterday morning and immediately began hammering it out. What if the original Japanese incarnations of the characters could provide DVD-style commentary for the dub? And what better to start them off on than Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, one of the heaviest rewrites 4Kids Entertainment ever did?

Here's the first ten minutes (I don't have immediate access to the last 15 minutes or so of the movie, so I may not be able to finish this). If you have the movie on DVD, see if you can sync it up!

Character Key, for any who don't know the Japanese names...
S: Satoshi (Ash)
Ka: Kasumi (Misty)
T: Takeshi (Brock)
M: Musashi (Jessie)
Ko: Kojirou (James)
N: Nyasu (Meowth)

------------------------------

S: Konnichiwa!
Ka: (laughter)
S: And welcome to the special edition Japanese character audio track commentary. I’m Satoshi, from Masara Town, and this is Pikachu here on my knee.
Pika pikachu!
S: And joining me to my right is...
Ka: I’m Kasumi, accompanied by my little girl Togepi. Say hi, Togepi!
Togi togi bbbrri!
T: Evening, ladies, this is Takeshi, it’s a pleasure to be here.
S: And further down the row, we have...
M: Sekai no hewai no segu tame!
Ko: Sekai no hewai o mamoru tame!
N: Not this time, you two, just introduce yourselves regular-nya.
M: Oh, fine, I’m Musashi.
Ko: And this is Kojirou.
N: Nyasu, batting cleanup.
S: And we are watching this, what is this, this is Myuutwo’s Revenge, the American version.
Ka: Yes.
S: You can tell because the whole opening scene is missing.
T: It really bugged me that they did that. I mean–
Ko: Can I- Can I make a confession? Before we go any further?
S: Sure.
Ko: I have never seen the American version of our show.
M: Really?
Ko: Really, I haven’t. This is my first time watching this movie in anything other than Japanese.
Ka: You weren’t at the premiere?
Ko: I wa- Well, I was at the Japanese one!
M: We didn’t get invited to the American premiere.
N: Kahn said he didn’t want the villains at a kids’ movie-nya.
S: The American premiere in November 1999, I remember that. They flew us out to Hollywood and they didn’t let us say anything. All we could do is smile and wave.
M: Why?
Ka: Well, we didn’t know much English at that point.
M: Ahh...I see.
T: They’re gonna cut all this out, I’m sure.
(laughter)
T: So where are we now? Inside a lava lamp?
Ka: Could be. This is Myuutwo’s big introductory scene.
M: Should we talk a little bit about working with Myuutwo?
S: I remember just walking onto the castle set and being awed by his presence. He’s a lot bigger in real life than he looks. You just- You just feel yourself get knocked back.
Ko: I didn’t get many scenes with him...
S: He’s actually pretty nice, though, which surprised me. He’s deep, too - he talked about the purpose of all things and stuff like that.
N: He’s a poet-nya.
T: I remember he said he didn’t like being in this tube here. They had to keep dangling a scuba regulator in the top. He was in there for, like, three hours.
M: Wow...
S: Yeah, that’s the thing, he was cool, but he had kind of a short fuse. I think the pressures of making a movie kinda ate at him after the first month or so of shooting.
Ka: He said he had fun, though, when we asked him at the wrap party.
S: There were some incidents around the set. Like I remember he threw a catering guy against the wall with his mind once ‘cause his yakisoba was cold.
Ko: Okay, I remember that, there was a lot of confusion that day...
S: The guy was fine, though.
--[Mewtwo breaks out of his suspended animation chamber.]
S: And then he did that.
(laughter)
S: I think- No, I think he was a really cool guy. He enjoyed the opportunity to tell this story.
(pause)
--[Dr. Fuji: Let us hear its psychic powers!]
T: We are in this movie, right?
Ka: (laughing) We’re after the prologue.
M: I think that’s why they cut out half the prologue in America.
Ka: Probably.
M: “When do we get to see Pikachu? Mommy!”
Ko: Do you guys remember this was originally going to be the series finale?
Ka: Huh?
Ko: Like, in the very early script stages? ‘Cause I-
Ka: Oh, that’s right! Yeah, I remember that...
S: That was back before the show became super-popular. ‘Cause originally, it was just supposed to be, what, 80 episodes?
T: 80, 81, something like that.
S: Yeah, and a movie was always a given right from the start, and I think it was always going to be about Myuutwo and Myuu, but originally there was this whole big thing about the collapse of the Rocket-dan or something...
M: Oh, well then–
N: Oh, heck, I’m glad they rewrote it now!
Ka: Yeah, they talked about that for a couple of weeks, and then Nintendo announced there was another generation in the works.
T: Half the script went “Whup, goodbye!”
Ko: I don’t even think it was in the script stage at that point, I think they were still outlining it.
S: I remember we did a table read in late 1997, right before the Porigon thing...
Ka: Yeah, that pushed us back a while.
S: We already had something like 50 episodes in the can then.
T: Actually, I remember the hiatus gave them a lot of extra time to rework the film.
N: Who came up with the idea for the short? ‘Cause I remember that wasn’t in the original pitch-nya...
S: I’m not sure. I think it was just to pad the running time. (laughter)
–[Mewtwo looks at his hands.]
M: God, he’s got ugly hands, doesn’t he?
Ka: Ssshh! He could be in this room right now...
Ko: I remember we had Myuutwo on the show for an episode, that was a lot of fun...
T: That was before this, though. That was the Tokiwa City Gym episode.
Ka: Wasn’t there this big confusion when those episodes aired in America? Like, kids couldn’t tell what was under the armor and they called it Mewthree or something?
S: I heard about that, but I thought that was from the stage show...
T: Oh God...
M: Stop! Stop right there, don’t ever talk about that.
S: Hey, I hated it too! I remember they showed us footage of it at one of the summits, and I was thinking “This can’t be where my career is going, is it?”
–[Mewtwo begins destroying the laboratory]
Ka: You almost did this.
(laughter)
S: Oh, this scene, I remember this was a lot of headaches for the special effects guys. This was one of those “we only get one shot” things...
Ko: They didn’t just have Myuutwo blow the place up?
S: Well, no, ‘cause he probably would have killed everyone.
Ko: Ah.
S: Unintentionally, of course.
T: Of course.
S: So they just rigged up a bunch of C-4 around the set and blew it up that way. It was probably one of the most complicated explosions we’d ever done up to that point.
M: Most of them until then had just been done on the computer, but this was the real deal.
N: It looks great, though.
Ka: We didn’t get any complaints that it was too violent?
S: Not here, no. I don’t know about America.
M: America had a ton of complaints about this movie, I think violence was the least of their concerns. Did you read the reviews?
T: I knew what they were gonna be before it even got released.
Ka: There was this huge thing about “Pokémon” being a “fad” in America at that time, and people get sick of fads after about three weeks.
S: Yeah.
Ka: This one went on for, what, two years?
–[The island blows up]
Ko: Wow! That looked nice.
S: Yeah, that was all computers.
(pause)
T: I think we’re, what, almost five minutes into the movie at this point and we still haven’t shown up?
Ka: (laughing) All the little kids are walking out in disgust...
T: The title hasn’t even come up yet!
S: Oh, just you wait, it’ll be an experience.
M: Hey, zip it! This is the part with our boss.
Ko: This prologue is basically a very condensed version of the original Act 1 for the movie. I remember it was supposed to be very Rocket-dan intensive.
N: And I was going to sing “Nyasu’s Song” over the ending credits-nya.
Ka: ...Really?
N: No.
(laughter)
S: I can picture that, though, the camera pulling out on you with your little guitar...
N: Aoi Aoi shizukana yoruni wa...Thank you, I’ll be here all week-nya!
M: It would have been better if you’d sung “Nyasu’s Party”.
(big laughter)
Ko: At least we’re in that one!
N: It hadn’t been written yet.
Ka: I have a plot hole to point out.
S: A- Just one?
Ka: (laughing) Well, for right now. How did Sakaki get here so quickly?
T: Hmm...
Ka: Does he just circle the island in his helicopter all day?
S: I’m not the one to ask. Musashi, you want to throw in on this?
M: Our boss works in mysterious ways. That’s all I’ll say.
Ko: (whispering) That means she doesn’t know either.
–{Giovanni: A wildfire destroys everything in its path. It will be the same with your powers unless you learn to control them.]
Ko: What’s with the boss’ voice? Is he part-British?
S: I- Well, you haven’t watched the dub, have you?
Ko: I like our version better.
S: I think the guy who dubs Sakaki’s voice is named Ted Lewis. I’m not sure what accent he’s putting on here, though.
T: I think the script just said “Do an accent.”
M: British, Irish, little bit of Australian...
Ka: They don’t consult with us when they cast the voices in America.
S: I know! My voice gets dubbed by this lady named Veronica, and I–
T: Lady?!
S: Well, y’know, I’m getting to that. And I know it’s common procedure to have women do young boy voices and stuff, but geez, she makes me sound so whiny and annoying.
Ka: I know...
S: I’ve never wanted to slap myself more. (laughter)
Ko: Well, see, now I’m afraid to hear what my voice sounds like.
T: Good, you should be.
Ko: Oh, great...
T: No, the guy who dubs you is the same guy who dubs me, and he’s okay when he tries, but he doesn’t try very hard.
N: I just about fell over when I heard my dub voice-nya. Who decided I was from Brooklyn?
Ka: Shouldn’t we be watching the screen?
S: Oh, right. Hey, there’s a movie!
(laughter)
S: So Myuutwo’s in his armor now.
Ka: He didn’t like wearing that stuff. It weighed like 100 kilograms.
T: I remember they were talking about auctioning it off after the movie was done. I think it just ended up going into storage, though.
M: They didn’t auction it because nobody could pick it up.
–[Mewtwo faces Onix in the arena]
T: That’s not my Iwaku.
S: No.
T: Meaning we still haven’t appeared yet.
(Laughter)
Ka: You’re really keeping track?
T: Well, it bugged me at the table reads, I was like “You’re never gonna hook newcomers to the show if you don’t show off the main characters until ten minutes into the film!”
Ko: That’s the thing, though, pretty much everyone here already knew about the show. It wasn’t like in America where it’s only a hit with the nine-to-twelve crowd.
–[Mewtwo faces a herd of Tauros]
S: Likewise, those are not my Kentaros.
M: By this point in the original script, the movie would be about half-over...
Ka: But I think Takeshi has a point here...
T: Thank you.
Ka: If– You’re welcome. If we only had the Japanese audience to worry about, the movie could get away with being this top-heavy with exposition.
–[Rocket Grunts capture the Tauros]
M: This is the only time you ever see the Rocket-dan succeed. (laughing)
N: And of course, we’re not in this scene-nya.
–[Mewtwo defeats Alakazam]
T: I believe the point of this montage is to show that Myuutwo is strong.
Ka: No! Really?
S: Subtlety was never a strong point of our show. I’ll admit it.
M: And then they’ll edit it out.
–[Nidoking and Arcanine run towards Mewtwo]
S: Oh, hey Here’s Shigeru’s obligatory cameo!
Ka: Yayyy!
Pikachu!
S: He was really miffed when he found out that was the extent of his appearance. I told him “You were already in the episode, what more did you want?”
Ko: Has he been in another movie since this?
S: Well, he- We’re recording this in 2001, by the way. He hasn’t been in the last three movies, no.
T: He was talking about leaving the show, wasn’t he?
S: He has other aspirations, but I think it’s best not to discuss them here.
M: We’re about to blow up another set here.
N: They went through blueprints like Kleenex-nya.
Ka: I think this movie might have the most explosions per minute of anything we did in the first two years.
Ko: Yeah, see, that’s how you make the prologue exciting!
S: They hired a pyrotechnics expert just for this movie, if I’m not mistaken. We used him a couple of times on the show, too.
–[Mewtwo: What is my purpose?]
N: (imitating Sakaki) To get me coffee.
(big laughter)
N: Didn’t somebody pitch that at the table read-nya?
Ka: I don’t know, a lot of people were goofing around during those things. The script took a long time to formulate, I know that much.
S: Weren’t they going to bring the Legendary Birds into it at one point? Or...
T: Yeah, and then they decided to save that for the second movie.
Ko: I remember it was something like Sakaki uses Myuutwo to capture the birds, and then they morph into one big amalgamation of each other...
M: And then they used something like that in the Pokémon Special manga. Yeah...
S: Oh, is that where it was? ‘Cause I remember seeing that somewhere, but I know it didn’t get produced on our end.
T: Every so often, the writers throw out an idea that doesn’t fit their vision for the show, so they give it to the manga staff instead.
–[Mewtwo starts to break out of its armor]
Ko: Here it comes.
N: Myuutwo-go-boom.
M: They really did blow up the Tokiwa City facade on the studio lot for this, I remember that.
T: Was that for the movie, or the show?
M: Oh, no, you’re right, it was the show. But they figured “We’re never gonna use it again...”
S: Watch it come back in a future episode now.
N: Run for it, Boss!
Ka: I have to say, that yell wasn’t very convincing.
Ko: “Uuhhh!”
S: Now that explosion was computer assisted.
T: Yeah.
S: Anytime there’s a beam of light that shoots straight up in the air. (Laughing)
Ka: They did something like that when Pikachu blew up the Pokémon Center back in episode two...
M: I saw that on the screen and I thought “They’re never gonna top that. They just blew their entire special effects budget and we’re only two episodes into the show.”
Ko: Does anybody notice that the music is different?
S: Yeah! I was thinking that to myself the first time I watched this...
Ka: I still don’t get why they re-scored the whole movie for the American release. Why would you waste money on composing a score when there’s already one there for you?
M: They re-scored- Wait a minute! They re-scored the whole movie?
S: I don’t know why. Shinji’s score - Shinji Miyazaki, for those who don’t know, our great music guy - Shinji’s score was incredible. And this is okay, but it kinda lacks that certain...
Ka: That certain je ne sais quoi.
S: Yes.
T: It’s good, is what you’re trying to say.
S: Yeah. (Laughter)
–[Mewtwo: ...And purge this planet of all who oppose me!]
Ka: It didn’t take long for him to turn evil, did it?
S: Yeah, that’s the one thing I really, really didn’t like about the dub of this one. Myuutwo’s motivations are all screwed up. He’s not supposed to be this mean, evil “rawr-rawr-rawr” type who just wants to kill everybody and everything.
M: They don’t know.
N: I like that the script had depth-nya. It really bugged me that they changed it all around...
–[The opening titles begin]
S: Oh, here’s your opening sequence.
T: All right! Ten minutes in, finally!
Ko: What - that’s it? That’s kind of boring...
M: Well, they couldn’t keep the original one, it was in Japanese.
Ko: I know, but they could have kept the same concept.
Ka: Oh, but look, the letters swing into the frame! With those big dramatic Batman whooshes, isn’t that so much cooler?
S: You know, if we start complaining now, we’re probably never going to stop...
Ko: Now I’m kinda wishing I’d watched this last night so I’d know what I’m in for.

---------------------------------

More to come, hopefully!

 

[betagold]

I can't believe nobody's done this one yet. It's a really good concept, and it's well done.

 

[Wonder Happiny]

Wow...nice job! I love it!

 

[Jesse GS the II]

Thanks! Here's the next ten minutes...

---------------------------------

S: Hey, there we are!
Ka: Woo-hoo!
(Applause)
T: At long last.
Ka: That narrator sounds way too happy.
S: We did this all on location, right?
Ko: Yep, Kunihiko took us all up to the hills around Masara Town for a couple of days to shoot all this.
M: You remember it rained the first day?
Ka: Yes! I do remember that...
S: Tomonori was yelling at the sky “We don’t need you until the marina scene!”
(Laughter)
T: And while it was raining, Kunihiko got- Kunihiko Yuyama, by the way, the director - they got a couple of close-ups of us that we actually did use for the marina sequence.
M: Really?
T: Yeah.
S: It was all just up-shots, though, so the sky was the only thing in the background.
Ko: I’m just listening to the voices here...
Ka: Yeah, what do you think?
Ko: Well, you weren’t kidding!
(Laughter)
S: Are they still showing “Pocket Monsters Encore” on TV Tokyo?
M: They are, yes.
S: The ones with English audio?
M: Yep.
S: I used to sit around and just make fun of those things every Tuesday night. I should catch another one sometime.
T: Next time I'm at a Pokémon Center...
–[The Pirate trainer approaches]
Ka: Oh, this guy was a lot of fun!
S: Raymond? Yeah, I liked him.
Ka: He was from America, you know.
S: Yep, he said he lived in Massachusetts. That’s why he had all those English phrases in his dialogue.
T: He did a lot of ad-libbing too, which is funny considering his part isn’t all that big.
M: Kojirou and I sat in on one of the daily screenings once, and we watched this scene...we couldn’t stop laughing!
N: He has this great line coming up at the end of this battle-nya, I-
T: I have bad news; it got replaced.
N: Oh no!
Ko: The “Oh my God”? They cut that?
S: Well, they didn’t cut it, they just translated it differently.
Ka: They don’t like the G-word over there.
M: Aw...
N: That stinks! That was, like, my favorite line in the whole movie.
Ko: The whole movie?
N: Well, most of it-nya.
Ka: There’s some really nice shots in this opening credits sequence.
S: Yeah, I was really impressed when I saw this on the big screen. I mean, I know the direction on the battle sequences is always really flashy, but they really went all-out for this. It’s really nice
Ka: Really. (Laughing)
S: I- No, I had fun doing this scene. It was all one take, I really battled the guy.
T: He was good, too. Kasumi and I were watching the whole thing...
S: Yeah, I actually rechallenged him a few times between takes that day, just to keep my skills up–
Ka: Oh, hey, big moment here!
M: Yes, big moment!
T: The unveiling of Donfan!
S: This- I remember, this was back when there were rumors all over the place about Generation II. I read online that there was talk in America about a new Pikachu evolution...
Ka: Pichu?
S: No, not Pichu, it was a fake one, somebody had gotten a picture of Mariru, and they-
Ko: Pikablu!
S: Yes! Pikablu, that was it.
Pika pika!
N: That’s why they put Mariru in the short, so the rumors would stop-nya.
S: Exactly.
Ka: Togepi caused a lot of confusion when she first came along, I remember people thought she was fake, that she’d been Photoshopped or something...
Bbbrri!
Ka: But you’re not fake, are you? No you’re not! No you’re not!
M: There were four Jouto Pokémon that were leaked before this movie, weren’t there? Togepi, Mariru, Donfan, and what was the other one?
T: Buru.
M: Buru, that’s right.
N: They put her in the short too.
M: Yeah, yeah.
N: Filming that short was easy compared to the other ones. I was only in it for about a minute-nya.
S: Was it fun?
N: It- Well, Lizardon sat on me, but aside from that...
(laughter)
N: No, it was fun. We just hung around the amusement park the whole time they weren’t filming, it was a neat little side project-nya.
Ko: (reading the credits) John Siegler and John Loeffler. All right...
M: What?
Ko: I just wanted to know who was responsible for this theme.
S: Oh, the theme! Yeah, should I have warned you?
Ko: Well, it’s...interesting.
S: We weren’t consulted about the theme song. I knew they were gonna change it ‘cause it was in Japanese and everything, but I still like ours better.
Ka: You sang the first theme.
S: I did- I sang the first three themes, as a matter of fact.
T: They just did a fourth one. It premiered a couple of weeks ago...
M: Yeah, but it’s the same as the first one!
S: That’s the Whiteberry one, right?
M: Yes.
S: Whiteberry did the TV version, I recorded an alternate version for the single.
Ka: And Musashi, Kojirou, you guys just did a new ending theme, right?
M: Yes, “Look Ahead Rocket-dan”.
Ko: We just finished shooting that in February. It was mostly green-screen stuff.
T: I hope yours lasts longer than mine.
(Laughter)
S: Takeshi’s bitter ‘cause they pulled his theme after, like, seven weeks.
Ka: “Takeshi’s Paradise”?
T: Yeah, they got some complaints or something...
M: Probably from people who had to see you in a grass skirt. (Laughing)
T: I- Well, I didn’t like wearing it, people don’t have to like watching it!
Ka: The single did really well, though. It’s on the HaraHara Relay CD from last year.
M: Now, hang on- I hate to derail the conversation, but I’m watching the screen here - Satoshi, you said you battled this Raymond guy in one take?
S: Yeah, and I know what you’re–
M: Zenigame knocked out Kairiki with one Bubble attack?
S: Well, the battle was originally a lot longer. They cut it down to fit the length of the credits.
M: Ah, I see...
S: Originally there were a few more Rapid Spins and Rocket Headbutts in there.
Ka: I was there, I’ll vouch for him.
S: But this here, the part where he sends out Kairos and Morphon and Golonya - that wasn’t part of the battle. That was scripted.
T: Yep, they wanted to show Pikachu’s abilities early on in the film so anyone who wasn’t familiar with them would know what he can do.
Pikapi!
S: Yeah, they- (laughing) Ah, you folks at home can’t see this, but Pikachu just struck a really funny strongman pose.
Ka: Can you explain how he knocked out Golonya?
S: Yeah, I know. They just put fake scorch marks all over him to make him look fried.
Ko: Bravo, makeup department.
N: Nyeh, that “Oh no” didn’t really pack the same punch, did it-nya?
Ka: Yeah, but you know...
Ko: I’m surprised we didn’t see Lizardon in that battle.
S: Oh, Lizardon hadn’t started listening to me yet.
Ko: Oh yeah, that’s right.
S: Not until the Orange League.
T: I wouldn’t know.
(Laughter)
Ka: Yes, Takeshi was thrilled when he got the Orange League outline, wasn’t he?
T: ...Well, I thought “It’s a good thing I set up that IRA.”
S: But you came back!
T: Yes, I did, and I was happy to do it, too.
Ka: He really was. He was a real gentleman about the whole thing, he didn’t get angry or anything.
S: We were all nervous your first day back on the set, I thought you were gonna walk up and drop Kenji with one punch or something.
T: (laughing) No, no, I was just happy to be back.
Ka: Kojirou has a look on his face like he wants to say something.
S: Oh, yeah, we just talked over a historic moment here - what do you think of your dub voice, Kojirou?
Ko: ...Well...
(laughter)
Ko: Am I supposed to sound so...swishy?
M: I think it was an effort to make us look even more incompetent. So they gave us these wimpy voices too...
Ko: Oh, well, that makes it okay!
(Laughter)
M: No, seriously, we have no input at all on the dub. They don’t even run this stuff by us first.
S: They have input on us, though.
M: They do, yeah. I remember the design department got that memo a few years ago telling them to tone down the Japanese text?
Ka: Did they?
M: Yeah, ‘cause they get rid of it all in America...
Ka: Oh, so that’s why they put up all those squiggle letters now!
T: Yeah...
Ka: I was wondering what the deal was with that! I’d get magazines from the prop department and I’d be like “What the heck is this?”
N: We’re sticking it to them, though. They don’t like it when we have onigiri on the show, so we have them in almost every food scene we do-nya.
Ko: Yeah, just to give them a headache.
S: They rename it all anyway. They call them donuts or something...
T: Donuts, yeah, that made me laugh the first time I saw it.
S: I was- Speaking of “Pocket Monsters Encore”, I watched the episode where I caught Okorizaru when they reran it in English, and there’s tons of onigiri in that episode, and they called them donuts like ten or fifteen times.
Ka: I saw that, yeah.
S: I can see ‘em on their knees, begging “They’re donuts! No, really, they are! Why won’t you believe us?”
(Laughter)
S: Ah...
Ka: You know, we’re talking over the Kairyuu scene here! This is one of my favorites...
M: Oh yeah, this is really nice.
T: Kairyuu had been on the show before. He was in the lighthouse episode with Masaki.
Ka: He was only in the shadows, though.
T: Yeah, they did some green-screen work to make him look huge compared to the lighthouse.
Ko: This is the same Kairyuu from that episode?
T: It is, yeah.
Ko: Wow, I did not know that.
S: That shot, where he flies over the picnic table - that took so many takes to get right. He didn’t want to hurt us by flying too low. It took forever for Kunihiko to convince him “Look, just shoot right by, it’s in the script.”
Ka: I remember there was one take where he missed us by, like, eight or nine meters. The umbrella didn’t even move.
S: I didn’t get hurt, though, I don’t know about you guys.
T: No, I was fine.
Ka: I got a little dust in my eyes, but I was okay.
M: He didn’t even really hit us. Those were our body doubles.
N: You could tell because it was a wide shot-nya.
T: I still have this hologram card.
Ka: Really?
T: Yeah, they let us each take home one prop from the movie, and I chose this.
S: You do realize the Joi hologram isn’t real? (Laughing)
T: Yeah- Well, obviously, I was in this shot. They added it later. I just liked the card.
M: I remember we all had a choice for props that we could take home. Kojirou and I each got one of Myuutwo’s black Monster Balls.
Ko: I keep mine alongside my bottlecaps.
S: I got one of the mechanical arms from the cloning machine.
Ka: Did you?
S: Yeah, the one with my teeth marks on it.
Ka: That’ll be worth something someday.
S: That’s why I chew my pencils. (Laughing)
(pause)
–[Brock: Uh, is there a rewind button?]
T: Ouch...
Ka: Ohh...
T: That was bad.
M: They rewrote a lot of this script, didn’t they?
S: Yeah, they did. I think they went a bit overboard in some spots.
Ko: Now, I obviously haven’t seen this version, but didn’t they add a moral or something? I heard-
S: Yes! They did- We’ll get to that later.
Ko: Ah, okay.
S: You haven’t seen this, I want it to be a surprise.
[pause]
M: You know, I have to admit, the music in this scene isn’t that bad.
S: No, it is pretty nice here, yeah.
Ka: There were some musical replacements that I wasn’t exactly thrilled with...
T: Oh-ho-ho...
S: Oh boy...
Ka: You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?
S: Yes I do.
N: We should save that for when we get there-nya.
S: I know. There’s a lot to say about that scene, and I want to save it all for when it comes up.
T: Yes.
S: That way we can talk right over the whole thing and never have to hear it.
(Laughter)
Ka: This is the part where Myuutwo makes the storm.
Ko: He could have at least waited until his messenger came back.
M: His hand looks really pink in that shot for some reason...
S: And the one thing I always thought was kinda weird is that they put him in this big wingback chair like a Bond villain or something. (Laugh) I expected him to turn around with a Persian in his lap...
Ka: (laughing) Oh, God!
S: Saying something like “Ah, Mr. Satoshi, you have a nasty habit of surviving...”
(Laughter)
T: They should have consulted you for this!
S: I know! What do we need writers for?
Ka: Oh, this is the big Myuu reveal.
S: Yeah, I didn’t get this either. Like, Myuu lives in a bubble on the ocean floor?
M: Well, y’know, the video games said he lived in South America...
Ko: Maybe he just summers there.
(Laughter)
T: That’s not really the ocean floor, by the way. It was all shot in the big tank.
Ka: The big tank.
M: Oh, see, it’s a lake in South America. That’s right.
Ko: I guess that kills my joke, then...
T: We spent an entire day in that tank while we were filming this.
S: I have a funny story about that...
Ka: Oh, by all means, tell it.
S: Nah, I’m saving it for when we get to the ocean scene.
N: His wrist has to be getting tired by now-nya.
Ko: I think they just shot it once and looped it a bunch of times.
Ka: Those are nice waves.
S: Yeah, this was more location stuff. They shot this at the tail end of hurricane season, so the waves were all really big to begin with. It worked out great.
(Pause)
T: I believe this sequence is meant to indicate that Myuutwo is conjuring a storm?
(Laughter)
T: But don’t quote me on that!
Ko: What, did they have like a ten-piece orchestra to do this score?
M: Seriously, I don’t know. I do know that when they redo the music for the show, it’s generally just one guy on a synthesizer.
S: Ohh...
M: Yeah, I know.
S: That explains a lot.
Ka: Oh, I hated doing this scene.
T: The rain, yeah, this was pretty bad.
S: This was the point where I read the script and thought to myself “Wouldn’t we have raincoats with us?” We rarely change clothes on this show unless we’re, like, in the mountains or on the beach or something...
M: And sometimes on the beach, some of us change more than just our clothes.
(Big laughter)
Ko: Oh, you had to get that in there, didn’t you?
M: I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.
S: You know, they finally aired that episode in America last year.
Ko: They did?
S: They cut that part out.
Ko: Oh! Oh, ‘cause I was gonna say...
Ka: Yeah, we’ve had to be much more careful with stuff that could potentially get an episode banned nowadays. No guns, no raunchy jokes, nothing like that.
M: No fun...
(laughter)
S: This was all on the soundstage. It always bugged me that our hair isn’t all that wet.
Ka: I know, nobody caught that in post.
S: Or they did and they just said “Forget it, nobody’s going to care.”
M: Some weird-looking extras in that crowd.
S: Oh, this- Speaking of rewrites, is this where they put that legend in?
T: I think that’s a little later...
S: No, wait, this is it, it’s right here. That bit about “the water of their tears”, I just need to say I thought that was really ham-fisted. I’m sorry.
Ka: Well, it explains the end of the movie a bit better...
S: Oh, nothing explains the end of the movie.
N: I have to agree. I think they wrote themselves into a corner with that one-nya.
Ka: Okay, I’ll be honest, when we got our scripts and I read that ending, I was like...“They are going to rewrite this, right?” I thought it was just a temp ending until they had something better.
T: I remember suggesting something like maybe Myuutwo and Myuu combine their powers to revive Satoshi or something...
S: Yeah, but we don’t get much input on the script revisions. Sometimes, but not always.
M: I think they said that they wanted it to be kinda flashy at the end, like an excuse to have a big wide shot over the entire arena.
Ko: So aesthetics win out once again...
T: While we’re at it, I have something to point out here too - I’m probably the biggest Joi fan in the world...
Ka: No argument here.
T: And- Thanks. And even I think this plot point is kind of silly.
S: What, the poster?
T: Yes, the poster.
N: What about it-nya?
T: Well, what good is it going to do? I mean...
T/Ka/S: They all look the same.
S: I know!
Ko: Hey, what did her last name say there?
M: I don’t know, it looked like it had a lot of C’s in it, though.
T: Also, while I’m on the subject, Junsa?
S: Yeah?
T: Good Lord, what a lousy dub voice!
(Laughter)
T: I mean, she’s supposed to be authoritative, sure, but at least make her sound like she’s not reading off a cue card!
Ka: You care deeply about these women.
T: That I do. That I do.
Ka: By the way, that’s the infamous blue-lipped Gyarados there.
S: Yeah, what was the deal with that?
Ka: Well, they retouch some shots before they go into the final print, and every so often they screw up a color or two for a couple of frames. If you look real closely, its lips actually turn yellow again before the end of the shot.
M: Who was the guy with the Onidrill?
S: Uh...
(laughter)
S: He, uh, he didn’t make it.
M: Ooh.
S: I believe that’s the implication there.
(Pause)
N: They rewrote the heck out of this Voyager lady, didn’t they-nya?
S: They tried really hard to make this movie sound more mythical. I think they were trying to draw in adults.
Ka: Didn’t work well, did it?
S: Not so much, no.

 

[Wonder Happiny]

^:lol: That was really funny and good...I can't wait for more!

 

[Jesse GS the II]

Thank you! Fortunately, you don't have to wait very long!

---------------------

T: This is more of that rain stuff.
Ka: I remember I had a stuffy nose for a week after this.
M: We’re coming up here on...what I think is probably one of the dumbest schemes Kojirou and I have ever pulled.
(Laughter)
S: The Viking thing.
M: Who came up with that?
S: I don’t know, I think it just came out of the room. They said it was meant to demonstrate the average flimsiness of your disguises on the show.
M: Uh-huh.
S: Which is ironic, because at this time, most of your disguises were actually pretty good.
Ko: I’m just glad I was allowed to play a man this time. (Laughing)
M: Yeah, your cross-dressing hadn’t gotten out of hand yet.
Ko: That was really humiliating, the first time I had to dress in drag. It was in the episode with the cruise ship, where Musashi and I were disguised as ganguro girls.
Ka: You didn’t like that?
Ko: No, wearing a skirt is not high on my list of priorities in life.
Ka: Oh, but you looked so cute!
(Laughter)
Ko: That’s the price I pay...
N: They had me tied to the bow of the boat here-nya. That was kind of uncomfortable.
S: By the way, we’re not really at sea anymore in these shots. This is all in the tank.
T: We have a big wave tank on the main lot that we use for most of our underwater scenes.
Ka: What was that “They mostly live in Minnesota” thing? I heard that joke last night and I just, I didn’t get it...
S: It’s a reference to the Minnesota Vikings, they’re an American football team.
Ka: Oh! Okay...
S: Yeah, that wasn’t in the original version.
M: I suspected as much.
Ka: You want to tell your tank story now, Satoshi?
S: Hmm? Oh yeah, sure, well, when we were filming underwater for this scene- There’s gonna be a moment coming up where we get nailed by a wave and capsized.
Ka: Uh-huh.
S: Well, the first time they pounded us, one of my shoes came off.
Ka: Oh geez! (Laughter) I remember this now...
S: Yeah, and I didn’t realize it until we’d already done the first take on all the underwater stuff. Kunihiko came up to us and said “We just looked at the footage, Satoshi’s only got one shoe on...”
M: What’d you do?
S: I- Well, I had to send Zenigame down to look for it. It’s a 40-meter tank, I can’t go that deep by myself.
T: He found it eventually.
S: Actually, one of the safety divers did, but Zenigame brought it back to me.
T: Ah yeah.
S: We had safety divers all over the tank. They were there with air hoses so we could breathe between shots.
Ka: Yeah, ‘cause we were underwater for a long time that day. It took like an hour just to shoot like two minutes’ worth of footage.
Ko: Musashi and I were lucky, we were allowed to get right out after that last wave.
M: Yeah, ‘cause these uniforms are heavy when they get wet. We just did an episode this week where we were underwater with these things on. The Joi episode.
N: I hated doing this scene ‘cause I kept getting wet-nya.
Ka: I would imagine...
N: Yeah- No, I didn’t dry out for hours! And I smelled funny until I did.
T: This scene wasn’t as dangerous as it looks. They’d just turn off the wave generator between shots.
Ka: Yeah, I remember we started goofing around a bit while we weren’t filming. I challenged you and Satoshi to a breath-holding contest...
T: Yeah.
S: Yeah, Little Miss Balloon Lungs, what did you get, like, 2:15?
Ka: (laughing) I- Well, I’ve had practice!
S: I have the worst lung capacity out of everyone in this room. Whenever the script needs somebody to drown, I’m their go-to guy.
T: I remember this was kinda complicated, trying to hold onto one another while getting hit by all these waves. They had to stop the take a couple of times because we kept breaking up...
Ka: Weren’t they talking about just tying us together or something?
S: No, I’m pretty sure they weren’t being serious.
Ko: None of you got hurt while filming any of this?
S: No- Well, I got water up my nose in one shot, but that was about it. (Laughing)
Ka: We came back to this tank a few times in the second movie.
S: Yeah, which was unusual, ‘cause most of the time in the Orange League episodes we actually shot on location in the Orange Islands.
Ka: Yeah.
S: We just used the tank for the stuff like when Lugia and I hit the water...
M: You know, save that for the second movie commentary, why don’t you?
(Laughter)
M: People want to hear about this movie! (Laughing)
S: Okay, well, we’re about to get to Myuutwo’s island here.
T: That’s a nice shot, where we’re flying towards the camera...
S: Yeah, that took a long time to get right. You know, Pikachu didn’t like getting wet either.
Pikaaa...
S: No, and I remember thinking “Don’t get him mad or we’ll all be killed!”
(Laughter)
S: That was probably the only real danger in this scene, having an Electric Pokémon in the water for so long.
T: Pikachu kept a good reign on himself, though.
S: Yeah, he did. I’m proud of you, buddy.
Pikachu!
Ka: I specifically did not keep Togepi in my backpack for this. I had one of the stagehands hold onto her while we were filming all this.
Ko: I remember she started crying...
Ka: Yeah, and I had to console her between shots, “It’s okay, sweetie! Mommy’s not really drowning, it’s all just pretend!”
S: I was struggling in that shot, you can tell. The safety divers were, like, two feet away. I kept thinking “Thanks for trying to save my life, but you’re gonna ruin this shot!”
Ko: Nice clouds there.
T: That’s all computers.
S: Yeah, there was some heavy computer usage in this movie, a lot heavier than on the show.
Ka: Well, you know, it’s a movie, bigger budget.
S: Yeah, like this shot right here of the castle coming up...
M/Ko: Wow!
N: That’s cool-nya!
S: Yep, there’s not a single natural element in that shot aside from the water.
Ka: They rendered that entire castle by computer.
S: The exterior shots, anyway. The interiors were all real sets on the soundstage.
Ka: Myuu again...
S: Oh, and they did build some small portions of it, like the spires where Myuu plays around on the windmills, but that’s it.
M: That’s another nice shot.
S: This is more tank stuff.
(Pause)
S: This set was pretty cool, too. They built this all in-house...
Ka: Here’s more of your silly Joi plot, Takeshi.
T: Yeah...
M: Even the dress is kind of goofy.
T: It occurred to me that they could have cut this entire Joi plot out of the film and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Ko: Yeah, that shot was relevant...
T: It’s barely even a plot, it’s just stuff that happens.
Ka: I saw you making google-eyes at her between takes, though.
T: I- Yeah, I did...
(laughter)
S: Note that the clothes are now completely dry. (Laughing)
Ka: Yeah, see, that’s why that shot of the windmill was in there. We filmed this scene over the course of two days, one when we were in the water and one when we’re on the dock here.
Ko: Ah-ha...
M: I guess that card is waterproof?
S: I gue- Well, my Zukan is waterproof, I don’t see why anything else shouldn’t be.
Ka: Whenever we wind up in the water, they always empty our backpacks first.
(Pause)
N: This is the standing-aroundingest scene in the whole movie-nya.
S: Well, it’s a break from the action.
M: Actually, there’s lots more standing around once they get inside the castle.
S: Yes. Don’t go away, folks!
(Laughter)
S: I admit this movie has its flaws.
Ka: That’s very noble of you.
S: I- Well, I didn’t write it.
Ka: Oh, pfft, well then...
S: But seriously, I know the American release drew some heavy criticism ‘cause people complained it was boring and that it was hard to follow...
Ko: It’s only hard to follow if you don’t know the show.
S: Yeah, see, it’s a different environment over there.
Ka: We should probably just set the record straight - “Pokémon” is a kids’ show in Japan too.
S: Yeah, I don’t make any claims to the contrary. But adults do understand it better here.
M: That right there, that was the only appearance of one of our Pokémon in this movie.
Ka: Was it?
M: Yeah, Arbok was in the short, though.
Ko: I’m just glad I could keep Utsubot at bay.
T: Musashi, while we’re on the subject...
M: Yes?
T: Beroringa.
M: Oh-kay, yeah, Beroringa was a little disappointed that he didn’t get to be in any of the movies.
S: None of them?
M: He- Well, he wasn’t in the first two and he left the show before we did the third.
Ko: It’s very rare for our Pokémon to be in the movies ‘cause we almost never have the opportunity to battle.
M: Yeah.
Ko: They just used Matadogas there because we already knew he could float.
Ka: I just- I’m sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt. This is really cute.
M: Yes it is. I won’t deny that.
Ka: This windmill scene is adorable.
S: A brief moment of adorability in a film about complicated moral issues.
T: Well, they’re not so complicated to you-know-who
S: No, no they’re not...(laughter)
M: But anyway, no, Beroringa was kind of upset.
Ko: Yeah.
N: I think he’s probably even more upset now that Sonansu gets about a million times as much screen time as he did-nya.
M: That’s what I was thinking. I still keep in touch with him, though.
S: How is he?
M: He doesn’t watch the show anymore.
(Laughter)
M: I- No, he’s fine.
S: Okay, good.
T: These doors are more computer stuff.
S: Yeah, this was really nice. Was this one of the scenes they touched up?
Ka: I think it was. They went- Yeah, that’s been touched up. They went back and added even better effects after the movie had already been released. I think that’s the version they used for the home video distribution.
S: Yeah, they sent the retouched version to America, I remember that.
M: And this, this is the scene where we meet the other three randomly-selected trainers?
S: Umio, Sweet, and Surao, yes.
T: They were really nice. They were just regular trainers, but they could act pretty well.
S: There’s something coming up here that I want to comment on...
Ka: The Pidgeotto thing?
S: Yep.
Ka: Yeah, what was the deal with that?
S: It was just them making a simple lazy mistake. I’d seen it happen before...
Ko: Wait, what’s the Pidgeotto thing?
S: Oh, Surao has a Pigeot, but he calls it by Pigeon’s dub name.
Ko: In the English version, you mean?
S: Yes, in the one we’re watching.
M: No, in our version.
(Laughter)
S: I- No, we do make mistakes sometimes. I won’t deny it.
Ka: They’re less frequent, though.
S: Yeah. Our writers do their homework.
T: I still don’t know how they screwed this up, though, ‘cause didn’t you have your Pigeon on your team at this point?
S: Yes! I did.
T: And they still didn’t know the difference?
S: No, apparently they didn’t.
T: Huh.
Ka: By the way, speaking of Ash’s Pigeon, who is now a Pigeot...
S: Yes, for everyone out there who thinks I haven’t gone back to get him, I did visit him in Masara Town after the Orange League.
T: He did.
S: It wasn’t in the episode, though.
Ka: How is he?
S: He’s doing fine. He’s still guarding those Poppo and Pigeon, though. They practically worship him now.
M: There we are again.
Ko: Hurray!
M: Doing nothing.
(Laughter)
M: Much like we’ll be doing for the rest of the movie
N: I remember reading the first draft of the script and going “Wait, we disappeared after the ocean scene-nya!”
M: Yeah, they had trouble fitting us in to this part of the story.
Ko: I thought maybe we’d died at sea or something...
M: But ultimately, they did give us something to do. We get that scene with the clones later on.
S: Yeah, I remember that got rewritten, ‘cause originally, that was going to be Kasumi and Takeshi and myself who found out all that stuff, after Pikachu got caught by the ball.
Ka: Oh yeah...
S: They said it slowed down the movie too much, so they gave it to you guys instead.
Ko: And I’m glad they did.
Ka: Now this scene, I have a little inside knowledge story to share.
S: Yes?
Ka: Sweet, the trainer with the Kamex?
T: Uh-huh.
Ka: She actually knew one of the producers before we shot this.
S: Really?
Ka: Yeah, and the casting director hired her without any knowledge of that too.
S: No kidding!
Ka: Nope, no kidding.
T: Oh, here comes the Pidgeotto line...
S: Oh, shh, shh, I wanna hear this.
–[Corey: I decided to fly in! It was easy! Hurricane winds are a breeze for Pidgeotto here!]
T/Ka/S: Ohhh!
(applause)
S: Bravo, Mr. Kahn, bravo!
Ka: That’s the kind of quality control we’ve come to expect from them after four years!
S: So anyway, your Sweet story...
Ka: Yeah, after the movie wrapped, we did an episode about this crazy director who was filming a Pokémon movie...
S: Heat Minamino, yeah.
Ka: It was basically just a promotion for this movie, in an underhanded kind of way. But the Pukurin from that episode was Sweet’s Pukurin.
M: Really?
Ka: Yeah, she came back and loaned it to the crew for the episode. She was really nice about it.
T: And weren’t the others involved too...?
Ka: Yes they were! Surao’s Sawamuraa was in that episode, I think Umio lent us his Gyarados too...
M: But the trainers themselves didn’t appear?
Ka: No, only their Pokémon were on camera.
M: Wow, that’s cool!
Ko: I don’t even remember that.
Ka: Sweet’s Pukurin actually did kind of have a thing for Koduck...
S: Oh, did she? (Laughing)
Ka: Yeah, I think that’s why they invited her back for that episode.
S: Oh, that’s funny!
Ka: Yeah, ‘cause the movie they were filming in that episode was a take on Romeo and Juliet, right?
T: I remember Pukurin was following Koduck around between takes in this scene, yeah...
Ka: He was totally oblivious to the whole thing for about 30 minutes, too.
(Laughter)
M: Big stairs.
S: Yeah, that’s partially computer stuff. Half the set just dropped off into a giant green screen and they added this stuff later.
N: I really have to commend the special effects guys. They did a great job on all of this-nya.
S: They did! It really looks real.
(Pause)
S: Oh, here comes Myuutwo.
Ko: The music is kind of lacking here too.
Ka: Yeah, I know. But it gets worse.
T: True.
Ka: A lot worse.
S: This is a cool shot here, this pan down with the glowing eyes...
T: Yeah, this was a lot of compositing for the effects department. They had the light, the stairs, all this stuff to put in.
M: And then we cut to the sewer.
(Laughter)
Ko: The glamorous life of a movie star!
Ka: Yeah, it- Funny you should mention that, after this movie was released, we really did get a lot of special treatment from the press. We were on talk shows, we were doing interviews...
S: We kept having to pose for publicity photos.
T: “Look sharp, guys, this is going on a Burger King cup!” (Laughing)
M: Yeah, do you remember Burger King did this huge promotion for the movie when it went to America?
S: I do remember that, they had like 36 toys and 151 cards to collect...
T: I bought one of those things on eBay last year. They came in these cheapo little plastic Monster Balls...
Ka: Oh! Right, ‘cause there was that big news story about the kid who suffocated on one of those.
S: That really happened?
Ka: Yeah.
S: Oh, that’s awful! I thought that was just an urban legend!
Ka: No, I think they got sued over it. They had to recall all the toys.
S: Oh my God...
M: Just one more reason for American audiences to hate this. (Laughing)
S: Man.
(Pause)
–[Joy: He is the ruler of New Island, and soon, the whole world!]
T: The whole commentary just grinds to a halt...
(laughter)
T: Stop the movie! Let’s start over!
S: I- No, I was just surprised to hear that.
Ko: What other memorabilia did you guys get from this movie?
Ka: Well, I-
Ko: To try and bring a lighter tone to the room.
Ka: Yeah, exactly. Well, I got the soundtrack.
M: Same here.
S: I got the American soundtrack. (Laughter)
Ka: You...
S: No, I’m endlessly fascinated by how much they change this show in America. There’s some songs over the ending credits that are absolutely hilarious.
Ko: Intentionally?
S: They- No, not intentionally.
M: How did they do this? This scene here?
S: Oh, they just hooked Umio up to a harness.
Ka: Myuutwo didn’t use his powers much while we filmed this. He was afraid he might kill someone.
N: I think he teleported once or twice, but that was it-nya.
Ka: Yeah, that was okay.

 

[LightningTopaz]

Wow--I love how you treat the Japanese cast like they are real actors!

Could you do something like this for the episodes?

 

[Jesse GS the II]

I probably could, though whether or not I'd have the time to is a different matter. This might just be a one-shot. Nonetheless, let's press on - we're about halfway through the movie now!

------------------------------

T: Myuutwo was actually kind of self-conscious throughout most of this.
S: Yeah, he- We should probably mention that a lot of this movie has its roots in Myuutwo’s real creation.
Ka: Yeah.
S: He really did get cloned in a lab a couple of years before this was made. It was all over the news.
Ka: Yeah, and he really was kind of a confused individual for a while. He talked to us about how he would muse on the meaning of life, whether or not being created in a test tube meant you were a lesser being, all that sort of thing...
T: All the stuff about him trying to create a race of super-clones, though...
S: Yeah, that was all made up.
Ka: But he did destroy the lab he was created in, didn’t he?
T: He did, actually, but only because he didn’t know his own powers.
Ka: Ah, okay.
S: You guys know, is there any truth to whether or not Sakaki really funded the project?
M: Um...
(laughter)
M: Well, this is all strictly confidential...
N: Oh sure, it’s a DVD commentary, nobody’s gonna hear this-nya!
Ko: Seriously, we’re not allowed to say anything.
S: Oh, okay.
Ko: Sorry.
Ka: No, I was just curious.
T: They’ll cut all this stuff out anyway.
(Laughter)
S: “The views expressed in this commentary...”
M: Oh, here’s the plot twist that everyone saw coming a kilometer away.
T: It was worth it, though, ‘cause that’s the closest I’ll ever get to her. (Laughing)
S: No, really, Takeshi, you’ve had a bit of luck off the set, haven’t you?
T: I- Well, actually, yeah, I did go out with one girl...
Ka: Really?!
T: Yeah, you remember Yuki? The one who gave me Rokon?
Ka: No kidding?
T: Yep, we had dinner together a little while after we did that episode.
S: She didn’t pan out, though?
T: No, she ended up meeting Hibiki a little while later. Remember they wrote him into her return episode?
S: Oh yeah...
Ko: Come on, don’t open up the poor guy’s old wounds here!
(Laughter)
T: No, seriously, I’m not the type who gives up. This sort of thing doesn’t bother me.
Ka: By the way, we just talked over a really nice shot...
S: Yeah, the one with the turnaround? That was cool.
M: That’s the kind of thing you usually don’t see in the show.
N: Doing the movies allows the production crew to get a little more cinematic-nya.
S: Yeah, at the time we’re recording this, we just wrapped production on the fourth movie.
Ka: Yep, Serebii: A Timeless Encounter.
S: Should be out July 7.
Ko: Go see it!
T: And who knows when in America.
M: Yeah, the third movie just came out in America a couple of months ago. How did it do?
S: Actually, not so well, from what I heard.
Ko: Really?
S: Yeah, apparently the fad has died down over there.
Ka: I remember they were talking about sending the fourth one straight to video in America...
T: They said they’d either do that or just distribute it in limited release. I think-
S: Oh wait, hang on - we have to talk about this.
M: The cloning tank scene?
T: Yeah, this is why I think they shouldn’t have cut the prologue in half.
Ka: Well, it was 18 minutes long...
T: Ye- I know, but without it, this scene makes no sense!
Ko: That’s what I was thinking, ‘cause where did Fushigibana and Lizardon and Kamex come from?
T: Exactly.
Ka: Yeah, I guess you could say that.
S: Uh, for those who don’t know what we’re talking about...
Ka: Oh yeah.
S: The original prologue explained how Fuji-hakase created clones of Fushigidane and Hitokage and Zenigame in addition to Myuutwo. And the implication is that they evolved into their final forms since then.
M: And there was also this thing about how his daughter died...
Ka: I know! That was so sad...
Ko: I remember that too...
Ka: I cried when I saw that. Honest to God, I cried.
S: Was any of that based on real life?
T: I don’t know, there’s a lot of mystery behind Myuutwo’s creation. I think a lot of it was made up.
Ka: Well, it’s still sad!
Ko: By the way, we just passed my favorite shot in the movie.
M: What, my butt on the keyboard?
Ko: Heh heh...
M: Shut up!
Ko: Ow!
(Laughter)
M: You jerk!
Ko: What? I’m messin’ with ya!
M: I know, you’re still a jerk!
S: This is what it’s like every day, folks. (Laughing)
Pika pi!
N: Oh, this here, where I get snagged by the cloning machine, this was scary-nya.
Ka: Really?
N: Well, maybe not when we were filming it. When we were filming it, it just hurt.
S: I’ll vouch for that. There’s a scene coming up where I get attacked by those things. They were pretty painful.
M: They didn’t really move around on their own, though.
S: No, it was a lot of fancy puppetry. I think some of them might even have been animatronic.
M: Speaking of getting hurt, that hurt right there, pulling Nyasu out of the machine.
Ko: Only the hitting the floor part. (Laughing)
T: This basically is how the cloning process worked for Myuutwo.
Ka: But the thing I never got is how all the other clones are pretty much exact duplicates, yet Myuutwo is a completely new Pokémon...
T: Well, it’s ‘cause his DNA got a little mutated.
Ka: Oh, that’s what I figured.
T: They specifically tried to make him super-powered.
M: Do you remember what this stuff in the cloning tubes was?
Ko: I think it was just regular water.
S: That’s right, there was a lot of water safety that had to be monitored in this movie.
Ko: They just added something to it to make it green.
S: I remember they had to put a special watertight container around the end of the clone Lizardon’s tail so he wouldn’t get killed.
Ka: Yes, no Pokémon were harmed in the making of this movie.
S: Most of the time, though, like when they’re just sitting still in the tubes, it’s not really the Pokémon. It’s just latex or something.
T: Yeah, when they come to life, that’s when they had to be careful.
Ko: When did they clone Mewtwo?
S: 1995.
Ko: And this movie came out in ‘98.
S: Yeah.
Ka: So Myuutwo predates Dolly.
S: Yes, he does!
M: I hated this scene when I saw it at the premiere.
T: Why?
M: ‘Cause my face looks so weird! I don’t like being lit from below. It’s not my good side.
Ka: Well, it makes you look ominous.
S: You couldn’t even really see it on this version. This is the fullscreen version we’re watching.
Ka: Yeah.
S: Maybe when this goes on the DVD, they’ll put it back in widescreen and what I said will make no sense. (Laughing)
T: By the way, this video effect is cool, how they made it look all fuzzy and distorted.
Ka: Yeah, that is nice.
Ko: And yet the guy’s voice is crystal clear.
S: Yeah, that was another problem I had with the dub. That took me right out of the scene when I saw it.
T: Another problem.
S: Yes. Out of many.
N: “Gotta catch ‘em all ”
(Big laughter)
S: Complaint GETTO da ze! (laughing)
Ka: No, I’m just glad they left the visuals alone. ‘Cause at the end of the day, at least the movie still looks nice.
S: It does, I’ll give ‘em that.
T: Except for the fullscreen thing.
S: Yeah, but the theatrical release looked fine.
N: Do you remember there was one take where we turned around and Myuu was still right there-nya?
M: Oh yeah! (Laughing) What was it you said?
N: “Get out of here! We’re not supposed to recognize you yet!”
(Laughter)
N: That’s one for the blooper reel-nya.
S: Now this is the standing-aroundingest scene in the movie.
Ka: Yes it is. I remember filming extended to, like, 10:00 that night and I was ready to just fall over right where I was.
T: And this is a long pan, too...
M: Well, while the movie takes its sweet time, you want to talk about the premiere?
S: Yes!
M: It was in July 1998, you remember that?
S: Yep, there was a huge crowd outside the theater. Pokémon and trainers everywhere.
Ka: Was Tajiri-sama there that night?
S: I think he was. He didn’t say much to the crowd, though, but I remember talking with him after the screening. He said he liked the way it turned out.
T: He really liked the prologue.
S: He did, yeah.
T: So don’t show him this version. (laughing)
Ko: The movie got a standing ovation after the credits were over.
S: It did, I remember the audience loved it, the critics really liked it...
M: I think the critics were being nice, though.
Ka: Some of them probably were. ‘Cause this scene right here, this is really kind of redundant.
T: But they praised the message of the movie. They liked that it took the opportunity to tackle a plot that we never would have gone into on the show.
Ko: I remember the wrap party more than I remember the premiere.
S: Oh yeah, the wrap party, that was fun. We wrapped production in April ‘98, it was about one year after the show had premiered, it was like the week before we were scheduled to come back on the air after the hiatus...
M: I just remember the karaoke stage.
Ka: Oh, yes! That was fun.
M: I did “Pokémon Ondo”, and I had Arbok and Matadogas back me up...
S: Yes! (Laughing) That was the funniest thing!
Ka: No, the funniest thing was when you got up there, Kojirou, and you started doing “Lucky Lucky”...
Ko: Yeah, I’d had a couple of sakes by that point...
T: I think I sang...what did I sing, I did “One Hundred Fifty-One”, didn’t I?
Ka: We both did! You did the Ookido-hakase lines and I did the kids’ lines...
S: And- (laughing) And Pikachu got up on stage and started bouncing a Monster Ball around like in the ending credits?
(Laughter)
Pika pikachu!
S: Oh man, we have fun...
Ka: What did you sing?
S: I- Well, I sang the theme, of course, what else?
Ka: Oh yeah, ‘cause I did the screech in the first verse!
S: Yeah, and I had Takeshi do the “sorya sou ja ” part.
T: Every year now, after we wrap one of the movies, we go back to the same karaoke place for a good three hours.
M: Yeah, we were just there two weeks ago after we finished the fourth one.
Ka: That was a lot of fun, ‘cause I tried to sing “Pokémon HaraHara Relay” and I just, I couldn’t keep up with it at all. I was like a full line behind the music toward the end...
T: Ah, fun.
N: Remember after the third movie when I did “Nyasu’s Party”-nya?
Ko: Oh yeah, and you started playing air guitar? (Laughing)
N: Ah, I’ll never forget that.
(Pause)
M: The movie is completely forgotten at this point.
(Laughter)
M: Thanks for listening, everyone! Oyasumi!
S: Okay, back on track here, this is where the clones wake up.
T: This is the part where it’s really them in the tubes.
Ka: How did they do that thing where they come out of the bottom there?
Ko: Computers.
Ka: Ah.
M: What they did was they had a hole at the bottom of the tubes where the Pokémon could climb out. After they filmed the waking up shots, they drained the tubes and let them just climb out without spilling water everywhere. And they added that gel effect in post.
S: They drained the tubes?
N: They were dual-layered-nya. There was a thin layer on the outside that had more water in it, so they always looked like they were full.
S: Oh!
T: That’s cool!
Ko: It required a lot of compositing.
N: Yeah, once again, the special effects guys really went above and beyond-nya.
M: And girls.
N: And gi- Yeah, there are some females hammering away on those computers too.
M: And you might have noticed there that the camera cut away just in time so you couldn’t see the thing over Lizardon’s tail.
S: Ah, clever!
T: They thought of everything, didn’t they?
(Pause)
Ka: Myuu is really cute. (Laughing)
S: Thank you for breaking that lull.
Ka: No, he really is. I felt so embarrassed ‘cause I went all squealy when I first saw him.
S: I was amazed when I saw him. He’s, like, one of the rarest Pokémon in the world, and here we were making a movie with him in it!
T: Myuu was very friendly. He liked to be around people.
Ka: Yeah, people fascinated him. He was constantly flying around the set, watching the camera guys and the lighting guys do their work. It was fun.
S: Oh, is that another touch-up mistake?
Ka: What?
S: Kamex’s jaw was blue in that shot.
Ka: Oh, yeah, more than likely that’s what it was. That particular one happens all the time.
T: Yeah, most of the goofs on our end are visual.
Ka: Uh-huh.
T: Most of theirs are verbal.
M: Why is Umio still in the water?
(Laughter)
M: He got thrown in there like seven minutes ago! I saw that the first time and I just laughed.
--[The wall dissolves to reveal the arena]
S: Wow!
T: Yeah.
S: That looked cool!
Ka: There’s a ton of computer work in this shot. I think it might actually be entirely CGI, matter of fact.
Ko: Probably. It looked that way.
S: This is leading into the first big arena scene. I-
Ka: The first one.
S: Yes.
Ka: Not the second one.
S: No, believe me, you’ll know that one when it gets here. (Laughing)
M: This was a huge set, I remember it took up an entire soundstage.
T: It did, yeah.
N: What was the budget on this movie-nya?
S: Oh geez, I don’t know...but we were able to afford it.
Ka: Oh, I don’t doubt it.
S: This is back when the video games were selling like crazy. The money was-
T: They still sell like crazy.
S: They do. But they were especially big right around then.
Ko: Did you have the games?
S: I did, but I don’t play ‘em much anymore.
Ka: Well, no, now you get to live them!
S: I- Exactly! Yeah! (Laughing)
Ko: I remember I got Blue and Musashi got Red.
M: Yeah, ‘cause they match our hair.
Ko: I- Oh, is that why?
M: Yeah! So you know which one belongs to which of us.
N: I can’t decide if that’s funny or really stupid-nya.
(Laughter)
Ko: Um...yes. (Laughing)
S: So anyway, here’s Lizardon at long last, in his pre-obedience days.
Ka: Lizardon was- I don’t mean any offense to you here, Satoshi...
S: No, of course not.
Ka: But Lizardon was a real pain to work with on this movie. I’m sorry.
S: No, I agree, ‘cause he was a general pain to work with on the show at this point too. He wouldn’t take direction unless he thought he had a worthy opponent.
T: Should we talk a bit about Lizardon’s history on the show?
S: Yes.
T: And how they handle evolutions in general?
S: Yes, see, my Pokémon- well, nobody’s Pokémon really evolve on camera in this show. When they do evolve, they have to write it into the show.
Ka: Uh-huh.
S: In the case of Lizardon, he started as a Hitokage, and he evolved into Lizard after about, what was it, six or seven months?
T: Something like that.
S: Yeah, but it happened as part of my daily training routine. So they had to write an episode around it, the one with the Nassy squad. And for the majority of that episode, that was not my Hitokage onscreen! That was a specially trained Hitokage that they got from a company that loans trained Pokémon to production companies for commercials and TV shows and stuff.
M: Yep, they did the same thing for Arbo and Dogas...
S: And then at the end, when it evolved, then they replaced it with Lizard. Same thing for the Ptera episode when he evolved again.
Ko: And Lizardon really didn’t listen to you in real life?
S: No! He didn’t think I was a good enough trainer!
Pikachu!
S: I- Thank you, Pikachu, for sticking up for me. It started when he was a Lizard. They had to rewrite the Paras episode because he wouldn’t take direction from anybody. He really slowed down production that week.
Ka: And that episode in the Orange Islands where Lizardon finally did start obeying?
S: Yep, that was borne from real life too! That guy Hide who was in that episode, I really battled him one day, and his Nyorobon froze Lizardon solid, and I stayed up all night thawing him out.
Ka: Then they wrote the episode based on that.
S: That they did.
M: Wow, this is all news to me! I thought it was just written...
S: No, a lot of this stuff comes from real life. That’s the advantage of being a trainer and an actor, a lot of interesting things happen to you.
N: Wow!
S: I remember while he was in his disobedient stage, we got put on hiatus.
Ka: Yeah, that was a little while after we’d finished the episode where I got Togepi, right?
S: Yeah, we were fairly ahead of schedule at the time, and I figured in the time off, I’d try to get him to obey me, but he didn’t actually do it until about a year later.
Ko: By the way, not to disrupt the story or anything, but these nicknames are really bad.
T: What, Bruteroot and Shellshocker?
Ko: Yeah.
S: Okay, yeah, I agree, that was pretty dumb, but they had nicknames that were just as goofy in the original.
Ka: What were they? Bernard, and what was-
S: Bernard and Couscous.
Ka: That was it. Yeah.
T: I find it odd that Surao and Sweet nicknamed their starters and nobody else.
Ka: Yeah, nicknaming isn’t all that common. I’m always a little surprised when I see it.

 

[Wonder Happiny]

I can't wait for the rest!

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

This is pretty boring. There's no link of these people to the characters, and I know you mean them to be actors, but it doesn't work at all in text.

Not to mention why are they surprised Ash is dubbed by a woman when he's voiced by a woman in Japanese too?

There's basically boring parts, dub bashing, and a bunch of random nonsense.

 

[Jesse GS the II]

This is pretty boring. There's no link of these people to the characters, and I know you mean them to be actors, but it doesn't work at all in text.

Not to mention why are they surprised Ash is dubbed by a woman when he's voiced by a woman in Japanese too?

There's basically boring parts, dub bashing, and a bunch of random nonsense.

Well, it's an experiment. I admit it'd probably work better as audio, though. Trying to capture the spontaneity of a DVD commentary in text form is a challenge.

 

[domesticshorthair]

I really liked it! Are you going to this for an episode? Or another movie?

 

[Hassel]

That was really great! The characters are quite IC even though they're just actors haha. I hope that more will be up soon.

 

[monkeyjb1988]

I love it. Please finish if you get a chance. Brilliant stuff