Review S11 EP08: Journey to the Unown!

[Rosakai]

Oh yeah....

"fast Turtwig", so that's what he said! I guess it was the way Kenny said that line so fast, which made me think he said "badass", heh. XD

Well, doesn't that word describe Turtwig anyway? XD

But yes, Ash's Turtwig is unusually fast for a Turtwig (sort of like mine is), although it's not as fast as Gardenia's Turtwig, though.

I wonder what's in the box Team Galactic took from the Unown?

Spoiler

The Red Chain, maybe? Saturn did say that they were one step closer to Spear Pillar...or maybe it's something that will assist in the capture of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf? That's assuming that they summon Dialga/Palkia like they do in the game (if they even do it at all)

 

[Amazed4587]

Hmm this episode was all right. At least in this episode Team Galactic made their entrance which was a plus. Geez, how many episodes took for that happened.

Spoiler

The voices watching the dub was meh for this one. For starters, I don't like Ambipom's voice much. This was something I feared and not as surprised that PUSA would screw it up like usual. So have to live with it.

Human wise, Kenny was the weakest of the bunch. I didn't mind Saturn's voice, thank god he finally sounds like a guy.

In bright news, the strongest in the bunch surprisely was Ash. Sarah did a better job than usual so proud of her for that.

The rest of them were in top notch as usual. so it wasn't much of a waste! (Eh felt like doing a voice report. Yeah it sucks.)

 

[Rosakai]

Spoiler

The voices watching the dub was meh for this one. For starters, I don't like Ambipom's voice much. This was something I feared and not as surprised that PUSA would screw it up like usual. So have to live with it.

Human wise, Kenny was the weakest of the bunch. I didn't mind Saturn's voice, thank god he finally sounds like a guy.

In bright news, the strongest in the bunch surprisely was Ash. Sarah did a better job than usual so proud of her for that.

The rest of them were in top notch as usual. so it wasn't much of a waste! (Eh felt like doing a voice report. Yeah it sucks.)

Spoiler

Okay...I've never commented on the human voice actors before, but here goes.

The only time I really miss the old voice actors to the point of wanting them back is whenever James talks, and when Brock goes gaga over a girl. I miss Eric Stuart's performance then. Brock is fine until a pretty girl shows up.

I like Sarah's Ash; as she makes him sound a little older and a bit more mature. And seeing as how about three years or so have passed in the anime world since Ash started his journey, he would be about 13-14 years old now and not sound like a younger kid. Of course, he doesn't really sound much like a teenager, though.

Although I do miss Veronica's Ash "freak out noise/scream/yell/whatever they called it in the fourth movie commentary...sigh. Good times, good times.

Saturn's voice here is an improvement over his original Japanese voice. And to be honest...James and Brock weren't all the badly voiced in this episode. And I agree with you, Amazed; Kenny's voice was off in this episode. He sounded really quiet and like he had a bad cold (even more so than usual).

 

[The Pig King]

Spoiler

You know, it was a pretty good episode, but one thing really ruined it for me. Kenny's voice makes me want to gnaw my ears off. I didn't mind any others, Ambipom's OK, but Kenny's voice had me writhing in agony every time he spoke. I haven't really noticed this before, so it could be just this episode, but it was all I could do to restrain myself from gnawing my ears out.

 

[Musashi]

Yipes. This was one of the worst dubbed episodes since I don't know when. I usually wouldn't bother to reply after 5 pages, but the dub for this episode really bothered me.

First, PUSA has Team Rocket know who Team Galactic is, which ruins a really funny joke. I pretty much expected them to do this, but combined with the rest of the episode this edit felt even worse.

They ruined the pun in the title.

James had some really weird lines. I know that's nothing new, but with all the other stuff going on this bothered me more than usual. He said at the end that there's too many Galactic people or something, when originally it was about how there's too many villains in Sinnoh. However the line that really stood out was when Jessie asked how she can get an Ambipom, and James said "Dream on. Without me." What does that even mean?!

Spoiler

Ambipom was AWFUL. Good grief what a horrible voice. Aipom has one of my favorite voices, so I had a feeling I'd be disappointed no matter what voice PUSA gave her, but I thought it'd be at least tolerable.

Kenny was even worse. I don't think he said one line that didn't make me cringe.

Saturn's will take some getting used to since it's so different from his Japanese voice, but I guess it's ok.

I find it ironic that this, of all episodes, was one of Sarah's best days. Go figure.

As much as I agree with you about PUSA's Pokémon voices, I must really disagree with you about Croagunk. Its dub voice is one I can least tollerate. I even don't understand why they changes it in the first place since it don't say its name in original. It only croaks.

Actually he does say his own name on occasion, so I don't blame PUSA for changing it. I thought they did a good job with Croagunk anyway.

I wonder what's in the box Team Galactic took from the Unown?

We find out in the next Galactic episode.

Edit: I almost forgot. DuArt still keeps letting the Japanese voices bleed through on occasion. I'm really baffled how this keeps happening. Is CN pressing them to dub the episodes ASAP?

 

[Rosakai]

We find out in the next Galactic episode.

Oooh, right. ^^; It's been so long since I've seen that episode I forgot all about that. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[pokegurl83]

I haven't got a chance to watch "Journey to the unown" is it good ?

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Holy crap, Rosakai used a spoiler tag for an ACTUAL SPOILER! Awesome.

And about Saturn's voice, I was expecting a huge wankstorm. You know, if he had a woman's voice people would complain about "omg they made him a woman" no matter how many times he was called a man, and if they gave him a man's voice people would complain about how it wasn't faithful to the original intent.

But I guess making it really nasal is a whole new can of worms, isn't it? Nasal worked on Sebastian, but on Saturn...yeah, not so much.

Now I second the request for Jupiter and Mars. Isn't Mars, like, the most popular Galactic member? I remember how awesome everyone thought she was once upon a time.

 

[Idon'tcare]

Spoiler

I heard Ambipom's voice, and I thought it was okay. Granted it's not nearly as good as Eteboth's voice (plus PUSA could've kept those monkey noises) but other than that, Ambipom's voice didn't take so long for me to get used to.

Now as for Kenny, I see what everyone meant about his voice sounding strange. It was really off in this episode - plus a lot different from the voice he had in his previous appearance. Rhonda Krempa must have had a very bad cold when she was voicing Kenny, heck it was apparent because Kenny sounded like he had a cold most of the time.

Actually my opinion on Kenny's voice always changed for me, first I thought it sounded off, then okay, then off, then okay, then off, then...well you get the picture. For some reason I'm now wondering if Kenny's voice will be the same in the next episode or different if Rhonda really did have a cold at that time.

Straining away from the music and voices comments - everyday it's the same thing, people cry about the music, they cry about certain voices, and I'm already finding ridiculously stupid - the only problem I had with the dubbing of this episode < and the only thing PUSA messed up big time > was Team Rocket calling Team Galactic by their original title, because now it ruins the surprise of who they are when Team Galactic appear again in episode 69 (Or should that be 68?).

Other than that, I thought the dubbing of this episode was just fine.

 

[Jorah]

I thought this was a really good episode! Somewhere in the Kenny Ash battle, Pikachu sounded really weird. It wasn't DuArt, it was the actual voice

Spoiler

I thought Bronzor's voice was cool. But at the start Kenny sounded really weird. As the episode went on, he got better, I thought.

No more than usual. Only five pieces were kept - the Sinnoh battle music during the cold opening, Dawn's theme during her training of Aipom, the battle music during Turtwig vs. Breloom, the music when Aipom evolved, and the end of episode music. Everything else was American-made, as far as I could tell. There was one spot where Dawn used her Pokedex on Unown and they didn't play the Pokedex theme, but I couldn't hear the piece itself that well.

I'm sure there were 6, wasn't the scene where Piplup and Aipom fell Japanese music? Or is that PUSA? It starts when Team Rocket are getting attacked but I can't hear it very well and the video isn't very high quality. Well, whoever's it is, I like it

 

[Durivan]

I'm with the large group of people that absolutly hate Ambipom's voice. I find Ambipom's voice extremely annoying and I don't mind any of the other voices (pokemon or people) at all, in fact this is the first time I've ever complained about character voices.

Like with Bibarel, they made Ambipom look much better in the anime than in the game, but I just can't stand that voice. It seems a majority of people on these Pokemon sites don't like it so maybe they will change it.

 

[JB88]

This episode was okay. I liked it, but the dubbing could've been better. When I saw the Japanese clips I thought they would take the dialogue to a new light, but it wasn't really what I expected, which was okay.

Spoiler

Ash's voice didn't sound so well this time. Something was off, it wasn't the usual voice you'd hear. I could feel it, especially when they were all in the ruins and Ash was assuring Kenny that everything was okay. Even Kenny's voice didn't do so well. Something was off, I can't really explain it. Hearing Saturn again, I thought he'd have a deeper voice or something, but I'll deal with this one. As long as Cyrus's voice is badass. I can't wait when they show him. Best villain ever in the anime.

As for Pokemon, Breloom shocked me, and I was upset what they did to Ambipom. I won't repeat what the others have said about it, so I share their sentiments.

What's so great over a Poketch app, especially THAT app, of all apps? Honestly, it must be one of the lamest apps Game Freak wasted space on. They could've done other original stuff with it. No need getting jealous over that app.

This proves that Kenny is just a kid, and no Drew, certainly no Gary either. His early actions at the ruins showed his weak points. Well kid, if you want to show off your skillz to your girl then you man it up. It's also embarrassing your Pokemon. Gotta get over that fear.

I feel sad how Dawn sounds so confident in this episode about the contest, when she'll lose in the appeal round for the second time in the following episodes. What a blow that'll be. I can't wait to watch them.

 

[peno]

Spoiler

The only time I really miss the old voice actors to the point of wanting them back is whenever James talks, and when Brock goes gaga over a girl. I miss Eric Stuart's performance then. Brock is fine until a pretty girl shows up.

I hope you are joking about James. I really have urge to cringe whenever I hear Eric Stuart's James. As I wrote previously I don't blame Eric Stuart personally. I know 4Kids voice directors are responsible for this, but that don't change my opinion on James as the weakest part of 4Kids dub. I'm sorry, but I'm glad Jimmy Zoppi get James much better voice and more personality. Now if only PUSA get rid off that stupid accent for Meowth and I will be finally OK with TR's dub.
And I don't see any differencies between Eric Stuart's Brock and Bill Rogers' one. But that may be because Brock is my least favourite human character in Pokémon anime. And I especially hate when he - as you wrote - goes gaga over girl, so I don't really pay attention on those scenes.

I like Sarah's Ash; as she makes him sound a little older and a bit more mature. And seeing as how about three years or so have passed in the anime world since Ash started his journey, he would be about 13-14 years old now and not sound like a younger kid. Of course, he doesn't really sound much like a teenager, though.

And that's the main thing I hate about Sarah (and also about Veronica in her latest seasons, to be honest). Why? See my sign. There's no way for Ash to be older. He is 10 year old and should sound like that, not like teenager Sarah made him.

And now I beg you pardon, but I'm going to watch Formula 1. Glad there's different TV to airs F1 and EURO in Czech so I can watch Canadian GP live ;-)

 

[Eversti]

But I guess making it really nasal is a whole new can of worms, isn't it? Nasal worked on Sebastian, but on Saturn...yeah, not so much.

Now I second the request for Jupiter and Mars. Isn't Mars, like, the most popular Galactic member? I remember how awesome everyone thought she was once upon a time.

I agree with that. First time I heard his voice, I didn't even know that was him speaking, and I was a little surprised.

That's what I'm confused about. Given how late the other Galactic commanders are, are they planning to do what they did for Aqua and Magma and have only one commander appear? And if so, why did they choose Saturn? Is it because he was left behind, making Cyrus the remaining 'target' for everyone?

Normally I don't comment on voices, much less post them, but here goes my shot...

Spoiler

I guess I'll start with Saturn's voice, since that's the one I paid attention to the most. My first time watching the episode, I didn't quite know what to make of it. Sure, I couldn't quite pick out any weak lines - though, "we're now one step closer...to the Speear Pillarr..." sounded a bit off - but the slight nasal, as Blackjack mentioned, didn't really sit well with me. Watching the episode a second time, I've come to the conclusion that I really do quite like Saturn's voice. It just takes a bit to get used to. Tom Wayland is his voice actor, right?
As for his lackey pals, for the one line they had, I quite liked their voices as well - pretty close to the original, almost perfect, I'd have to say.

I think everyone else was pretty good, overall. Like others have been saying, Kenny sounded like he had a cold, but it didn't bother me a whole lot. I think Ash sounded pretty good - there were really good lines, certain things, such as "Kenny, why do you call her Deedee?", that I thought stood out a bit as sounding natural.

Um...I don't have much to say about anyone else. Ambipom's voice is a bit lackluster, but it's not completely horrible. We won't be seeing much of it after the contest, anyway.

Aside from that, did anyone else notice how the lowered the volume of the Unown's chattering? I don't know if they've done that sort of thing before, but it was mainly at one specific part, when Saturn had...summoned up...the cube. In the original, didn't he have to yell at them to get them quiet? It irked me for some reason. I also liked how this episode gave Kenny a bit of personality. Brock's repeated line about closest kind of creeped me out, though.

 

[PDL]

Like with Bibarel, they made Ambipom look much better in the anime than in the game, but I just can't stand that voice. It seems a majority of people on these Pokemon sites don't like it so maybe they will change it.

You don't know much about competitive battling it seems...

Ambipom's actually quite useful when played right. 100 base attack and 115 base speed is nothing to sneeze at. Plus Technician-boosted Fake Out is hella scary.

It also gets Nasty Plot and Agility which it can Baton Pass to teammates.

 

[Rosakai]

Spoiler

And that's the main thing I hate about Sarah (and also about Veronica in her latest seasons, to be honest). Why? See my sign. There's no way for Ash to be older. He is 10 year old and should sound like that, not like teenager Sarah made him.

Spoiler

Not necessarily. Time has passed in the anime. They always mention how it's been so many weeks/months since (insert any event here) happened, and it has been confirmed that at least one year has passed since Ash, began his journey, which would, if time suddenly stopped after that, make him at least eleven. True, he doesn't look any older, but he sounds and acts older. Although this may come from experience, I believe it's because he's older.

And, if the in the case that time doesn't pass, can you image how confused Ash and his friends are that they've been traveling for so long and not gotten any older? That'd be a hilarious scene I'd pay money to see.

 

[Casual_Furi]

Time doesn't elapse in real time. A typical episode covers one to two days. multiple episodes can take place in the same day or the day after. One episode could take place during the day, and the following could take place that very same night for all we know.

 

[Rosakai]

Time doesn't elapse in real time. A typical episode covers one to two days. multiple episodes can take place in the same day or the day after. One episode could take place during the day, and the following could take place that very same night for all we know.

True. I'm just saying that it has been officially confirmed that at least one year has passed. Saying Ash isn't any older even exactly one year after his tenth birthday is kind of...not exactly true. It's a matter of opinion, though.

Anyways, back to the episode discussion.

Is it really possible to teach a Pokemon a new attack without noticing you did so? Somehow, I don't think so. I think Aipom learned Double Hit on her own, and Dawn just assumed it was her charging up Focus Punch.

Double Hit looks way different than Focus Punch; how could Dawn confuse the two? Brush up on your moves, Dawn.

 

[ANonMouse]

Wow. All I can say is that Ambipom is the ugliest thing I've seen yet.

 

[peno]

True. I'm just saying that it has been officially confirmed that at least one year has passed. Saying Ash isn't any older even exactly one year after his tenth birthday is kind of...not exactly true. It's a matter of opinion, though.

You have some other cartoons and animes in which something like that happens. Honestly, don't you think if Ash were 13-14 years old, he were taller then confirmed 10 years old Dawn? But in fact he is even smaller then she is (slightly but stillnoticable). But let it go, 'cause age debate makes even more flames then voice debate :lol:

Is it really possible to teach a Pokemon a new attack without noticing you did so? Somehow, I don't think so. I think Aipom learned Double Hit on her own, and Dawn just assumed it was her charging up Focus Punch.

Double Hit looks way different than Focus Punch; how could Dawn confuse the two? Brush up on your moves, Dawn.

Dawn is still novice and unexperienced trainer ;-)