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What if TPCI redubbed "Mewtwo Strikes Back?"

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dandeco

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Having recently re-watched the Nostalgia Critic's review on the first Pokémon movie "Mewtwo Strikes Back," as well as the comparison on Dogasu's Backpack...
Theatrical Feature Film 01

I am now starting to wonder what it would be like if The Pokémon Company International created a new "Special Edition" redub of the movie or something like that? It would probably be released direct to DVD or aired on Cartoon Network. Here are what I think the pros and cons would be...

PROS
Most likely a more faithful translation. Cartoon Network and 4Kids don't seem as concerned about silly censorships like the word "God" and stuff like that (some of CN's new shows like "Total Drama Island" and "The Regular Show" get away with MUCH worse stuff than that.)
We might have some more decent music. There would probably still obviously be replaced music (probably even samples from the 4Kids version), but it would be nice if there was no background music during the opening lab scene like the Japanese version (I think that seems to enhance the mood.) I wouldn't mind if even most of the original music was replaced, as long as they don't add any corny vocal songs to the fights or anything.
I could also see them utilizing the original Japanese title sequence or something. TPCI isn't as crazy about omitting Japanese text as 4Kids was, from what I heard. A likely scenario could be to re-animate the entire title with the American Pokémon logo, with the camera going through the letters like a maze, etc. That would actually be pretty cool, and could give American audiences a taste on what they've been missing out.
In the original, the pirate guy Ash battles speaks a lot of English due to him being voiced by an American guy. They could probably keep his original audio to save money.
We wouldn't be having Pidgeot being called Pidgeotto, or Sandslash a Sandshrew or Scyther an Alakazam.
I also doubt we'd be getting that "anti-fighting" message 4Kids added.

CONS
The voices probably wouldn't be as good. We'd have to hear a new Mewtwo voice (though they could probably have Dan Green do the voice, like he did in "Mewtwo Returns"), a new voice for Boija (the woman that owned the pier), etc. All the others would be the same as the other TPCI-dubbed episodes, most likely. They would probably also have Michele Knotz as Misty and Jessie, Bill Rogers as Brock, Jimmy Zoppi as James and Meowth, etc. Giovanni, Corey and Fergus would all probably have their same voice actors as in the original.
They would probably still make up that Pokémon tears legend that 4Kids added for the dub.
There might still be some cheesy puns ("They [Vikings] mostly live in Minnesota!" anyone?)


Any thoughts?
 
Well, it's a long shot (really, really long shot) but speaking hypothetically on the off chance it would happen, it'd probably turn out like this.

  • DuArt will dub it in-house, so it'll be dubbed in more-or-less the same way as movies 10-14 have been. With a fairly accurate script, and no missing prologue.
  • Ash, Brock, Jessie, James, Meowth, Jenny and Joy will naturally have their regular TPCi dub voices - no-one tends to rage about this anymore, so I don't see it causing that big a fandom meltdown. DuArt's gotten Rachael Lillis to record for a once-off part before, so I wouldn't be surprised if they got her to voice Misty instead of Michele Knotz - but either of them are a possibility. The movie characters (besides the ones Maddie Blaustein voiced) would pretty much all have the same VAs they did in 1999 (and Dan Green for Mewtwo).
  • The soundtrack would be completely different - unless Warner Bros. wanted to release this version on DVD/Blu-ray instead of the 4Kids one, they're probably not going to allow TPCi/DuArt to use their music in a product that competes directly with the DVD they're selling. The Japanese score will be kept because DuArt doesn't use 4Kids BGM and probably wouldn't record a new score for the movie. They'll record a new song (probably sung by Erin Bowman =P) for the ending. Don't know what they'd do about the opening theme. TPCi has the rights to the regular version of the season 1 theme, so they might just stick that in or record a new version of it.
So yeah... not going to happen, but this'd be the most likely turnout for a hypothetical TPCi-dubbed First Movie.
 
Instead of just redubbed, I'd want to see it reanimated. 15th anniversary remake or something? I doubt it would be redubbed unless there's a reason out of Japan to do it.

A few days ago (complete coincidence) watched the Japanese subtitled version of the movie and was amazed at just how much was changed, though I'm not sure which I liked better - it is probably just nostalgia talking, but the ending seemed to have better build up in the dub, I didn't get the same sense of emotional build up to the ending and the ending itself seemed a bit too blunt. That could be a problem for a redubbing - because everyone in the West saw the movie with the original storyline, and it'd be wrong for many to watch the first movie with the Japanese story accurately translated.

I'd suspect they'd need to include the original track as a bonus option or something even if they did redub.

That said, I'd be happy with just a blu-ray re-release. I'd almost be happy just to see a reprint of the DVDs - I've only been able to find VHS copies of the first three movies.
 
I am sure Mewtwo's voice would be the same, as TPCI uses many actors from 4kids for roles such as that.

I think it would be hilarious to see Michelle Knotz voice Misty again, given she only voiced her ONCE way back in 2006 and never again. Would she even remember how to play Misty?
 
Gliscor'd said:
I am sure Mewtwo's voice would be the same, as TPCI uses many actors from 4kids for roles such as that.

I think it would be hilarious to see Michelle Knotz voice Misty again, given she only voiced her ONCE way back in 2006 and never again. Would she even remember how to play Misty?
Click to expand...

Phillip Bartlet who played Mewtwo in movie 1 died, so they would have to use Dan Green, his VA from Mewtwo Returns.
 
I think the only problem is the 1st movie will lose its nostalgic value if it isn't the 4kids cast doing the main characters. People now strictly associate 4kids with Kanto-Hoenn, and PUSA with Battle Frontier-Best Wishes.

They shouldn't go back and mix them up IMO.
 
No. For the simple reasons that fans will then demand for more episodes to be redubbed and because there's no need. If they reanimated the movie then it would be alright to dub.
 
Wait, 4kids made up the Pokémon tears legend thing? I never knew that? I knew they made up the anti-fighting message, but I never knew the tears legend was made up as an illusion of 4kids? What was really going on then? Like when what's-her-face lady with the blue hair and weird accent was telling them that legend before they set out to go challenge Mewtwo on the island? What did it actually say? Also, what happened then with the whole thing when Ash was petrified then the Pokémon cried and he came back? Was that just a spontaneous freak-accident that occurred?
Huh, this movie has suddenly become even more random and strange than I thought it was before. Don't get me wrong, I still love it. :)
 
They'd stick back in the lost footage
take out the "fighting is wrong" æsop (because Pokémon is about fighting)

In essence, largely uncut with the current dub flair.
Also, I think that tears reviving Ash thing was just a deus ex machina in Japan, right? Still made more sense than 4kids' myth.
 
PokemonLotty said:
Wait, 4kids made up the Pokémon tears legend thing? I never knew that? I knew they made up the anti-fighting message, but I never knew the tears legend was made up as an illusion of 4kids? What was really going on then? Like when what's-her-face lady with the blue hair and weird accent was telling them that legend before they set out to go challenge Mewtwo on the island? What did it actually say? Also, what happened then with the whole thing when Ash was petrified then the Pokémon cried and he came back? Was that just a spontaneous freak-accident that occurred?
Huh, this movie has suddenly become even more random and strange than I thought it was before. Don't get me wrong, I still love it. :)
Click to expand...

The tears of the Pokemon reviving Ash was a thematic callback to the dying Ai telling Mewtwo that she thought only human beings cry out of sorrow, when Mewtwo began to cry. It still doesn't make logical sense, but.. oh well..

The movie's somewhat like an unpolished gemstone from the past. There are dreamlike gleams of utter brilliance inside a rocky husk. With a bit of work it could have been a beautiful treasure and a shock awakening for critics expecting something completely different.

If you thought the first movie was strange and you've ONLY seen the dub VHS, then you're in for a huge surprise when you see the original Japanese.
 
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Domino White said:
The tears of the Pokemon reviving Ash was a thematic callback to the dying Ai telling Mewtwo that she thought only human beings cry out of sorrow, when Mewtwo began to cry. It still doesn't make logical sense, but.. oh well..

The movie's somewhat like an unpolished gemstone from the past. There are dreamlike gleams of utter brilliance inside a rocky husk. With a bit of work it could have been a beautiful treasure and a shock awakening for critics expecting something completely different.

If you thought the first movie was strange and you've ONLY seen the dub VHS, then you're in for a huge surprise when you see the original Japanese.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've only ever seen the one on VHS that I had from when I was a little kid. I have seen the thing with Mewtwo and Amber on YouTube though. Hm, I guess I'll check out the original Japanese one with subtitles sometime. Thanks for the info!
 
Well, we'd be spared that "fighting is wrong" BS (why 4Kids was thinkign I'll NEVER understand :-/) and those crappy songs. But it would still have a lot of problems. As others have said, it needs to be rewritten and reanimated into something different. Lord knows Mewtwo deserves better than to be made into Suepr Hamlet...

And Lotty? You're in a very long wait (if they ever air them at all) :-(
 
If TPCI goes back and re-dubs anything from the past, I would definitely want them to re-dub Mastermind of the Mirage Pokemon.
 
Ash Ketchum! said:
If TPCI goes back and re-dubs anything from the past, I would definitely want them to re-dub Mastermind of the Mirage Pokemon.
Click to expand...

They already did redub that. The first version of that had Ash played by Kayzie Rogers instead of Sarah, and everyone else sounded worse.
 
I like the legend of the Pokémon tears that was added by the dub. It made sense. Well, it didn't, since Pokémon tears don't have healing powers... but if the legend did happen then it makes sense that the tears were able to restore Ash as well. I never saw "The Uncut Origin of Mewtwo" so I don't understand what it would be like with the original Japanese version, but I'm saying that it made sense in the dub.

I actually didn't mind anything about the dub since I've never seen the Japanese version. If I had, I'd probably have more to complain about... I didn't like that "Brother My Brother" music, but as I have nothing to compare it to I don't really see anything wrong with it. Also, there's nothing wrong with the added "fighting is wrong" moral other than it being unnecessary... but no, it does not contradict the fact that "Pokémon is all about fighting" because in the context of the quote you could tell that they meant Pokémon senselessly beating each other up and they weren't talking about Pokémon battles.

Those errors with getting the names of the Pokémon wrong... yeah, those should be fixed (they shouldn't have even happened to begin with). I can understand leaving in the Alakazam one (as it would be possible for Team Rocket to guess wrong), but the others are inexcusable.

So if they redid it, I'd say that they should at least fix the errors... and show "The Uncut Mewtwo's Origin" with the movie... and if they show that then maybe re-do part of Mewtwo's character portrayal to be more like the Japanese version and less like the American version (where he's a pure-evil villian who's just doing things for the sake of being evil). Also, I'd like for them to get rid of their "improvements" that they did with the CGI and return it to complete hand-drawn animation (yeah, I know that the CGI stuff was also in the Japanese DVD, but still)... that CGI stuff never looked good in my opinion.

Anyway, speaking of re-dubbing things, what I don't understand is why they changed Todd's name to Snap for the DVD release. Even considering the fact that they changed the name from just "Todd" to "Todd Snap" in the re-release of Pokémon Snap... why change his name? In America we don't commonly address people by their last names without a "Mr." or whatever in front of it unless we know the person on a personal level (where their last name would be used as more of a nickname).
 
You know, I've never watched the original, but, and this may just be me, but I seriously doubt the "fighting is bad!" message was completely absent from the original version like people in this thread are implying.

I mean, a kid's movie produced in one of the most pacifistic nations in the modern world expresses the notion that fighting is the answer?
 
Quattro ~ Bajeena said:
You know, I've never watched the original, but, and this may just be me, but I seriously doubt the "fighting is bad!" message was completely absent from the original version like people in this thread are implying.

I mean, a kid's movie produced in one of the most pacifistic nations in the modern world expresses the notion that fighting is the answer?
Click to expand...

Well, it DID have a message about equality that was fine on its own.
 
No, I think it was obvious he meant with the 4kids cast. In regards to TPCi redubbing any pre- Battle Frontier content, I would definitely say no for the same reason as in the thread about reanimating season 1; don't fix what ain't broke. Yes, there were errors like some Pokemon names and some differences to the Japanese version, but minor issues like that it isn't worth fixing if they sacrifice the voice cast. However, I would enjoy if TPCi re-released this in theaters :).
 
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While the original dub has its issues, it captures the feel of the anime at the time. It also contains some of Maddie Blaustein's best work.
 
Please note: The thread is from 13 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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