Pokémon USA recasting controversy: Difference between revisions

Pokémon USA recasting controversy (view source)

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 {{Bulbanews|Opinion: Fans rally to combat anime change}}
-On March 21, 2006, it was discovered that Pokémon USA (now a part of [[The Pokémon Company International]]) was going to recast the voices for the English-language dub of the [[Pokémon anime]] from season nine onwards. The company used the special that aired on April 29, ''[[The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon]]'', as a testing ground for the new voice actors. This caused a controversy in the Pokémon fan community.
+On March 21, 2006, it was discovered that Pokémon USA (now a part of [[The Pokémon Company International]]) and [[Taj Productions]] was going to recast the voices for the English-language dub of the [[Pokémon anime]] from season nine onwards. The company used the special that aired on April 29, ''[[The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon]]'', as a testing ground for the new voice actors. This caused a controversy in the Pokémon fan community.
 ==Introduction==
-Early in 2006, [[4Kids Entertainment]] let their merchandising rights lapse to dub any more Pokémon episodes. Instead, dubbing was handed to [[TAJ Productions]], which had worked on the Pokémon series before. There was a catch, however: the voice actors to be replaced were to sound like the old voices. The special episode, which aired on April 29, was used as a testing ground for the new voices.  Because of this, and the discontinuation of anime in their block as they were planning to move to {{wp|The CW Television Network|The CW Network}}, [[Kids' WB!]] decided not to renew the series, and [[Cartoon Network]], the sibling cable network owned by Kids' WB's owners, {{wp|Time Warner}}, started to air the series as of September 8, 2006.
+Because of the Pokémon franchise's waning popularity in the United States, the international Pokémon distributor, [[Pokémon USA]], began looking for ways to cut costs on production of the English adaptation of the series, and decided to find a new partnering company who could produce the English adaptation for less money. Once [[4Kids Entertainment|4Kids Entertainment's]] contract expired, they were outbid by [[Taj Productions]], who had earlier assisted 4Kids in their production of the English-language version of the series. There was a catch, however: the voice actors were to be replaced with different sound-a-like voice actors to keep production costs low. The special episode, which aired on April 29, was used as a testing ground for the new voices.  Because of this, and the discontinuation of anime in their block as they were planning to move to {{wp|The CW Television Network|The CW Network}}, [[Kids' WB!]] decided not to renew the series, and [[Cartoon Network]], the sibling cable network owned by Kids' WB's owners, {{wp|Time Warner}}, started to air the series as of September 8, 2006.
 == E-mails ==
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 == Fan reaction ==
-Many fans were upset and opposed the idea of recasting the voice actors with new ones. Some liked the idea because they did not like the old voice actors. Some wanted to see the special episode before making a comment.
+Many fans were upset and opposed the idea of recasting the voice actors with new ones. Some were open to the idea because they weren't fond of the old voice actors in the first place. Some wanted to see the special episode before making a comment.
 Some fans who opposed the idea of recasting decided to send letters to Pokémon USA by mail and e-mail. An [[Save Our Voice Actors|online petition]] has also been made by online members.
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 === PUSA's reaction to complaints ===
 After many complaints from the fans about Ash's voice, which was done by [[Kayzie Rogers]] (as "Jamie Peacock") they re-casted the voice actor for Ash. It was announced at Comic Con International that [[Sarah Natochenny]] will do the voice of Ash. Also, "[[The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon]]" special was re-dubbed. Sarah Natochenny's performance of Ash is still a controversy for some in the Pokémon Community up to this day.
+===Aftermath===
+[[Taj Productions]] went out of business in 2008, and [[DuArt and Video]] became Pokémon USA (now called The Pokémon Company International)'s new partner in producing the English adaptation. Because the show had grown somewhat in popularity over the past two years, production costs weren't kept as low, and DuArt brought back many of the original voice actors to play newer, smaller roles, and [[Ted Lewis]] was brought back to continue playing his roles (notably [[Giovanni (anime)|Giovanni]]) and [[Mike Pollock]] was brought back to continue playing [[Raul Contesta]] with the departure of [[Craig Blair]] from the franchise. Other actors from the original cast who have returned to voice characters in current episodes include [[Rachael Lillis]], [[Maddie Blaustein]] (briefly before her death), [[Erica Schroeder]], [[Lisa Ortiz]], [[Jason Griffith]], among others. However, DuArt has kept most of the main voice actors from the Taj dubbed episodes for consistency.
 == External links ==