Pokémon in the Arab world: Difference between revisions

The Arabic [[dub]] of Pokémon is based on [[4Kids Entertainment]]'s English dub, the [[anime]] was initially dubbed to Arabic in late 2000 by Syria-based <big>{{wp|Venus Centre|Venus Center (مركز الزهرة)}}</big>, and distributed by <big>KM Productions</big>. But due to the controversy in 2001, Venus Center (which is known for being a very conservative company) no longer wanted to be associated with the [[Pokémon]] franchise, and stopped production after [[S02]]. KM Productions then moved the dubbing to Lebanon.

After that Lebanon-based <big>Super M Productions</big> took over dubbing  the anime starting with [[EP106]], all the way to the episode [[AG092]]. [[S05]] ([[EP210]] to [[EP262]]) was skipped for unknown reasons.

After the end of [[S07]] around 2006, production on the dub was cancelled due to [[4Kids Entertainment]] losing the dubbing rights, and the Lebanese company not coming to an agreement with the new rights holders.<ref>confirmed by Jihan Mulla, one of the voice actors.</ref>

The new dub was produced in Lebanon by <big>Image Production House Studios</big>,<ref>https://www.tiktok.com/@abdohakimofficiall/video/6921632625392209154?is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=6921632625392209154</ref> and featured some old voice actors from the Super M production reprising their roles such as '''Joumana Zonji''' as Misty, '''Abdo Hakim''' as James, '''Hassan Hamdan''' as Meowth, '''Jihan Malla''' as Nurse Joy and '''Iman Bitar''' as Officer Jenny.

[[Ash Ketchum]] was voiced by '''Buthaina Shaya''' ('''بثينة شيا'''), {{an|Misty}} was voiced by '''Majd Zhazha''' ('''مجد ظاظا'''), and '''Rafat Bazoo''' ('''رأفت بازو''') provides the voice of {{an|Brock}}. For {{TRT}}, [[James]] is voiced by '''Zeyad Errafae'ie''' ('''زياد الرفاعي'''), [[Jessie]] is voiced by '''Fatima Saad''' ('''فاطمة سعد'''), and {{MTR}} is voiced by '''Adel Abo Hassoon''' ('''عادل أبو حسون'''). [[Professor Oak]] is voiced by '''Marwan Farhat''' ('''مروان فرحات'''). Other notable voice actors in the Arabic dub include '''Amal Saad Alden''' ('''امال سعد الدين''') as [[Nurse Joy]] and '''Fadwa Souleimane''' ('''فدوى سليمان''') as [[Officer Jenny]].

[[Ash Ketchum]] was voiced by '''Mona Majzoub''' ('''منى مجذوب'''), {{an|Misty}} was voiced by '''Joumana Zonji''' ('''جمانة الزنجي'''), and '''Nabil Assaf''' ('''نبيل عساف''') provides the voice of {{an|Brock}}. For {{TRT}}, [[James]] has been voiced by '''Abdo Hakim''' ('''عبدو حكيم'''), and [[Jessie]] has been voiced by '''Iman Bitar''' ('''إيمان بيطار''').<ref>https://lebanesedubbing.fandom.com/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon</ref>

| [[Ash Ketchum]] || '''{{wp|Bouthayna Shaya|Buthaina Shaya}}''' ('''بثينة شيا''') || '''Mona Majzoub''' ('''منى مجذوب''')_{([[S03]]-[[S04]])} ||  || '''Rana Al Rifai''' ('''رنا رفاعي''')

The anime initially aired exclusively on <big>{{wp|Middle East Broadcasting Center|MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center)}}</big>, a Saudi owned channel broadcasting from London at the time.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXmVm71sr9A</ref> But due to its immense popularity it spread rapidly to other channels, mainly government-owned channels in {{wp|Egypt}}, {{wp|Syria}}, {{wp|Qatar}}, {{wp|Algeria}} among other countries.   

Then in 2001 due to the controversy and the ban many channels dropped it from air after [[S02]].

Starting with [[S03]] The anime now aired mainly on <big>{{wp|Al Jadeed|New TV}}</big>, a Lebanese channel that targets mostly a Christian Arab audience, with reruns being aired occasionally on few other channels channels such as <big>{{wp|Arab Radio and Television Network|ART Teenz}}</big>, and the government-owned channels in {{wp|ERTT|Tunisia}}, {{wp|Public Establishment of Television|Algeria}} and {{wp|2M (TV channel)|Morocco}}, meaning no official ban was issued in those countries.

The [[Pokémon Theme|season 1 opening]] was written and performed by '''{{wp|Rasha Rizk}}''' ('''رشا رزق'''), with additional vocal support of '''{{wp|Tarek Alarabi Tourgane}}''' ('''طارق العربي طرقان''') and  '''Bassam Al-Hassouni''' ('''بسام الحسوني'''). the first version of the theme song which uses the lyric ('''على خير الصنيع''') was used for the first 12 episodes ([[EP001|Pokémon - I Choose You!]] to [[EP012|Here Comes the Squirtle Squad]]), and then replaced by a ''more grammatically correct'' second version with the lyric ('''سلاحي المنيع''') for the remaining episodes ([[EP013|Mystery at the Lighthouse]] to [[EP105|Charizard Chills]]).

An Arabic version of [[Pokémon Johto]] was also recorded and used for the initial broadcast of [[S03|season 3]], but then it was replaced by the [[Pokémon Theme|season 1 theme]] during reruns and on the DVD release, probably due to the original theme song being more popular.

The opening themes for seasons [[S04|04]] to [[S07|07]] were never dubbed, instead they used the [[Pokémon Theme|season 1 theme]] along with the footage of [[Pokémon Johto]]. The opening footage for those seasons was replaced due to their opening themes being 45 seconds instead of 01 min, making them incompatible with  the [[Pokémon Theme|season 1 theme song]].

[[File:Misty cross.png|200x200px|thumb|{{an|Misty}} holding a {{wp|Christian cross|cross}} in [[EP020]], this is one of the scenes that were removed in the original broadcast of the episode.]]

Seasons [[S01|01]] and [[S02|02]] were released on VHS by Venus Center, [[S01]] is also currently available on Netflix retaining the original Arabic dubbing done by Venus Center, except for [[EP020]] which was redubbed since it was heavily censored in the original Syrian dub.