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NEWS: Pokemon Voice Actors Replaced with Sound-Alikes

I've discussed this on eight boards, including this one, already. Sigh, here we go.

...

The internet has made interaction with actors/voice actors a great deal more personal in recent years, and as is the case with all human interaction; those actors grow a great deal closer to the fans, and visa versa. Just knowing the actors exist (even just their names) instead of recognising them as the anonymous disembodied voices behind television humanizes them, and therefore, facilitates empathy for their plight.

Assuredly, the 4Kids voice actors, like those of Ocean before them and FUNimation afterward, have become big names; however, they've been typecasted as 4Kids workers because of their long tenure with Pokemon. As such, when we have someone like Veronica Taylor who entered the business at eighteen, it'll be difficult for her to find stable work after years of earning a consistent reasonable paycheck from 4Kids. As such, with the knowledge that they are people, are not paid well (as is) and are facing the prospect of losing their jobs, even we, the former fans, feel great sympathy for them.

One could argue that "there are tons of people who lose jobs everyday", or, "the new voice actors will be in the same boat the 4Kids ones were when they started out", and "this will be another FUNimation DBZ dub". Call me selfish, but I really couldn't care less; as is the case with all people, we really do not bother with issues unless our own interests are violated or threatened in some way. In this case, it's a euthanisation of a bunch of people who had a part in shaping the person I am today; I may have outgrown Pokemon, but I still feel loyalty to those voice actors.

Like a few posters said before, the dub sucked when I first heard it back before it was on kidsWB, but now since the VAs been with the series for so long, it's gonna be kinda odd to hear someone elses voice being ash or any of the other characters because you do feel a connection with the voices over time. Just like in Japan, VAs over there get very very good treatment for the roles they do, and they relish some of those roles they are usually typecasted in, but in America, it's different...

Umm . . . I care.

The only reason I started watching PoKemon initially was because I had heard about the seizure incident in Japan, and since I suffer from a condition known as myoclonic seizures I wanted to see if I would have one. Hey, I was sixteen back then

. Anyway I didn't realize the Porygon episode/Pikachu's Thundershocks had been altered/edited back then, but after watching the episode "Hypno's Naptime" I discovered a nice show to compliment my watching of Sailor Moon at 6:30 am back then. I've probably watched like 300 episodes (how many have aired here I'm not sure), and would love researching the VA to see who did what voice. I remember Ash's original deep voice and always felt they should've kept that one, and wonder why the original VA for James quit. I know the intro lyrics by heart to every season save this one, and enjoyed most every one (except the one with the poor man's Brock a.k.a Tracy). I'm not embarassed at saying though I don't watch many episodes nowadays, I can't imagine watching it without the original VAs. If they were that inconsiderate not to keep them in the loop I doubt they'll rty that hard to get people that sound alike. However, I did say earlier that's not necessarily a bad thing. It did bother me a bit that both Brock and Max's voice seemed to be getting higher in pitch over the last season or so, and as I said I've always like Ash's original voice.

But hey, maybe PoKemon USA is trying to take the VA in a bold, exciting direction and wanted to forget the past. Bottom line, if the substitutes were Wendee Lee, Elizabeth McGlynn, Yuri Lowenthal, Johnny Young Bosch, Daemon Clarke, or Justin Cook (or people of that caliber) would we really be complaining? I bet half the people here would be like "Aw, poor Veronica Taylor OMG POKEMON USA IS THE SCHIZZNICK IM WATCHING POKEMON TO SEE HOW AWESOME IT IS!!" I've already seen that reaction on other boards from people who hated the 4Kids VAs. All we can do is wait and critque.

What a coincidence.
(Third photo.)

The only thing good about Pokemon were the Jokes involving Meowth, James and Jesse and ASh, misty and brock. Now its going to lack that flair. You can't expect sound alikes to ever make it better. It can only get worse......

I only watch the weekend episodes on the WB because I do not have cable. I have a problem with the local cable companies. (They provide low grade material for a high cost.) Aside from the fact that May seems to win contests and poor Ash can't win a tourney no matter how many badges he gets I still have a problem with this news. It is (imo) an unfair act to fire people who are doing their jobs well simply because of economic reasons. Except in major league sports the worker salary is not a place where any significant savings can be found. It is sad.

Although I haven't watched Pokemon in a really long time, I've always been a big fan of English voice actors and believe in continuity. Sure sometimes it can't be helped; voice actors moving on and so forth. But seriously, after watching the YuYu Hakusho series, it was hard to watch the movie with totally different voice actors. I'm just so used to how each character speaks, and a slight difference makes you catch on a few seconds late.

I honestly can't imagine Pokemon being dubbed by anyone other than the same people who have done it in the way we love and cherish. Someday I would love to go back and watch the series, and I'd be saddened to realize that Veronica Taylor, Rachel Lillis, and Eric Stuart aren't the souls behind the characters we know and love.

While I love the Funi VAs like Clarke and Cook, I don't see Nintendo getting them, and even if I believed they were better (I'm not going to pass judgment), I still believe in continuity. A voice grows on you after time, and anyone else speaking that character ends up being just being... wrong.

I hope that Nintendo doesn't go through with this, because honestly, this is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

I think the bigger issue here is that people are complaining that 4kids is losing a property. I've never seen a 4kids production that wasn't noticeably butchered. Many are soo bad that you can even tell it was butchered without having seen the show in the original language.

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Forum - View topicNEWS: Pokemon Voice Actors Replaced with Sound-Alikes

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NEWS: Pokemon Voice Actors Replaced with Sound-Alikes