Just forget the words and sing along

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Sinister Doings in the World of Pokemon

It's Saturday, so I'm hanging out, watching Pokemon, and it reminded me of something. I've been sitting on this news for a while now, but I haven't shared it, because all my blog entries tend to get so long and rambling.

Anyway, there's sinster goings-on in the world of Pokemon. First, you must know the players in the game.

4Kids Entertainment - The company that has dubbed and released the Pokemon cartoon ever since pokemon came to North American shores in 1998.

Pokemon USA, Inc. - The subsidiary of Nintendo, set up around Y2K, to handle all things Pokemon in North America. (Similarily, there are subsidiaries called "Pokemon Europe" and "The Pokemon Company," which handles Japan.)

So here's the saga. This year, the contract between 4Kids Entertainment's contract to dub and distribute the cartoon expires this year. Pokemon USA has said that they have no desire to renew 4Kids' contract...instead, they're going to set up a dubbing division and dub and distribute the cartoons themselves. OK, no harm, no foul.

But, it was eventually learned that Pokemon USA has the intent to fire the current voice cast and re-cast the cartoon with newer, cheaper sound-a-likes.

This news was leaked to Pokemon fandom by Veronica Taylor (the voices of Ash and May) and Eric Stuart (the voices of Brock and James), who are doubtlessly feeling screwed over. So, the fans have launched a massive write-in campaign to encourage Pokemon USA to retain the current voice cast.

Find out more at the pokemon website Serebii.net, and just click on any link labeled "Save the Dub!"

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