Digimon's English Dub was Weird | Nova Blast # 2

0:00 Hello and welcome back to the Nova Blast podcast where I am making my friends who have never seen the original Digimon anime watch it for the very first time. Yeah, this is Bill and I am joined by Nico, >> Lexi, and Savannah. >> We're watching the original show's four story arcs in four parts, so you can watch along with us if you want. But because I grew up with the original English dub, I'm also making them watch a bunch of episodes in English as well as the original Japanese. So, we're going to be taking some time in this episode to talk about the infamous English dub, as well as Sabon, the company that produced it. During the dub's production, the show's second arc also saw a major shift behind the scenes. So, I thought it would be fun if for this episode, I also made all of them watch a few episodes twice, once in

0:46 English and once in Japanese. This is the only time we're going to do this. So, getting back into it, previously on the show, seven kids have been transported to the digital world where each of them meet their own companion, a Digimon. During the first 13 episodes, the focus shifts between the characters who all struggle to figure out how to survive in this wild world and possibly make it back home. All while each of their Digimon evolve into bigger and more powerful forms. The kids are stuck on file island and learn they have to free the Digimon under the reign of the evil Deimon who was defeated by Anjimon, the final Digimon to Digivol belonging to Takaroo, the smallest of the children. Angimon sacrifices himself and is reincarnated in an egg to start its life cycle all over again. So, what did we think of the last arc just kind of like getting us back into this world?

1:33 >> I think it was a good start to the series. I think it's very strong and honestly beautifully like animated. It holds up. I have gripes with the dub obviously, but like but but I think it's but I think there's a lot of positives to pull from it as well. >> It was very fun to refall in love with these characters after watching the 2020 version. Getting to refall in love with specifically Augaman was really fun and also to have my heart absolutely crushed anytime we watched it in English. Oh man. >> Oh no. >> It's a roller coaster for you. >> As somebody who didn't watch the 2020 version, I was immediately hooked. I'm immediately in love with everybody. It's fun. I'm in it. I'm in it to win it. >> Yeah, I think the opening of this show

2:20 is really clean. It introduces you to everyone really well and does make you fall in love with them so quickly. And uh just some fun Digimon myth busting. Because the first arc is such like a concise story. Many people incorrectly claim that the series was only picked up for the first 13 episodes and that it was only ever planned to be 13 episodes but ended up getting picked up for more. But this is not true at all. Digimon was always planned to be a year-long series. And so going into episode 14, we were kind of left on like a really odd cliffhanger. Like we were just introduced to this old man. >> Yeah. This guy >> like who is this guy? Like he's just this old man who's not a Digimon. >> You just saw the top of the slide. Who is this man? Exactly. And you can tell that they didn't want to draw another hand. >> Yeah, >> he does say to them that he is their

3:06 ally and tells them that they have to go to the continent of server. I love the glare that he gives Mimi after she finally says this guy doesn't know anything. It's just like the wise kind of fool, you know? >> Yeah. He's not a a Digimon nor human, which is like >> what what is this guy? >> He's pixels. >> It's like an NPC. >> Yeah, very much so. but like an NPC who gets some like cutscene renders. So Jedi tells the Digi Destin that there is evil Digimon, far more powerful Digimon than Devimon wreaking havoc in the digital world. This time on the server continent. To become more powerful, the children need to find their corresponding crest for their tags. These items must be found in order to unlock their next Digi Evolution. So can you believe what the show is doing next?

3:52 Is the Digimon are going to evolve again? Can we like believe it's going there? >> Not even close. My brain can't I like that we kind of have like a fetch quest thing now that's like a step before the next evolution is unlocked. Like I like that there's some kind of physical manifestation of progress now other than like my friend got bigger. Like this is pretty cool. >> Yeah, they need to unlock it. >> So Jedi, they decide this is somebody they can trust and they're going to build a little raft to get over there. And we all know who has to come and help them build the raft. It's literally everyone. All of their buds. I thought that was so sweet. >> Everyone that they helped. Yeah, >> I thought that was really cute. >> Yeah, it is very sweet to have them all come out of the woodwork after all of them like most of them at least were infected by like a virus that made them

4:39 evil for a minute. We get this really adorable montage of them building the raft with all of the Digimon using their attacks to help and stuff. And it has this very interesting insert song that I'm not sure of yours again. Try to be free. try to be. >> Yeah, it's >> I thought this was going to come up more. I like this this part two because it's like recap everybody. We Hey, remember these guys? >> Yeah. >> So, we get some big updates as the egg hatches and this guy. So, we get Pouyoman. >> I love Nice. It's Pooon. >> The It's like just what comes out of the egg. And I think TK's happy with it. >> Yeah. A little yolk. A little a little white. It's like a little He's like a little egg white gooey ghost. >> Yeah. >> Oh my god.

5:25 >> That looks like a softboiled egg. You eat that. >> He's just the smallest guy. >> Also, if I remember my Digimon lore, Pouyon is from the ocean they're about to sail out on. So, >> it's a little >> That's cute. He's like a little moon jelly or something. >> Yeah, I see. Lunar jellies, brother. They take this raft out sailing and they only have two weeks worth of food. But they kind of lose it all cuz this guy shows up. >> This This is way and like, do you see how vascular that whale is? >> I was literally going to say, "Yeah, check out the veins on this guy. Look at this raisin ass looking [ __ ] >> Biomechanical boy." >> He is very biomechanical. He eats them up. That scene where he's digesting them and all the acid starts coming acid.

6:10 >> What I love about that scene is the alarms like in his body that start going off before it like excretes it. >> Ew. Yes. >> I wish my body did that. It would make things a lot easier like before you have to like go to the bathroom. >> Oh, trust me. There are alarms. You hear >> sometimes they don't go off soon enough. You know what I mean? >> Yeah, right. You feel the little drip. >> I'm also so thrilled of how quickly this went by. This did not leave me in agony for too long. And this this guy was our friend pretty fast. So I I appreciate that >> this episode packs so much in actually it does >> cuz then after that he turns good and they tell him that they're looking for the tags and crests. He tells them that Devimmon hid something under the ocean and he takes them there and they get to this like liinal space with the convenience store. >> Oh yeah.

6:55 >> I really love this location. >> It's awesome. >> The random underground convenience store that is guarded. >> Yeah, that's an inconvenience store. And then they're attacked by this guy. Love that his toenails are also drills. >> Yeah, I was like, I don't care that you've got drills for nails. I'm still going to get my soda. >> This guy, the Strammojiman, he's a completely different character in the Japanese version than the English version. Like, yes. Like, you have to see these clips back to back. He is like this nervous little guy in the Japanese version. >> Oh, yes. I remember this. After they fight, he's like, "Oh, you beat me. I'm sorry. And so like I like this guy cuz this is really the only time he talks and he leaves like an impact because of his

7:41 personality and this is what he's like in the dub. >> Please forgive me for attacking you. >> The tag should be in the convenience store next to the jerky. >> What? >> And so it's just like he was erased, dude. He was erased. >> He was erased. >> It's just kind of dog [ __ ] sometimes, man. You know, >> homie, I'm right here with you. As a person that does this professionally for my job that gets money from this, I'm right there. >> Understand that like this is an old dub, >> but damn, >> I just want better translations of the characters from the not just literally translating, but also adaptation, making sure that it fits, >> right? At times, I really felt like I was watching an abridged series. >> Yes, it's like a joke. >> Oh, no, actually. >> Oh, a thousand%. They literally make

8:26 jokes about the animation on screen. >> They do. They do. They're showing mudslides in the first episode and he's like, "There were floods like chocolate sauce." >> Other places got totally flooded with oceans like chocolate sauce. >> And so there are people who have very strong feelings about the English dub and how it changes the original. And there is this excellent website called Digimon Uncensored which has a comprehensive list of every single change made between the original version and the English version line by line, episode by episode, and they they grade every episode. A lot of the episodes we chose to watch twice around this time around have like a pretty good grade. I do think that the humor of the show does keep the tone overall of the show

9:11 itself, but scene by scene, character by character, there are a lot of things lost. Yeah, I definitely love Tai more in the sub than I do the dub, I will say. >> But yeah, but you love that the Joshua Seth's tie makes you laugh every time. >> He makes me cackle because it's ridiculous and I feel like I'm watching a parody and that's why I laugh. >> But then the dub just does some like things that like make me laugh too much to hate it. >> Like this is the original version of the scene, but the dub the dub looks at the footage and does something with it. It's like it's hurting him. He also says peace out at the end. Like >> that's what he I couldn't even understand him and he delivered. >> Also, are we noticing that TK sounds a little different here >> for us? But let's see.

9:57 >> I'm sure Angela would say the same thing if he were still around. >> So, I'm pretty sure in this stretch of episodes and a couple episodes here that um Wendy Lee, who played TK, was on her honeymoon at this time. So, Feliz Sampler stepped in to play TK. The English sub of Digimon was produced by a company called Sabon Entertainment. And if you want a little bit more info on Sabon Entertainment, Anime News Network has a three-part series covering the history of this offorgotten children's entertainment powerhouse. And do you guys see Jank Goku in the bottom right? >> No way. That's pretty cool. >> Yeah, I do. >> Sabon was founded by a guy named Hum Sabon. Biaman related. >> She's [ __ ] pissed. This guy could easily be described as a ruthless, cutthroat businessman. And there's a lot

10:43 of controversy behind how he did business. He avoided hiring union talent. And Power Rangers has a lot of accusations of having an abusive environment on set. >> Yikes. >> But guys, he's going to get you back with this one. He drove a Rolls-Royce with the license plate RSK TK ER risk taker. He got you back, right? >> That Rolls-Royce needs to roll over. [ __ ] billionaires. [ __ ] this person. Risktaker. Eat my whole ass, bro. >> And so Boman's related because uh Boman is played in the English dub by Sabon's stepdaughter, Tiffany Kristen, who really didn't do much acting work outside of Sabon. >> I hope I never do that again. It wasn't very fun. >> H wonder why. >> Because not only is this a billionaire, but he also is Nepo babying his kid into

11:30 roles that hardworking actors are not getting. I'm sorry. I need to not only get off my soap box, but destroy it. >> And so this guy, he's a tough guy. And you know he's a tough guy because he got his fortune creating soundtracks for cartoons like Shira and He-Man. That's how you know he's so tough. This is a great business model just making the music for shows because whoever wants to broadcast the show has to pay a separate license fee for the music. And so this is how Sabon made a lot of money. It would be really fair to compare this guy to Tommy Tarico, which uh there's a very popular YouTube video by H Bomber Guy about this guy, but he was credited on many more music tracks than he directly worked on just by virtue of owning the company. Sabon called himself a schleer of cartoons and cartoon music. I love a

12:17 use of schle. I really do. So Sabon is credited on over 70 different cartoons. Uh he did write some tracks on his own though, like the theme song to Heathcliffe, 1984. or if we know who Heathcliffe is. So, Sabon would dub some anime around this time and retitle many of them with few of its licensed shows getting an extra special treatment such as Macron 1, which was a brand new show created by cutting up clips from multiple different shows. What? That's so stupid. >> Are you [ __ ] serious? >> Yeah. >> Are you [ __ ] serious? They just licensed a bunch of anime and created a new show by cutting it up. >> He said, "I'm a mad genius. I can take all of these pieces and put them together to create something new,

13:03 slapping it together." >> But to be fair, Instabon's credit, they were not the first company to employ these kinds of practices. Rootech and Voltron uh were both created by shringing together multiple anime, but they were different and much less chaotic because typically they would use like a new anime for every season. So like there was still like the comprehensive story of the original show there. You know what I'm saying? It is very strange. Uh so weird a lot of things were made like this back in the day. By the 1990s, Sabon dove deep into producing their own cartoons, teaming up with a bunch of companies to create licensed cartoons such as Nintendo and Marvel Comics to create some classic licensed interpretations of these characters because they made the music

13:49 for things like the Super Mario Brothers Super Show or the X-Men animated series. That means to this day Nintendo and Marvel have to license the music to get like the Super Mario Brothers show theme song in the Mario Brothers movie or to reuse the old X-Men theme song in X-Men 97. >> Wow. He wormed his way in there forever royalties. >> So, the company's biggest break would come with the creation of Here it Comes Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Sabon would create this show by recycling action footage shot in Japan and splicing it with newly shot footage with American actors, giving this like teen nicked scenes in between the action. But it was like a massive success, like overwhelmingly successful. So much so that Sabon had to collaborate with Tolli to create new costumes for the actors

14:35 and later new footage for additional episodes. These shows would, you know, obviously come and go in Japan. They would begin and end. So they only had so much footage to create Power Rangers from. So they literally paid for more episodes, which is a little kind of unprecedented. So Sabon worked together with Fox Kids, the programming block who aired their shows to create this amazing lineup of Marvel and Japanese superheroes, which would dominate kids programming for years until a rival block would import the biggest monster the world has ever seen. [Music] >> It's Pokemon. Pokemon and Kids WB kind of killed programming in America that was made to be aired on Saturday morning because of how like monstrously popular it was. It

15:21 was pretty crazy. And to this day, I think Pokemon's the biggest media franchise period, like in terms of dollar amount it makes every year. So, naturally, Fox Kids would have to pick up Digimon and they fasttracked a dub of the show and it was still running in Japan while it was on, which was also kind of like unprecedented that the dub turnaround time would be that quick back then. We'll talk more about the dub's production itself, but Sabon would come in and out of Digimon's life because the the license rights to the dub would trade a lot of hands. Disney bought the Fox Family Network. Sabon Productions went along with it and the Fox Family Network became ABC Family Now Free Form. Uh, and Heim Sabon profited personally from the sale 1.6 million $1.6 billion. Excuse me. Oh my god.

16:07 >> Risk. >> Yeah, you have to say the B. risk. >> And speaking of risktaking, for you Disney history nerds, this sale is a major reason why Michael Eisner was fired as the CEO of Disney. And then also, Heim Sabon would refuse to pay taxes on this money for years, choosing to legally fight the IRS. >> Oh, of course. >> Yeah, I'm shocked. >> Risk. You want to know the craziest thing about all of this? >> Oh, there's more. >> Two years later, he bought everything from Sabon Productions. that was sold to Disney for only $53 million. >> Shut up. >> Yes. And want to know something crazy? >> Gets crazier. >> It gets crazier. He sold Power Rangers alone to Hasbro for f over $500 million

16:54 afterwards. >> I want to talk about something else. >> Let's talk about something else. >> So, now we get to episode 15. >> I saw the the title of this episode. And I was like, hm, I wonder what's going to happen in this episode. >> Yeah. Okay. So, here's one thing that the English dub has over the Japanese version is they spoil every Digimon. >> There's like another one that says something about evolution. So, I'm like, I wonder what's going to happen. >> Yeah. There's there's no surprise when we're getting a new Digimon. >> And like even it shows like the silhouette behind the title of the episode, too. >> Yeah. I imagine that was to like entice kids to keep watching, >> right? Who like who's that Pokémon? >> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, they've landed on server and as soon as they get there, Aguman smells a Coruman village

17:41 in the distance. But when the group arrives, it's full of Paguman. Trusting their words of good intention, the children and Digimon rest up in the village. Also, Pouon did evolve to Tookon this episode. So, he's back, baby. >> Oh yeah. With the mouth. >> Look at those little teeth. >> You got to brush those gums. You got to brush those gums, Toon. The only Digimon with gum disease. >> You got to brush your teeth, kids. That's his power. >> Yeah. Gingivitis, his smelly breath. >> That's his power. >> And let's let's get the playback on that evolution. >> Yeah. >> Everybody applause. >> Oh, very sweet. >> See, no. I hate that. Hate this. >> Hate that. >> You hate I love that. I love that. >> I am a big fan of their little evil

18:27 eyes. I think it is like >> Look at that. No, they look high. Yeah. >> I love it cuz there's no question as to whether or not they are fooling these children. >> Oh yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah. Like you know they're being fooled the whole time. Just this little look. >> Devimon said it. They're easy to fool. They're children. >> And so now we're introduced to this guy. This is Edomon. This is the first truly evil ultimate Digimon they've met on their journey. He's at the next level. >> Okay. And here's here's what I'm curious about here. So looking at this looking at this character design get like his face is coming out of this little hood thing he's got going on and then it look by by the time it gets to his feet that is his body. So what I want to know what >> so both Monzan and Edomon did evolve from like slimy Digimon. So Numan

19:13 evolves into Monzon. >> Yes. Okay. >> And a similar kind of Digimon evolves into Edetoon. So the implication is they're still kind of ugly inside. >> Okay. I'm there. So there's lore behind the design. I love it. >> Yes. And these is this is Gazimon. This is his little >> I like them. I like this guy. This guy's fun. Yeah, >> Gazimon are cute. They're sassy as [ __ ] >> New new little fan favorite for me. >> Who do you think turns into Gazimon? >> Was it not the little ones? The little guys from before? >> It's the Pokemon. Yeah. >> Yeah. You've put it together. You've put it together. >> Yeah, of course. >> Yeah. >> Course he's Pon. I think a lot of people say that this arc is much sillier than the last one solely because Edomon is much sillier than Devimon. >> Absolutely. He is such a goofy villain. >> But I don't think that's like true for like the story arc, you know? Like the

20:01 tone of the first arc is still very like Alice in Wonderland kind of goofy. But I also like that he's a silly villain because I think a lot of the conflict from this arc comes from the characters mostly die rather than like the villain. And so they're truly outmatched with this guy. He can digif them. >> True. That's pretty OP to be able to just go, "Oh, you've reached the next level." No, you didn't. >> Yeah, it's cheap as [ __ ] And like he literally when he shows up in this episode to confront the children, Braveheart, the insert song that plays during the evolution, like cuts off when he shows up. >> I got to learn the hard way what you already know. They can't be messing with the royal one. I expect my plans be followed. >> Uhhuh. >> The little Elvis >> with this weird Yeah. with his weird like vocal stems, the weird elvisisms are so hysterical.

20:47 >> And so then they find this like little cryptic wall inside the cave where Toamon has been taken and it has a symbol on it. >> Of course, the crest is by the Cororomon village. >> Yeah, Tai's crest by the Corammon village. The symbol on the wall shrinks down, goes inside his little tag on his necklace, but he's swaged out. >> Makes sense. >> So, now we're at episode 16. Spoiler alert with the title, the arrival of Skull Greymon. >> This was tough. This episode was tough. >> A lot happens. >> So, having found the first crest, Tai pushes Aguman to Digivolve. However, Tai's aggressive treatment doesn't help his Digimon in the long run. Shocker. But guess what? Joe's tag picks up his crest location at a coliseum with a soccer field in the middle. And I love this location so much.

21:33 >> It's so good. It's so good. >> Yeah. I'm picturing Greymons playing to against each other. They have to be that big. >> They do have to be that big. And I love the modernization, too, with the screen on it. I think it's just like I love how like a lot of the relics from the real world. >> Yeah. It has a jumbotron in the coliseum. >> Yeah. It's out of place and out of time. It doesn't belong anywhere. Like it's a really cool It's a really cool set piece, I think. And so, speaking of another Gmon, you know what happens? Another Gmon shows up. It's interesting that they have this flashback. Sora has this goalie flashback and then they come across the coliseum and it's a soccer field which is like I don't know. There's something about the digital world getting inside their heads. >> Yeah. It's like molding to their real

22:19 life experiences. [Laughter] >> Man, >> not the goalie going. Remember, there's no I in team. >> Yeah, that was hysterical. >> Wasn't that an awesome line delivery? But I would say I think that soccer scene, Tai comes off much more like he intentionally wants Sora to get the goal in the original version versus the dub. It seems like he accidentally trips. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> I had the same interpretation. >> And then it was confusing as to like why she was like it was really cool. I was like, he he was still being a douche. Like, what are you talking about? >> Izzy laid things out way too simply for Tai and he feels like he can exploit the

23:06 rules here. He says, "In order for your Digimon to digivolve, they have to be fully fed and you have to be in danger. >> Save us from Edetoon or I'll go and get myself a new Digimon." >> [ __ ] dude. He's an [ __ ] >> Yeah, this episode was tough. >> Straight up feederism. >> It's Agamon abuse the episode. >> Yeah. Yeah, it is pretty sad to see Tide like it's just it's really interesting because obviously we can understand the pressures they are under. I feel like this is the first time where they've really had to like be on the run. That's like not something they've experienced before. So you could kind of understand where he's coming from. But also at the same time it feels like it comes out of nowhere a little bit. >> Yeah. Yeah. Nobody else is smiling here. >> Let me tell you, we watched both versions. That's just I think that's pretty consistent across both versions of the dub and sub. Gaymon, you could

23:52 win if you'd only dig evolve. Gaymon. >> So Tai is like [ __ ] pressuring this guy to dig evvolve. >> Look, he's pissed. >> Yeah, the side eye. >> He's over Ty. >> He's just sad. >> He is a sad guy. He wants to do better for Tai. Felt like Tai was like exploiting the game here cuz he's going to like put himself in danger to make Greymon dig evolve to the next level when he wasn't in danger before. He could have avoided it. >> Yeah, he's like trying to speedrun the evolution. It happens. Oh my god, it's going to be our first ultimate digolution. We none of us read the episode title. >> I do love this. >> This is pretty great. >> Yeah, it's a little heart-wrenching. >> But you know what? Out of all of the children, the person to do this would be Ty. >> I think so. >> Oh, for sure. >> He does not like what he sees when Skull

24:40 Greymon appears. >> Yeah. How could you? >> What? Like, what do we think of this guy? >> I like his design to terrify children. the weird cannon on the back. >> Yeah. I couldn't tell what the what the torpedo was made out of. I was like, "Is that like >> like aan's body?" Yeah. I was like, "H >> It's freaky." >> It is freaky. Especially when you can't really see it. I was like, "Oh my god, I don't like that it looks like this giant skeleton is like ripped out of a small tiny dinosaur body." >> And like the stitched on horn, I don't know why that makes me feel so uncomfortable. Oh yeah, >> but like because it's like it's like all like a fully connected skeleton, but then you had to stitch together your horn. I don't know. It just it weirds me out. >> This is a call back to the V pets. Overfeeding can be a care mistake in the

25:26 Vets and Skull Greymon requires care mistakes to evolve and something they've been told by Geni is they have to take care of their Digimon better basically to have them evolve the correct way. So Tai's made some care mistakes here. This is his VPAD experience. So, moving on to episode 17, The Crest of Sincerity. Jedi encourages the children to continue their quests for the crest. So, the kids are walking through the desert and all of a sudden a cruise ship shows up. Uh, after they see a big cactus, which turns out to be a mirage, they were getting no shade. So, even though that there's all there's all these sailor Numon on this ship, they decide to get on for some reprieve from the desert. >> Yeah, this chilling scene's pretty great. All by the pool. Who's creeping? >> Yeah, who's peeping?

26:12 >> Did you guys Were you guys fooled by this guy for a second? >> I was just confused. I was like, what is this random human man? >> Who is this man? >> Yeah, exactly. Who is this man? But even worse than Jedi, cuz at least he looks like a, you know, a little creepy critter. This is just a a god. >> He wants to know who you are. Look at him. He's has his binoc. >> Time for me to get started. They'll never >> that voice line. >> Started. Time for me to get started. >> My cockadoodle will blow out your ear drums. >> Ooh, that's tough. >> See, I always thought it was cockuron, not cockatrimon. >> You've unlocked Togeon. >> I always love when Togeon gets a good like beat down sequence. >> I want a good uppercut. >> I want more punching from Togeon. Less

26:58 needle sprays. Needle spray needs to be the finisher move. You got to knock him up in the air and then needle spray him. >> Oh, so Mimi gets the crest of sincerity. >> Sure. Mimi is sort of a ditz, but she's really sincere and a good friend. That's why she ended up with the quest of sincerity. If you ask me, that was a good call. >> And so, not only did like some of the dialogue comment on the animation, but now they're like kind of commenting on the story itself, the Digimon in the next episode. >> Oh my god, this guy. >> So, in episode 18, the fairy Piccolo. So, the chosen children train under Piccolo, a pixie Digimon who knows what's up. >> Is uh this guy a ultimate? >> Yes, this guy is an ultimate level Digimon. Yamo and Izzy search for their

27:44 crests nearby while Aguman and Tai are sent on this like spiritual journey to mend their fears of Digivolving cuz of course Tai would be afraid of Digivolving after Skull Gmon. So, Tai Chi and Aguman go to this like little spiritual realm to get over their fears. Obviously, the music is um a call back to the little 1999 short film with Bolero, the Spanish classical drag playing, which we're going to talk about in a mini episode following this, which you can see early right now for free by joining our Patreon once again as a free member. So, check that out. Uh that preceded the anime. So, it's like kind of putting the anime back in that world a little bit during this scene, which I really like. I also really like that Aguman, he has a bigger arc to go through than all the other guys. Like

28:31 we're hyperfocusing on him. >> Absolutely. >> I wasn't expecting this show to like give me a little guy dealing with anxiety and trauma, which was honestly a cool surprise for me. Like I love him speaking about his feelings to his little partner here. It's really sweet. >> They are very involved. >> Yeah, it it's a true partnership like between them. You know, Taiishi recognizes his mistakes and what he does wrong, tells it to Aguman. Aguman is just as human, just as much of a character to be developed. It's really good. >> The reason why Edetoon's able to infiltrate is cuz Izzy and Matt go outside the barriers of Piximon's little fortress to look for their tags and crest together without their Digimon. >> I thought this was so magical. >> Yeah, it is. >> Yeah. Yeah. This was so this was like

29:17 weirdly like ethereal. And it's really nice cuz before this scene, they have a conversation about why they even want to find the crests, like what they want to like get out of themselves for finding it. And Izzy's naturally just like, "Oh, I'm curious. I want to see what Kabut Terimmon is going to evolve into." But Matt, he wants to grow himself. The English stuff, he says he wants to dig evolve, too. >> I want to use the crest to dig evolve me. forever. >> I love Matt. God, he's so good. >> I I love all of them. I really >> Yeah, it's true. I'm saying like, "Oh, I love this one character." And then we talk about the next one, I'm like, "Oh, I love that guy. >> I love this one character." >> And it is nice that especially for a kid show that the characters can at times

30:03 just come out and say what they're feeling to each other cuz saying like, "I want to personally grow." That's like a personal thing to admit to somebody. And I feel like toward the beginning of the series, Matt definitely wouldn't have shared something like that or even like asked, you know? >> Yeah, for sure. He would be way more reserved after the first arc and they've left File Island. He's a lot more open with them. And also, you can already see the effects that Gabon has had on Matt, but because of how he's acting in this episode. >> And I like that they choose to not wake up their Digimon and to go out and do this themselves cuz, you know, they're not like dependent on them totally. They just they help each other out. Episode 19, The Prisoner of the Pyramid, which is the dub title. Continuing on their journey, TK finds his crest and Izzy hacks into Edetoon's dark network. Learning that the digital world is

30:49 linked to their world. They start the fear, if you die in the game, you die in real life. They travel to the center of a pyramid to retrieve Sora's crest and reached the guy who sent them an email telling them all of Edetoon's secrets, saying he's trapped away. >> Elephant in the room. >> Yeah, that one on top. The one of Matt on top especially was one that really got me. >> That one really got me. >> This episode is pretty notable for being one that uh you know now Massahiro served as the animation director and key frame artist on. She did for about seven episodes. And you can always tell when it's one of his. >> Like the one of Sora on the bottom, not bad. That's that's possible. That's acceptable. The one of Matt is not. >> Oh man, I'm seeing it from a different angle. I viscerally remember watching this like as a teenager and recognizing

31:37 that different people drew different episodes for the first time. I looked like that after I realized. >> Look, bad email addresses from a web domain in our world. I've logged on to it a thousand times. >> Dead ass. >> Are you okay? What have you seen on the internet, child? >> Oh my god. www. s pound sign 4 dfj9zmoneysign.com. >> I've logged on to it a thousand times. You whimper more than my puppy. >> You whimper more than my puppy. >> Yeah, Ty loves a you blank more than my blank. >> His attitude here is kind of fun cuz I think this is like they think that they're living in this fake world and so Ty thinks once again he can exploit the rules and this comes right before like a

32:23 major existential crash down. >> Hey, check it out. You can see right through this wall. >> Whoa. What happened there? >> Yeah. Who is that? >> That was not Tai. >> That's TK. And so they've been lured into Edetoon's lair by this Digimon that he has held captive called Datamon. And he says, "I can help you defeat Edomon and his evil dark network." >> Oh, this guy. >> So, what do we think? Filthy li. >> I wanted to trust him. I really did. I wanted to trust him. But it was when they were like, "Then you can help us do this." And he was like, "Yeah, yeah, sure." I was like, "No, this is going to go very poorly. He's kind of freaky. >> What I'm assuming is his brain under the glass that is also like augmented like microchip brain. >> Getting towards the end of the arc here and it comes back to the beginning of them trusting the Pokemon. And they've usually had a pretty good track record

33:09 of the Digimon they've chosen to trust. >> Have they? >> Yeah, of course they have. >> They trust everybody. I feel like >> not if they're attacking them. Usually when they have a black gear, they don't have time to even decide if they trust them. They're just getting attacked. You know, >> you'll think by now they learn to trust no one. >> See, over here, >> huh? I'm coming. >> Well, so much for No. What? >> What? >> Over here. >> Huh? I'm coming. >> Well, so much. There's multiple things wrong with this. >> How old are you? I'm 4 years old. >> You are the youngest person ever. >> Obviously, it doesn't match anything on screen. Saying bean over here. I'm coming. >> That's a child. >> Is this supposed to be Sora? Okay. Yeah, because the next shot is Sora.

33:55 >> I have a theory. >> A game theory. >> Nobody was watching over this [ __ ] Somebody snuck their kid in here and gave them an inconsequential line where they wouldn't have to delete anybody else's dialogue because it does make sense sequentially for what comes next here. Sorry, I'm doing [ __ ] forensics work on this. Like, let's play it back. >> Bon over here. >> Huh? >> So, Sora tells Bom she's coming. >> Boom. She's right there. Bonan, >> nobody knows who that is. Nobody knows why it's there. It's never been cut from the English dub and it's just there forever. >> It's a mystery. >> So, this is the most recent Blu-ray release from last year. It still has it. >> If you know somebody who knows somebody who knows that kid, let us know.

34:40 >> So, here's the moment where Tai's brain breaks. There's an electric fence here and he thinks it doesn't matter if he gets electrified cuz they're just in a video game. But Izzy breaks the news to him. Our digital selves are directly linked with our other selves back home. You need to be a lot more careful. >> Wait a minute. I die in the game. I die in real life. >> Oh, you didn't say I die in the game. I die in real life. >> Oh. So, here we are at episode 20. The earthquake of Metal Greybon. Way to spoil it. Dub title. Way to spoil it. Splash screen at the beginning of the original Japanese version. No surprises here. These kids, they trusted this Digimon. And now Sora and Pomon have been taken prisoner by Datamon. The children decide that they must split up in order to defeat both Damon and Edetoon. >> Come on, Izzy. Let's move out. Roger. He

35:27 forgot his name. >> We'll be back. That's honestly a fantastic joke. >> And so Tai Chi in this episode, he has to go back to the fence that will electrocute him and kill him in real life. And no, like no one else except for Aguman offers to go first. And Tai Chi's like, "This is one of those things where, you know, I won't be a man if I don't do it. >> I'll be a big [ __ ] [ __ ] if I don't do it, man. Make fun of me." >> Oh my god. >> And so Tai Chi has to put his hand through the electric fence and believe it will not kill him because that is what Izzy told him. And it doesn't. And when he does this act of courage, his crest starts to glow. And he goes in to rescue Sora. Whoa. Adom's not dead. He

36:13 comes out as a big black ball of wires. He's at the top of it. He's tangled in it. You just got to untangle. >> And he's like slightly buffer. >> Oh yeah. He's He's juicing. All these wires are going right into his veins. >> Yeah, >> right. He's just like He's just like a Barbie cake. >> I can dig. >> Whoa. He can dig. >> Okay. This honestly is pretty sick because it's 3D. >> Yeah, it's pretty hype. What do we think of these renders, though? >> I was like, wo, >> let's go. It looks like PS2. >> Oh, hell yeah. >> Yes, the wing. >> He's got [ __ ] hair now. And so we know what he's got, right? We know. >> Sure. I was going to say we know how he's going to defeat Edomon already, don't we? >> We do. >> Yes. >> Yeah. You know it. I know it. Everybody

36:59 in the world, the Digi World knows it. >> It's Titty Cannons. >> Titty Cannon. >> Let's go. >> Let's show it to me. >> His titty cannons defeat Adam. Defeating Adom. It's crazy. It's like opening a rift in reality. Whoa, there he goes. >> What happened to them? >> Just TK. And so now I want to we're going to go back to talking about this little English dub here for a second. We got some more to say, but beforehand, I want to talk about some comments we got in the last episode from some fans who were talking about the dubs in their region.

37:44 Uh, Mexican headbanger 95 says, "You guys should take a peek at the Latin American Spanish dub. It is so good. The dubbing industry in Mexico is the goat." And I have heard this from a lot of people. The Latin American dub is very faithful to the original and it is very celebrated and beloved in its own right. But something I'm more interested in is Peppermint Bubble told me that the Finnish dub was legendarily bad and only went for 26 episodes. So, he feels like he never really got to experience how good and charming the character writing was in the first two arcs. And I believe we have some clips here of that. We won't watch this whole 8-minute stretch, but this is a pretty crazy dub. It was produced by a now defunct dubbing company called Agapio Racing Team. Oi,

38:31 this was their very last project before they went under. >> Damn. >> I Billy, I thought that was you. >> They sound terrified. [Applause] [Music] >> This is just them screaming. Glexi, who would you rather have, English dagaman or Finnish dubagamon? >> What? What? So, do all of the Digimon have that weird feel? >> I guess so. Yeah, they went under. Just so you guys know, if you're watching this and didn't grow up with the Sabon dub or the original Japanese version,

39:18 let us know how your regional dub of Digimon was received. I'd love to learn more about it. So, regarding the American release of Digimon, Digimon never quite beat out Pokémon in the ratings, but the Sabon dub of Digimon did give Fox Kids Saturday mornings a couple extra years of life before being sold off. In his book Monster Kids, which is about Pokemon, but has a great chapter on Digimon, Daniel Dockery quotes Fox Kids head Roland Point Dexter, who made it clear that acquiring Digimon was an important choice as he didn't want to drop the ball twice. >> Digimon uh follows the adventures of seven kids who mysteriously >> Oh, his actual real name is Point Dexter. That's That's awesome. Digoling is a thing.

40:03 >> No, don't don't feature him saying things. Don't do that. >> If the phenomenon of Pokemon is any indication, Digimon is a sure hit. If only it were that easy, guys. >> There are some similarities between Pokemon and Dig. >> He's [ __ ] sh. >> So, Sabon did make a title change for Digimon Adventure, changing it to Digimon Digital Monsters. But besides the music, Digimon would be one of Sabon's most unchanged shows. I do think the Sabon dub is much lesser for not having the original music, but it did not prevent kids from falling in love with the Digimon's story. It remained unchanged a lot for two primary reasons. First, according to the English dub director Jeff Nemoy, there was an approval process of course through Bandai and Tolli. So, they went through them from the beginning. Nemoy even

40:49 suggested later on Americanizing the show even more by making the characters from America, but it was Bandai and Tolli who approved the Americanized nicknames of the characters and chose to keep all reference to the characters being from Japan actually. So there's oversight from the beginning and Sabon didn't push back against Tolli at all, largely because of the pace of production. Unlike Pokémon whose dub came nearly a year and a half after its Japanese debut, Digimon was airing months after it aired in Japan. chasing Pokemon's coattails. It was in Sabon's interest to get the episodes out as quickly as possible, making story changes harder to implement. So, thank Pikachu for a halfway decent Digimon dub because I really think there's a world where Sabon cut these three different shows together to make one brand new show. And I think that would be pretty I

41:35 might just do that on my own time. >> You should. >> So, a lot of the dub's minor cutting has to do with structuring the show for standard American broadcast placements for commercials. There's a lot of awkward moments where the series like the show just kind of fades out and then it fades back in and the scene repeats itself, but with like a new line delivery. Pretty silly. The biggest change obviously is the music for the dub. I love the English Digimon theme theme personally. I know people say it's horrible. Uh but on its own, I think it's pretty cool. The little techno riff. I think the instrumental is better than the the vocal version. Butterfly is irreplaceable. So when you have to compare the two, it is not good. >> It's tough. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And Braveheart for the evolutions is also >> it's so good. But the dub will get its own insert songs to replace Braveheart.

42:22 >> Oh boy. >> And the theme song, but it's not until the next arc. And I will admit, I think they're earworms. I sing them all the time. >> Yeah, he does. >> As I said before though, I really do love the orchestral soundtrack of the dub. Obviously, I think the original version typically finds a better tonal complement with the scenes with the original music, but the English version is triumphant. That's the best part about it. >> I think they should bring it back. I I not for like a show necessarily, but for like marketing purposes. Like why aren't English fans being marketed to with this theme song? Obviously, they'd have to license the song to use it. >> Mhm. >> But come on, >> that's probably the answer. >> So, as I told you guys, the Edetoon arc is a big moment for the dub. So FA Valentine voice actress Wendy Lee, who plays TK, was the series voice director

43:09 until she went on her honeymoon, sometimes around episode 14. And shortly after, firsttime voice director Jeff Nemoy would take over. And it makes sense why such a strange dubbing air like the one that occurred in episode 19 could occur because they had a lot of changeover at this time for who was overseeing quality assurance. And when asked about it, Jeff Nemoy said this. LOL. Well, I'm going to chalk this one up to the show having too many directors and producers at this time, and that one fell through the cracks. There were no less than four different directors when I started working on Digimon. So, who knows who was doing any quality control for that episode. And so, this was the transitional period where Jeff Nemoy became the Digimon voice director and he would continue doing this work for many seasons. And he would go on to do

43:56 Narudo, too, >> the English dub at its beginnings. stupid. In terms of the direction handed down to him from Sabon, they really just wanted to make the show as funny as possible and they really wanted it to be a young hip show on Saturday morning. >> I mean, hey, that lends itself to like feeling like it's a parody. >> Yes. Big time. Big time. >> I do laugh a lot from watching it. Like it does pull those like emotions out of me and I don't hate it all the time. >> No, I don't hate it all the time either. You want that seriousness sometimes because you can see it in the animation and it doesn't ring true to what's being shown. >> Finishing out, moving on to our last episode, we have episode 21, home away from home, the dubtitle. So, after being

44:41 sucked into a rift, Tai and Coraman find themselves in Tai's hometown in Japan, in the real world, and the two head to Tai's house. Rakari, his sister, seems to recognize Coraman. Tai Chichi doesn't know how to get back to the digital world when his friends send him a message asking for help and he starts to question if he truly wants to go back. It's summer. Things seem pretty nice. >> I love this episode. >> I do too. I think this is an excellent episode and the animation change really makes it feel all strange and makes you question the barriers of reality that they were just discussing in the previous few episodes. Is this the dream? Is the dig digital world the dream? I like the Japanese version of this episode so much better. Absolutely. >> Some of them are fine, like you know, comparing and contrasting, like

45:27 whatever. The other one's funny, whatever. This one like did not hit nearly as hard. >> 100% agree on that. I think this is one where they drop the ball in the dub. This is such a strange, eerie episode in the original Japanese. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yes. >> It's creepy when Tai is like chilling. like he turns on the AC and he's like, "Ah, I can finally chill." And it's like, I don't know. It's just so unsettling. Yeah. >> Oh, and there was some great sound design here in the original Japanese >> like that is totally lost here. Like it is it it goes beyond just like small dialogue changes. It's the entire atmosphere has changed. The English dub makes this more confusing, but it is kind of Narnia rules where time passes so quickly in the digital world, but no time passes at all in the real world.

46:14 The dub makes it confusing because he says, "We went back in time," which is not a line of dialogue in the original version. >> Well, maybe that's where we met. >> But you've never been to Digi World, have you? >> See, even the zoom in on her is like off-putting in the sub. >> What's wrong? >> Uhoh. >> Him on the toilet is so satisfying. >> Like Coramond, you know, like when you lift him up, there's going to be a big suction sound. >> But not in the English cuz he didn't poop. >> He didn't poop on the table in English because obviously that's too much for children >> in America. They can't handle poop. She's like, I I peed my undies and Ty washed them. I was like, oh my god. And I slipped and fell in a pig pen. The kids were laughing at me till Ty jumped in. >> The stakes feel way lighter. >> Yes, it is a way lighter stakes. Like

47:00 >> like way it's way more chill. >> Like my little my older brother doesn't want my parents to know I wet the bed. Is like very much a caretaker. like she depends on him almost too much, which is why she wants him to stay so bad, too. This being like a sequel episode to the prequel film is also really interesting cuz it's just interesting to see this location visited again. Tai being on like a different stage of his adventure and not remembering anything from the time back then, but Kari remembering everything somehow cuz she just doesn't want him to leave so badly. >> Yeah, it's so much more hard-hitting. It's devastating in the Japanese. >> Yeah, like there's emotion to it. I think it's Auman. Him just going bye-bye. >> Oh my god, that hurts my soul. >> My heart is shattered into a million pieces hearing that. >> This is like goodbye chow music.

47:46 >> Yeah. And it's it feels like Tai actually loves his sister, which I think is needed. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And him just flying up there like Atlantis. >> Yeah. Like neither of them saying bye to each other like in English. I'm like that's so It's devastating. Yeah. The music too. >> It's completely different. >> Yeah. It's not sad. It's like it's just a fight. This is >> I'm needed in Digi World. >> Yeah. Commercial break right in the middle of that moment. Also horrible. >> Lunchables mega pack. Two deep dish pizzas with a ton of toppings and a fulls size cola. >> Agamon. We're back in business. Now we've got to decide what our first move is. >> Yeah. It's just like right back to the next episode. >> Mhm. >> Like Agaman literally asked him like, "Is this truly like what you want? Are you chill? Are checking in with my buddy

48:32 here?" >> Yeah. like, "Are you sure that you thought this through?" And he's like, "Yeah, it is a very significant downgrade." >> Oh, it is big time. Big time. >> The dub is always going to be rated lower in my opinion. >> But this is the biggest difference >> for these. Even though I have like a lot of positive things to say about the dub. >> Oh, for sure. >> Not this episode. >> No, it's this is entirely an atmospheric episode. And by changing the sound design, you're changing the atmosphere so [ __ ] much. It's like crazy. And I I really like Larara Jane Miller as Kari. Very famous voice actress. I think she does a great job. But in this episode, she doesn't do what the scene needs. So, a lot of things happened in these stretch of episodes. We had Edomon. We had the kids finding their tags in crests. And then we had a this

49:17 big glimpse of the real world right after getting Metal Gmon. So, what do we think of Metal Gmon? Do we like Metal Gmon? >> Titty cannons. >> If that doesn't answer my question, >> do you guys like them titty cannons? Oh, I think it answers it perfectly. I think we gave you the perfect answer, actually. >> So, what did we think of this arc overall, though? Like, what do what does it feel going from Devimon to Edetoon? >> It's so goofy. And it's funny that this is supposed to be a level up because he's very silly. Granted, now this is more of my flavor of villain because I had fun enjoying the arc less so than being like, "This guy's a [ __ ] creep. This guy's [ __ ] scary. We're all going to die." It was more like, "Oh, I'm looking forward like and even if he is like actually extremely powerful and dangerous, it's I'm still having fun because he's a goober." >> Absolutely. I love him. >> Yeah. He's very goofball energy. It's

50:03 such >> literally turned into a goofball at the end there. I'll say that. >> Oh my god, you're so right. >> Like all hooked up to the internet. That'll do it. >> Yeah, >> true. If you too much internet, you become a goofball. Guys, >> speaking from experience, everybody here >> sweating. >> We're all sweating. We don't know who you're talking to. I kind of like sense the villain's a little less dramatic. There seems to be more like interpersonal drama this time around amongst the gang. >> Like the character dynamics and their own like growth, mainly Tai obviously. So you can't have a Debian level scary threat with them also dealing with their own personal problems. It's too much for a 20inut episode. >> I did miss the other kids though a lot during this little stretch. >> Yeah, I wanted more Mimi and Palmon and uh Joe and Goman dynamics. This show

50:51 aired weekly, so even though we didn't get some Joe and Mimi episodes this time around, coming immediately up, we're getting some. >> Well, well earned. >> This is only broken up this way cuz we're doing a podcast. So, we learned that time's pretty still in the real world. And Tai Chi is now going back to the digital world. So, who knows how long it's been and what he's going to find now that he's there. >> Oh, yeah. Is there a time skip in the digital world? >> Somebody may have become like a princess or a queen. I can't tell you who. Oh. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. You won't you won't be able to guess either. >> It's Joe. >> Joe and Gomanon are going to rule with an iron fist. >> And just a reminder, if you guys want to see our discussion about the Digimon short film, that's currently up on our Patreon right now for free. You do not

51:37 have to pay to see it. And it will be out on YouTube in a couple weeks with all of the silly little edits and stuff. So stay tuned for that. But if you want to see what we have to say right now, you can go do that. Thank you guys so much. I've been Billy. >> I've been Nico. I've been Lexi and I've been Savannah. >> See you. Bye.