Replacment of the Voice Actors
By Miya902, September 20th, 2009
Updated: September 22nd. 2009

The replacing of the Pokemon voice actors is probably one of the saddest things to ever happen to the Pokemon Community. I first learned about the replacing of the Pokemon cast in 2006 when someone sent me an online petition. I did not fully understand why Pokemon wanted to change the voice actors, but I knew I did not want them to do so. Therefore I signed the petition. But the petition failed and the cast was replaced.

After polling many Pokemon fans, I’ve learned that many felt that the old cast was jerked and a new one thrown in there, right in the middle of the Pokemon season. Many said that perhaps that should have/had the characters grow up a bit, since Ash’s voice seems deeper then the one before, it would have made more sense if he went through puberty. In the "iSaw him First" episode of the very popular Nickelodeon show, iCarly, Fred makes his first appearance for that episode, and his voice was deeper then last time. And Sam makes a comment, asking "Hey! Why's your voice deeper?" And Fred replys, "I dunno.. pubertiy?" Instead of hiding the voice change and acting like it never happened, they made a brief reference to it. Which would have made more sense if they did so with Pokemon.

Recently I wanted to know WHY Pokemon change the voice actors, so I did a little research. And learned that 4Kids let their license to dub the show had expired and Pokemon was given to another company. “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.” - bulbagarden.net.

I found some interviews with the old cast and I learned their side of the story... the dark side. You see, the truth is actually a sad one as explained by Eric Stuart, who voiced Brock and James. "Pokémon USA has decided that it's too expensive to use 4Kids and the actors that have made Pokémon the TV show such a success for the last 10 years. They have 'behind our backs' re-cast the show with 'sound-a-likes' to try to save money. They actually believe the fans don't care. They are starting with the 10 year anniversary special - starring all new voices. The main cast, me included, has taken a lot of pride in the characters we have helped to create. To change now, on the last season, based on greed is a sad example of what big business kids marketing really is.” As Eric said, to change it now just for money isn’t what Pokemon is about, or what it stands for.

Many of the characters in the show would not stand for it, I know Ash would try with all his heart to stop it, and His friends would be there to support him. A good example would be in the “In the Pink” Episode during the orange Island season, Ash and his friend found themselves on a Pokemon Reserve on Pinkin island. Pinkin Island is the only place where special Pinkin berries grow; Pokemon who lived there would eat the berries and become pink. And during this Episode Pr. Oak stated “If the world where to find out about such rare Pokemon, you can bet that poachers would swarm over the island in no time. They’d put the pink Pokemon on Exhibit, just to make money, not caring about the health or happiness of the Pokemon.”

In the end there is not much us fans can do about the change, but you can hear some of the old voice actors in reruns, or in a new cartoon series, on Fox, “The Dinosaur King,” where you can hear the old Pokemon cast’s voice.

• Dinosaur King Cast list: VoiceChasers.com
• Youtube of Dinosaur King: Youtube.com
• Original Pokemon Cast List: AnimeWorld.com
• Pr. Oaks Quote, heard around 5:20 – 6:00: Youtube.com
• Pokémon USA recasting controversy by Bulbapedia: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net