Idea: Pokemon - a preservation project? I'm serious...

I was a HUGE fan of Pokemon as a kid. I mean a HUGE fan. I had the cards, the games, the toys, I went to the movies and watched the show religiously, I even went to a Pokemon musical (which was really cheesy even then). I still enjoy the video games and bust out the cards occasionally, but I haven’t viewed the anime in forever, dismissing it as uncool quite a long time ago. However, I think I’d like to see it again, just for kicks, nostalgia if you will.

However, I found out that the DVD sets suck. They are supposedly 4KIDS English only, no extras, no banned episodes, cuts everywhere and VHS Quality video. While this is how I watched them as a kid, I thought that they might get better treatment on DVD. I was wondering how the Japanese DVDs are, and if there were any preservation projects for Pokemon. I know there are probably tons of other projects much deserving…but Pokemon was a cultural icon, and I think versions with Japanese video and choice of English or Japanese with subtitles would be nice 😄. I was even wondering about the movies. particularly the first 2 or 3. I think they were pan and scanned for the English DVD releases which is annoying. Thanks if any of you can help (why am I asking this on a star wars board again?)

Molly said:

All the movies, except #1, are definitely available OAR with English in Europe.  In Japan 1-3 come with dual audio (2 is a bit of a noobjob and 3 is an alternate cut); 4-5 have issues that make DA impossible (4 is a radically different cut, 5 just has one big cut right at the beginning).  After that it's easy enough to synch them up (I've done 6-10).

I've got various projects going related to Pokémon myself (I'm trying to fansub it but keep having translators walk on me; I'm also trying to improve on the DVDs).  Actually, the R1 DVDs are better than VHS quality. (They do seem a bit more compressed than the R1 singles, though, which I'm trying to acquire.)  The season 2 (Orange Islands) and 5 sets are crammed.

Now, as for edits - there's not a lot of edits until you get to Johto League Champions.

R2s?  I wish!  I think everyone's trying to find R2s of Pokémon but there really aren't any.  A few eps were released shorn of their opening and closing on special DVDs but otherwise you're only likely to find eps. 119-138, 207 and 245 of the original series on R2.  In many cases, the R1 is in fact the best quality video out there.  Depressing, isn't it? :(

The second and third series have better DVD coverage but almost the whole thing is rental only.  A friend of mine has been collecting them from secondhand sources.  They're not exactly easy to come by.

Ah thanks for the help. Let me know if your projects get anywhere. I do remember watching the first 4 movies and the TV show up to the Advanced generation (As a player of the game I remember thinking it was really stupid that Ash left all his pokes behind at that point so I stopped watching it) I may just buy the R1 DVDs for the show but the movies i'd really like to have in OAR. I'll try to find the PAL DVDs but sadly it's the first movie I'm most concerned with. I do have 1-3 and Mewtwo Returns on VHS. 

The Japanese audio and alternate cuts with subs I'd probably find interesting, but I'm not too concerned about them. I grew up watching the 4Kids dub anyway.

Also, Is the Episode Tentacool and Tentacruel on the R1 DVD sets? I know that was banned for a while.

EDIT:

I was also wondering about the OAR of Mewtwo Returns? Is it widescreen because the only English DVD is fullscreen

I'd be interested in seeing the original Japanese episodes/movies with English subs.  I was never a fan of the dub - even when I was a kid, Ash's voice was far too annoying for me ...