Questions about anything

[Harleena]

I feel that dub gets more hate than it deserves. I'm more annoyed that 4Kids blundered the license when they swore Kirby was going to be the new Pikachu. Only took well after the show ended to get any American Kirby merchandise (outside of a Wendy's promotion).

The only "hacks" I have a problem with are how in the Pappy Potter episode they freaking cut out King DeeDeeDee's book burning. The show in Japan actually made fun of the idiocy of ultra-fundamental Christian groups that made Harry Potter their windmill crusade. I mean, the ONE country that would get the reference would be the US. What? Were they being sensitive to a bunch of fear crazed bigots that deserve all the lambasting they can get? And the other one, and this was on insistence of Nintendo themselves, was moving up a lead in to the series finale because they wanted to promote the just released in the US Air Ride game.

Other than that, I actually quite enjoyed the dub for the most part. I'd venture to say it was one of their better ones. Not quite Ultimate Muscle or Funky Cops where they actually had fun with and oddly improved upon the source material to some extent (Funky Cops eventually got another dub, but without any of the humor or energy 4Kids had). But the voice work was actually quite good. I loved hiow Escargoon was Paul Lynde and DeeDeeDee was Don King (same voice actor used the same voice for a caricature of Don King in their Funky Cops dub, so that's essentially confirmation). I can see hate for some of their other dubs, but they did a decent enough job with this one.

As for it getting a redub? I don't think so. Even as an anime, I doubt Nintendo cares about any outside adaption other than Pokemon, since that's essentially their cash cow. personally, I just want the series to be relicensed so it can get a proper DVD release, dub or no dub. C'mon Discotech. Maybe have the same deal with Samurai Pizza Cats and release DVD's of both the dub and original Japanese version.

I'd also love to see it on DVD, dubbed and subbed. Although they had to entirely redub Sailor Moon in order to get that re-released on DVD. I'll have to check the dub out. It sounds pretty good now that you tell me a bit more about it.

 

[Luke kun]

Sorry to bring it up again...but who animated this skit?

Yeah, I know I asked before, but I think James Rizzi animated it. Look at this:

and compare that to "Claire the Cat" in the skit.

 

[Drtooth]

I'd also love to see it on DVD, dubbed and subbed. Although they had to entirely redub Sailor Moon in order to get that re-released on DVD. I'll have to check the dub out. It sounds pretty good now that you tell me a bit more about it.

There were some specifics that are exclusive to Sailor Moon having a redub. I remember that SHOUT got the rights to release some not well known anime that was on Fox Kids the last years of its run. I want to say Medabots. Actually I think it was... but anyway they only released the dub because it was too cut up to release with the original Japanese one. Years later, Discotek released Samurai Pizza Cats in two separate sets, one the dub the other the original because it's far too cut up to have both in the same set, yet the English dub was pretty much its own entity. I'm sure that dub one probably sold more.

As for Kirby, I really like the show in both forms. Not saying that any thing in the dub was a huge improvement or hindrance toward the original. There's the standard American dub stuff that's in every American dub for children and always has been. Replacing cultural references, celebrity impersonation voices, slight character personality changes, standard editing. Nothing as painfully intrusive as some of their other dubs. And indeed it's the same thing that other countries do to their dubs. Kirby thankfully hasn't much in terms of complete cultural destruction. Only episode they had to work around was the second one about animation since so much of it was on fan animation culture that wasn't exactly thriving around here as much due to our copyright laws. And the hentai reference. Even if that was considered okay, kids aren't going to get it.

 

[mr3urious]

There were some specifics that are exclusive to Sailor Moon having a redub. I remember that SHOUT got the rights to release some not well known anime that was on Fox Kids the last years of its run. I want to say Medabots. Actually I think it was... but anyway they only released the dub because it was too cut up to release with the original Japanese one. Years later, Discotek released Samurai Pizza Cats in two separate sets, one the dub the other the original because it's far too cut up to have both in the same set, yet the English dub was pretty much its own entity. I'm sure that dub one probably sold more.

You must be thinking about Mon Colle Knights. That used almost Samurai Pizza Cats levels of gag dubbing.

 

[minor muppetz]

So is it illegal to make prank phone calls? Was it illegal in the past and then repealed?

I remember in one episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse (from 1986) Randy talks Pee-Wee into prank calling a woman whose husband happens to be a cop, who says that prank calls are illegal but he lets him off with a warning.

And recently I saw an episode of Freaks and Geeks (which takes place in 1980) where one of the geeks prank calls his teacher. One of them made comments about the cops tracing the call like prank calls are illegal, which at first I thought was just the geeks being too worried (and the fact that they're pretty much freshmen and don't know too much better), but in the same episode the teacher tells his class that prank calls are illegal (though he doesn't press legal action against them).

But in fiction (especially on The Simpsons) it is common for people to make prank calls without much consequence, even on kids shows.

 

[mr3urious]

So is it illegal to make prank phone calls? Was it illegal in the past and then repealed?

I do know that it's illegal to record a prank call without both party's consent, unless you live in Nevada where only one party needs to give consent. That's why nearly all the prank calls in Crank Yankers were done in Nevada.

 

[Luke kun]

So why the frog did Mega Man and Roll play whack-a-mole in the festival scene from the OVA? JAPANESE FESTIVALS DO NOT HAVE WHACK-A-MOLE! If it were goldfish scooping or ring toss, that'd be fine. BUT WHY WHACK-A-MOLE? That froggin' OVA left me with the impression that ALL JAPANESE FESTIVALS HAD WHACK-A-MOLE! And thanks to Akane's wording, I literally thought that festival they were at was Shichigosan! And when Mega Man responds later in the OVA to Roll saying next month's Shichigosan and that she wants to wear a kimono, he says he heard she made a promise with Akane. He doesn't mention the festival nor the parade directly, but HOW DID HE HEAR HER? Dang it, why didn't they show the entire day MM and Roll spent with the kids at the festival so we wouldn't have plot holes? And when Roll tells Dr. Light about the fireworks display and Wily's face appearing, she mentions it was "a minute ago". HOW FROGGIN' FAST DO YUUTA AND AKANE RUN? Were the fireworks even over yet? Why didn't anyone else in the background seem to notice and just smile? Why couldn't have Yuuta and Akane done that? Also, right before they say "Huh?", for a quick second, you can still see them smile. So why couldn't they have done that instead of saying "Oh no!" and running home AS FAST AS SONIC THE HEDGEHOG! And why the frog did Wikipedia call the omikoshi-carrying a PARADE?! It's a progression! How did Yuuta change clothes before flying with MM on Rush? Why didn't they pass the fireworks? Even better, WHY DIDN'T THE KIDS WAIT FOR THE FIREWORKS TO FINISH BEFORE GOING HOME? Why, and I really mean WHY, ARE PEOPLE AT THE BEACH THE DAY AFTER GOING TO A JAPANESE FESTIVAL?! It's illogical. One day: festival, another: beach. Why don't they go back with the time machine and TURN OFF THE NES so it wouldn't have happened in the first place? Since I wanna see more of them playing games at the festival! GAMES!

...that was my Mega Man rant. Enjoy.

 

[Harleena]

Is it illegal to wear the American flag on clothing? Even if the colors are inverted, like white stars on a red background? And what about individually? Can I wear something blue with white stars and it would still be considered a flag? Does this mean that my cute bikini that I was gonna wear for the 4th of July is illegal?

 

[mr3urious]

Is it illegal to wear the American flag on clothing? Even if the colors are inverted, like white stars on a red background? And what about individually? Can I wear something blue with white stars and it would still be considered a flag? Does this mean that my cute bikini that I was gonna wear for the 4th of July is illegal?

I don't think it's illegal at all, any more so than wearing a maple leaf here. So go ahead and show off that bikini!

 

[minor muppetz]

I do know that it's illegal to record a prank call without both party's consent, unless you live in Nevada where only one party needs to give consent. That's why nearly all the prank calls in Crank Yankers were done in Nevada.

I forgot that I knew that fact.

And now that I think about it, do the callers on Crank Yankers inform those they call that it was done for the show (after they had finished their pranks)?

The Disney Channel used to have special "free Disney Channel preview weekends" back when the channel was a premium channel. I was going to ask if the other premium channels did (as I don't ever remember knowing about such weekends for the other premium channels), but then looked it up at YouTube and found some preview weekend promos for HBO and Showtime, so that answers that question. But do premium channels still have preview weekends?

Also, I found a few promos for the Free Disney Channel preview Weekends, which look like they were done on The Disney Channel, which seems pointless because you'd have to be watching the channel to see them. Did such promos air on other cable channels (I don't think Disney owned any other channels back then), or did they rely on people finding out through friends who had the channel (if they weren't watching it at their houses)?