The First Movie DVD Audio Commentary

Page 1

I'd like to majorly thank Lumina Sumnor for putting in such time and effort to transcribe this commentary for us! *majorly thanks her*

Speaking: Norman J. Grossfeld (NG) and Michael Haigney (MH)

When the movie continues without commentary, dialogue or description from the scene will be noted in italics before the commentary starts again.

Words that could not be heard properly and had to be guessed at will be in [brackets]

NG: Hello, Pokemon fans, I am Norman Grossfeld, the producer and co-writer of Pokemon: The First Movie, and I am here with Michael Haigney, who directed and co-wrote the movie as well. Hello, Michael.

MH: Hey, Norman. Do you have your popcorn ready?

NG: I am ready to settle in and watch Pokemon: The First Movie and give it a different perspective than, uh, you know, we haven't even seen it for awhile, it'd be nice to go through at this time and point out some of the interesting, uh, facts and production for the fans out there.

Scene opens to an underwater setting with rising bubbles.

MH: Exactly. Uh, this is the part we, uh, was inspired by a bath that I took.

NG: And your only bath of last year (MH: *laughs*), as a matter of fact, so-

MH: Eheheh, I take, heh, I take one a year, whether I needed it or not. Anyway-

NG: You know what's interesting about this part is that, in the Japanese version, uh, it was much more sparse as far as the production of the music and the voice, uh, there wasn't even an announcer in it, but we felt that we had to take some liberties in explaining more about the world of Pokemon here, and I know you have some concerns about people that were new to Pokemon.

MH: Right, I'lI guess, uh, the younger viewers who see the show and can play the games and trade the cards are really very familiar with the world of Pokemon, you know, very knowledgeable as well, but we knew that there would be a lot of parents and some other people who maybe weren't so familiar, uh, with the whole Pokemon phenomenon, so we, uh, we kinda fleshed out this with the, uh, with the narrator that, uh, w-wi-with Mewtwo, actually, and with the narrator, that, uh, kind of, uh, we, uh, hoped explained what was going on in this first segment, uh, just a little bit.

NG: I liked that segment a lot because, uh, it kind of sucks the viewers in the, uh, world of Pokemon that uses a very mysterious, you know, you know, like, you don't know who's talking at all until here where you meet Mewtwo for the very first time. You understand that you put, uh, a face to that voice that you've been hearing.

MH: I guess that in a lot of movies, they, uh, they, the, the attempt is made not to put too much really crucial information in the first minute or so of the movie because, you know, people have a tendency to arrive later there in getting their sodas and cup holders and everything, but since we-- this movie theatrically was preceded by Pikachu's Vacation, uh, everybody was already riveted and settled in, so we thought that it would, it would work in this situation.

"Radio Giovanni's helicopter, tell him what's happened."
"Quiet!"

NG: In the Japanese version of the movie, it's not really clear that, uh, Giovanni is actually behind the entire operation here at the laboratory, uh, so, uh, we actually added the reference to Giovanni a couple of times, who's the boss of Team Rocket, so when his helicopter arrives a little bit later in the movie, it doesn't seem to be disconnected to the events occurring here at the laboratory.

MH: Somebody had to pay for this laboratory, and Giovanni, uh, seems to have all the money, although viewers of the show will realize that, the-- he very rarely gives any of it to Team Rocket because they're always begging and stealing and borrowing and *sighs* and, uh, trying to get together some change for food.

"These humans, they care nothing for me..."

NG: This is the key moment for us to really point out the angst that Mewtwo's going through, and imagine for yourself if you realize that the purpose of your life has already been served, at whatever age, um...

MH: Uh, I-I have al-- this was, this was Mewtwo, that was the film for me, the purpose of my life has already been served, so I know I could identify with Mewtwo in this segment.

NG: Eheheh, right, I understand what you're saying, heheh.

"This cannot be my destiny!"
Glass tubes start breaking.

NG: Now, it's key here, is that Mewtwo doesn't really know that he has these incredible psychic powers that are able to destroy the way that they do. Uh, he's just kind of out of control, in a rage, and that is-- and a little, a little bit later in the movie he learns to tame his powers and, and direct them the way he wants, he's just completely running amuck here, not to be confused with running a Muk, (MH:*laughs*) which, of course, is a Pokemon. Uh... (MH: Muk, Muk! *laughs again*)

Waves crashing against the island after Mewtwo destroys the lab.

NG: So now here comes, uh, Giovanni's helicopter, which, uh, for us in our first viewing of the movie when we watched the Japanese version, we ourselves thought that he happened along, and it wasn't really explained at all in the Japanese script that he actually was the force behind the laboratory.

MH: Although, in, uh, in, in thinking back after we had, had seen it that first time, you were right, we, we didn't realize, but I believe that there is an episode in the series, in which Team Rocket, Meowth, Jessie, and James, see, uh, Mewtwo flying out of--

NG: Oh, yes, but that (MH: Yeah.) comes later. (MH: Right.) That, that is actually about to happen a little later in the movie. What's interesting about the TV series is that there are some scenes, if you look very, very carefully in certain episodes (MH: Right.) in our second season of the TV series, which do tie in to the movie's storyline, you have to be really sharp-eyed to catch them.

"I do not need your help for that, human..."

NG: Now we did an interesting thing that, uh, for the DVD viewers, if you're watching this in surround sound, you may be able to experience the same thing that people did in the theatre. When Mewtwo thinks to himself, uh, and it doesn't want anybody else to hear him, the sound from his voice really just comes from the front of the room, uh, but when he is, uh, communicating with somebody else, psychically and projecting his thoughts, you'll hear the sound of his voice come out from the surround sound speakers on the side of the room, and, and I think it worked very well in the theatre, um, giving a kind of experience that the, the people in the-- in Mewtwo's world would be experiencing if they were speaking to him directly. I thought that worked pretty well.

MH: Yeah, it, it did.

"What is that?"
"Patience, my friend..."

MH: I think this is the section of this scene was actually, uh, a, l, redone fr, and, uh, slightly different from the original, I think we have, uh, (NG: Yeah.) coming up here

NG: ÷You know, the U.S. and, uh, actually, everybody outside of Japan that got to view, uh, this version of the movie got to see about 15 to 20 percent of the movie re-animated from the original Japanese version, where they redid segments of the movie, um, with new 3-D CGI animation that was lacking from the original experience in the Japanese theatres.

Team Rocket Grunts catching the Tauros Mewtwo attacked.

MH: There are some rarely seen members of Team Rocket, as viewers know, that Team Rocket is made up of a lot more than Jessie, James, and Meowth.

NG: That's a world-wide, uh, crime organization.

MH: Heheh, yes, that's exactly, heheh.

Mewtwo attacking Gary's Pokemon.

NG: Now this scene right here is actually in the TV episode, uh, that is Gary, uh, Ash's rival, you're seeing him from behind. (MH: It's a cameo.) That's a cameo appearance by Gary, yet we would've featured his face, but his agent had a (MH:*chuckling*) big problem with, uh, the movie and the deal that we were offering, so we just shot him from behind in that particular scene.

MH: I believe that actually was a stand-in, I'm not mistaken. Eheheh.

"Humans may have created me..."

NG: And now that Mewtwo has full control of his powers, uh, because Giovanni has served his purpose, and he won't be serving Giovanni's purpose.

Mushroom-shaped smoke rising from Mewtwo's blast.

NG: Now the scene you are about to see right here is a shot you can recognize in one of the TV episodes (MH: Right.) if you look carefully.

"What is my true reason for being?"

NG: Now, one of the pleasures of, uh, adapting this movie from the original Japanese for us was the fact that Mewtwo was actually a psychic Pokemon, and we could put any words that we wanted, uh, into his mouth or into his thoughts and not worry about whether the lip movement would be matching (MH: Eheheh), which is always a challenge in adapting, uh, a film, a film or TV series when mouths are moving, so this was a pleasure.

Pokemon: The First Movie logo appears.

MH: Naturally, this is a little bit different than the original film. The original title of the film is--

NG: Mewtwo Strikes Back.

MH: Mewtwo Strikes Back, and I guess, um...

NG: In Japanese, uh, they use the English language a lot, and actually they use the text Mewtwo Strikes Back, uh, different logo treatment, but they actually wrote it out in English in their own version as well.

Narrator speaking.

NG: Not quite sure what is in that pot, and we (MH: *laughing*) didn't want-- won't even guess.

MH: Yeah, Brock is just-- is generally the, uh, chief cook and [bottle washer?].

"It's my lazy-boy no chewâ stew."

MH: Eheheheh, luckily, we were able to assemble the original cast for the film. Sometimes, when, uh, TV series get translated onto the big screen, uh, they change, uh, personnel, but, uh, we have everybody from the series doing this, the, uh, original voices, which we were happy about.

"Pikachu?" (Before Ash's battle with the pirate trainer.)

NG: Uh, fans would be interested to know that Pikachu's voice is the same worldwide, uh, um, I guess one of the beloved voices ever for a-an animated series-- any kind of character.

MH: Until this DVD came out, then I think that yours will be probably the most beloved, Norman.

NG: *Pause* Probably right.

MH: *Laughs* Yeah. I don't think we could match the-the job that the, uh, actress, um, does on Pikachu. She's really sensational, and, to be kind of limited, uh, er, I don't know if it's the unique character that just makes sounds. Of course, the Roadrunner really just makes one sound, I guess, I guess that's the other cartoon character that's just known by one sound, but Pikachu really gets a whole dramatic range out of, uh, just saying "Pikachu" or--

NG: Well, all the Pokemon really do. I think what's unique about the show and about this movie is that, uh, especially the-the featurette that came before this, Pikachu's Vacation, which may seem befuddling to many parents, but the kids, of course, and we love the fact that the Pokemon just communicate by speaking their own names or derivatives of their own name, and can completely understand their, the emotions of what's going on and-and for me, the way the Pokemon speak does-it does move the story along.

MH: Absolutely, yeah.

Machamp comes out of the Pokeball

NG: This is, uh, this is a challenge for us, uh, the theme song is, I think there, uh, probably every kid around the country can sing this by heart (MH: Heheheh, right.), so for us, we had to come up with, uh, we've totally been doing a different song for the opening here, but we really wanted everybody to know, "Here we go, it's Pokemon time, let's get that theme song going," but we couldn't use the same exact theme song. We had to do kind of a massively new production of it, and I think this-this, uh, turned out to be a pretty big hit.

Squirtle uses Bubblebeam on Machamp.

NG: This is a rarely seen Bubblebeam attack, which, uh, another interesting thing about Pokemon is that if you watch the TV show or you watch this-this movie, you'll see some attacks come to life that you-- that are featured in the Game Boy game or featured in the card game, uh, you'll actually see what these attacks actually look like, which is, I, uh, you know, I think, a great treat for people who aren't used to, talk about, you know, kids that talk about these attacks all the time, it's part of their daily life (MH: Heheheh) and now see it come to life.

Team Rocket is seen spying on Ash and his Pokemon.

NG: Team Rocket is my favorite element of the show, although, uh, when we hit an element in the script that has Team Rocket in it, it usually is (MH: *laughs*) the most challenging, uh, because we, uh, we've established Team Rocket to be a little bit than in Japan, and for-for our version they're much more wise-cracking and cunning than they are necessarily in the Japanese version, um, Meowth is more of a philosopher, I would say.

MH: Right, there were certain, uh, I think he's a-- Meowth is a singer, as well.

NG: A singer and a poet and a philosopher. In our version he's kind of more of a wise-cracker.

MH: They do use, uh, uh, esp-- particularly Team Rocket is difficult to-to rewrite and adapt, uh, from the Japanese, as Norman said, because they use not only puns, uh, words that play off of each other in Japanese that really don't in English, uh, but they, uh, are frequently do things that refer to Japanese culture. They're dressed in traditional Japanese, uh, garb and they'll do certain actions and things that are very, very Japanese, so that's always a challenge.

Dragonite takes off from New Island.

NG: One of the rare appearances of Dragonite, or is this, this is Dragonite, yes, and (MH: Right.) we actually hope that with this scene that, uh, the male purse would make a comeback (MH: *laughs*) in the United States. I don't know if we'd be very successful with that.

MH: Although the, uh, the Pokemon, uh, Dragonite is not technically male, as-as, uh-

NG: Oh, that's true. Fans of Pokemon will be excited to know that with the, uh, Pokemon Gold and Silver release of the Game Boy games coming out. On our television series, we will be making more reference to the gender of the particular Pokemon, which the first, uh, series and this movie avoids talking about.

"She's really small, but really pretty."

NG: Michael, has there ever been a girl that Brock sees that he doesn't fall in love with?

MH: Uh, the only one I could think of-- wasn't there Nastina in the the first (*Both laugh*) year. I don't think he cared for Nastina, but pretty much everyone else. He did, and, and the series affords lots of, uh, [algenuse? (Denise's note: maybe "avenues?")] and, uh, young ladies for Brock to dream about, but, uh, not go very much further than that, I think. And it's probably best for him from when it's concerned.

"We want to know what's so special about the twerp trio's special delivery!"

NG: Team Rocket, for those, uh, viewers of this DVD that are not that familiar with the show, basically their-their goal in life is to capture Pikachu, and to basically stop Ash and his friends from proceeding on (*Both laugh*) with their lives.

MH: Uh, I think they're, uh, they're also, uh, pretty concerned with their status within-- as members of Team Rocket. As it stands now, for the first, uh, I guess, hundred episodes, are pretty low. They haven't been too successful. I don't think they've had virtually any success, uh, and they know that they're, uh, hanging by a thread, uh, with their team leader, uh, Giovanni, so they wanna capture some rare Pokemon to bring back.

Mew awakens from her underwater slumber.

NG: The great thing about this movie is the existence of Mew is really revealed here for the first time in any medium in, uh, which Pokemon is enjoyed. Uh, in the Game Boy game, uh, Mew is kind of a mysterious secret character that you can't get while playing the game. You can only get it if you go to one of Nintendo's events, and they-they install Mew into your Game Boy game. [Denise's note: Or use the nifty Mew Glitch!]

Waves rising while Mewtwo creates the storm.

NG: The viewers that look at the comparison between the two movies, our version and the Japanese version, uh, the Japanese animators actually reanimated these sequences as well and added all new, uh, computer-generated clouds and the storm scenes are all redone.

Waves crashing against a lighthouse.

NG: If you listen carefully now in this next scene, you will hear Michael Haigney make an appearance (MH: Eheheh, that's true.) as the, uh, announcer, uh, about to speak actually when-when the-- Ash and his friends get inside, he'll be asking for, I think, Officer Jenny.

MH: I believe so, yes.

NG: I think I wrote-I wrote that line at the last minute (MH: *laughs*) Because it seemed like, it must be cold in the movie.

MH: Here we go, here we go.

NG: Shhhh...

"Officer Jenny, please report to the ferry entrance. Officer Jenny, to the ferry entrance."

NG: And there you have it, an appearance by Michael Haigney, the director of the movie (MH: *chuckles*).

Scene of docks shows the condition of the storm.

NG: Definitely changed-- we inserted in the movie, uh, a little bit later in the movie, uh, when the-the big scene where, uh, well, I won't reveal if you're watching this movie this way (MH: Don't give it away!) for the first time, but, uh, this reference that, uh, the harbor manager makes to this legend is all new by only in the U.S. version.

All my Pokemon are water-type. We'll just swim over to that palace"

NG: Pokemon come in different types is important to note, uh, in-- people compare Pokemon to kind of a rock-paper-scissors type of, uh, game. When you're playing the game, you're playing the card game you're thinking about how to use different Pokemon in battle. I-- I-- that, uh, the character mentions, the Pokemon are all water-type, some of the elements that exist are water-type, fire-type, psychic Pokemon, we see that with Mewtwo. There's electric-type such as Pikachu, ground-type, and depending on who you're facing in battle, you should choose an appropriate Pokemon. For example, you're facing a fire Pokemon, uh, you would use a water Pokemon, obviously, uh, but it's not always that simple.

Gyarados comes out of the ocean's surface.

NG: Now, Michael, you'll notice there was a Pidgeotto [Denise's note: Argh! It's a Pidgeot!! I bet you it was this guy's fault they made that mistake!] that one of the characters was riding, here is a Gyarados, uh, the girl is on a Dewgong, but up in the background over here-- you'll see the girl is on the Dewgong over here-- but you'll also see someone, I think, flying a Fearow, uh, but obviously the person flying the Fearow did not make it to the island, which is, uh, I'm not quite sure which character that was, but someone winds up not making this journey, what's an interesting note for-- there you go, in the background there.

Side-view of Umio/Fergus, Sweet/Neesha, and the Fearow trainer

MH: Right there, yes. We never found that person, did we, Norman?

NG: No, but luckily we didn't have to pay that person (MH: *chuckles*) either, it worked out okay for everybody.

"Ve Vikings are used to big vaves."

MH: I guess one of the most challenging things in-in the movie and-and also for the series is, uh, trying to match what we call the "lip-flaps," uh, the mouth movements of the characters to what they're saying, uh-

NG: Tr-traditionally, animation is produced where the audio track, including the dialogue, is recorded first, especially in the-in the main language whi-that it was recorded in, uh, a-and then they animate the lip movements to the already pre-recorded audio track. Actually, um, for our version, of course, we got the movie already completed, and we had to rewrite the movie so that, uh, our concepts were worked into the storyline, but also, then, we had to rewrite it once again so that the characters, what they said, would fit the pre-existing mouth movements.

MH: Right, uh, what makes it, uh, particularly challenging sometimes is that, um, uh, Japanese has a lot of words that end in vowels, so the mouths are frequently very open at the end of sentences. In English, that's not so much the case, and so, uh, we take quite a bit of time and we hoped, fairly successfully, are able to match, uh, those mouths with not only the words that they're saying, but with the mood in which they're saying it.

NG: Goes back to why we were so happy to see that Mewtwo was a psychic Pokemon.

MH: Oh, yeah.

Staryu's cry is heard when it is released from its Pokeball.

NG: That, uh, sound of Staryu is actually, uh, pre-existing from the Japanese version. There are some sounds of the Pokemon that we actually keep the same across all-all the different cultures and all the different languages, and Staryu's sound is one of them.

MH: Right. We generally keep any-any original s-sound with the original Japanese voice actor if the name of the Pokemon is the same in both English and in Japanese.

NG: And that's an example of one of them. Togepi is another example of a character that has the same voice and the same name in both Japan and in the United States. What's amazing about, uh, um, these characters is something magical about their clothing, I think, because, uh, you'll notice that it's fre-- just, will be dry when they get through this storm-- if they get through this storm.

MH: Yeah, they don't seem to change a lot, either.

Ash and co. avoid the storm under the surface of the ocean.

MH: This scene kind of illustrates the essence of Pokemon, which is of the Pokemon and their trainers working together, uh, rather than the trainers forcing the Pokemon to work for them, and that's kind of the theme that becomes very important as the film goes on.

NG: Yeah. I think what's special about the world of Pokemon is that the, uh, the Pokemon really are friends with their trainers, uh, especially Ash and Misty and Brock, uh, well, they have a great love for their Pokemon and vice versa.

Scene of CGI clouds in the eye of the storm.

MH: I think this is one of the, uh, computer-enhanced scenes.

NG: That's correct.

"Hey, look!"

NG: Anywhere you see these kinds of clouds is, uh, all-new animation that was just for our release of the movie

Ash and co. approach the island's dock.

NG: So let's play a little game with the, uh, people listening along with us now, Michael. A little bit later in the movie we, uh, made a mistake, and we purposefully left the mistake in, so, uh, (MH: Yes.) those of you that saw in the theatre or may have watched the movie-vie through without this narrative first, see if you can figure out which mistake we're talking about. Probably (MH: *laughing*) people are going: "Just one? There are tons of mistakes in this movie!" (MH: Yes.) [Denise's note: um, yeah.] Well, there's one specific mistake that we left in that, uh, will point out to you in just a little while (MH: Right.) and we'll tell you why we did it.

Ash takes out his electronic invitation card.

NG: Notice that everything is completely dry, and the electronics on this, if it's electronic, on this device survived. (MH: It's water-type. It's--) Amazing.

"Aren't you the nurse who's missing..."

NG: What's funny about this also, not that this (MH: Heheh.) is funny in itself, is that there is Nurse Joys and Nur-- I mean Officer Jennies in virtually every town that they visit, and they're always identical, and so for Brock to say, "I thought I recognized that face!" (MH: *laughs*) is actually an inside joke for TV viewers. Mm, here comes Team Rocket and they'll have survived the underwater journey by using their Weezing. Weezing is, of course, the evolved form of Koffing. All of the Pokemon have kind of a clever names, uh, derived from the Japanese versions of their names, uh, they were all named by people over at Nintendo of America.

Mew flying towards New Island.

MH: Seeing the film, uh, at the-- one of the early screenings with the huge audience-- Mew, whenever Mew came onto the screen-- tremendous response, especially from, I presume, the hardcore Pokemon fans, of which there are obviously millions, but, uh, everybody's finally happy to see Mew in the flesh.

NG: Uh, the Japanese sensibility to, uh, pacing is very different than our own. For example, this whole sequence when they're walking up to the, uh, get inside the castle, actually had no music at all in the original Japanese version, um, it was actually completely silent to-- some footsteps is all you heard, but we decided to put more of this theme that we have been establishing.

"Now that you are here, all trainers worthy of an audience..."

NG: Fans of the show and fans of Pokemon in general will know, but it might be interesting for people that aren't aware, that Pikachu never actually goes inside its Pokeball. Ash is, of course, carrying many more Pokemon with him in his Pokeballs, which are somewhere on his belt, but in episode one of the TV series, Pikachu, uh, refused to go inside the Pokeball and-and Ash tried to get him in there, and they finally established a kind of an understanding and ultimately this great friendship that they have, and you'll always see Pikachu outside with Ash and outside its Pokeball.

MH: Have we determined that's just this specific Pikachu, or that's a trait for all Pikachu?

NG: I believe it's just this specific Pikachu and its personality.

"You know another way in?"

NG: You might notice in this, uh, feature, whenever you see Me-Mew appear, we have Mew's little melody that comes up-- you see right here coming up, in here, the little-little melody of Mew. That would be right here.

Ash and co.'s Pokemon walk towards the center table.

NG: Vulpix is one of Brock's Pokemon, that's Vulpix in the back. Togepi is a new Pokemon that actually isn't part of the original group of the original 150 Pokemon that we introduced at the very beginning of the series. Togepi is kind of a newly discovered Pokemon. We're not quite sure what powers Togepi has, uh, but in the TV show, in the second season, Togepi actually winds up saving the day once or twice with some use of its power, uh, it's finally revealed to the viewer, but Ash and Misty and Brock are unaware that Togepi has these amazing powers.

Wigglytuff runs off to the rest of its trainer's Pokemon.

NG: Wigglytuff's voice is done by, uh, one of our more versatile actresses on the show. Her name is Rachel Lillis, and--

MH: She not only does Wigglytuff, but she does Jigglypuff, which is, uh, natural extension and, uh, she might surprise some viewers of the TV show that, uh, Rachel does the voice of not only Jessie, but of Misty, and she's also a number of Pokemon as well.

Team Rocket explores the sewers.

NG: Now, Meowth is the only Pokemon that can speak human language, of English in the case of this movie, and, uh, wasn't clear for quite a long time how Meowth was able to accomplish that, uh, we finally revealed that Meowth was in love with another, uh, female Meowth in one, uh, episode in the TV series, and to impress her, try to learn to walk and talk like a human. Ultimately did not get the Meowth of his dreams, but, uh, wound up having this special skill, and kind of a comic foil to the series, as well as the movie.

"How's it talking!?"
"It's psychic!"

NG: Too many times you'll find that Brock winds up stating the obvious (MH: *laughs*), that was, wasn't obvious, but, uh, kind of Brock's mission on--

MH: They're brainstorms to him, but not to everyone else. Talking again about the voices, uh, some people might also be surprised to know that the voice of Brock, uh, is also done by the same actor who does James, and that's Eric Stuart. Two very different characters.

NG: Yeah, actually, interesting to, um, look back at the evolution of James' voice and, uh, for sharp-eared viewers of the TV show would notice that James had a little bit of a change in his voice early on in the TV series, until we established his ultimate persona that we have right now.