Podcast tonight!

Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea - I will update this news story as people report to me! This is absolutely amazing. The movie is airing on the east coast right now on Cartoon Network, and it is in wide screen. Not only that, but the movie keeps its Japanese company logo (the Toho logo) in the beginning, something never done before by 4Kids. The music in the movie has also been kept intact, which has been the case since Pokemon 4Ever. As of this posting, the dub is almost an exact translation of the Japanese version as well. I will add more to this later if there is anything else to say. Thanks to homeofmew for the above information, which she is feeding to me over AIM as she watches it! Remember, we will have our podcast tonight around 9:30ish PST, and we will be discussing this movie, so if you want to be a call-in guest, read the news stories below for details!

Sorry for not updating yesterday! My eye was bugging me all day, and my teachers told me to go home because they thought I had pink eye (my left eye was bloody red). It was hard to use the computer because the light coming from the LCD was irritating my eye, so I had to basically sit in darkness the entire day. I went to the eye doctor today, and it turned out that I instead had inflammation of the eye, so they gave me medicine drops. Now I can update again without there feeling like there is an invisible person sticking a knife in my eye! :D

Diamond and Pearl Tin Card Scans - Thanks to Kes, we now have scans of the three starters cards you receive when purchasing the $12.99 D/P tins available in stores right now (such as at Target). Comparing the scans to the D/P card images posted the other day, the format appears to be the same (even the awkward font and positioning of the Pokemon names). Click each scan below for larger images. Note that the cards are not actually promos, but holographic "pre-reprints" of the starter cards that will come in the actual Diamond and Pearl set next month.

Manaphy Music - To make up for yesterday, and as a little bonus, I have posted three songs from Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea below for all of you to download today. Since I cannot translate the names of the songs (I no read Japanese), I will simply describe when they play in the movie. The first song plays when Ash and crew are traveling on a boat to Akusha, the place Manaphy must return to (the name of the place may change in the English version tomorrow). The second song plays when the evil pirate, Phantom, finds his way into the main room of Akusha and decides to take more than he needs of certain items that you will see tomorrow. The third song plays at the end of the movie when May and Manaphy leave each other. Right click each song and save them to your computer to enjoy! Remember, the movie airs tomorrow at 7:00 PM on Cartoon Network, so be sure to watch it, even if you do not like the Anime or have not watched it in a long time (it is a good way of supporting Pokemon in general)!

[Song #1] - 8 MBs
[Song #2] - 4.73 MBs
[Song #3] - 4.46 MBs
(Right click, save the link, and open it in a program that plays MP3s, such as Windows Media Player or iTunes.)

Podcast Recording Tomorrow - As it has been said all week, PokeBeach will be recording episode 1 of the podcast tomorrow. If you want to be a call-in guest, you must be in the PokeBeach chatroom between 8:30 and 9:00 PM, PST (California time). Only those who show up and have everything set up first will get to talk on the podcast (it will be first come, first serve, and very few people will get to be a call-in guest this time). The topics of discussion tomorrow will be the Manaphy movie and the current metagame of the Pokemon TCG.

*switches modes* Studio Ghibli's next film will be called Ponyo On A Cliff, and will feature a five year old boy named Sosuke, modeled after Miyazaki's son, Goro, and a princess goldfish named Ponyo, who wants to become human. This will be Miyazaki's eighth major motion picture film (the seven before being Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky: Laputa, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle), and will be released during the summer of 2008, around the same time as the 11th Pokemon movie. The movie's animation style will be unlike that of any of the previous films, making use of watercolors and pastels, instead of regular paint or computer coloring. It will also take place primarily in the OCEAN! If I had not become a Pokemon webmaster, I would have started a Miyazaki / Studio Ghibli website, but nooo, you punks kept me in business. :p (If you have no idea what I am even talking about, just ignore this and watch Spirited Away when it is on Cartoon Network sometime this month - you will be converted into a fan of Studio Ghibli / Miyazaki films). Oh yeah, this is a Pokemon website, isn't it?

Manaphy Movie - Speaking of the ocean, since Pokemon Ranger and the Prince of the Sea is airing this Friday at 7 PM on Cartoon Network, a little promotion is in order. As with the Lucario movie, I will put up a few pieces of background music from the movie for all of you to download each day until the movie airs. The background music featured below is from when the family featured in the movie performs their in-the-air water show on land. How will they accomplish this? Wait until the movie airs on Friday to find out! Remember, immediately after the movie airs on the west coast (PST, around 9:00 or 9:30 PM), we will begin to record PokeBeach's podcast, so if you are interested in being a call-in guest, read yesterday's news story!

[Opening! Water Pokemon Show!] - 6.23 MBs
(Right click, save the link, and open it in a program that plays MP3s, such as Windows Media Player or iTunes.)

Next Pokemon Game? - I was reluctant to post this news story earlier this morning due to the lack of solid sources behind it, but now IGN has posted that Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 may be the next Pokemon game released, as hinted in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine. CoroCoro is supposed to be revealing a new game in next month's issue of its magazine, so this may very will be the same game. We should be finding out within the next month or so what the next Pokemon game will be, so stay tuned!

Yay! First update on my new laptop! And as I said in the previous update, we would have D/P TCG English news on Monday. It's now Monday. :p

D/P TCG Set Info and Pictures - POP has released a press release for the D/P set in America, which you can view below. Changes that have been made to the actual card format is that the font of the PokeDex information is different, the energy symbols used in the card text are now black like the Japanese cards, and some of the attack wording has been changed (such as the evolutions "under" the card). There are images that follow the press-release below, which you can click for larger images! For information on the Japanese D/P set, including the new rules of the game that will most likely go into affect in America when this set is released on May 23rd, [click here].

Game Summary
The next generation of Pokémon has arrived! In the new Pokémon Trading Card Game: Diamond & Pearl expansion, players will explore the never-before-seen Sinnoh region and catch over 50 brand-new Pokémon for the very first time. With new gameplay, including the exciting Pokémon LV.X that make Pokémon more powerful… new attacks… and even a new look, the Pokémon TCG: Diamond & Pearl expansion will take every Trainer to the next level! Diamond & Pearl features over 120 new cards and remains compatible with previous releases.

Features

• Over 50 all-new never-before-seen Diamond & Pearl Pokémon!
• A whole new look, including cool Pokédex information!
• An amazing new card type - Pokémon LV.X
• Features three theme decks built around new Diamond & Pearl Pokémon, Terra Firma, Inferno Zone, and Royal Frost
• Theme decks and booster packs go on sale in stores on May 23rd, priced at $11.99 for the theme decks and $3.79 for the booster packs
• Each booster pack features 10 randomly inserted game cards
• Exciting holographic parallel set for players and collectors alike
• Over 120 cards in all!

Podcast Recording on Friday - PokeBeach Podcast Episode 1 will be recorded immediately after Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea airs this Friday on Cartoon Network (it airs at 7 PM in everyone's individual time zone), meaning that recording will begin between 9:00 and 9:30 PM (PST, or, California time). If you want to be a call-in guest, you will need a computer microphone, an account with Skype, and you will have to be in our chat room around 9:00 PM PST on Friday so that we can give you further instructions. Note that you will also need to sign-up in this story's news thread so that we know who you are and how many people we will have. We look forward to recording this first episode, so if you want to be a part of it, now is the time to tell us!

Hikari and Shinji's English Names - According to this character page posted by Cartoon Network, Hikari will be named Dawn in the English version of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, while Shinji will be named Paul. Dawn will follow Ash through his journey in Sinnoh (replacing May), while Paul will be the Gary-type character who is ruthless with his Pokemon and is Ash's rival.

We ended up buying the laptop I linked to in the previous update. It should arrive tomorrow. Expect English D/P TCG news on Monday.

Next Japanese Set - The next Japanese TCG set, which does not have a known name yet, will feature Darkrai, Dialga, and Palkia, promoting the 10th Pokemon movie. The theme decks of the set will each feature Dialga and Palkia as well. The set will be released on July 5th (four months after Mystery of the Lakes), meaning that either (a) sets are going to be released in 4-month intervals from now on instead of 3-month intervals, which accounts for the larger D/P set sizes (more cards in a set, more time between set releases), or (b) they pushed only this set back a little to be around the 10th Pokemon movie's theatrical release, since if they followed the 3-month pattern, the set would have been released in June, which is too early to promote the movie. Thanks goes to nimonosandesu for the exclusive news!

First English Pokemon Video Ever - If you frequent any Pokemon forums, you may have already seen the below two videos posted during this past week, but if not, now is your chance! The videos below (split into two parts, but accounting for one video) is a VHS that 4Kids sent out before Pokemon aired in America to promote Pokemon (my younger brother, who discovered Pokemon before me, claims to have seen it before, but I guess I was too caught up in electricity stuff when I was little to ever watch it or care). The video presents a cast of humans who claim to be aunts, friends, cousins, and teachers of the Anime characters we all know, promoting Pokemon, mispronouncing both the names of the brand and some of the Pokemon (it also has [beta names] for several Pokemon, with the complete list of all R/B names here), and providing an embarrassing video that any fan is bound to cringe at! The second the video changes to "Aunt Hillary" is bound to make your stomach drop, especially with the way she pronounces "Pokemon" and puts down her glasses. Giovanni promoting Pokemon products also almost made me break THIS computer from my wild laughter. :p

EDIT #1: The rest of the D/P English names have been revealed. You can view the names here.

Extremely long story extremely short and abridged - I have to buy a new laptop because they will not fix my old one (And I am buying it TODAY so that I do not have to wait any longer, since I need it so bad for school that I am now reduced to bringing my first, in-five-pieces-laptop, to class on a regular basis. However, I re-broke it permanently last night by flinging it off the bed in my sleep and crushing its LCD and damaging the hard drive so that it will not load, so I have no laptop period). I was thinking about this one, but am willing to see if anyone else has any other ideas or finds some great laptop that is even better. The feature I like about this laptop is that, "Protect your data: LifeSmart Technologyâ„¢ provides advanced protective features like an ultra-strong chassis, shock-absorbing (flinging it off the bed in your sleep) hard drive, air-pocket cushioning and a spill-resistant keyboard (spilling two cups of water on it) that protects your data when mishaps happen." Please post in this thread for your opinions. :)

Four New Names - Gracias a Pokexperto, nosotros ahora tienamos (?) cuatro nueve llamos de D/P Pokemon.

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Magnezone / Togekiss / Bastiodon / Gastrodon

RUMORED NAMES - Someone names Secret Squirrel came into our chat room the other night and posted a list of English Pokemon names. At the time, we thought the names were made-up, but several of them have turned out to be true, which is why this list could be real (or at least some of the names). The list he posted can be seen below. Remember, this is UNCONFIRMED.

Aipom's evolution is Ambipom
Rhydon's evolution is Rhyperior
Magneton's evo is Magnezone
Togekiss is Togekiss
Dusclops's evo is Dusknoir
Nosepass's evo is Probopass
Mikaruge is Spiritomb
Rukushio is Luxio
Rentoraa is Luxray
Fuwante is Drifloon
Zugaidosu is Cranidos
Rampard is Rampardos
Tatetops is Shieldon
Trideps is Bastiodon
Misdreavus's evo is Mismagius
Riolu is Riolu
Gligar's evo is Gliscor
Piloswine's evo is Mamoswine
Yanma's evo is Yanmega
Tangela's evo is Tangrowth
Heatran is Heatran
Regigigas is Regigigas
Giratina is Giratina
Fione is Phione
Darkrai is Darkrai
Yuxie is Uxie
Emurit is Mespirit

EDIT: Again, the same site has revealed two more names. Neorant is now Lumineon, and Rotom keeps its same Japanese name.

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May update again later.

Two New Names - Pokexperto has revealed two new English names - Magmortar and Azelf. Azelf comes from azure, a type of blue, and elf. Magmortar comes from magma and mortar, with mortar having a double meaning of a cannon and shooting.

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And yet another quick and mysterious update! My fixed laptop should come back to me sometime this week! I am sleepy, so I'll put up older news I need to show here later this week.

Disney Using Pokemon Music? - The only reason I am even making an update tonight is because of a Peter Pan DVD commercial I just saw. The commercial was actually using background music from the official Japanese Pokemon movie website - from when the Manaphy movie was being promoted during the summer. I am a big Pokemon background music junky, so I recognized the music instantly - I was actually thinking about the specific music in question today, which was ironically featured in the commercial. The music was on the Japanese Pokemon movie website when Pachirisu, Drapion, and Cherrim were revealed last summer (I think I went on the website the very day they were released in CoroCoro). The music played when you first loaded the website and featured vocals and trumpets, followed by a preview of the Manaphy movie's ending song. Then, you dove down into the ocean with Lanturn, and were taken to a water Pokemon background with a moving Manaphy that you controlled with your mouse for navigation on the website. A slightly random news story, but kind of interesting (even if you have never been to the website or have no clue as to what I am talking about). Why is Disney using Pokemon music - music that was only featured on the official Japanese Pokemon movie website, and in a Peter Pan DVD commercial of all places? Very strange. I'll try to record the commercial next time I see it, and then put it up when I get my laptop back. Could Disney have some sort of future with Pokemon in America, and if not, why on Earth is Disney using Pokemon background music on national television for a 1953 American film?

EDIT #2: [SPOILER] Okay, now the movie website removed Buizel from Hikari's profile. Could they have released the info too early and taken it down, or was it a mistake and Ash really does have Buizel? I guess we will have to wait for the episode to air in which SOMEONE captures Buizel...

EDIT #1: [SPOILER] The movie website also revealed that Hikari is going to get Buizel, not Ash, as previously posted. She will have it before the 10th movie premieres in theatres this July in Japan.

States continue tomorrow! If I can tell that I am not doing well at my Speech and Debate tournament tomorrow morning, I am going to say "Forget this!" and head down to the California States in Irvine, where I will then proceed to lose again since I have no deck. However, I will build a junky one tonight (TMI?). :p

New D/P English Names - The Spanish Pokemon site, Pokexperto, single-handedly and exclusively revealed several new Pokemon names earlier this morning. You can see all of the names they revealed below:

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Turtwig -> Grotle -> Torterra

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Chimchar -> Monferno -> Infernape

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Piplup -> Prinplup -> Empoleon

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Starly -> Staravia -> Staraptor

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Bidoof -> Bibarel

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Kricketot -> Kricketune

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Glameow -> Purugly

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Stunky -> Skuntank

10th Movie Teaser Trailer - Dialga vs. Palka vs. Darkrai now has a decent trailer for us to watch! You can view it by clicking here. The music is pretty awesome, and the storyline the trailer is "teasing us" with seems to be interesting as well. The official movie website has also been completely revamped. Could this finally be a good movie for Pokemon fans? Details this summer! Funny how the blonde girl has a hair style similar to Drifblim, just like how Bianca had a hair-style similar to Latias. Foreshadowing?

EDIT #1:This IGN article has confirmed that Pachirisu's English name will be Pachrisu, deleting an "i." However, many fans have spelled the Pokemon's name the same way before (just do a Google search for the name and you will see), so it may just be a spelling error on IGN's part and it could be keeping its Japanese name in full (and it may not be). For now, though, we are classifying Pachrisu as its real name.

Quick update... again!

Piplup + Rare Candy = Empoleon - Gamespot has revealed the name of Pochama / Piplup's final evolution - Empoleon. To quote the article, which was about Pokemon Battle Revolution, "We saw a flaming unicorn shoot fire from its mouth; Empoleon, a penguin, rode a large wave that did damage to two characters at once; and there were all sorts of colorful casting attacks [link]." You should know where the name of Empoleon derives from if you went to fourth grade and took "Social Studies." :p

Sarah Natochenny (Ash's VA) Interview - A month or so ago, I e-mailed Sarah Natochenny with some questions, and she replied to me today! The interview has been reproduced below.

1. When did you first hear about Ash needing a new voice actor?

My manager sent me on the audition around April of 2006.

2. How many people showed up to audition for the voice?

Actors get appointments so there was no American Idol line for it, but when I asked out of curiosity, they said a LOT. They probably called all the NY agencies for submissions and went through their own files of actors they personally know. So yeah. A lot.

3. Once you got the part, how did you react? How did others in your family or your friends act?

I was shocked. Completely. I remember walking out of the 1st audition, calling my mom, and telling her how awful my audition was. I was shocked to even get a callback. My family was proud, my friends lovingly laughed at me. Or maybe not so lovingly.

4. Have you ever met Veronica Taylor or any of the other original VAs?

Nope.

5. What is a typical day for you go like? Do you drive to work? Talk to other VAs? Get Starbucks? Leave and go to McDonalds? :p

I don't eat McDonalds. Sorry! I live in Manhattan, and actually got behind a wheel for the first time only a few days ago...which is probably illegal...I only drove like 3 feet in an empty parking lot. I walk to the studio, or if it's freezing I'll take a cab. I live too close to it to make any sense out of taking the subway there, but that's generally how I get around. I'm usually the only actor in the studio, sometimes we overlap, but I rarely see other actors, because we all record separately. We order food at the studio, I usually have a salad or fruit with yogurt. Sometimes there's a chocolate cake hanging out somewhere in the studio and I eat that too :). On a day that I'm not recording, I'm a regular actor. Auditions, some work, German and French classes, improv practice, and just hanging out with friends, with my cat...regular stuff!

6. How long do you usually spend working as Ash everyday? Does it ever get tiring or over-exciting?

Well I don't work every day. I usually schedule it as one long day. It sometimes gets tiring, because I'm naturally a pretty low-energy person, but they take good care of me!

7. How do you prepare for an episode? Do they show you the script in advance? Do you practice it? Or do they just give you the script when you walk in?

The script never leaves the studio. There's a synopsis that I read, and then go right into it. I read the script as we go so my reads are correct.

8. How hard is it to match the lip flap?

At first it was quite difficult, but now I usually get it on the 1st take.

9. Has Ash's voice changed your own voice in any way?

Not at all.

10. Did you enjoy dubbing the Manaphy movie? How long did it take to do?

I loved it. The movie is sooo beautiful. It took me about 6 hours to do. It comes out April 3rd!!

11. Have you started dubbing the Diamond and Pearl season in Sinnoh? Do you know any Diamond and Pearl English names, besides Mantyke, Manaphy, Buizel, or Chatot?

I just dubbed the 1st two episodes...and you ain't gettin any names outta me! (WPM Note: the first two episodes of the Sinnoh region are the last two episodes of the current season. The actual D/P season does not start until summer.)

12. How close are you to the other VAs on the show?

We're all friends, but we don't see each other as much as we should! Parties are always a blast with these people.

13. Have you read any criticism about the new VAs? How does it affect you?

Sometimes I read the boards but I don't post on them. I get a lot of fan/not so much a fan mail. Some I agree with, some I don't, some makes me work at the voice harder, some the read harder etc. Overall it's helped.

14. Has working with Pokemon opened any doors as far as future voice acting work goes?

People think it's cool. Even people who are in straight acting take notice. Mainly it's just random and unexpected for a young actress to say "yep and I also do Ash on Pokemon."

15. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about what you have seen behind the scenes of making Pokemon episodes?

I honestly can't think of anything because the work isn't very integrated...we have a lot of laughs!

Thank you!
Sarah