Digimon

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, the reason I can't believe it ever happened in Adventure is because it was never mentioned at all in Adventure 02, and the reason it can't be canon is because if you look at Tai, he has his Adventure season 1 character design (when he was still 12 years old), but Davis is also there and in his leader uniform, and if that's the case it couldn't be at the same time that Tai was 12 since Davis never even knew about Digimon (let along became the leader of the Digi-destined) until a few years after the events of Adventure season 1 (at which point Tai would have been older than he appeared in that scene from Xros Wars). But, having said that, as you said: "Screw continuity!"

As for Xros Wars, I never got very far into it. I think the last episode I watched was either episode 15 or 16. They were in that Sky zone area, though at the point I left off at they hadn't actually found the Code Crown for that area yet.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I only just found out that Digimon Adventure season 1 is getting a complete DVD release.

Honestly, I'd totally pick this up if I had the money for it. If Tamers got a release just like this as well, then that'd be perfect.

[Rynnec]

[Rynnec]

More info on the dub came out since my last post:

http://withthewill.net/index.php?topic=17232.0

The dub is being done at Studiopolis. It's in the midst of casting, and the WWP pilot stuff has been tossed out (as was always the assumption.)

Rising Sun Tokusatsu noticed Ben Diskin mentioning he tried out for it.

Based on info from Diskin, it appears the names are being changed for the dub, but not the names WWP used. Taiki's name is similiar (off by one consonant apparently.) According to Diskin the term will still be DigiXros (although based on the way this stuff is done, that may be an early script.)

As for who has licensed it... that information is to come later.

Edit- Due to a few things being said less than privately...I can go ahead and say who the company is now... Saban Brands.

The first dubbed season will be 30 episodes.

Saban's longtime composer Noam Kaniel will be composing music for the series.

Edit 2- Saban Brands has confirmed they have it and it will be dubbed under the title Digimon Fusion, they've also confirmed they have the old seasons.

Edit 3- Here is the logo (thanks to BSCKids) Love that classic font...
(Click for larger)

Edit 4- Marvista put up their marketing trailer for the series

Fusion Marketing Trailer

The marketing trailer confirms a few details including Taiki's name being changed to Mikey, the term will be kept as DigiXros, and a few inter-spliced clips of Hunters seems to confirm they have that also.  Try and guess the cast in the trailer...

The logo can be seen in the link.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, this is kind of old news by now, but being that I'm always out of date on info, I only just came to realize that Digimon Fusion (or Digimon Xros Wars, if you want to go by its Japanese title) is going to be airing on Nicktoons. That's fairly interesting to see that they are getting yet another Toei anime series (though, I don't think that they've aired DBZ Kai for a while, as I'm pretty sure that its airing on Vortexx now). I only watched about 20 episodes of Xros Wars, and I thought it was fairly decent, though not quite as enjoyable and Adventure season 1 and Tamers. That said, I should still get back around to trying to finish Xros Wars one of these days.

[Goldstar]

What's interesting about that news is that a Nickelodeon executive once stated years ago that they would never air anime on Nick. Clearly, ratings have caused the network to rethink that credo. The thing is, even back then, Nick was airing some anime, just nothing action oriented. Shows like Adventures of the Little Koala, Noozles, Litt'l Bits and Maya the Bee were aimed at a younger audience, but were no less anime.

[Rynnec]

I think it's airing on regular Nick too. Which would be welcome news if true.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It'll be interesting to see the ratings for this new Digimon show. I remember that Adventure seasons 1 and 2 were quite popular back when they aired on Fox Kids. Ironically, season 2 was the most popular season of Digimon over here in the states, despite being significantly weaker in quality than the 1st season and Tamers, whereas Tamers actually did significantly worse than either season of Adventure as far as ratings, go. To be fair, though, I was one of those kids who couldn't really get into Tamers back when it was airing, but looking back on these shows, that one easily had the most quality out of any of the Digimon series. It also had the most care put into its script and English dub, being that it was the closest to being as accurate as possible to the original Japanese version than any other dubbed season of Digimon (though, it still took quite a number of liberties of its own, but most of them were fairly reasonable in order to better market it to American kids).

Now, I wonder if Saban intends to treat the English dub of Fusion (Xros Wars) with the same level of care that they put into Tamers. If so, that'd certainly be all the more enticing to get me to watch the show as it airs on Nicktoons.

[Daikun]

Subbed Digimon on Netflix.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Sweet! I've always wanted to watch the original version of the show with subtitles. I'll probably pass on Adventure 02, though, even though they have it up, as I'm not too keen on re-watching that one in particular. It'd be awesome (yet unlikely, I know, so nobody has to point it out to me) if they could get the sub for Tamers up as well, but I still have a lot of love for the original season of Adventure, so I may just hit that up again after I'm finished watching Buffy and Angel on Netflix.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Maybe I'll finally re-watch this show, now. The original Japanese voicework will probably be a little more pleasing to my ears (I prefer Pokemon in Japanese too, so no complaints!). 

[Rynnec]

The VA'ing in Digimon is actually pretty decent, imo. It's the soundtrack replacements I'm (usually) not too keen on.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, it's not bad, per say. It probably is more the music that bothers me a little when I've tried to watch it recently. Still, I think watching the series with the original Japanese cast would still be more of an incentive for me to finally commit to a proper rewatch of the show, other than trying an episode on Nicktoons here and there.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Continuing from the recent threads, and since I completed Adventure, this is my ranking:

Devimon Arc - 8/10

Right off the bat this show starts out strong with technically 14(!) characters and in the span of 13 episodes gives them all enough focus and enough crazy adventures to really set this show going.

Etemon Arc - 7/10

It still continues being fun, but it's not quite as exciting as the Devimon arc with several episodes just sort of not being very exciting or having enough character moments. The best part would probably be the final confrontation with Datamon in the pyramid.

Myotismon Arc - 10/10

This was really great from start to finish. From Tai's first appearance in the real world up until every character (EVERY character! Remember when shonen did that?) took down the bad guy after leveling a chunk of the city and ended up floating back to the Digital World. A lot of character moments and fun episodes, this is still just as fun to watch nowadays.

Dark Masters Arc - 9/10

This arc is fast and quite a lot happens. I'm not really sure how they managed it. But this is the arc where the wrinkles in the dub really show. That last fight at the end is embarrassing to watch in the dub. Otherwise, this is a really good epilogue to the story and the ending is a good way to close it up. I have to say that re-watching it, it still holds up as a fun adventure show that I think kids now would enjoy.

The dub was, yeah, kind of a mixed experience. The voices were good (the cast list is impressive to look at now) as well as the direction, but the dialogue changes were totally unnecessary (The 'Digimon dungeon' thing makes no sense when in every other episode it isn't hidden at all what happens to the Digimon) and the jokes were unneeded. But if you can get past that, the actual dub is watchable. It's not quite a "hackdub", there are far worse in that field.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Ah, I totally forgot about doing something like this for Digimon. Here are my rankings:

Devimon - 7/10

Its a really nice start to the series. Its kind of standard shonen fair, but for a show that was basically made to sell toys, it was WAY better than what something of this sort normally would've been. I like how even within the first 13 episodes (which was originally all the series was planned for), we got pretty even characterization for all 7 of the original Digidestined. We got really enjoyable episodes that gave each character their dues, and the adventure aspect was always fun, with the Digimon designs being especially creative, and it was exciting to see each Digimon reach their champion level in connection to their partner's character development. Overall it was a fun season, but nothing outstanding.

Etemon - 6/10

Its easily the weakest part of the series, and is clearly just set-up for what's to come later on. Its serviceable stuff, and it does contain some really fun villains and a good sense of adventure, but on the whole it just feels like padding before stuff actually gets real.

Divided Digidestined - 8/10

I know that most people just count this as being part of the Etemon arc, but its really a completely separate arc from that, hence why it doesn't have an official title and I just had to make one up on the spot. At any rate, this is where the show really started picking up for me, and the adventure elements really began to click. This wasn't the first time that the characters had been split up, but this is where we really got some terrific chemistry between them as Tai started meeting up with the other members of the group, and attempted to reunite everyone. In this way, we got a lot of fun scenarios involving all kinds of mix-ups between groups. That said, my personal favorite episode in this bunch was Izzy's episode, which was ironically a solo character piece with Matt and TK only coming in and joining up with him at the end, but it was a really nice celebration of why Izzy's curiosity and need to learn and understand more makes him such a great character. We also get a good lead-in to the plot of the next arc in this story, so overall this was a really good arc, IMO.

Myotismon - 10/10

Hands down the best arc in the original series. Bringing the characters back into the real world and having the Digimon become a real physical threat was a brilliant idea. It was also terrific that the writers actually got the kids' parents involved, and that most of these parents were pretty well characterized themselves. This arc hands down was the high-point of the series in terms of both the overall stakes as well as on an emotional level. This really felt like everything the series had been building up to for a while, and the addition of great characters like Gatomon and Wizardmon REALLY pushed forward the level of complexity that the Digimon themselves could have as characters, and also lead to one of the most legitimately tragic moments in the show, which is hands down one of my top 3 favorite Digimon scenes ever. On the whole, if you want to get down to the core of what makes this arc great, its not so much the story, but its ALL about the characters. Its crammed to the brim with great character moments and character development for just about every member of the cast even the minor characters, and it contains the best villain in the original series to boot. So, yeah, this was the first Digimon arc that elevated the show's status to being better than just a simple kid's show.

Dark Masters - 9/10

While not quite as good as the Myotismon arc, this is an easy 2nd for the original series, and that's not a bad thing by any means. I think this arc could have potentially been the best one, but what holds it back from a 10 for me is that it ultimately comes off feeling a bit rushed. Also, by this point most of the characters had already finished their own personal character arcs, so there wasn't much left to develop for any of them. They tried to do it with Matt, but the problem was that it felt like they wer setting his character back a few notches in order to make an internal conflict for him to resolve in the first place. Despite all of that, the whole arc is still entirely engrossing and really well put-together. Having the entire Digiworld overturned by the Dark Masters upon the return of the Digidestined immediately sets the grimm and desperate tone of this story-line. In addition to that, having some of the old Digimon friends that the group made be killed off one-by-one by the Dark Masters really shows you that these guys are serious. It all comes down to a pretty well-done climax, and wraps up with an ending that's both heartwarming yet somber and bittersweet. Overall it was a great way to end the first season of the show.

Man, Digimon Adventure really was a great show. I know 02 wasn't nearly as good, but I still have a lot of nostalgia for that series so its impossible for me to hate it. Also, while Tamers is definitely the superior show, looking back on it, Adventure still has a lot of merit and can still stand up in comparison to Tamers with its own set of unique strengths to contribute.

Also, speaking of Tamers, I'll probably go ahead and give my ratings on the story arcs for that series, sometime tomorrow.