Special Stats:

Japanese TV Special:  "Mewtwo!  I Am Here"
American Direct-to-Video Johto Movie:  "Mewtwo Returns"
Japanese Air Date:  December 30th, 2000
American Release Date:  December 5th, 2001
Important Characters:  Domino (Domino), Luna Carson (Luna Carson), Penicillina (Cullen Calix), Luka Carson (Luka Carson)
Important Places:  Pures Rock (Mt. Quena), Clear Lake (Purity Lake), Pure River (Purity River)

Mewtwo, since its adventures in the first movie, has since been hiding away on an island with all its clones.  Satoshi-tachi are traveling through Jouto as it starts to rain, and while trying to find shelter they befriend a young girl, Luna.  As they're talking at her place, the Rocket-Dan appear and kidnap Pikachu.  Their balloon gets caught up in the windy storm, so the Rocket-Dan, Pikachu, and Satoshi-tachi (who are holding on to a rope hanging from the balloon) crash, right into Mewtwo's island.  Sakaki, who had found out about Mewtwo's location through his secret agent Domino, appears with the Rocket-Dan Combat Unit.  They lock Satoshi-tachi and Musashi-tachi into prison cells while they use two robots to shoot energy beams at Mewtwo, paralyzing it.  Satoshi-tachi escape their cells and are able to knock the robots out of commission, freeing Mewtwo.  The pokemon then uses its powers to make everyone who would hurt it and its clones (the Rocket-Dan) forget the events that had occurred, and Mewtwo decides to let the clone pokemon out of isolation and let them join the rest of the world.

---

Thoughts
So, the sequel to Mewtwo Strikes Back.

It's...OK?  Like the movie it's a sequel to, this special does has some cool ideas but the whole thing kind of falls apart in the execution.  I think the main issue I have with it is that it doesn't seem to be able to decide what it's about.  One minute it's all about Mewtwo and the next it's focused on the clones and the next it's going on some environmental spiel, and as a result it isn't really able to do much of anything with any of them.  It doesn't do one or two things well; it tries to do five or six things and ends up half-assing every single one of them.

Another problem with the special is with Mewtwo itself; it's just too freaking powerful to be put in any sort of believable danger.  It can move an entire lake underground but it doesn't think to teleport the Rocket-Dan's blimps away when it sees them approaching?  I do think going after the weaker pokemon was a good way around the lack of any sort of "Mewtwo Kryptonite," but what was preventing Mewtwo from just blasting everyone away before they could get anywhere near the others?  There were quite a few times when Mewtwo could have just put an end to everything and didn't, and its inaction really gets ridiculous at parts.

Still, the animation is absolutely gorgeous and the music is phenomenal, as always.  And the voice acting!  Oh my God, Ichimura Masachika just continues to be in a league of his own.  He really brings Mewtwo to life here and I'm so, so happy they were able to get him to reprise his role for this special because it wouldn't have been the same without him.  I also like how the story's quite a bit darker than what we're used to, what with all the death threats and whatnot, though, again, a lot of that could have been solved if everyone would stop just standing around and actually do something.  Finally, I think the fact that Domino hasn't been used again is nothing short of criminal because she's an amazingly kick-ass villain who really deserves more screentime than she ended up getting.

I wasn't expecting the English dub to be as terrible as it ended up being.  I went into this comparison thinking that it wasn't going to be as bad as the first movie, but it actually ended being just as terrible, if not worse.  I maintain that the first movie dub sucking is a greater tragedy because "Mewtwo Strikes Back" is a much more important work than "Mewtwo Returns" is, but it's still sad that 4Kids treated this special so poorly.  A terrible script, replacement music, awkward voice acting...the number of things the dub gets right can be counted on one hand.  Dub fans are getting cheated.

The clone Nyasu and clone Pikachu keep their Japanese voices.

Music Edit
Other than the Rocket-Dan motto theme, the entire score for this TV special got replaced for the English dub.  While the original version used music from the first two movies mixed with some of the TV stuff, the English dub reused its replacement score for its dub of the first movie (And maybe Movie 2?  I'm not familiar enough with that dub to be able to tell).  As you can tell from my less than thrilled reaction to the music replacement in the first movie, I'm not too happy with the replacement stuff in this special either.

I really cannot overstate what a difference the music makes in this.  When I was listening to the English version I felt like I kept hearing the same four or five tracks being used over and over and over, mainly because a) I was, and b) the music in the English dub just doesn't have the same range as Miyazaki Shinji's score.  The grand sweeping fanfares, the tense music that plays during the dramatic scenes, the peaceful melodies...the dub tries to replicate all this, but in the end it all just ends up all feeling the same from the piece of music that played before.

If you've never seen the Japanese version of this special, I urge you to check it out just for the music alone.  Trust me.

Opening Theme
The Japanese version of this special started with OK!, the current opening to the TV series at the time.  4Kids decided not to show any opening and just start things right away, presumably to give this special more of that "movie" feel than it originally had.

Dialogue Edit / Music Edit
So in the English version, clips from the first movie are played while Mewtwo summarizes the events that took place there.  The dialogue here is surprisingly decent, too; Mewtwo states that Giovanni was the one who ordered him to be created two times, something the Japanese version has never says, but other than that there's nothing too out of place here.

Oh!  And the flashbacks are also kept in their correct aspect ratio instead of being cropped to 4:3.  That was a pleasant surprise.

This flashback also features something that you don't really see too often in this franchise; two different actors performing the same line of dialouge.  Philip Bartlett, who did the voice of Mewtwo in the first movie, was not asked to come back for this special and so Dan Green took over the role.  Which means that the one line in the flashback that was kept from the original movie - "I was not born a Pokémon, I was created.  And my creators have used and betrayed me.  So...I stand alone" - gets redubbed by Dan Green for the special.

Neither one of them are Ichimura Masachika, though, so I don't really care which one's "better."  I'll let someone else debate that.

The Japanese version, on the other hand...y'know, it's not often I defend the things that 4Kids does, but I can absolutely see why they didn't copy what was done in the Japanese version.  You see, back in its home country, this flashback aired without any narration whatsoever.  Additionally, the clips that are shown are played exactly as they did in the actual film itself - same dialogue, same music, same sound effects, everything.  And that's the problem; the people in charge of editing this flashback together didn't even bother to re-edit any of the audio, so what ends up happening is we'll get a scene playing and then there will be an abrupt edit that cuts the music / dialogue / sound effects off.  And it happens over and over and over.

This same thing will happen again in the Advanced Generation clip show "Satoshi and Haruka!  The Hottest Battles in Houen!!"

The whole thing comes off as incredibly sloppy and lazy.  Was this some last-minute rush job or something?  Do they not think the execution of this thing makes it look like they just don't give a shit?  Why did they think this was OK?

Dialogue Edit
Let's get this party started:

Domino:  "These are live satellite pictures of a remote area of the Johto region.  Extreme weather makes it uninhabitable...for people.  But keep watching."

In the Japanese version, Domino tells Sakaki that this is Pures Rock and explains that they're not usually able to get images of the area that clear because of the thick clouds that are usually looming over the area.

She also doesn't say anything about this being in "a remote area of the Johto region."

Mewtwo:  "This place is...beautiful.  But what right have I to judge?  What do I know of this world and its beauty?  I am not like other creatures.  I am not of this world.  We are clones, copies...products of science."

Well, at least 4Kids got the first line right.

Here, Ichimura Mewtwo asks who it is - a callback to the line it repeated over and over in the first movie - and then states that it is Mewtwo, a pokemon created by humans from a fossil of the legendary pokemon Mew in order to fight for them.  It then looks back at the clone pokemon gathered around it and states that they are clones that it (Mewtwo) brought into this world.

The dub kind of covered a lot of this in their version of the recap of the first movie earlier on so 4Kids probably felt that repeating that information here would be redundant, though the loss of Mewtwo mentioning that it was the one who created the clones gathered around it is a regrettable one.

Mewtwo continues:

Mewtwo:  "We are outcasts.  So we must live as outcasts if we are to live at all.  We shall stay here, far from the world...far from man.  It is our only hope.  For if we do not live in secret, we shall never find peace." 

So the dub tries to make it seem like the copies have been discriminated against and are having to hide out because society rejects them.  The thing is, none of this is in the Japanese version.  Or in the English dub, really.

I mean, have you ever seen any of these clone pokemon being discriminated against?  Do we have any reason to believe that these pokemon who, for the most part look like every other pokemon in this series, wouldn't be able to live amongst other pokemon? 

Japanese Mewtwo does say that it would be better for them if they lived a life where humans don't know of their existence, but it doesn't lay on the discrimination angle as thickly as its English counterpart.

Title Screen
The title screen for the dub's a bit flashier and lasts a bit longer than the Japanese one.  The original just had the special's title as white text against a black background while the dub actually has some animation behind it.

Dialogue Edit
Ash, Brock, and Misty have some wondrous wordplay before:


The bus makes the trip around the canyon once a week according to this wacky thing known as the Japanese version.  Which is still crappy, but not nearly as crappy as the bus in the English version.

Brock explains why they can't make the bus:


Takeshi just wants to make pancakes with lots of syrup.  Why won't you let him, 4Kids?  Why!?!?

Side Note
So this is one of those things that people will be messaging me about if I don't include it even though it's probably the most meaningless change in the entire special:


From a comparison point of view, this is pretty boring; 4Kids' line is just a more colorful way of conveying the Japanese line Konna toki wa, furaipan no kasa gawari ni...naranai na? (こんなときは、フライパンの傘がわりに．．．ならないな？), or "At times like this, I'll use my frying pan instead of an umbrella...pretty neat, huh?"  Not much of a big deal at all.

But, like I said before, I kind of have to bring it up because of the line's meme status.  I mean, there are Facebook groups devoted to the line!  T-shirts have been made!  There is romance fanfiction (that's supposed to be played for laughs question mark?) about Brock's secret love for this frying pan.  It's crazy.

Dialogue Edit
Meowth talks about typhoons while James chows down on some dango:


Some differences with Nyasu's guidebook:

• Nyasu's book doesn't say anything about there being blizzards or thunderstorms in the area.
• Nyasu's book states that the tornado-like winds can reach over 40 km an hour, which later prompts Musashi to state that those speeds sound more like typhoons, not tornadoes.
• Nyasu's guidebook doesn't tell people to stay away, a line that's pretty weird for a travel guide to include, right?  Instead, it states that people don't tend to come to the area to visit because of the terrible weather.

Next, as the trio blasts off:


No Bob Dylan reference in the Japanese version; instead, Nyasu asks "everyone, all together now..." before the trio blasts off.

Let's meet Luna:


Luna's line about the bus being full and it being better to leave now actually starts here, but since the English line is able to get this same information across with fewer words 4Kids went and added this line at the beginning about there not being any more passengers for "this month's trip."

She also addresses Luka as oneesan, or "big sister," something that English dub viewers never get.

Brock hits on Luna: 


In the Japanese version, Takeshi makes a reference to him using his frying pan in place of an umbrella (the "drying pan" line) by telling Luna that they can use his cooking utensil as an Ai-Ai-Gasa ("Love Love Umbrella"), which is basically the Japanese equivalent of a heart with an arrow through it.  Longtime visitors of this site will recognize that heart umbrella thing from a paint edit made to "The Pokémon Ensured-Victory Manual," which was also an episode written by Shudou Takeshi.

The dub line is pretty neat, though, in a creepy perverted kind of way.

Luna invites our heroes inside:


Originally, Luna comments that Satoshi and his friends are covered in mud and offers to let them go inside to have a shower.

Mewtwo talks to the Pikachu and Meowth clones while watching a TV that is somehow able to work inside this cave:


Here's what Japanese Mewtwo says:  "Hmm?  That's not all?  "You didn't want to hurt those humans"...that's what you want to say?  Do you think I'm a pokemon capable of being that kind to humans?  Me?  Mewtwo?  Don't be ridiculous."

The Japanese Mewtwo doesn't flat-out say that Nyasu is wrong and one could argue that it actually agrees with Nyasu on some level.  In the English dub, on the other hand, Mewtwo explicitly says that it doesn't care for humans and sounds rather pissed off at Meowth for even asking.  The difference between the two is quite dramatic and is, unfortunately, indicative of what the rest of the special will give us.

Back in the cabin:


Don't be mad at Luna, Ash.  She's not the one who decided to quadruple the amount of time you're having to wait there; that's all on 4Kids.

Also, Luna's first line was pulled out of 4Kids' ass.  Originally, Luna states that they have lodging there where they can stay for the week until the next bus.

Ash tastes the water that most definitely does not have any hallucinogenic in it:


Originally, Satoshi makes a nice reference to his family by saying that the water's alright but that the milk cocoa his mom makes is better.

Canoeing through the river:


Here, Kasumi says that with all this clear water around her, she'll have no problem ignoring (mushi-shima~su, 無視しま～す) the bug (mushi, 虫) pokemon around her.  As you can see, this is a play on words that doesn't really lend itself to a direct translation, so 4Kids changed it to "let Bug Pokémon bug me" instead.

Brock suggests they all climb over Mt. Quena to get across the valley:


Nope, never says that in the Japanese version.

Originally, she says that because of the steep cliffs, humans have not been able to contaminate Pures Rock and that the place is therefore still in its natural state.  TVs and staircases and jail cells and all.

(I may have added that last part in myself)


Japanese Luna talks about how there's this huge forest and that in the center of the forest is a lake known as Clear Lake.  English Luna doesn't mention the forest at all.


Here, Luna tells our heroes that the water from the lake flows down through the ground of Pures Rock and into Pure River.

And yes, I agree that names like "Pures Rock," "Clear Lake," and "Pure River" are pretty lame.  Pures Rock (ピュアーズロック) sounds very similar to Ayers Rock (エアーズロック) when spoken in Japanese, though, so maybe there was at least a tiny bit of thought put into these names?

Mewtwo talks again, which means 4Kids rewrites everything it says, again:

Japanese Version	English Version
Mewtwo:  "The truth is, those that are meant to live in this world are born into it.  That is pokemon...that is life.  But we are different.  How should we go about living?"	Mewtwo:  "For these Pokémon, life is as it should be.  They were born into this world.  It is their home.  They belong here.  We were not born as they were.  We are not of this world.  We do not belong in it."
(looks down at Pikachu)
Mewtwo:  "What do you two think?"	Mewtwo:  "But where do we belong?"
Pikachu:  "Pika Pikachu Pika!  Pika!"
Mewtwo:  ""Living our lives hidden out here like this is the same as being in a jail?""	Mewtwo:  "Do we truly deserve to live here as much as the other Pokémon do?"
Pikachu:  "Pika!"
Mewtwo:  "Nyasu, how about you?"	Mewtwo:  "We are unlike the others."
Nyasu / Meowth:  "Nyaa Nyaa Nyaa.  Nyaa Nyaa-Nyaa-Nyaa Nyaa-Nyaa."
Mewtwo:   "No matter how you look at it, the moon is round"...?  But we are copies of pokemon that were created by others.  We are not the originals."	Mewtwo:  "Yes.  I am sure the moon is round and bright to those Butterfree, just as it is to us and any other Pokémon who sees it."

Well, at least they left the moon part in.

The main problems I have with this are a) Japanese Mewtwo talks to the other clones while English Mewtwo merely talks at them, and b) the English dub loses Pikachu's line about living on that island being like living in a jail.  It may not seem like much at first glance, but the meaning coupled with the delivery (Dan Green sounds pissed off here) really alter the scene rather dramatically.

Side Note
The special in Japan aired with commercials, so it had its own eyecatches. 

For the dub, all of these are cut out so that you wouldn't know that there were multiple commercial breaks throughout and to make it flow more like a movie.

Dialogue Edit
The most painful voice in the English dub of this special makes its entrance:


Domino doesn't say that it's after midnight in the Japanese version.

Also, Luna asks who it is as she's opening the door in the original.  The English dub, on the other hand, doesn't have her say anything.

More chatting:


The Japanese Luna Carson says that she does both jobs but she doesn't actually say that either one of them is her full time work.  For all we know the bus station job is her full time job and her research work is just a hobby.

Domino talks again:


That slang was dated even when this special came out.  It's just embarrassing now.

Domino more or less says the same thing in the Japanese version, only way, way less obnoxiously.


One week.  The bus won't be back for another week.

"I came to study...*awkward pause*...the water."


Penicillina tells Luna that he wants to study Clear Lake and says that this is the source of Pure River.  The English dub has him use the much less specific "Mt. Quena."

Cullen also says that he took the sample "today" even though Penicillina makes no such claim in the Japanese version.

Team Rocket's balloon rockets into the sky:


Musashi makes a reference to an old Frank Sinatra song (and Neon Genesis Evangelion ending theme) by saying Saraba ii otoko!  Mujou no roketto watashi o tsuki made tsurete tte!  "Furai Mii Tu Za Muun!"  (さらば　いい男！無情のロケット私を月まで連れてって！「フライ　ミー 　トゥ　ザ　ムーン」), which all translates to "Farewell you good man!  This heartless rocket is taking me all the way to the moon!  "Fly Me To The Moon!"

So the English dub gets a Bob Dylan reference while the Japanese version gets a Frank Sinatra one.  Huh.

We remarkably go the rest of part one without any significant script changes, believe it or not.

Cut - 23 seconds
Right after Giovanni crushes his glass of bourbon with his bare hand (also, what the eff!?) and his helicopter flies off, there are a bunch of still shots of each character as the narrator asks what will happen next.


You can see more of the shots that were removed from this sequence here.

For the dub, these shots were probably taken out to make it seem like this was, as the DVD box advertises, a "Johto Movie Adventure."

Dialogue Edit
Domino spots the other clone Pokémon:


Sakaki doesn't say anything about the other clones being "unnatural"; he simply states that it's not surprising that even Mewtwo would want companionship.

Domino begins her self-introduction:


Originally, Domino responds by reciting an altered version of the opening lines of the Rocket-Dan's motto. 

The original, for those of you who forgot, is Nanda kanda to kikaretara / kotaete ageru ga yo no nasake (なんだかんだと聞かれたら答えてあげるが世 の情け), which means "If we're asked about this or that / It's up to the world whether or not we answer." 

Domino's version "Anta dare?" to kikaretara / futsuu wa zettai kotaenai.  Sore ga honto no Roketto-Dan (「あんた誰？」と聞かれ たら普通は絶対答えない。それがほんとのロケット団。) translates to "If we're asked "Who are you?" / Then it's normal for us to not answer.  That is the real Rocket-Dan."

Domino continues:


Japanese Domino adds that she's an "A-Class Numbers" member of the group.  The dub decides to portray this by having her say she's an elite member instead.


Japanese Domino doesn't confirm that she ever worked at the institute in the original.

After crash landing:


Here, Musashi asks why they don't even have one or two safety devices installed on their balloon, and Nyasu replies by saying that it wasn't in their budget.

Mewtwo stops the fight between Pikachu and Pikachu:


Mewtwo tells the clone Pikachu to back down and not to engage in any unnecessary battles.  Not this first movie Brother My Brother bullcrap.

It continues:


The Japanese Mewtwo doesn't make a reference to the events of the first movie here; it simply states that both the copy pokemon and the original pokemon are living beings.


In the first sentence in the Japanese version, Mewtwo says that it had wanted the Rocket trio to forget about all of them but that them running into it on this island like this has made that for naught.

Pikachu talks to Pikachu:


One of the annoying things the English dub of both this and the first movie does is change the characters' questions into statements of facts.  "Am I the strongest pokemon in the world?" became "I am the strongest Pokémon in the world," for example, because this is America goddammit and we don't have time for any of that wishy-washy bullcrap.  So when I see these lines, where both of Pikachu's questions in the original get mutated into statements, completely changing the Pikachu's character in the process, all I can do is sigh and shake my head.

The very next exchange!

Japanese Version	English Version
Musashi:  "I see.  But it's OK.  When I was little I had a dream of the day when I could live freely out in the wide world.  It'll happen someday...and now it's become a reality!"	Jessie:  "I know that feeling.  Ever since I was a little girl, the world has always treated me as a misfit.  As an outcast.  As someone who doesn't really belong.  So prepare for trouble!"
Kojirou:  "And we can now say that we can live in the world freely in our future.  "A white hole - a white tomorrow is waiting!""	James:  "And make it double.  We unite all peoples, we extend our reach, we blast off.  So surrender now or prepare to fight."

The English dub just kind of has Team Rocket rambling on about nothing, doesn't it?  Jessie suddenly goes into this non-sequitor about being treated as a misfit when she was little and then they start quoting their motto even though nothing in there is relevant to what any of them are talking about.

Side Note
Another eyecatch.


We're officially at the halfway point now!

Dialogue Edit
The Pikachu clone addresses the others:


Originally, Pikachu just said that they'll be captured and used in the Rocket-Dan's experiments; it doesn't specify "cloning" experiments the way the dub Pikachu does.


In the Japanese version, Pikachu tells everyone that now is their chance to strike out.

Mewtwo watches Team Rocket approach from the video monitors in its cave:


Japanese Mewtwo also identifies the humans as their parents, something the dub Mewtwo fails to do.  It's kind of an important line that really should have been left in.

In jail:


No such promise is made in the Japanese version; instead, Nyasu talks about the moon, which is why the clone Nyasu pipes up at the end there. 

Amazingly, Mewtwo's monologue about whether it's better to protect the pokemon at the cost of their freedom was translated faithfully for the dub.  I think that may be one of the few speeches given by Mewtwo in this special that's actually the same in both versions, so I'll happily move on to the next rewrite:

Ash and his friends arrive at Purity Lake:


Penicillina actually mentioned Clear Lake being the source of Purity River earlier in the special, but Cullen apparently didn't find this out until just now.

Cullen keeps talking about the water:


Originally, Luna says that if the balance of nature is disrupted, it won't be only the pokemon's health that's affected; their sensibility and personalities will become warped as well.

Side Note
Every now and then I'm reminded how I'm not the average fan and that the things that are important to me aren't important to everyone else.  I think the world of the background music for example but couldn't care less about seeing a pokemon using a move that it can't legally learn in the games, yet most fans seem to be the opposite.  Different people pay attention to different things.

The baby Nidoqueen scenes in this special are another perfect example of this.  I've seen so many people freak the hell out because, *gasp*, Nidoqueen can't breed and even if they could their babies would be Nidoran not small Nidoqueen OMG THE WRITERS ARE STUPID HOW COULD THEY MISS SOMETHING SO OBVIOUS.  And the whole time I'm reading these rants and am thinking "Um...really!?  Who gives a shit?"


A lot of people do, apparently, and I just don't get it.  An adult pokemon has a baby, and that baby is a smaller version of the big one.  That doesn't strike me as weird at all.

If I had to freak out over something, I'd freak out over how this tiny Nidoqueen (Nidoprincess?) has those big boobs even though it's still quite small.  Gross.

Dialogue Edit
The clone Meowth almost gets caught by Team Rocket:


In the Japanese version, the clone Nyasu says "The moon is round today as well, isn't it?" (月は今日も丸いか).  Nyasu then tells the other Nyasu that this isn't the time for it to be admiring the moon and that the only round thing it should be worried about are the Monster Balls raining down on them.

Side Note
When Mewtwo rescues the pokemon that had been caught by the Rocket-Dan's Monster Balls, it lets out a grunt each time it swings its arm around to attack.  These grunts are removed from the dub.

Dialogue Edit
After Giovanni's robots knock Mewtwo to the ground:


Originally, Sakaki tells Mewtwo that the power of humans is nothing to look down on.

This "considerable investment" line is also a bit problematic since one could look at this line at the end of the special and be like "Waitaminute...if this was such a "considerable investment," wouldn't Giovanni notice the gaping hole in his budget and wonder where that money went?  And then maybe even trace it back to Mewtwo?"

Just translate the dialogue, 4Kids.  It makes things so much easier.

Mewtwo talks to Giovanni:


Nope:  Mewtwo asks Sakaki if he really thinks those heartless machines of his are able to win against it.  Sakaki responds by saying that their purpose is to merely capture Mewtwo, not defeat it.

Our heroes get captured by Domino:


Wow, Domino actually says the opposite in the Japanese version.  Originally, she says that even though they don't have any use for humans, they can't just let them walk out of there after seeing everything they've seen.  I guess this thinly veiled death threat was too much for 4Kids, though, so it got rewritten.

The Rocket duo sits in their jail cell:

Japanese Version	English Version
Musashi:  "How many times have we said "this feels bad" today?"	Jessie:  "If Meowth doesn't come back, what do we do about..."
Kojirou:  "Heck if I know.  This whole day's felt bad."	James:  "If Meowth doesn't come back, what do we do about what?"
Musashi:  "We've felt bad all day and yet we haven't said "this feels bad" even once."	Jessie:  "What do we do about...the motto?"
Kojirou:  "Maybe we're a bit off our game."	James:  "I never thought about that."
Musashi:   "Ugh, I can't wait for Nyasu anymore."	Jessie:  "Maybe we should start practicing."
Musashi & Kojirou:  "One...two..."this feels ba~d!"	Jessie & James:  "One...two...Looks like Team Rocket's never blasting off again."

I don't get why the English version has Team Rocket go on about the motto and then have them do a variation of a catch phrase that's not even a part of it.

Cut--6 seconds
The shot zooming away from the mountain top after the aforementioned "Looks like Team Rocket's never blasting off again" is a bit longer in the original. 


The scene zooms out, and then it freezes while the narrator asks what will happen next.  Again, this was probably done to make it seem as though this is really a movie, but the way the screen fades to black and the music cuts out really makes the transition super obvious.

Dialogue Edit
Giovanni gets a report:


Japanese Domino adds that the young trainer's name is Satoshi, but English Domino doesn't give his name to her boss in the dub.

Giovanni threatens Mewtwo:


Originally, Sakaki tells Mewtwo that whether the clone pokemon are allowed to live or get killed depends on what it does next (生かすも殺すもお前の出方次第だ).  The dub softens this threat considerably.

Meowth decides to join the clone pokemon:


After Nyasu decides to stay with the clones, he looks up and asks the others to keep this a secret from Sakaki.  This gets replaced with "But if you can do it, I guess I can give it a try" in the dub.


While the threat's more or less the same in Japanese, the word they use to refer to death is kieru (消える), or "disappear."  I wish the dub had gone with that instead of the much more awkward sounding "leave this world" because holy crap does that sound like the most stereotypical cover-up for death ever.

Mewtwo decides to give in to Giovanni:


Here, Mewtwo tells the others to move away because it's the one Sakaki's after, not them.


Sakaki wants to turn the area into a secret base, not a laboratory.


In the Japanese Sakaki doesn't say anything about world domination.  Instead he tells Mewtwo to look forward to the day when his army is complete.

Domino asks how Mewtwo's doing:


More death cover-ups:  here, Sakaki says that Mewtwo's body is weakening, prompting Domino to say that if it dies then they'll have lost everything they've worked so hard for (死んでしまっては元も子もないのでは).  Sakaki says that he doesn't care and, like Giovanni, says that this has become a battle of wills.

Aside from avoiding the use of the word "die," Domino's line in the English version implies that Team Rocket can just make another Mewtwo when there's no such implication in the Japanese version.

Also, what is up with Sakaki just smashing things with his hands in this special?  First the glass in the helicopter and then his phone...somebody just needs to calm the hell down.

Side Note
One more eyecatch.


We're in the home stretch!

Dialogue Edit
The bug pokemon attack.


Originally, Sakaki asks his pokemon what's wrong.  But whatever, English Persian, shut up.

When Domino attacks the bug pokemon by throwing a bunch of tulips at them, she shouts out Midare Uchi (乱れ撃ち), or "Shoot Blindly!!", yelling it out as if it was the name of an attack.  Domino doesn't say anything at all in the English dub.

After Mewtwo destroys the machines that had been trapping it:


Here, the Japanese version has Mewtwo say that its surpassed its limits.  Destroy would be an alright way to convey this, I guess, but since the dub keeps using the word as a substitute for "die," over and over, its use here kind of makes Mewtwo sound more suicidal than it did in the original.

This is also as good a time as any to express how annoying it is that Mewtwo keeps insisting on adding all these dramatic...pauses to its speech...especially since there aren't any...mouth flaps to worry about.

Jessie and James spot the Boss:


Haha, office humor, that's something that resonates with the kids, amirite?

Originally, Kojirou says that it'll be bad if the boss catches them just dawdling around like this.

Brock and Misty help ward off Team Rocket:


Now take a look at this screenshot.  Does it look like he's saying "NO!" to you?  Or does it look like he's maybe ordering the other Rocket-Dan members to attack, which is what he's actually doing? 


I think I'm going to start pulling a Giovanni from now on and just raise my hand and shout "NO!" whenever I don't like something.  Gosh, why isn't this a meme instead of that drying pan line?

Ash brings Mewtwo to the spring:


Satoshi adds that he doesn't think simply drinking the water will be enough; Mewtwo's going to have to be completely submerged if it's to be saved.

Mewtwo starts sinking into the water while that music that sounds like a poor man's version of the Mr. Freeze theme from Batman The Animated Series plays:


The first line in the Japanese version is Koko wa doko da? (ここはどこだ？), or "Where is this place?", and it's another little throwback to the questions Mewtwo kept asking itself in the first movie.  The English Mewtwo isn't know for asking the same questions, so 4Kids probably thought it was OK to rewrite this.


Japanese Mewtwo comes to the same conclusion, but the wording's a bit different.  Originally, after noticing that the waters have the same healing effect on it that it has on other pokemon, it then says "Who am I?  I am, at the very least, a living creature who is allowed to live in this world" (私は誰だ？私は少なくともこの星に生きていい生き物だ).

After Mewtwo defeats everyone in a really anticlimatic matter and then moves an entire lake underground:


Satoshi doesn't randomly decide to call Orchid-Hakase in the Japanese version; he simply comments on how amazing Mewtwo's power is.

Side Note
I thought this was kind of amusing:


God, I wish I could forget this horrible, horrible dub.  But, like Brock says, just forgetting it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Dialogue Edit
Mewtwo is persuaded to let Ash and his friends remember:


...like you?  Mewtwo, who spent the entire first movie and the first part of this TV special going on and on about how you're all different from everyone else because you're a clone?  What?

There's none of this "shame of the past" nonsense in the Japanese version.  Instead, Mewtwo tells the pokemon there that they have just as much a right to live in this world as anyone else and that they should leave on a journey out into that world. 

The clone Pokémon fly away:


Nyasu tells the clone that the moon is full and that it's the perfect weather for a flying.

Right as Ash is about to leave:


"This time?"  So did Mewtwo tell Ash about the events of the first movie off-screen somewhere?  Like, did Mewtwo go up and was like "Oh yeah, I sort of tricked you into risking your life to come to my island so I could steal your Pokémon, and also you got turned to stone but it was OK because a bunch of Pokémon cried and brought you back to life, and then after all that I erased your memory." 

Originally, Satoshi tells Mewtwo that he would like to see it again (また会える日が来ればいいな).

As Mewtwo leaves:


Japanese Mewtwo:  "If you ever hear me calling your name, try turning around.  I might be right there..."

Not quite the same as "across time and space," is it?

Let's check in with the boring characters nobody cares about!


Originally, Luka calls out that the once-a-week bus has arrived.  She doesn't say anything about being called there by Luna.

Cullen responds!


The Japanese line is a whole lot less shippy, as most shippy lines in the 4Kids dub tend to be: originally, Penicillina says that he'll be staying there to continue his research.

In the city:


It's hard to depict it here in text, but Dan Green's delivery of this line cracked me up.

Anyway, in the Japanese version Mewtwo says "I am here."  It's finally found the answer to one of the questions it had been asking since the beginning of the first movie, "Where am I?"  It brings Mewtwo's entire story to a nice close.

But whatever, fuck that, let's just have Mewtwo say that it'll remember Ash, that's good enough, right?

And the final line of the special:


Wow, 4Kids, that "always by moonlight" part isn't completely random at all.

The Japanese narrator says "After that, an urban legend about a mysterious pokemon who lives in some city somewhere is whispered.  But there isn't anyone who knows whether that's true or not" (その後大都会のどこかに不思議なポケモンが住んでいるという都市伝説がささやかれるようになった。だがその実体を知る者は誰もいない).

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