Dub episode discussion thread

Honestly they really should have placed the English series title logo in the same place as the Japanese series title logo.

Well, I just heard what I believe is the new Dub opening "Under the Alolan Moon". And no, that's not a typo. And to be honest, I don't really like it at all.

The title of the new opening is "Under the Alolan Moon." Ed Goldfarb is the composer and lyricist for it, and the singers are Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon. It uses footage from "Alola!!" v2 and assorted episode clips (some of which are apparently very spoiler-heavy).

Footage of the new opening (if an official upload from Pokemon themselves comes along, I'll replace this embed with that), so now it's time to give my thoughts on it.

What I like:

-The fact that its minor key helps make it a thematic opposite to "Under the Alolan Sun."
-The clips are very well-edited and the juxtaposition makes perfect sense.
-Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon sing it very well. (Note: this is the fifth dub opening Ben Dixon has had a part in, meaning he's now tied with David Rolfe for the amount of dub openings he's participated in.)
-The melody.

What I don't like:

-The trend of 30-second openings hasn't changed.
-I'm not a fan of the music genre this song is.

Overall, as this is the fifth opening Ed Goldfarb has written, here's my current ranking of openings he's made:

1. Be A Hero
2. Pokemon Theme (XY Version)
3. Under the Alolan Sun
4. Under the Alolan Moon
5. Stand Tall

Another thing to note is that since this opening is a bit dark by its own nature, that could stop being appropriate for the season once the Aether arc ends.

I don't think they will. After the Adventures in Unova season, they never updated the opening once a new season happens. The "Be a Hero" theme used clips from the "mega v (volt)" and they never updated it, and thus they completely skipped using the clips from "Getter Ban Ban". They never even tried to hype up any of the upcoming movies like the Japanese version did.

Official trailer for "Ultra Adventures."

S21 E1: A Dream Encounter!

As usual, waiting for the dub proves to be an excellent choice on my part.

Well, the show's not even trying to hide Faba's role as the villain. I've never seen this saga, but I immediately have every reason to predict he's this arc's villain. If I'm right, then that'd be a good adherence to USUM. As for Lusamine, it's hard to approve of her show characterization as a smother mother. I hope that's an act. I think Ash made a good choice taking it upon himself to raise Nebby.

Lusamine sounds exactly like I figured she would, but Wicke sounds younger than I pictured. Then again, she looks younger in the show than in the games. Faba's got a good voice on him (apparently it's Daniel J. Edwards voicing him), as does Burnet.

That was neat that the dub did what they did in XYZ's premiere by having a nickname be used in the eyecatch. Plus, the dub's using the Z-Power Ring title card.

As this is a new season's beginning, I had hoped more new music would debut. But man, Nebby's theme is the loveliest/cutest thing ever. And the amount of kept JP music is down to a refreshing minimum.

Ultra Adventures is off to a great start.

S21 E2: Now You See Them, Now You Don't!

If only it were this easy to sculpt in real life.

So "Proto-Koffing" is TR's name for Nebby. Typical TR logic. Speaking of them, it was good to see them do something actually smart (not to mention Jessie took a tactic from her Japanese namesake in doing so). I never thought they'd be the best part of a SM episode.

I could be wrong, but this is the first time Jigglypuff has sang since TPCi gained the dub.

Even though we're in a new season, it's good that the "Under the Alolan Sun" instrumental is still around. Nothing else music-wise to report.

The premiere was better than this episode. I hope the next one will be better.

S21 E3: Deceiving Appearances!

So there was the scene that made everyone hate Faba. That was admittedly dickish of him to throw Rowlet across the room. It's always good to get vaccinated. I don't think this kind of thing has been seen before.

You know, Ditto used to be able to replicate faces perfectly. But ever since that defect in Duplica's Ditto caught on, that was made the whole species' flaw.

It looks like the show's taking USUM's route when it comes to Aether, seeing as how Faba's more villainous than Lusamine is.

Yeah, this one wasn't as good as the two before it.

S21 E4: A Masked Warning!

And there's the famous Lycanroc bath/freakout scene.

"A Lycanroc that likes water even though it's a Rock-type?" says Rotomdex. Sheesh, it isn't like water is acid to a Rock-type.

It's good to see some actual story progress, as we now know that it was by Lillie's own choice that she can't remember why she fears Pokemon.

That was a great battle Ash had with Gladion. Is this the first time Ash has lost a battle in Alola?

This arc's picking up momentum now.

S21 E5: Night of a Thousand Poses!

It's weird that a dub episode with "thousand" in the title is the episode Japan counts as episode 999.

At first, I wasn't thrilled that the training took place offscreen. But the development between Professors Kukui and Burnet that replaced the training scene could be building up to something. And apparently Lillie's gone back to being fully Pokephobic.

If the pose game was where "Pose" played in JP, it's gone in the dub. I had hoped a new cue would be placed there, but no such luck. Oh well, the scene was still fun. But man, that cue when Lillie saw Silvally was intense.

Even though this episode had important developments, it's a pity that I had to sit through a snoozefest to get to it.

S21 E6: Mission: Total Recall!

Wow. Faba beat a Dark-type with two Psychic-types. That's certainly some skill.

No better time for Team Rocket to stand up to Faba. That was nice to see. Speaking of whom, it looks like I was right on the mark predicting he'd be this arc's villain, meaning the show is going off of USUM instead of vanilla SM. Good to see he couldn't make Lillie forget the incident that made her afraid of Pokemon, therefore meaning she could finally get over it completely.

I've always thought Ed Goldfarb is a better composer than Akhil Gopal is a sound editor. I mean, Gopal's nowhere near as bad as Masafumi Mima, but he's not infallible himself. Case in point, the Ash vs Faba battle had some messy editing and unsuitable music choices for it. That is, until Silvally showed up. At that point, the music got better. Still, I can't let that earlier slip-up pass.

And now this arc is back to being interesting.

S21 E7: Faba's Revenge!

As nice as it is for Lusamine to regret not being there for her daughter, it'd also be nice if she devoted more focus to punishing the man responsible for her daughter's trauma. Yep, the USA got to see Ash tackle Faba just as Japan did. No one can say he didn't have it coming. But now Lusamine's gone, and so the arc goes to deriving from vanilla SM.

Good to see the music editing fluke from yesterday's episode wasn't repeated. Also, that cue at the episode's very end when Lusamine got taken away might be Mr. Goldfarb's most suspenseful composition yet.

This arc's continuing to pick up steam.

S21 E8: Family Determinations!

Faba's definitely thinking "Oh, I'm so fired..."

It's nice to see someone other than Ash having an adventure. And there's the cliche of ancient civilizations building deathtraps. It all led to a great Totem battle that ultimately turned out to be a no-brainer. But to be fair, Totem Kommo-o easily falls to a Fairy-type even in the games. It was a nice adventure Lillie and Gladion had to themselves, so no complaints about that of Ash and friends' being mostly offscreen. It wasn't their turn, plain and simple.

Though I must say that Lillie's got a pretty weak reason to change her outfit this time. It's really nothing more than rescue gear.

I'll admit to being happy the Ultra Beast advent theme got off lightly compared to other game music that got Miyazaki'd. Still, gotta add it to the list. On the bright side, the music when Lillie changed her hairstyle was very nice. And each of the tracks playing over the Poni trials were nice and mysterious. And that "Under the Alolan Moon" instrumental that closed out the episode is even better than the song version, as unlike the song version which is R&B (a genre I'm not too fond of), the instrumental sounds tribal. This is the best-scored Ultra Adventures episode yet.

And along with that, this is the best UA episode yet overall. And so DisneyXD's UA premiere marathon ends.