Doraemon: A Visit To The 22nd Century

Doraemon: A Visit To The 22nd Century is a variety program that first aired on the ABS Television Network in 2013. The show is produced by Kabushiki Gaisha ABS with assistance from Fujiko-Pro and TV Asahi Corporation.
== Premise ==
This program's premise is to invite viewers watching ABS Television to come with Doraemon and Nobita as they go "on a visit to the 22nd century". Once the show starts, the programme is broken up into various "segments".
The numerous segments that appear in each show are as follows:
*The show's "introduction" segment, in which at the start of each show, the presenters and fans pop up and say a welcome greeting in order to welcome viewers to the show.
*"Theater" segments: In every 11-minute "theater" segment, two new episodes of the Doraemon anime are shown in full and without interruption (commercial, emergency or otherwise).
*"Secret Gadget Showcase": In these segments (3 per episode), presenters makes various jokes and pranks using a different gadget (gadgets vary depending on each episode) they get from Doraemon's supposedly bottomless "Fourth-dimensional Pocket". They also demonstrate the gadget publicly to the audience and also demonstrate how the gadget works in different situations.
*"Doraemon Land"*: In this segment, three-person "teams" (2 individual teams each time) participate in a number of physical and intellectual challenges themed around the world of Doraemon.
*"Future Stage": Characters from the Doraemon franchise pop up to perform and sing their own character songs. Sometimes, popular J-Pop acts perform one of their songs to the live audience.
*Regional variations of this segment may override the international simulcast in certain territories.
== Hosts ==
The show is hosted by Doraemon, Nobita Nobi and Sewashi Nobi (Nobita's great-great-grandchild from the 22nd Century where the show is "set"). They co-exist with live-action hosts Minato Sato and Antonette Sharman. Shizuka Minamoto and Suneo Honekawa serve as substitutes for Antonette and Minato respectively for episodes where one of the hosts is absent.
The anime characters are animated in the same 2D means as the show it is based on for the first few seconds of the show's opening, but begin to morph into their own 3DCG forms (created and animated by Shin-ei and ABS' Kobe Annexe until 2014, when they were replaced with their redesigned appearances from Stand By Me, Doraemon) on their trip in Doraemon's Time Machine, their transformation completing by the time the show properly begins.
== Broadcasting ==
As of the 11th of May 2016, the show airs on the ABS Television Network every Wednesday at 4:00pm, before ending at 6:00pm.
Prior to this change, the show aired from 4:00pm to 5:30pm.
The show is re-run every Thursday on BS Asahi (on domestic Japanese Broadcast Satellites), the ANN network of terrestrial television stations (of which TV Asahi is a the founding member) and Asahi Kokusai (on numerous international satellite, terrestrial and cable systems), both of which are owned by TV Asahi Corporation.
The live segments for the show are presented in English (Subtitling is used to translate the Japanese dialogue spoken by Doraemon characters). However, the "theater" segments showing Doraemon episodes are presented in both English and Japanese, in line with ABS' regular Doraemon anime airings.
== Changes and similar proposals over period of broadcasting ==
In early 2016, Bang Zoom! Entertainment (the company responsible for dubbing the Doraemon TV series for the majority of the English-speaking world) ran a 4-episode trial in which the animated Doraemon characters within the show were voiced by their American VAs, effectively eliminating the English subtitles required for them in the live segments, and making a true English-language programme. However, ABS were reported as being "on the fence" as to wherever they should abandon the original Japanese seiyuus that have been voice acting for the characters in the show since 2013.
MediaSet made a separate proposal, considering that their Italian voice actors be drafted in to voice the Doraemon characters when the show is broadcast on ABS Televisione Giappone, ABS' Italian affiliate.
Kabushiki Gaisha ABS has since given Bang Zoom! Entertainment the right to give the characters English voices. The Japanese VAs would remain in their job, as a secondary Japanese-language audio track would be set up for all episodes aired as of the 11th of May, 2016. MediaSet's offer, however, has been rejected, and Italia 1/ABS Televisione Giappone was forced to make do with airing the show in English with Italian subtitles.
The voice actor change was originally scheduled for the 4th of May, but was postponed after Doraemon Land was allegedly delayed due to ignorance on the part of scheduling staff.
== Conflicts with Doraemon Land? ==
Kabushiki Gaisha ABS, after nearly 3 years of the Visit to the 22nd Century project, made an agreement with LUK Internactional, S.A. for a reboot of the Doraemon Land game show that aired in Spain in 2014. Whilst LUK, 60dB and Turnek productions were responsible for the production of the first series, Kabushiki Gaisha ABS would produce the series by itself under license and supervision of LUK. This show would not replace A Visit to the 22nd Century, and it was originally decided that the new show would not air outside Europe until feasibility has been proven for wide-scale international broadcasts. However, Kabushiki Gaisha ABS retracted the statement, announced that A Visit to the 22nd Century would be extended to 2 hours (4:00pm to 6:00pm), and the "Challenge" segment would be dropped, allowing Doraemon Land to air in its place.Category:Aso Broadcasting System
Category:Doraemon
Category:Television programs established in 2013