Doraemon (2002-2004 Phuuz Entertainment dub)

Doraemon is a Japanese anime that aired on TV Asahi. It has been famous in Japan and other countries.
In the early 2000's, Phuuz Entertainment picked up the rights to Doraemon and decided to give it a try out dubbing the series into English by dubbing a pilot, and 25 more episodes that were comissioned by TV Asahi and Shin-Ei Animation. After a second test screening of the completed pilot, a dubbed version of the 2002 episode "All the Way to the Country of the Future", lots of networks, including children's channels, were not interested in the anime and it turns out to be unaired. 26 episodes, with a total of 52 animated segments, were dubbed and edited. They dubbed a few 80's episodes ("The Substitution Rope Story", an episode previously dubbed by MTV UK, is one of the episodes), while the rest of the episodes they dubbed were made from 2000-2002.
== Cast ==
NOTE: The voice cast is unknown, but the cast is only guessed. Also, some the names were reused from the Fox Kids Europe dub of Doraemon, and some of them would later be used for the Disney XD dub.
Character 	English localized name	English voice 	Notes
Doraemon 	Doraemon 	Diane Michelle 	In this dub, Doraemon sounds similar to Shin-chan from the Phuuz dub of the anime of the same name, only his voice is high-pitched and sing-song like.
Nobita Nobi 	Nobu Nobi
Nobi Nobi (1 episode only)	Michael E. Rodgers (pilot episode only)
Michael J. Frances (last 25 episodes)	Nobu's original Japanese name was heard in 5 episodes.
In the first episode of the dub, Nobu sounds like Junior from Thomas and the Magic Railroad, but at a much higher-pitched voice to sound like an innocent kid.
In the earlier episodes, he sounds similar to Mantyke from the anime film Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, but his voice was adjusted a little to sound like a normal kid, while in the later episodes, he sounds similar to a male version of his original Japanese voice.
Just like the Fox Kids Europe dub, his name is based on his French name
Due to strict identity laws, Nobu's second voice actor's real name, except for his first name, could never be identified to the public.
Shizuka 	Shizu (first 10 episodes)
Serena (last 20 episodes, reused from MTV Europe dub)	Michelle Ruff 	In this dub, Shizu/Serena sounds like Nini from the Phuuz dub of Shin-chan.
Suneo 	Zippy 	Bridget Hoffman (first 10 episodes)
Michael Sorich (last 16 episodes)	In the first ten episodes of this dub, he sounds like a cool 10-year old boy, while in the remaining episodes, he has a nasal, but high-pitched voice
Just like the Fox Kids Europe dub, his name is based on his 1st Italian name.
Gian 	Giant
Big G (nickname, 5 episodes only)	Paul St. Peter
Richard Cansino (1 episode only)	In this dub, he has a tough and nasal voice.
Giant's Japanese name ("Takeshi") was never changed and was heard every time his mom was talking.
Dekisugi 	Dekisugi 	Hope Levy 	In this dub, he sounds like Cosmo from the Phuuz dub of Crayon Shin-chan.
Jaiko 	Giant Jr. (pilot episode only)
Jello (remaining episodes)	R. Martin Klein (pilot episode only)
Debra Jean Rogers (last 25 episodes)	In the first episode, she sounds similar to the titular protagonist in the English dub of Flint the Time Detective.
For the last 25 episodes, she sounds similar to her 2014 English dub voice, but at a much higher pitch.
Tamako Nobi 	Mrs. Nobi 	Rebecca Forstadt	
Nobisuke Nobi (father of Nobita)	Mr. Nobi 	Steve Staley (first half)
Troy Baker (second half)	
Nobisuke Nobi (son of Nobita) 	Nobisuke Nobi 	Diane Michelle
Michael Sorich (one episode only)	Shares the same English voice of Doraemon, but sounds more like a 10-year-old boy.
== Edits ==
Mostly, there are not many edits, and the setting was kept, but there are some cuts and edits that had to be made for airing. The animation edits were done by Shin-Ei Animation themselves.
# The names were changed
# Almost all scenes where Shizu/Serena was taking a bath was cut or shortened. If they were shown, she would wear a tank top and underwear.
# Some dialogue was improvised by some of the voice actors.
# Scenes that show adults hurting children were cut.
# Cigarettes were changed to normal lollipop sticks with bubbles coming out
# Alcohol was changed to either root beer, sparkling grape juice, or water.
# The theme song was changed, using a theme song that sounds similar to the 2003 Italian theme song, and it is unknown who performed it.
# The music was changed, too, and almost every character got their own musical theme.
# Some of the original Japanese sound effects were removed.
# Some of the episodes were shortened to fit the run time of 30 minutes.
Although, some features from the Japanese version were kept
# The Japanese setting and food were kept and named properly.
# Some of the names of characters, including Doraemon and Dekisugi, were kept because they were pronounced very easily. Although, Nobita and Giant's names were just nicknames and their original Japanese names were heard in some episodes.
# Most of the dialogue was faithful to the Japanese version, with some differences, including the name changes, the name changes of the gadgets, and the improvisation.
# Some of the original Japanese sound effects were kept.
# Only one full-lengh Doraemon TV special was dubbed, and it was also mostly unedited and was released on an extremely rare VHS.
== Reception ==
There was no proper reception, since this dub was unaired, but many channels were not interested in Doraemon due to the content and how infamous the series might get, despite the inappropriate content being edited for broadcast.
== Trivia ==
In the first episode of the dub, Nobita (Nobu) and Jaiko (Giant Jr/Jello) had different voices. Michael E. Rodgers reprised his role from the Fox Kids dub to voice Nobu (but he used the same voice he used for Conan in the Toonami dub of Detective Conan), while R.Martin Klein voice Giant Jr. Originally, Michael E. Rodgers was going to voice Nobu in all 26 episodes, and he even recorded his lines for all of the episodes, but unfortunately,after a short test screening of the pilot before the other episodes were dubbed, the audience did not like Michael's voice work, complaining that Michael's Nobu voice sounded "annoying" and that his crying sounded "ear grating". And so, the voice director sadly called Michael and told him that for the last 25 episodes, his lines had to be redubbed and his voice work as Nobu was scrapped. For the rest of the series after the pilot, Nobu was voiced by an unknown male actor. It is unknown why Giant Jr/Jello's voice was replaced after the pilot, possibly because R. Martin Klein was too busy with other things.
The pilot was test screened two times. The first time was in the summer of 2002 when they wanted to see if the voice acting was good, while the second test screening was screened in January 2003. In the first test screening, there was positive reception to most of the voice acting, with the exception of Michael E. Rodgers' voice acting as Nobu, in which they complained about the voice he used and his crying. In the second test screening, none of the networks wanted to have the dub due to fears of the anime getting low ratings, causing this dub to be unaired.
This was the last production Nobu's voice actor worked on, once again credited as "Michael J. Frances", due to strict security laws that forced him to end his career.
Category:English dubs
Category:Doraemon
Category:English Dub
Category:2002
Category:Unreleased