Pokémon in the Netherlands: Difference between revisions

Pokémon in the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands
Language	Dutch
Continent	Europe
Original anime airdates
EP001	September 10, 1999
AG001
DP001
BW001	September 10, 2011
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first arrived in the Netherlands on September 10, 1999, with the first broadcast of Pokémon, ik kies jou! in Dutch. The release of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions followed afterwards, on October 10, 1999 in the English language.

Pokémon Video Games

All of the main series and spin-off Pokémon games have been released in English in the Netherlands. As in the rest of Europe, Pokémon Trozei! is sold under the title Pokémon Link!.

Pokémon anime

Pokémon was originally broadcasted in the Netherlands on Fox Kids. On February 23, 2005, the network was renamed Jetix NL and then again on January 1, 2010, as Disney XD.

The first four movies saw a release in Dutch theaters. Later movies, as well the special episodes, are regularly broadcasted on Disney XD.

Episodes and movies in the Netherlands generally debut a few weeks after the first airing in the United States. A notable exception to this was Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness which aired in Dutch before airing in English anywhere in the world.

The Dutch dub also airs in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.

Music

Some songs used in the Dutch dub are translated versions of the songs used in the English dub, while others air untranslated.

Two soundtrack albums have been released in the Netherlands. The first, Pokémon 2.B.A. Master, was the same as its North American counterpart and was sold in English. The second, Pokémon - De Reis van Johto, was a Dutch translation of Totally Pokémon.

Cast and crew

The lead role of Ash Ketchum is performed by Christa Lips (born 1964), a Dutch actress and singer. Christa also voiced Cassidy for a few episodes. Marlies Somers (born January 16, 1973) gave her voice to Misty, while Fred Meijer is the voice of Brock, as well as Giovanni for several seasons.

Jessie is dubbed by Hilde de Mildt (born November 19, 1959). James was originally dubbed by Bram Bart (born April 32, 1962), who also voiced Gary Oak, but in season 8 the role was given to Paul Disbergen, also the voice of Paul and Butch. Meowth also had a change of voice actors at the same time, from Jan Nonhof (born December 9, 1947) to Bas Keijzer (born March 31, 1973), who is also the current voice of Giovanni.

In season 2, the role of Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Martin van den Ham (September 15, 1962 - March 9, 2001), an actor and comedian. After his sudden death of cardiac arrest at the age of 38, Tracey's recurring appearances were performed by Rolf Koster (born February 25, 1968).

In the Advanced Generation series, the new main characters May and Max were voiced by Nicoline van Doorn and Lot Lohr (born June 3, 1963), respectively. In the Diamond & Pearl series, Dawn's role was given to Meghna Kumar (born June 23, 1979).

Dexter and Professor Oak were voiced by Jon van Eerd (September 5, 1960) up to season 7, at which point he was replaced by Tony Neef (born January 29, 1961), who also voiced Gary Oak, Harley, and Butch. In season 11, Professor Oak's role was moved to Thijs van Aken (born May 5, 1969), while Dexter's role was moved to Hetty Heyting (born October 19, 1953), also the voice of Zoey, Cassidy, and Vivian Meridian.

Other notable voice actors in the Dutch dub include Jeroen Keers as the narrator, Mandy Huydts (born April 9, 1969) as Nurse Joy and Cassidy, Edna Kalb (born October 11, 1959) as Officer Jenny, Beatrijs Sluyter as Delia Ketchum, Lilian Meridian, and Marian, Edward Reekers (born May 24, 1957) and Pepijn Gunneweg (born May 18, 1976) as Todd Snap, Niki Romijn as Ritchie, Just Meijer, Stan Limburg (born April 20, 1961), and Sander de Heer (born September 17, 1958) as Giovanni, Sander van der Poel (born September 19, 1986) as Drew, Huub Dikstaal (born January 6, 1968) as Drew, Butch, and Scott, Finn Poncin as Butch, Lottie Hellingman (born August 7, 1977) as Cassidy, Marjolein Algera (born November 25, 1965) as Vivian Meridian, and Lotte Horlings (born April 10, 1979) as J.

Most of the movies held the original voice actors. However, the distributor for movies 4-7 chose for another dubbing studio. As such, most of the original cast was replaced by other voice actors. Just Christa Lips as Ash and Marlies Somers as Misty remained. From movie 5 on, also they got replaced by new voice actors.

Beside the replaced voice actors, the dub was also not of high quality. The dialogue and title song were poorly translated and at some scenes the English voices could still be heard or had no voices at all.

From 2007 on, the movies did not premiere anymore on DVD, but rather on TV (Jetix). This meant that the dubbing was once again of high quality and held the original cast.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

Booster packs of the Pokémon Trading Card Game have been sold in the Netherlands since the beginning of the TCG. Prices are generally around €4 per pack. Base Set and Jungle have been translated in Dutch, while later sets have been sold in English only.

There are fifteen Pokémon Organized Play leagues in the Netherlands, which work the same way as leagues in other countries. Once every year, the leagues in the Netherlands and Belgium hold an international tournament called the Benelux Cup.

Pokémon manga

English Pokémon Adventures volumes are imported and sold in the Netherlands. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team was translated in Dutch and serialized in three parts alongside 2007 publications of Jetix Magazine.

Trivia

• Like Germany and Italy, an annual event named Pokémon Day is held every year in the Netherlands by Nintendo at Walibi World.
• Due to the relatively small size and large population of the Netherlands, as well as good public transportation systems, real life meetups are extremely common in the Dutch fandom.

This article is part of Project Globe, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon franchise around the world.