Pokémon in Portugal

Pokémon in Portugal
Flag of Portugal
Language	European Portuguese
Continent	Europe
Original anime airdates
EP001	1999
AG001	2004
DP001	January 31, 2009
BW001
XY001
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first reached Portugal around 1999, when the anime started to be broadcast on SIC.

Pokémon video games

All Pokémon video games were released in Portugal in English, with the box and the instruction booklet translated. Up until April 2009, games were not launched in Portugal in time. On 3rd April 2009 Nintendo opened a branch in Portugal, and now almost all the games are launched in time. The first game events were also held in 2010. Like in the rest of Europe, the Black and White games were released on March 4, 2011.

Pokémon anime

SIC's most recent logo, used since 1997

Panda Biggs logo

The television station that started broadcasting the Pokémon anime in Portugal is SIC, Sociedade Independente de Comunicação, a station based in Lisbon that was owned by a consortium led by Francisco Pinto Balsemão, and backed by Controljornal (now Impresa Jornais, a holding that contains Impresa's newspapers and magazines), Impala Editores, BPI and Rede Globo. It is the third terrestrial television station in Portugal, launched on October 6, 1992. It aired the seasons 1-10, including Pokémon Chronicles, having several breaks in the process. The show aired in an irregular pattern, shifting from 6 A.M. to 10 A.M., but always in the same programing block, named LOL@SIC. The seasons 1-9 were dubbed in the Nacional Filmes studio, in Lisbon. Movies 1-4 were dubbed in Matinha, a studio known for dubbing famous Disney and Dreamworks movies, with nearly the same voice actors from the anime.

The 7th movie was dubbed in PSB, an amateur studio in Lisbon (with no previous relation with the series), which was poorly received by the fans, due to it using amateur and unknown voice actors.

The Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl season was dubbed in the Dialectus studio, in Lisbon too. It premiered on SIC on January 31 2009, airing more or less consistently one new episode each Saturday, around 7 A.M. After DP037 aired on 4th October 2009, the show went on a hiatus. The 14 last episodes of the season aired from 6th February 2010 to 13th March 2010. These last episodes were sponsored by the Italian toy company Giochi Preziozi.

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In Fall 2010, the rights to the series were purchased by another Portuguese channel, Panda Biggs. The production was moved into the Cinemágica studio in Porto, which meant the entire voice cast was going to be replaced. TPCi took over the control of the series, retaining the episode titles written in European Portuguese introduced in the Pokémon: Diamond & Pearl season, editing the ending credits with information from the local dub staff and also replacing the "To be continued..." message with a translated one.

The channel aired the 10th season from 20th September 2010 to 25th October 2010, showing 2 episodes each day of the week and repeating the 10 episodes shown on workweek in the weekend. Notably, this version had fixed mistakes in the dub, also replacing some speeches from the original production with ones of the new actors, which were presumed by the fans to be tests for the new voice cast. Midway through the airing of the 10th season, the channel started a promotion campaign of their new ownership of the series, conducting a contest in which 70 winners would win two tickets to a premiere of DP053 and DP054 in cinemas. There were two premieres: one in Lisbon (40 winners) and one in Porto (30 winners). Both premieres were held on 23th October 2010, with the winners notified two days earlier.

The Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension dub premiered officially on 26th October 2010. Unlike the previous season, Panda Biggs broadcast 1 new episode each day of the workweek. The airing of the season ended on 5th January 2011 and the channel aired repeats twice until the end of May.

The dub of the The Rise of Darkrai movie aired on 25th December 2010 in the channel, as part of the Christmas campaign. It was the first movie to be produced in the Cinemágica studio and also the first one to have its ending songs dubbed into European Portuguese.

The Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Galactic Battles season premiered on 1 June 2011, keeping the core cast intact.

The Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life movies premiered on 13 and 23 June 2011, respectively, with all the same main cast as from the 11th season onwards.

Music

All themes used in the Portuguese dub are translated versions of the themes used in the English dub, except for Pokémon World, where the previous theme was used, and Diamond and Pearl theme, which was aired in English. However, fans can still hear Pokémon World in the opening sequence of Movie 2.

A Portuguese translation of the Pokémon 2.B.A. Master soundtrack was released, entitled Pokémon: Vamos Apanhá-Los!. This soundtrack included a video of the English version of the Pokérap that could be played on a computer. The Totally Pokémon sountrack was also released, under the title Pokémon Total.

Cast and crew

Many main characters in the Portuguese dub of the Pokémon anime have switched voice actors several times.

Ash Ketchum, for example, had no less than nine different voice actors over the years. The first voice actress to dub Ash was Maria João Luís, who stopped doing it regularly after EP031, but weirdly did it one final time in EP033. In addition, she returned for the first and the second movies. In EP032, and from EP034 until EP094 Sandra Faleiro replaced her. Starting from EP095, Sandra de Castro voiced the character, until EP128. She reprised the role from EP158 to EP209, AG093 to AG177, and finally, from DP001 to DP052. During the breaks between Sandra de Castro's returns to the cast, the role was given to Alexandra Sedas, from EP129 to EP157, Bárbara Lourenço (5th and 6th seasons), Raquel Ferreira (7th season) and Ana Madureira from AG178 until AG192. Another actress to voice the character was Cristina Carvalhal, but only in the 3rd and 4th movies. With the production being moved to Porto in 2010, the VA was replaced again. Raquel Rosmaninho took over the role starting from the 11th season, being notably the first voice actress since Maria João Luís to give Ash Ketchum the voice in both episodes and movies, all starting from the 10th one.

Brock was originally dubbed by Peter Michael, from his debut until EP083. He also gave him the role in the first and the second movies. Rui Quintas then dubbed the character from EP115 until AG192 and also in Pokémon Chronicles. The role was given to Luís Barros in the 10th season. Vítor Emanuel voiced him in the 3rd and 4th movies. Starting from the 11th season, Brock is dubbed by Pedro Almendra, who also provided the voice in the DP movies.

For the first three seasons, Misty was voiced by Helena Montez, including the first 4 movies. After she left the cast, the character was dubbed by an unknown actress from EP129 to EP157. Paula Pais gave her the voice in the 4th season. She was replaced again by an actress presumably named as Carla, who dubbed her in the Master Quest season, her cameo appearance in the two-part arc in AG044-AG045 and in Pokémon Chronicles. The last VA to give her the voice was Isabel Ribas, in AG132-AG134.

Jessie's first VA was Teresa Madruga, from EP002 until EP041. After that she left, but returned one more time, from EP100 to EP128, including the 2 first movies. In the break between EP042 to EP099 she was voiced by Sandra de Castro, who also did it from EP263 to AG065. After that, Dora Cruz took over, from EP129 until EP209. Raquel Ferreira then picked the role, dubbing Jessie in the 5th, and from 8th to 10th seasons, except for the last three AG episodes, where Rita Fernandes took the job. Bárbara Lourenço voiced her between AG066 and AG092 and in her Pokémon Chronicles appearances. Cármen Santos was the VA in the 3rd and 4th movies. Raquel Rosmaninho started giving the voice in the 11th season, due to the series' dubbing being moved from Lisbon to Porto. She also dubbed the character in all movies starting from the 10th.

James was first dubbed by Peter Michael, from EP002 until EP093 and was also his VA in the first 4 movies. Rui Quintas then took the role, dubbing the character from EP094 until DP052 and in Pokémon Chronicles. He was replaced by Pedro Mendonça in the 11th season, who also gave the voice to James in all the movies starting from the 10th.

Meowth's original voice was Rui Luís Brás, from EP002 until EP093 and was also his VA in the first 4 movies. The role was then given to Pedro Carneiro, who dubbed the character from EP094 until AG092 and from DP001 to DP052. Luís Barros was the VA in the 8th, 9th seasons and also in Pokémon Chronicles. Since the 11th season the voice has been performed by Mário Santos, who also dubbed the character in all movies starting from the 10th.

May's original voice was an actress known as Carla. In AG109 she was replaced by Isabel Ribas. She played her main role until the end of AG. In her cameo in the Diamond & Pearl series her role was performed by Marta Mota.

The Max's voice was first given to Sandra de Castro, who dubbed the character in the 6th and 7th seasons. Raquel Ferreira replaced her from AG093 until AG177. The role was given to an unknown voice actress in the last 15 AG episodes.

The Dawn's voice was given to Raquel Ferreira in the 10th season. She was replaced by Joana Carvalho in the 11th season. The latter also gave the voice to the character in all movies she appeared in.

The original Narrator's voice was Rui de Sá, in the first 4 seasons. Rui Quintas replaced him from the 5th to 10th seasons. Paulo B was the VA exclusively in the 1st movie, Carlos Freixo only in the 2nd movie and José Jorge Duarte in the 3rd and 4th movies. After the switch of the rights of the series in 2010 between SIC and Panda Biggs Mário Santos took the role, beginning from the 11th season and the 10th movie respectively.

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