Pokémon in the Czech Republic

Pokémon in the Czech Republic
Flag of the Czech Republic
Language	Czech
Continent	Europe
Original anime airdates
EP001	September 2000
AG001	Series skipped
DP001	January 5, 2009
BW001	September 24, 2012
XY001	2016???
SM001
JN001
HZ001

The Pokémon franchise first reached the Czech Republic in October 1999, when Pokémon Red and Blue Versions were released. The anime followed in September 2000, when Pokémone, volím si tebe! premiered in Czech.

Pokémon games

All Pokémon games sold in Czech stores are in English. The games are distributed by ConQuest Entertainment, the official Czech distributor of Nintendo games and consoles.

Pokémon anime

TV series

In September 2000 TV Nova started to air the Pokémon anime on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Without breaks, 208 episodes of seasons 1-4 (sans banned episodes, but including Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out!) aired until August 2002. From June 2003 to September 2005, TV Nova aired reruns of these episodes. No Pokémon episodes have aired on TV Nova since then.

Cable channel Fox Kids aired season 3 (EP106—EP157) in 2004.

Some chosen episodes of seasons 1-4 also aired on another cable channel, A+. This channel was later replaced by Animax, which has not aired Pokémon.

The fifth season, as well as the entire Advanced Generation series, were skipped in the Czech Republic, but it's translated by fans, along with Advanced Generation series and banned episodes.

However, on January 5, 2009, season 10 premiered on Jetix. After its airing, season 11 premiered on March 5, 2009. Until Jetix was rebranded to Disney Channel in September 19, 2009, Jetix aired reruns of season 11. After that, Pokémon was dropped until March 1, 2010 when season 12 was announced to premiere on Disney Channel. But instead, reruns of season 11 aired. At the end of March, even these reruns stopped again.

After weeks of fan speculation, season 12 finally aired on Disney Channel on July 5, 2010.

In December 5, 2009 Following a Maiden's Voyage! premiered on TV Prima. Since then, the station has been broadcasting Pokémon regularly on weekend mornings for more than a year and aired all episodes from seasons 10 and 11.

In 2011, TV Barrandov gained broadcasting rights for the Diamond and Pearl series. Season 10 premiered on TV Barrandov on September 5, 2011. Season 11 and season 12 followed shortly after. For the first time in history, episode title cards have been localized into Czech. Later in April 2012, season 13 premiered on TV Barrandov. The episodes were cropped to 4:3 format and unlike season 12, all text was left in English. After ending season 13, the station aired reruns of season 12. In September 2012, season 14 started airing, followed by season 15 in November. The localized title cards made their return and the show was broadcasted in 16:9 for the first time. After that, the station continued with reruns of seasons 10 to 15 until August 2014, when the show was removed from schedule altogether.

Seasons 5 to 9 as well as from 16 onward were never aired and are only available in the form of fansubs.

Movies

In 2001, Mewtwo Strikes Back and The Power of One premiered in Czech cinemas and later both movies were also released on VHS and DVD. In March 2002, Spell of the Unown: Entei was released only on VHS. All movies were distributed by Warner Bros. Czech Republic.

All three movies also later aired on HBO and HBO 2 channels.

In 2004, SPI International Czech Republic' released Celebi: Voice of the Forest direct to video on VHS. The movie often airs on SPI-owned channels Filmbox and Filmbox Extra.

On June 14, 2009, Giratina and the Sky Warrior premiered on Jetix. It was first Pokémon movie released in the Czech Republic since Movie 4 in 2004.

On January 24, 2010 Filmbox HD (owned by SPI International) premiered Jirachi: Wish Maker. On February 14, 2010, the same channel premiered Destiny Deoxys.

Dubbing

Seasons 1-4 and movies 1-3 were dubbed by AVF Studio Zero based in Prague, but in TV series, the dub studio was not credited and instead the company Česká produkční 2000, who ordered the dub for TV Nova, was credited. This was common practice in TV Nova dubs in between years 1999-2006.

The dub director was Jitka Tošilová, who also worked as dialog editor. Seasons 1-3 and movies 1 and 2 were translated by Klára Cabalková, movie 3 was translated by Blažena Kukulišová, season 4 was translated by Silvie Šustrová. Sound editor was Miloš Zajdl.

The leading role of Ash Ketchum was given to Radek Škvor, who was ten years old at the time the show first reached the Czech Republic, making him the same age as his character. Radek's older brother Jan Škvor later voiced Tracey Sketchit the following season. Along with fellow main cast member Eva Spoustová, who provides the voice of Misty, Radek is one of the only two cast members to keep their role throughout the entire series.

The third main character, Brock, was voiced by Martin Písařík, who was mistakenly credited as Petr Písařík in seasons 1-3 and movies 1 and 2.

Team Rocket's Jessie, James and Meowth were dubbed by Dana Černá, Michal Michálek, and Zbyšek Pantůček respectively. Their boss Giovanni was dubbed by Pavel Soukup, one of most popular Czech actors and voice actors, who also dubbed the narrator. For reasons unknown, Giovanni was portrayed by Jiří Plachý in the first movie, even though Soukup was still providing the role of narrator in the movie.

Other notable voice actors in the AVF's Czech dub of the Pokémon anime include Kateřina Lojdová as Officer Jenny, Klára Jandová as Nurse Joy, Jiří Prágr as Professor Oak, Jana Páleníčková as Cassidy and some other side characters and Jan Maxián as Brad Van Darn and some other characters.

Movie 4 was dubbed in Brno based dub studio Ebyt. The dub director was Jindřich Stožický, translator Renata Pruklová, dialog editors Filip Stožický and Radka Přibyslavská. Sound editor was not credited.

Since the dub of movie 4 was done in Brno, only two of original cast were willing to travel from Prague to Brno. These two was Radek Škvor as Ash and Eva Spoustová as Misty. All other characters were recasted. Brock was voiced by Jiří Balcárek, James by Robert Jícha, Jessie by Radka Přibyslavská, Meowth by Maxmilián Hornyš and old professor Oak by Milan Horský. Sammy, young professor Oak was voiced by Klára Sochorová and Iron-Masked Marauder was voiced by popular Brno's actor and voice actor Zdeněk Junák. The role of Narrator was provided by another famous Brno's actor and voice actor Aleš Jarý.

Unsurprisingly to Czech fans, season 10, 11 and movie 11 were dubbed by Prague based DW Agentura, who worked on all Jetix dubs. The dub director was Alice Hurychová, who is well known as the dub director for the Harry Potter movies. Many different translators, dialog editors and sound editors worked on this dub.

Radek Škvor and Michal Michálek reprised their roles and Pavel Soukup returned as narrator but not as Giovanni. Eva Spoustová also returned, but now, she voiced Jessie and Nurse Joy. Meowth was now voiced by Marek Libert. Rosita Mary Erbanová, credited as Rozita Erbanová was chosen as the voice of Dawn.

Well known Czech actor, singer and composer Jan Maxián took over the role of Brock, as well as that of Professor Oak. Jan's work on Professor Oak caused controversy amongst Czech Pokémon fans, many of which stated Maxián's voice is too young for Professor Oak. When Professor Oak appeared again in DP003, however, Zdeněk Hruška, who also voiced Paul and Giovanni in season 10, took over the role. Maxián also sung Diamond and Pearl and We Will Be Heroes, and gave his voice to Saturn, and other minor characters.

The role of Officer Jenny was taken by Jana Páleníčková, who also reprised her role of Cassidy in DP065 and voiced some other characters.

In season 11, the roles of Paul and professor Oak were taken by Michal Holán, who also voiced some other characters in both season 10 and 11, including the role of Kenny. The role of Giovanni was taken by Marek Libert in season 11.

Other notable voice actors in DW Agentura's dub were Klára Šumanová as May, Angie, and other roles; and Vojtěch Hájek as Barry, Crasher Wake and some other roles.

In season 12, no credits for Czech dub are provided, so it is unknown which studio made the dub as well as the dub crew.

No changes were done in main cast voices, but there are some changes in side characters. The most significant is return of Jiří Prágr as Professor Oak. Another notable new voice is Ladislav Cigánek, who voiced Byron and some other characters.

Later cast arrivals are Ivana Korolová as Iris and Pavel Dytrt as Cilan and Trip.

Music

In 2001, the soundtrack album Pokémon 2.B.A. Master was translated into Czech under the title Pokémon, Chyťte je všechny!. The Totally Pokémon CD was also translated to Czech later that year, titled Pokémon, Johtovy Cesty.

Pokémon Trading Card Game

The cards of Pokémon Trading Card Game sold in Czech stores are sold in English. The distributor of Pokémon Trading Card Game is ADC Blackfire Entertainment, who also distributes some Pokémon toys in Czech Republic.

External links

• Official The official Czech Republic Pokémon website (currently links to another official website)
• Official Czech website operated by ConQuest
• Official Czech website operated by Blackfire
• Czech fansite

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