You’d never know it by looking at Ash Ketchum, the Pokémon franchise’s longtime protagonist who is eternally 10 years old, but it’s been a quarter-century since he and Pikachu took their efforts to catch ’em all to the big screen. He’s aged especially well considering that he was turned to stone and died (briefly) during Pokémon: The First Movie.
November 10, 2024, marks the 25th anniversary of The First Movie’s English release. The film, which sees Ash and his traveling companions Misty and Brock go to a mysterious island where they’re caught up in the ultrastrong legendary Pokémon Mewtwo’s revenge plot against the cruel world that created him, was a high-water mark for Pokémon. The Pokémon anime had premiered only 11 months before The First Movie opened at No. 1 at the box office — the first anime movie to ever do so in the U.S.
For Veronica Taylor, the actress who voiced Ash for the first eight seasons and movies, the success of The First Movie was akin to becoming a Pokémon Master, even if recording it wasn’t that much of an evolution from her normal work on the show.
“You don’t have rehearsals, you look at the script briefly, then you look at the screen and start dubbing,” Taylor explained of the show’s voice-recording process. Even though the stakes were higher for The First Movie — again, Ash charges into the crossfire between two legendary Pokémon and dies in this, much to the shock of ’90s kids — there wasn’t any real change to the fast-paced dubbing process. There was no more prep time, not many more takes, and not much more pay. But, they did get to use a nicer recording studio.
The first Pokémon movie was out in Japan before the first episode of the TV show aired in America. Did that mean it was on your radar from the start of your time voicing Ash on the show? Like, “Eventually I’ll do voiceover work for a movie, too?”
Disappointingly, the only thing I knew about Pokémon before I auditioned for the series was that there was this show in Japan that caused children to have seizures. Somehow, I still auditioned, which seems quite irresponsible of me. It was such an amazing show to work on, but all of us voice actors were just working. I didn’t have internet or even a computer, so the only things I knew about Pokémon was what I found out at work, which was really nothing except for the episode we were doing that week.
So when did you learn about the movie?
When they said, “We are going to be recording a movie, and this is when we’re going to do it.”
Did you watch the Japanese version before recording your lines? Were you more or less aware of the adaptational nature of dubbing because it was a movie?
Back in the day, when we worked on Pokémon, we didn’t watch the original. On rare occasions, if there was a tricky bit where we weren’t sure what the joke was or why it was a particular way, we would consult with the original, but all of this was on tight deadlines. We didn’t have the luxury to try a take and work on it. You look at the script, look at the screen, and then do it. We didn’t see the script ahead of time ever, on any anime I’ve ever worked on even to this day.
Was that the same process for the movie?
Same process. The only thing that was different for the movie was that we were in a bigger space and it felt bigger. But we still worked at it the same way we approached the series.
I read that there was talk of getting Leonardo DiCaprio to voice Ash for the movie. Had you heard that?
I have never heard that before. That can’t possibly be true.
No! Producer Norman Grossfeld was talking to an executive at one of the potential distribution studios who wanted to get a big star. And Norman was like, “No, I’m pretty sure kids know what Ash sounds like.”
We are all so easily replaced for the money if you think this is going to sell tickets, but no child is paying for the star name. They’re paying for the emotion and the voice that they know and for the character to come alive. Nothing against Leonardo DiCaprio, but having already played Ash for a year, I was better suited to fill the sneakers than he would have been jumping in. Also, fitting the lip flap is such a specific talent. It would have taken a lot longer, and they didn’t pay very much. I don’t know if he would’ve wanted to work on it and I don’t know if they could have afforded him.
Wow, that would have been such a different thing. You know, Ash is [does the Ash voice] kind of in here, or whatever. Leonardo DiCaprio has a wonderful voice, but it’s warm and boyish and more of a simple charm than Ash’s scrappy, “let’s get to it” charm.
How attached were you to Ash at this point? Was it just a gig, or did it connect on a deeper level?
Day one. I would say even at the audition. I loved the energy and the positivity that Ash has. From day one, I could just understand him. I gave my hundred percent, my whole heart to him. The movie was icing on that first season’s cake. I certainly didn’t say “Now that it matters to people, it matters to me.”
When did you learn about Ash’s death scene? Did you learn about it right before you went into recording as was the case with pretty much everything else?
Yep. I learned about it right when it came up on the page. We didn’t even preview the scene, I was just acting in the moment. He’s running and he dives and is turned to stone. With dubbing, you only see where your lines are. So the whole time he’s lying there, I didn’t see what it looked like until I saw the finished movie because I didn’t have any lines. So, the extent of what happens to him was not revealed to me until I saw it in the movie theater.
The scene is mostly just grunts and little breaths, but did they feel like important grunts and breaths when you were recording them?
Yes, of course. You can see what he’s going through. My role, as the actor, is to breathe life into the character. You have to believe every moment. It’s so big. You see that he’s just given his life. Then, even as he’s waking up, there’s a shift in him, so you have to play that. Even though it’s just a breath, it’s full of subtext. That’s the glory of doing any cartoon. You can (quickly!) layer in other emotions or other ideas.
A huge part of why that scene is so effective is because of Pikachu’s mournful “pika-chuuus” as he tries to shock Ash back to life. Ikue Ōtani provides the voice for Pikachu in every language, so did you hear her sad “pikas” before your recording?
Often, you don’t hear the other characters when you’re dubbing. When Pikachu’s almost sobbing, we would have skipped that in the studio. That’s one thing that makes me cry, when I see the movie. It’s so intense and beautiful.
What was it like when you saw it play out in the theater for the first time?
Oh my gosh. This is a movie for kids! There are so many deep lessons in it. It’s kind of burned in my brain with him reaching and he’s just laying there and everyone is shocked. Everyone in the audience is shocked. And Pikachu, as any parent would be upon seeing their child, is over there trying to do anything they can. That Ikue Ōtani can do that by just saying “pika” is amazing.
The English dub made a lot of changes to the Japanese movie, including making Mewtwo more of a black-and-white villain than he was originally. Is that something that was on your radar when you were doing voiceover work in the ’90s? How did you feel about this?
From what I know — and, again, as an actor not much was revealed to me — is that whatever changes they did to localize it for American or English-speaking audiences were OK’ed by Japan. Nothing that we did for the movie or the series was on the fly. They had their reasons for it.
I don’t know exactly what’s different because I’ve never seen the movie in Japanese, actually, It’s probably about time I should. I love Rica Matsumoto so much, and what I know of her Ash, I adore. So I should probably watch that.
How much of the original Japanese Pokémon have you seen?
I haven’t had a lot of time to seek it out. I just focus on what I’m working on, and I’ve never only had one job. Even working on Pokémon, I had I don’t know how many other jobs at the same time. And when you’re dubbing, you just need to step into a moment and play that moment. There’s no time to say “Oh wait, I just watched the Japanese version of this and this was a little bit different.” You just have to bring your best and then adapt to whatever the director is asking of you. It was never necessary — and it probably wouldn’t have helped anything — had I been watching those original Japanese episodes.
What was it like after the movie opened No. 1 at the box office?
It was so amazing. I got to go to the opening in Los Angeles. We did all of the recording in New York. I remember going into the theater and it looked empty. But, it’s because most of the audience was too short for their heads to be seen above the seats. It was full of kids and their parents. It was just amazing to hear reactions from kids. Then in Times Square, you’d see the billboard of the movie. It didn’t have Ash — or me or any people in my cast — it just had Pokémon, and it was so cool. To be able to say, “Yeah, I’m in that,” was a banner moment.
I can’t believe we’re still talking about it now. It’s crazy and wonderful. Most days on the show, we just worked in the little studio and then we went home. Unless you were reading in The New York Times that kids are buying cards or whatever, there was no way to tell that kids were so into it. None of that merchandise was around where we started recording. We had our job, and this other stuff was happening outside. I was quite surprised by it, and it bolstered us when we went back to start the second season.
Did returning to recording to the normal show feel like a letdown?
No, not at all. The thing is it’s the characters that you’re playing. It doesn’t matter the medium. Whether it’s on the small screen in the studio or the big screen, it doesn’t matter. It’s the heart of the characters.
I still play Pokémon games but have not kept up with the anime, so in my preparation for this interview I was surprised to learn that Ash has died (and been revived) several more times since The First Movie.
Yes, that’s true.
Including once in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, which was the last movie you voiced him in. Is it surprising that Pokémon keeps going back to that well?
Ash is willing to put himself out there for whoever he cares for. There is that self-sacrifice. Even from the first episode, he rescues Pikachu and puts himself out there for the Spearow. Like, “Come and get me!” It is a lesson for all of us; we have to be willing to share ourselves and give of ourselves to make others whole. I think it’s a good message. But it’s interesting though that it’s poor little Ash who keeps getting bashed.
Well, Pikachu’s usually taking the knocks.
That’s true. Ash can take it.
25 years ago, Pokémon: The First Movie took Ash Ketchum to new heights (and killed him).
