The company in charge of the adaption of Rokumon Tengai Mon Colle Knights for the Western Audience. This was their last show to air on Fox Kids, before the Disney take over.
Due to the excessive censorship, a single comprehensive overview of the changes is not possible. Therefore, every character and episode page will have a section devoted to the changes. This page will only describe the framework of the censorship.
Obviously, not complete yet.
CARDS!!!111!!!
To the numerous fans who wondered whether they had missed episodes or whether their network screwed up : you did not. The official dub episode order really was this screwed up, both during the airing and when Jetix placed the series on their site.
Being a merchandise driven anime, this show was imported for the sake of cashing in on Pokémon. Now, the motivations of the heroes, which run down to peace and prosperity, were neither of the Become A Master nor the Save The World type. This had to go. For that reason, the part in episode one that explains the quest was cut. The part in episode 2 that explains it again was cut as well. Episode 1 & 2 were cropped together to make it more "exciting". Footage was edited and lines added to pretend that the local Pokédex (a machine that produces a monster ID, and otherwise nothing) actually makes the monsters appear by spitting out a card. Somewhere in the middle the heroes find this ring thingy, but that's not important, is it?
By the time we hit episode 2, which used to be episode 4, Michael Sorich already realized that it would be impossible to continue editing the show to be focused on cards, but did not actually make any move to correct the prior episode(s) and the ensuing lack of plot. The characters simply go to Mon World, fly around for no reason in particular, and suddenly yell something about "could that be a Monster Thing?!"
Episode 3 used to be episode 03 and episode 06. One of the segments mentions that an item of a giant might be a Monster Thing, and still does not tell us what they are and why the heroes and villains seek them. The other segments doesn't doesn't even bother.
If one lives in America, episode 4 of the first run would have been episode 33 in the original, which was edited to pretend that the kids never had met Garuda Phoenix before and that cards are what makes a monster appear. No explanation given why Mondo couldn't do it.
Episode 4 opens without introduction, we are aboard the Utopian Eagle with a blue haired girl that hasn't been previously introduced and a quick voice over says that the equally unknown Storm Dragon told them they could find a Monster Thing. Later in the episode, there is a brief exchange on why they want the items. We get about one vaguely defined sentence of heroism, and still aren't told what the items do. The episode then proceeds into a tournament to win the item, which carries over into the next episode. During this, the heroes suddenly throw around cards and monsters seem to come out of them.
These two used to be episodes 16 and 17, which followed right up to the events of episode 15, and sees the return of all the monsters that they met and befriended over the past 15 episodes. Earlier episodes also introduced the blue haired girl, Beginner, and explained the concept of summoning and demonstrated its limitations, rules and dangers, which has bare little to do with cards. But that's not important, is it? These episodes had lots of action and more cards than anywhere else in the series, so they are moved earlier in hopes of keeping the attention of the audience.
All in all, the first 17 episodes were massively reshuffled. After dub episode 5, the show would go on to air all the skipped episodes, a few more of which were cropped together. All the monsters they made appear out of cards are shown to be actually living ordinary lives elsewhere and somehow don't recognize the heroes when meeting them again. Episode 9 introduces Beginner, but crops the episode together another and hence leaves no time to really explain the summoner concept. Episode 11 should have been before episode 4 and 5. And we still don't know what these Monster Things that everyone seeks actually do.
After these 12 (originally 17) the episodes are aired in the original Japanese order, but this does not actually mean the end of continuity problems. Episode 15 (20) introduces Gabriolis, a character of which there are 5 different versions within the first five episodes that he appears in. This episode also is the first to allude to a greater evil, and at this point Sorich jumps at the chance to start talking about the Good Light and Evil Darkness and ruling the world.
- more to come -
Censorship Style
Michael Sorich : Making sense is less important than annoying the voice actors my superior sense of humor!