How Fans Finally Got the Uncut “Digimon” Movies 24 Years Later 12

Even decades after its release, Digimon: The Movie remains one of the boldest adaptations in the history of anime. Taking three completely different films from the long running monster battling franchise and splicing them together into one cohesive movie, complete with a bevy of corny jokes and some of the most rocking American songs of the early aughts, continues to draw mixed reactions from fans today. Many adore it for the fun, cheesy ride it was. At the same time, many have longed for the films to someday be released uncut in their original format. Little did anyone realize that, twenty-four years later, that’s exactly what would happen. In a move almost as bold as the original Digimon movie’s release was, anime distributor Discotek Media announced that they were releasing brand-new, uncut and unedited dubs of the original three Digimon films on Blu-Ray, with the majority of the original voice cast reprising their roles.

This release was a passion project for producer Marc Levy, who is no stranger to the world of digital monsters. He’s been following the Digimon franchise since the original Digimon Adventure hit US airwaves on Fox Kids back in 1999. For almost twenty years, he’s been the webmaster of With the Will, the world’s biggest and longest running Digimon fan site. He produced the Blu-Ray releases of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, both dubbed and subbed, for Discotek Media. And when Digimon: The Movie was in US theaters in 2001, you can bet he was there too—and not just once. “I saw the movie in theaters a ludicrous number of times,” he says. “In my head it’s 12 or 13. I assume it’s probably more like five or six.”

Having worked extensively on bringing the anime series to Blu-Ray, when the idea of giving the movies the official re-release they deserved began floating around Discotek offices, Levy was intrigued. “Is the dub part of it?” he wondered. “Would it be subbed only? We can do a new dub if we have to.”

And that’s just what they did. Levy, along with other fellow Digi-fans like Marissa Lenti, who directed and wrote the new dub scripts, have been working behind the scenes for years to make this once seemingly impossible endeavor a reality. “Me and Marissa had first met waiting for a general voice actor panel event,” says Levy. “When she found out I ran With the Will, she asked if I knew if the rights for Digimon movie content may have reverted to Toei, or what happened with them, as she was at least somewhat interested in finding out and seeing if they could be worked on by her in some fashion.”

Levy and crew had certain goals in mind while preparing the brand-new English dubs of the three films. Dubs of more recent Digimon Adventure material, such as Tri, Last Evolution Kizuna, and 02: The Beginning, recast several classic voices despite the fact that their original actors were willing to return. For the movie redubs, Levy and crew wanted to go all out in bringing back as many of the original actors as possible. Some, such as Michael Reiz as Matt or Lara Jill Miller as Kari, make their triumphant returns after having been absent from the franchise for close to two decades. Thankfully, the process of bringing them back was a relatively smooth one. “Most were pretty gung-ho about it,” says Levy, “and Marissa pulled everyone together pretty well. I’m sure if you asked her, she’d say she kept track of everyone she ever wanted to work with. Some people had to be tracked down and confirm they were interested in doing it. The main hurdles would be people who were retired and finding out if we knew anyone who might know them. Marissa has a big rolodex and was happy to call in favors from friends.”

As might be expected after an almost quarter-century absence, not all actors were able to reprise their roles. Some had long since retired, such as Dave Mallow, the voice of Angemon. Others had sadly passed away, including Philece Sampler (Mimi and Cody), Michael Lindsay (Joe and Greymon), Robert Axelrod (Armadillomon) and Joseph Pilato (MetalGreymon), to name a few. This necessitated finding new actors who could capture the spirit of those who came before them. “Sound Cadence and Marissa put out casting calls with dialogue lines, often memorable ones, for characters,” explains Levy. “After an initial skim, voices would be sent to me to listen to—in detail, over and over again—to see if anyone fit. Once I pared it down, we would have [Discotek producer] Brady [Hartel] listen to get another view. If something didn’t fit right, if any seemed close enough, it was worth Marissa finding out if they could be contacted again with some instructions to tweak their performance. I think in the end we found matches that, if not always identical vocally, fit the tone and general sound we wanted in a way that came across well for the characters.”

The purpose of re-releasing the first three films was to give fans the full, uncut stories that have never been easily available outside of Japan, both subbed and dubbed into English. At the same time, despite the massive alterations Digimon: The Movie made to the three films to turn them into one cohesive story, many longtime fans had nostalgia for the original film’s charm, including its penchant for goofy jokes and gags common in English dubbed anime of the late ’90s-early 2000s (and don’t worry, dub fans; the original film is also included in this release in all its cheesy glory). How could Discotek strike a balance between crafting a redub that was more faithful to the original Japanese script while still maintaining the “feel” of the original English dub?

“That probably had the longest conversations between me and Marissa,” says Levy. “Just remaking the dub and expanding it had the feeling of ‘if this is what we are going to do, why are we dubbing it at all?’ But a 100 percent literal dub wouldn’t feel right either, as the characters have pretty solidly defined voices in the dub. Even when there have been times the dub has been more literal, this still tends to come through. I think we found a nice balance. These are uncut versions of the movie with plenty of spice longtime dub fans will recognize, and if something from the old dub would work well, I think it adds more to have it. A few lines from the old dub were used at times when, after Marissa did her initial scripting passes and we just kept bouncing back and forth on what ‘should’ go somewhere, it felt like the original line worked well.”

All in all, it’s been a rewarding experience for Levy and Discotek, knowing they were doing something fans would love. “It’s the type of release I wished the movie would have had when it came out on home video almost twenty-four years ago,” he says. “Chris McFeely, who used to run a notable Digimon site, was a friend back when the original DVD was new, and did some of the copywriting on this one, and he’d likely remember me babbling about how a special edition ‘should’ be for the movie back then. The list of people who worked on the release is long, but I really can’t say enough about Brady and Marissa and everyone else who helped make sure the releases ended up as good as possible. I’m just happy discs have started to arrive and people are happy. I think all three versions of each movie ended up as good as they could for the release, and having them all together like that makes it something special for all fans.”