Fox Kids - 10-11 AM Saturday Morning, 3-4 PM Friday Afternoons.
Our beloved Escaflowne is on American TV!
Of course, the opening and ending was cut - that was to be expected. Also, all blood and alcohol was cut to meet the broadcasting standards. Also expected.
So now that it's on TV and we can see what has happened to it, you must expect fans to voice their thoughts:o) and here were my intial reactions to the dub:

Well, Escaflowne is now on American TV!!!!
I'm excited that the US will be able to see such a great series on tv - I'm kinda spoiled living in the Bay Area, we've got a local tv channel that shows good stuff (and they show it subtitled, too! Wahoo!). But now there's good stuff on TV for the whole US to see:o)
Too bad they had to hack it up.
Well, it wasn't as bad as Sailor Moon (or Card Captor Sakura!*shudder*) - but it still sucked.
At first, I was really accepting of it - I was just too overjoyed that Escaflowne was on TV, I guess.
But even in my overjoyed state, it was easy to see that the massive editing meant America wouldn't be seeing Escaflowne anywhere near its original dazzling form...

The opening, while acceptable (Hey - at least it's not a crazy thing like the Digimon or Card Captors openings...), will never compare to Yakosoku wa Iranai *sigh*. Of course, that was to be expected, sooo...
First of all, they start off with the *second* episode instead of the first one. Fox no Baka. And then to make up for it, they did all this splicing in of flashbacks from the first episode where there weren't meant to be flashbacks.... Which made it even *more* confusing!!!
Other cuts included *all* the blood - even Van's cutting his thumb and putting his blood in his energist. Come on, Fox!! Balgus' death was shortened, Hitomi's vision of the invisible guymelefs was replaced, much of the fighting was cut out, Hitomi changing into her school uniform....
And to top it all off, they go and change the music on us!!!!!!
First, I was overjoyed that Bandai put its foot down to Fox changing the music to techno. The wonderful music was one of the highlights of Escaflowne.
So, I'm watching the episode, expecting some blood cuts and awkward flashbacks anyway(both of which were drastically worse than I had expected!). Everything seemed to be normal...
The big tip-off was after their first commmercial break. In a place where there was originally *NO* music, there was suddenly Flying Dragon. So I'm thinking to myself...why are they playing Flying Dragon? This wasn't in the original...
And then it gets worse.
Cat's Delicacy disappears. It is replaced by Mole Man and Cubic (and the scene was shortened!). Wahhhh!! What do they think they're doing???
But at this point, at least it's still all of Yoko Kanno's music...

Ahh! Kill Fox! Technomusic instead of chanting in the Escaflowne shrine?!?!?!?!?! *Techno*. In the Escaflowne Shrine!! Sacrelige!!
Dance of Curse is not only shortened to like 30 seconds - but the latter half that was cut out.... Replaced by *more* Techno music!!! Ahhhhh!
Die Fox, Die! Let's give Dilandau a match and some Lysol and have him attack them;)

Well, Escaflowne *is* on TV. And by the way the "first" episode was so awkward, I'm sure American viewers will sense that something is wrong. Perhaps they will search for the original version to see what it was *supposed* to look like...maybe... Well, one can hope, can't they?

Later impressions (Feb. 2001)
Well, now Escaflowne is off FOX Kids (although it's still playing on YTV in Canada). FOX claimed they were only taking it off for a break...but it's definitely gone for good now. Slayers is supposed to be coming on sometime. God knows how they'll cut up that..(espcially with all of the jokes about Lina's chest and her tiem of the month...)
Anyway, it was able to interest some people into getting the subbed versions. And I'm kinda glad it is off - maybe FOX will learn not to aim teenage/adult shows towards 5-11 year olds.
It is disappointing, however - because Escaflowne was thought to be the forerunner of good anime on commercial TV in the US. It had a great plot, great music, great animation. It wasn't aimed towards little kids and had some very complex themes(which i suppose became its downfall). It wasn't totally focused on mecha or women with unaturally sized breasts. It was overall a great, wholesome, thoughprovoking anime. And then FOX canceled it...
But at lest now the home videos are coming out at a faster rate. And I will continue sparking my friends' interest in the subbed version - through my anime club, through just cajoling them into watching the video. In fact, my friend just the other day was forced to watch the first episode after I had been talking about it so much.... and she's already hooked:o)
As I look back on the dub, I suppose it's alright - Kirby Morrow did a nice job as Van...Hitomi's dub voice is starting to not be whiny all the time (although the girl needs to learn how to scream realistically like Maaya-chan can!:o)) Allen's cheesy improve lines aren't bugging me too much anymore... And hey - there have been worse dubs. At least the uncut and DVD dub versions *keep all the original music intact*!
Of course, I will *always* prefer the sub over the dub, but now I've learned to let it peacefully coexist=)

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