#spell of the unown

[moonlit-ripples]

top 10 little girls who have never done anything wrong ever

[sunyshorewaves]

[cyndaquilism]

[otakuman-san]

Molly Hale in the Ruins of Alph

[scribz-ag24]

i rewatched Spell of the Unown today and. Huh. Molly is an... interesting candidate for Pokémon's best antagonist.

[motoressagrados]

Pokémon 3: The Movie – Spell of the Unown: Entei (2000)

劇場版ポケットモンスター 結晶塔の帝王 ENTEI

directed by Kunihiko Yuyama

[bluecube92]

Same Voice Actor #8

[dawnmaidenofdragons]

Spell of the Unown

[pokemonlezbian]

Original tiger electronics 1999 Pokédex!

And lenticular 3D holo promo chip from the legends of the unown Pokémon 3 movie

[jadeazora]

I really love how gorgeous a lot of the locations are in Pokemon movies 😊

It was hard to choose just ten.

[melanovia]

Pokémon 3 the Movie: Spell of the Unown (2000)

[thaumana]

Molly Hale Pokémon battle screen (Commission)

[sunyshorewaves]

[illuminatedbackbone]

Artist: Luna_mokamoka

[wiahisalreadytaken]

Anananana

[torchu212]

Pokemon Movie Brain Blast

You know this scene in the credits of Spell of the Unown (M03)? In case you don't know, that woman is Molly Hale's mother. According to Takeshi Shudo (OG head writer), he asked for a copy of the final draft of the script, and it turned out the explanation was she was in the hospital for the entire movie. Shudo was not happy.

This was a very personal story to him, written with aspects of his own life in mind (Molly's Japanese name is Me, after Shudo's own daughter, and her mother was intended to be dead like his own). But as production went on, he was in no condition (he even landed in the hospital himself!) and eventually no mood to continue writing, so he asked fellow series writer and father Hideki Sonoda to take his stead. For most of the movie, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. This scene, however, became a major sticking point for Shudo as well as numerous fans for betraying the original intentions behind the story and Molly's character.

...But what if I told you that the dub fixed EVERYTHING about it?

On the DVD commentary for Mewtwo Strikes Back (M01), Michael Haigney (English writer/director) and Norman J. Grossfeld (English writer/producer) talk a bit how certain lines were added in an effort to explain things they felt didn't make sense in the original Japanese version. For example, the Tears of Life (pictured above) is set up as an old legend in the dub, while it goes unexplained in the Japanese version and both versions of MSB Evolution (M22).

In a similar vein (as explained on M03's own commentary), the dub implies that, rather than being dead, Mrs. Hale was also researching the Unown before being captured by them. While it was likely written with the short term in mind, this explanation not only fixes her sudden appearance in the ED, but also adds to the story in two major ways.

1: Molly having both of her parents be absentee Pokemon researchers taken away by the Unown allows the dub to maintain her initial loneliness and rationale without her mother dead and thus the ED contradicting the story. While it's further removed from the "dead mother" idea, it resolves the logical failing Sonoda introduced: "If Molly's mom was in the hospital the whole time, why didn't she visit her? Why have Entei kidnap Ash's mom?"

2: By having the explanation for Mrs. Hale's absence be that she was taken by the Unown much like Spencer would be in the movie's inciting incident, it adds a personal layer to why he's so feverishly researching them; not only to document their existence, but so he can find a way to bring his wife back, not unlike Dr. Fuji perfecting cloning to revive his daughter in M01's extended prologue, The Birth of Mewtwo.

Implying that Mrs. Hale went through a similar experience also makes it easy to infer that the Unown returned her to Molly as well. (Side note: This scene was originally part of the ED as well, but was moved up to take place right after Greenfield turns back to normal; another smart decision on the dub's part.)

Rewriting the story is frowned upon among the anime community, as it's often perceived as compromising the original vision and integrity. But Spell of the Unown already had it happen when Sonoda wrote the most controversial scene of the movie, a moment so opposed to Shudo's intent that he quit the series entirely not long after. This scene (and therefore, the entire story) was fixed because 4Kids were allowed to make the changes they did. They made a great movie even better, they held true to the themes and character, and they didn't even have to re-kill Mrs. Hale to do it.