Pokémon in the Netherlands

The Pokémon franchise first arrived in the  in 1999, with the first broadcast of Pokémon, ik kies jou! in Dutch. The release of Pokémon Red and Blue Versions followed afterwards, on October 10, 1999 in the English language.

Pokémon video games
All of the core series and spin-off Pokémon games have been released in English in the Netherlands, usually the same day as the release in the rest of Europe. An exception to this were Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Versions. Due to a major bug found in some releases of Pokémon HeartGold, which prevented saved games from being detected, the release was postponed from March 25th to April 2nd, 2010 in both the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch-speaking part of Belgium).

As in the rest of Europe, Pokémon Trozei! was sold under the title Pokémon Link! and Pokémon Rumble Blast was sold under the title Super Pokémon Rumble.

Pokémon Play It! was released in Dutch as Pokémon: Speel het!. The interface of Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is in Dutch but the cards themselves remain in English.

On August 19 and 20, 2000 Nintendo Benelux organised the Dutch Pokémon Championship 2000 in. 3 x 128 Pokémon Trainers could battle for the Pika Cup, Poké Cup and the Prime Cup using their Pokémon from Red, Blue, or Yellow. Using Transfer Paks these Pokémon were moved to Pokémon Stadium, which was used for battling.

Pokémon anime series
Pokémon was originally broadcasted in the Netherlands on Fox Kids. On February 23, 2005, the network was renamed Jetix and then again on January 1, 2010, as Disney XD.

When Fox Kids announced it would stop broadcasting Pokémon in March 2001, 32,000 complaining children called to Fox Kids. It turned out to be a 1 April joke, when the channel announced on 1 April that the third season would begin airing the same day.

Episodes and movies in the Netherlands generally debut a few weeks after the first airing in the United States. A notable exception to this was Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness which aired in Dutch before airing in English anywhere in the world. Which together with the first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon special, three Pikachu shorts (PK01, PK04 and PK07), The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin (part of M01) SS026 (part of M16), Mewtwo Returns and The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon were the only specials of the Pokémon anime to be released in the Netherlands.

The Dutch dub also airs in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. In both Belgium and the Netherlands the anime is available on Netflix.

From 1999 until 2006, JPS Producties was the company responsible for producing the Dutch dub. From 2007 until 2008, it was Fred Butter Soundstudio; and starting in 2008, it was SDI Media (formerly Sun Studio).

Pokémon movies
The first four s (M01 Dutch premiere: 20 April 2000, more than 525,000 visitors in total; M02 Dutch premiere: 12 October 2000, more than 356,000 visitors in total; M03 Dutch premiere: 23 May 2001, more than 183,000 visitors in total; M04 Dutch premiere: 3 July 2003, more than 18,500 visitors in total) saw a release in Dutch theaters. Later movies, as well the special episodes, are regularly broadcasted on Disney XD. The last Pokémon movie to be released in the Netherlands on VHS was M04, the last release on DVD was M15 and there have been no Blu-ray releases.

Most of the movies held the original voice actors. However, the distributor for movies 4-7 chose for another dubbing studio. As a result, most of the original cast was replaced by other voice actors. Only Christa Lips as Ash and Marlies Somers as Misty remained. From movie 5 and on, they, too, got replaced by new voice actors.

Beside the replaced voice actors, the dub was also not of high quality. The dialogue and title song were poorly translated, and at some scenes, the English dub voices could still be heard, or no voices would be present at all. The Pikachu short was also not included anymore.

From 2007 on, the movies did not premiere anymore on DVD, but rather on TV (Jetix and later Disney XD). This meant that the dubbing was once again of high quality and held the original cast.

M08 premiered on November 11, 2007 at Jetix, M09 on November 18, 2007 at Jetix and two movie posters were given away with Jetix Magazine of the movies. M12 premiered on February 24, 2010 at Disney XD, Black—Victini and Reshiram on May 20, 2012 at Disney XD, White—Victini and Zekrom on 18:00 June 13, 2012 at the digital channel Disney XD 24 uur (the normal Disney XD airs until 18:00), M15 on 09:00 April 7, 2013 at Disney XD.

On November 27, 2016, M19 aired on Disney XD.

Music
Some songs used in the Dutch anime are translated (these include Pokémon Karaokémon, Pokérap and the title songs from season 3-4 and season 8 onwards), while some other songs are used untranslated (Pikachu's Jukebox, The Time Has Come (Pikachu's Goodbye) and the title songs from season 1-2 and 5-7). Usually the regular singer for television theme songs is Herman van Doorn, returning in the 17th season Pokémon the Series: XY.

Three soundtrack albums have been released in the Netherlands. The first, Pokémon 2.B.A. Master, was the same as its North American counterpart and was sold in English. The second, , was a Dutch translation of Totally Pokémon. The third , was a Dutch translation of Pokémon 3: The Ultimate Soundtrack.

Cast and crew
The lead role of Ash Ketchum is performed by Christa Lips (born 1964), a Dutch actress and singer. Christa also voiced Cassidy in season 2 and 8.

Marlies Somers (born January 16, 1973) gave her voice to, while Fred Meijer is the voice of , Gurkinn, Butch (S02) as well as Giovanni in seasons 3-6.

In season 2, the role of Tracey Sketchit was voiced by Martin van den Ham (September 15, 1962 - March 9, 2001), an actor and comedian. After his sudden death of cardiac arrest at the age of 38, Tracey's recurring appearances were performed by Rolf Koster (born February 25, 1968). In M03 Tracey was voiced by Tony Neef (born January 29, 1961).

In the, was voiced by Nicoline van Doorn and Max was voiced by Lot Lohr (born June 3, 1963).

In the, 's role was given to Meghna Kumar (born June 23, 1979).

In the, is voiced by José Kroon and  is voiced by Jurjen van Loon (born September 14, 1983)

In the, is voiced by Tara Hetharia,  is voiced by Christian Nieuwenhuizen, and  is voiced by Manou Jue Cardoso. Professor Sycamore is voiced by Rutger le Poole.

Jessie is dubbed by Hilde de Mildt (born November 19, 1959), she has also dubbed Officer Jenny in one episode. James was originally dubbed by Bram Bart (April 32, 1962 - April 8, 2012), who also voiced Gary Oak, but in season 8 the role was given to Paul Disbergen, also the voice of Butch in season 8.

also had a change of voice actors at the same time, from Jan Nonhof (born December 9, 1947) to Bas Keijzer (born March 31, 1973) because of his disagreement with the change of the dub company. In season 15, Bas Keijzer has been replaced with Fred Meijer who previously provided the voice of Brock and Giovanni.

has had many voice actors. He was originally voiced by Just Meijer (born 1956), in season 2 Stan Limburg gave his voice. From season 3 to season 6 Fred Meijer, who also did the voice of Brock, dubbed him and in the special Mewtwo Returns, Sander de Heer did Giovanni's voice. From season 6 to 7 Just Meijer did Giovanni's voice again but he was replaced by Bas Keijzer, who also did 's voice. In season 14, Just Meijer returned once again and he is the current voice of Giovanni and also voiced Stephan in his debut episode.

Dexter and Professor Oak were voiced by Jon van Eerd (born September 5, 1960) up to season 7, at which point he was replaced by Tony Neef (born January 29, 1961), who also voiced Gary Oak (AG146-present), Harley (S08-09), Paul and Butch (S09-present). In season 11, Professor Oak's role was moved to Thijs van Aken (born May 5, 1969), while Dexter's role was moved to Hetty Heyting (born October 19, 1953), also the voice of Zoey (S10-13), Cassidy (S09-present), and Vivian Meridian (S08). In S17 Professor Oak was voiced by Florus van Rooijen. In 2 episodes Dexter was voiced by Hilde de Mildt (born November 19, 1959). After that Dexter was voiced by Just Meijer and concurrently in Kalos by Edna Kalb.

Other notable voice actors in the Dutch dub include Jeroen Keers as the narrator, Mandy Huydts (born April 9, 1969) as Nurse Joy (S01-S13) and Cassidy (S1), Lizemijn Libgott (born May 24, 1980) as Nurse Joy (S14-present), Gardenia (S10), Sophie and Viola, Edna Kalb (born October 11, 1959) as Officer Jenny (S01-S13) and Delia Ketchum in one episode, Saskia Maarleveld as Officer Jenny and Fennel (S14), Beatrijs Sluyter as Delia Ketchum, J (S12), Lilian Meridian, and Marian, Edward Reekers (born May 24, 1957) and Pepijn Gunneweg (born May 18, 1976) as Todd Snap, Niki Romijn as Ritchie and Casey (S03, S04 and S05), Sander van der Poel (born September 19, 1986) as Drew, Huub Dikstaal (born January 6, 1968) as Drew (S07-09), Butch (S01), Kenny (S11-S12), Scott and Pierce, Finn Poncin as Butch (S05), Lottie Hellingman (born August 7, 1977) as Cassidy (S03, S04 and S05), Marjolein Algera (born November 25, 1965) as Nurse Joy in M01 and Vivian Meridian (S06 and S07), Lotte Horlings (born April 10, 1979) as J (S10 and S11), Frank Rigter (S11-S12) and Mitchell van den Dunge Bille (S12-S13) as, Kenny (S10) and as Drew (S06), Thijs van Aken (born May 5, 1969) as Trip (S14), Fleur van de Water as , Eva Burmeister as Burgundy, Natalie Hanenveld as Georgia, Trevor Reekers (born June 21 1988) as Luke, Levi van Kempen as Gary Oak (S09-11), Leon Wiedijk (S12), Jannemien Cnossen as Nurse Joy in M10, Donna Vrijhof as Nurse Joy in two episodes, Matori and Grace, Jeroen van Wijngaarden as Paul (S10-S13), Ruud Drupsteen as Kenny (S13), Frans Limburg as Stephan (S14), Nathalie Haneveld as Georgia (S14), Florus van Rooijen as Paul in one episode, Tineke Blok as Officer Jenny (S17), Alexa and Cosette, Nicoline van Doorn as Korrina and Lyra, Cynthia was voiced by Marieke de Kruijf in S10, Lotte Horlings in S11 and by Donna Vrijhof in S12, Ewout Eggink as Professor Birch (S06), Jann Cnossen as Matori (S14) and Professor Juniper, Louis van Beek as Professor Birch (S07 and S08) and Professor Rowan, and Paul Disbergen as Butch (S9), Gary Oak in one episode and Dr. Zager.

Pokémon manga
English Pokémon Adventures volumes published by VIZ Media are imported and sold in the Netherlands by comic/manga stores. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Ginji's Rescue Team was translated into Dutch and serialized in three parts alongside 2007 publications of Jetix Magazine.

Pokémon Trading Card Game
TCG Booster packs of the Pokémon Trading Card Game have been sold in the Netherlands since the beginning of the TCG. Prices are generally around €4 per pack. TCG Base Set, TCG Jungle, and TCG Fossil have been released in Dutch, while later sets have been sold in English only.

999 Games was responsible for the distribution in Flanders and the Netherlands until 2003 when Wizards of the Coast's license was transferred to the The Pokémon Company International by Nintendo. After that PS-Games was responsible for the distribution until 2011 as PS-Games, also the sponsor and distributor of the Pokémon Day in the Netherlands, was declared bankrupt. The company saw the profits fall with €3.9 million to €5.6 million and was in debt by €2.2 million. After that Enigma Distribution Benelux B.V. took over the distribution of the TCG. 999 Games did sometimes still distribute the cards after 2003 but purchased through PS-Games.

There are nineteen Play! Pokémon leagues in the Netherlands, which work the same way as leagues in other countries. Once every year, the leagues in the Netherlands and Belgium hold an international tournament called the Benelux Cup.

Fox Kids regularly organised a Pokémon Trading Card Liga in Six Flags, visitors could trade and play Pokémon Trading Cards.

Trivia

 * Like and, an annual event named Pokémon Day was held in 2006 (two times), 2008, 2009 and 2010 in the Netherlands by Nintendo at.
 * A Dutch version of Pokémon Official Magazine is published in the Netherlands by Panini.
 * Pokémon coins and Pokémon Flippos were given away in the Netherlands.

Related articles

 * List of Dutch Pokémon themes
 * List of Dutch Pokémon home video releases