The now defunct 4kids Entertainment was one of the most infamous and despised companies amongst the anime community. Known for importing Anime, and needlessly and mercilessly hacking them with a Cuisinart, the firm became known for outlandish censorship, bad voice acting, and shameless pandering to young children. But a very similar company existed years before 4kids' infamy came up, another company known for importing and/or adapting foreign material for an American audience, and ironically, also ran Fox's children's programing a long time ago.
Saban Entertainment, formally a subsidiary/co-owner of Fox's "Fox Family Worldwide" division was founded in 1983 by Hiam Saban and Shuki Levy, and became famous for it's adaptations of Japanese tokasatsu shows, most notably, the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers . They partnered with Fox in 1996 to create Fox Kids Worldwide (later Fox Family Worldwide), initially consisting of Saban Entertainment, and the Fox Kids Network. Saban also licensed and dubbed anime series such as Samurai Pizza Cats, and distributed an early dub of Funimation's "Dragon Ball Z" to television. Their most famous anime property however, was Pok?mon's biggest rival, Digimon.
That being said, comparing the 4kids dub of Pok?mon, to the Saban dub of Digimon. Which company was worse with anime dubbing in terms of localization, censorship, and faithfulness to the native version? From what I've personally seen from the dub of Digimon, Saban never really got as bad as 4kids when it came to anime dubbing. Sure, there was cheesy (and bad) dialogue, and a few of your usual SatAM edits, but nothing that will generate any memes. In fact, Saban's version of Digimon Adventure 01 was actually pretty unique at the time. In the 90s when distributors of anime for kids tried to erase any and all trace of Japanese culture, Saban instead embraced it. Instead of complete name changes, most of the characters were simply given nick-names, and all Japanese locations and culture in the series remained untouched.
I'd still would recommend you watch the Japanese version since the dub hasn't aged particularly well, but for a SaAM dub. Meh, I've seen worse. But one thing that 4kids always did better than Saban was memorability. Like I said, Saban's dub of Digimon isn't great, but it is watchable, but that also means it's kind of dull. The 4kids dub of Pok?mon alone though, is way more notable. Becoming infamous for localizing food (Jelly-filled Donuts? WTF!?) As well as being more nostalgic for most people since Pok?mon was more popular with kids than Digimon. Even outside Pok?mon, 4kids' dubs are stuff of legends. Aside from the excellent Samurai Pizza Cats, most of Saban's anime licenses and dubs were... unspectacular. 4kids however at the very least, knew how to make you laugh with their pathetic attempts at editing, as well as their almost, parody style of production. Even removing basic, often all-ready-in-english text because of the corporate belief that kids are stupid and can't read. But that's my opinion, what's yours?
Saban Entertainment, formally a subsidiary/co-owner of Fox's "Fox Family Worldwide" division was founded in 1983 by Hiam Saban and Shuki Levy, and became famous for it's adaptations of Japanese tokasatsu shows, most notably, the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers . They partnered with Fox in 1996 to create Fox Kids Worldwide (later Fox Family Worldwide), initially consisting of Saban Entertainment, and the Fox Kids Network. Saban also licensed and dubbed anime series such as Samurai Pizza Cats, and distributed an early dub of Funimation's "Dragon Ball Z" to television. Their most famous anime property however, was Pok?mon's biggest rival, Digimon.
That being said, comparing the 4kids dub of Pok?mon, to the Saban dub of Digimon. Which company was worse with anime dubbing in terms of localization, censorship, and faithfulness to the native version? From what I've personally seen from the dub of Digimon, Saban never really got as bad as 4kids when it came to anime dubbing. Sure, there was cheesy (and bad) dialogue, and a few of your usual SatAM edits, but nothing that will generate any memes. In fact, Saban's version of Digimon Adventure 01 was actually pretty unique at the time. In the 90s when distributors of anime for kids tried to erase any and all trace of Japanese culture, Saban instead embraced it. Instead of complete name changes, most of the characters were simply given nick-names, and all Japanese locations and culture in the series remained untouched.
I'd still would recommend you watch the Japanese version since the dub hasn't aged particularly well, but for a SaAM dub. Meh, I've seen worse. But one thing that 4kids always did better than Saban was memorability. Like I said, Saban's dub of Digimon isn't great, but it is watchable, but that also means it's kind of dull. The 4kids dub of Pok?mon alone though, is way more notable. Becoming infamous for localizing food (Jelly-filled Donuts? WTF!?) As well as being more nostalgic for most people since Pok?mon was more popular with kids than Digimon. Even outside Pok?mon, 4kids' dubs are stuff of legends. Aside from the excellent Samurai Pizza Cats, most of Saban's anime licenses and dubs were... unspectacular. 4kids however at the very least, knew how to make you laugh with their pathetic attempts at editing, as well as their almost, parody style of production. Even removing basic, often all-ready-in-english text because of the corporate belief that kids are stupid and can't read. But that's my opinion, what's yours?
