Digimon Adventure S01E42
Whamon on the Silent Ocean Floor (JP)
Under Pressure (EN)
Written by:
JP: Akatsuki YAMATOYA
EN: Jeff Nimoy & Bob Buchholz
First aired:
JP: December 26, 1999
EN: March 4, 2000
The kids call another rideshare to get away from MetalSeadramon, and lucky for them, it’s been several years in Digital World time since their first ride, so Whamon doesn’t remember them or know better than to pick them up again. He takes a shortcut to the bottom of the ocean to elude their Divermon and MetalSeadramon pursuers. While submerged, Izzy hijacks Whamon’s vision and Kari deafens him with her whistle, so he surfaces and spits them out to deal with MetalSeadramon themselves.
Joe recaps the last episode for us:
Joe: “Piximon was unable to fight off all of the Dark Masters, but we were grateful to him in his noble defeat.”
… Okay, most people don’t call it that…
[58 sec (some footage from the previous episode is replayed)]The previous episode’s ending was moved to the beginning of this episode in the dub, just as the episode before that. After MetalSeadramon attacked with Ultimate Stream/River of Power, just when all hope was lost, Whamon showed up to save the day!
[MetalSeadramon gloats after blasting Zudomon back into Gomamon]
MetalSeadramon: *laughs*
MetalSeadramon: “You’re finished, you upstart DigiDestined! In a word: you’re sunk!”
Good pun, MetalSeadramon.
[Whamon gobbles up the Chosen Children]
Taichi: “We’re saved! Whamon will protect us in his body!”
MetalSeadramon: “Chosen Children and your Digimon… You won’t escape!”
Tai: “Come on, everybody! I never thought I’d want to be fish food, but we’ll be safe in here!”
Izzy: “Technically, it’s a mammal!”Tai: “You’re a mammal!”
Izzy: “No, I mean an actual– nevermind…”
Are Digimon mammals? They hatch from eggs…
[MetalSeadramon watches them escape]
MetalSeadramon: “You… damned Chosen Children…!”
MetalSeadramon: “You escaped this time, but you’ve escaped for the last time! Why did Whamon stick his spout in my business and save the Digidestined?”
He was just hungry, dude. It’s nothing personal!
[Some friends arrive!]
MetalSeadramon: “Hangyomon.”
Hangyomon: “We’re sorry to be late.”
MetalSeadramon: “What are you doin’ here, Divermon?”
Divermon: “We just came up for a little air!”
“Also, we work for you, and you told us to come here.”
Narrator: “Hangyomon: a wetsuit-wearing, aquatic, Beast-Person-type Digimon that swims in the ocean. Their special attack is Strike Fishing.”
Metalseadramon: “Those Divermon… If it wasn’t for their Striking Fish attack, they’d be useless to me.”
They’re right there. Can’t you wait until they’re out of earshot, at least?!
Hangyomon are renamed “Divermon” in the dub, and their attack got a little confused. What was once fishing in a “strike” fashion is now either just smacking fish around or fish that smack things around. Doesn’t sound terribly useful at all.
Hangyo 「半漁」 means “half-fish” – usually referring to mermaids and the like.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/magical-mermaids-japanese-folklore-005755
The first Hangyomon to speak has a low-but-nasally voice in the original. One has a young boy voice, and the one that remains with MetalSeadramon has a higher-pitched male voice. They’re all very polite with MetalSeadramon.
In the dub, they have goofy, barely distinguishable voices. They’re about as polite as any other dub character with their boss (so… they aren’t).
MetalSeadramon: “It’s fine. I control this ocean. The Chosen Children can’t escape my grasp wherever they go, even with Whamon on their side.”
MetalSeadramon: “Wherever those kids try to hide, I’ll find them. I rule this ocean with an iron hand, an iron tail, and an iron everything for that matter! I spend a fortune on rust remover, but it’s worth it!“
MetalSeadramon: “Now go! Capture the Chosen Children!”
MetalSeadramon: “Well, don’t just sit there treading water, I told you to go find those kids!”
You didn’t! You asked why they showed up and then insulted them to their faces!
After chatting with the Hangyomon, MetalSeadramon does a weird growl/moan thing and flops backwards into the sea like he’s flopping into a big bath tub to relax. It’s delightful and relatable.
[Elsewhere, the Children appreciate their rescuer]
Whamon: “I’m glad that all of you are safe.”
Yamato: “Hey, Whamon. How can we defeat the Dark Masters?”
Sora: “Why did they do this to the Digimon world?”
Whamon: *spoots water out of his blowhole* “I do not know the details. I felt the world suddenly start to distort, and the situation was as it is now. Then MetalSeadramon took control of the oceans.”
Whamon: “Aw, don’t mention it. No, seriously, don’t mention it. I don’t want it to get around that I hang out with you people.”
Matt: “Hey, guys, we still have a problem. How are we going to be able to defeat the Dark Masters?”
Sora: “I wonder how they took over the Digital World in the first place. Do you remember, Whamon?”
Whamon: “Of course I remember Whamon! Big fella, snappy dresser… Oh, you mean the Dark Masters. I don’t know all the details, but soon after the Digital World began to warp, MetalSeadramon began to take over the ocean.”
I missed you, Whamon.
Taichi punches the ground, which is Whamon and not ground at all, to a glittering mist which is presumably water and not extremely fine seagull-poop, considering they are surrounded by seagulls. The dub adds Whamon saying “Ow!” and Tai apologizing. Seriously, Tai! A little mindfulness?
[Let’s not get discouraged!]
Whamon: “As you say, let’s all keep our spirits up. I don’t know if there are any safe places left in this world, but we should at least find a place out of MetalSeadramon’s reach.”
Whamon: “That’s the attitude! I’ll find a safe place for you, outside of MetalSeadramon’s reach, even if I have to swim to the faaar corners of the ocean! By the way, did I mention I charge by the mile?”
UGH… Do you take DigiDollars? … No? Why does nobody take these things..?
Back underwater, we see the Hangyomon pursuing Whamon. They approach a school of fish, who scream and swim away from one of the Hangyomon. In the dub, when the fish scream, the Divermon laughs at them – understandably, since the idea of screaming fish is pretty funny.
[On top of a Whamon, all covered with cheesy script, Yamato plays harmonica]
*Tailmon is not a sadist*
Gatomon: “𝅘𝅥𝅮 Cats land on their feet 𝅘𝅥𝅮 but we still need to eat. 𝅘𝅥𝅮 It’s Gatomon’s wish 𝅘𝅥𝅮 for some FRESH flying fish. 𝅘𝅥𝅮 ‘Cause I’m a kitty… 𝅘𝅥𝅮 a Digi-kitty!” *chops fish* “Ooooh, yeeeahh!” *mreow!*
Don’t EVER do that again.
Palmon has nothing to say to that.
Palmon: “That’s great, Gatomon, but the rest of us have to eat, too. Stand aside and watch how a PRO does it. Mmm… ” *catches a large fish with Poison Ivy and is crushed by it* “Dinner is served!”
Well… at least it’s got a vegetable to go with it…
[Yamato stops playing]
Taichi: “What’s wrong, Yamato?”
Yamato: “Oh… I was wondering if we could really beat the Dark Masters. They’re different from the Digimon we’ve fought before. Can we win with the way we’ve been fighting?”
Tai: “Why’d you stop playing, Matt?”
Matt: *gesticulates wildly towards Gatomon* “Did you not just hear that?! Aw, that song is just too depressing. It always gives me the blues.”
I don’t get it.
Matt: “Besides, I can’t stop thinking about the Dark Masters. They’re different than any Digimon we’ve ever faced before.”
Koushirou brings up WarGreymon’s Dramon Killer weapon to answer Yamato’s ponderance. Dramon Killer is “Dramon Destroyer” in the dub. While it does have alliterative appeal, they goof by pronouncing “Dramon” as “Dray-mon”, rhyming with “Greymon”. It’s “Dra-mon”, the same way it’s pronounced in “MetalSeadramon”.
Taichi: “You’ve done it, Koushirou!”
Tai: “Izzy, you’re a genius!”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Taichi: “The Dramon Killer, huh? Hey, Agumon! It’s your turn!” *Agumon is swallowing the fish Palmon caught whole* “… G-give it your all…”
Tai: “‘Dramon Destroyer’, huh? Agumon, you’re gonna eat those Dramon alive!”
*Agumon destroys said fish*
Tai: “That’s not what I had in mind!”Agumon: “I am still hungry, though…”
[Back under the water, Gomamon is swimmin’ with the fishes (no, not like that)]
Fishies: “We saw Hangyomon.”
Gomamon: “Hey, fishes, learn anything new in school?”
Fish: “We learned Divermon are in the area.”
They teach that in school?
[Above water, Gomamon pulls Jou’s fishing line and Jou down off Whamon in panic]
Gomamon: “Everyone, we’ve got a problem!”
Jou: “What’s the matter, Gomamon?”
Gomamon: “The enemy is coming!”
Jou: “Whaaat?!”
Mimi: “Where? Where?”
Sora: “I don’t see any sign of them around.”
Gomamon: “Hey, guys, we got trouble!”
Joe: *sarcastically* “I caught a whopper. Look.”
Gomamon: “… Divermon are headed this way!”
Joe: “Aah!”
Mimi: “Not Divermon! Anything but Divermon! By the way, what are Divermon?”
[The fishies said the baddies are on their way, so…]
Whamon: “They’ll find this place soon. Everyone, get inside. I’ll get ahead of them to shake them off.”
Whamon: “Well, we can’t stay here; they’ll find us too easily. I’m going to dive. Quick, everybody get inside me! And don’t mind the smell; I had fish for lunch.”
All: “Ewww…”
So did they, so don’t mind the taste.
Hangyomon 1: “Areas 13 through 18 are all clear.”
Hangyomon 2: “Areas 23 and 24 are the same; all clear.”
Hangyomon 3: “How much time is this going to take?! Why can’t we find that huge whale?!”
Divermon 1: “Red leader to Blue leader. Areas 13 through 18 are clear.”
Divermon 2: “Gold leader to Blue leader. Areas 23 and 24 are clear, too.”
Divermon 3: “Listen, Phil, Sid. How many times do I have to tell you guys? There are just three of us! You can call me Jim!”
Yeah, but that sounds like a name a human would have! Gross!
MetalSeadramon: “There’s no need to rush. I control the entire ocean. No matter where they hide, they’ll be within my reach”
Hangyomon 3: “Gyoi.” [affirmative grunt]
MetalSeadramon: “Just sit back and enjoy the hunt.”
Hangyomon 3: “Gyoi.”
MetalSeadramon: *chuckles* “Chosen Children… The hunt has only just begun.”
MetalSeadramon: “Will you guys knock it off?”
Jim: “Sorry.”
MetalSeadramon: “Do you smell something? There’s the scent of Digidestined in the current. Either that or there’s a bad patch of seaweed around here.”
How can you tell the difference?
Jim: “Yup.”
MetalSeadramon: “This is my moment to shine! Does my hair look all right?”
Jim: “Yeah…”
MetalSeadramon: “You DigiDestined fools! You can swim, but you can’t hide!”
I actually really like the idea of MetalSeadramon checking his hair before a battle. That’s a more fun character quirk than, “I rule all the seas and all the pees in the se–WAIT”.
[Back in the whale]
Tailmon: “Koushirou, what are you doing?”
Koushirou: “Uh, just a minute…”
Taichi: “What is it? Stop wasting time and just tell us.”
Koushirou: “Well, watch. All right, it’s connected!”
Gatomon: “What’s that noise? I was taking a catnap and it woke me up.”
Izzy: “I’ll explain later.”
Tai: “Oh, come on. You think I’m too brainless to understand?”
Izzy: “Yes, but I’ll tell you anyway. Check it out.”
Izzy, you’re almost likeable. Almost.
[Koushirou sees the seas on his screen]
Tentomon: “Koushirou, what’s this?”
Koushirou: “It’s Whamon’s visual information transmitted to my computer!”
Sora: “What a cool screen saver.”
Izzy: “It’s not a screen saver.”
Mimi: “What is it, then?”
Izzy: “A screen *preserver*. I connected to Whamon’s hard drive and re-routed all his sensory information to my computer.”
Okay, there’s an important distinction between “transmitted” and “re-routed“. “Transmitted” means he’s having Whamon’s visual data sent to his computer – i.e. it’s still going through Whamon’s brain or CPU or whatever. “Re-routed” means he changed the connection – i.e. it is no longer going to Whamon’s brain, but to Izzy’s computer instead. That means that either now, or at some point during the process, Whamon can or could not see.
Fortunately, Izzy’s special brand of incompetence led him to connect to the hard drive, so he only re-routed stored visual info, and Whamon’s visual/graphics processor is untouched.
Koushirou: “What you’re seeing here is what Whamon is seeing right now.”
Izzy: “In other words, what you’re seeing on the screen is exactly what Whamon is looking at right now.”
Another distinction, but a less important one: your eyes can be looking at something without your brain processing what you’re looking at, like how your brain ignores your nose even though you can see it. Izzy re-routed the visual data from the hard drive – Whamon’s memories – so let’s hope Whamon didn’t leave anything important out.
Koushirou specifies that what he’s done can only be done in the Digital World. Izzy does not give us the peace of mind that he cannot do this sort of thing in the Real World.
[Mimi excitedly swings Palmon around, and Hikari covers her ears]
Tailmon: “Hikari, are you okay?”
Taichi: “What’s wrong, Hikari?”
Hikari: “I’m okay. It’s just my ears…”
All: “Mimi!” [mimi 「耳」 is Japanese for ‘ear’]
Gatomon: “Yeah, I hate square dances.”
Tai: “What’s wrong, Kari?”
Kari: “It’s my ears. They’re starting to hurt.”
Tai: “Mimi, stop. Be quiet.”
Whamon releases air from his blowhole to relieve the air pressure that’s hurting their ears. In the dub, he burps. Being underwater and under high pressure, its volume and resonance were severely limited, but he did let out enough bubbles to give away his position! That is a fundamental quality of a good burp. I give it a B, for “blowhole”, from which it emerged.
[Everything’s fine now]
Koushirou: “So you dove and the pressure changed, huh?”
Hikari: “Thank you, Whamon!”
Izzy: “Well, I guess that’s one way to equalize the gas pressure.”
Kari: “By the way, you’re excused.”
There was one other way to do it. You would have loved it!
[Weird noises!]
Piyomon: “What’s that sound?”
Palmon: “What’s wrong?”
Koushirou: “Everyone, be quiet!”
Biyomon: “What’s that sound?”
Mimi: “Huh?”
Palmon: “It’s getting louder.”
Izzy: “Everyone, be quiet.”
Tentomon: “Sounds like Divermon!”
He JUST said to be quiet!
Maybe they won’t notice…
[They noticed]
Hangyomon 1: “I’ve found Whamon! He’s on the ocean floor in Area 51!”
Phil: “Red leader, this is– uh, I mean, uh, this is Phil. I found Whamon. He’s in area 51 on the ocean floor!”
DAMNIT, TENTOMON!
[Whamon evades Hangyomon by creating a bubble cover]
Patamon: “What should we do, Takeru?”
Takeru: “We’ll be killed at this rate!“
Yamato: “I hate to say it, but we’re limited while inside Whamon…”
Patamon: “You’re squeezing me too hard.”
T.K.: “Matt, you’re squeezing me too hard.”
Matt: “I’m being squeezed just righ– er… Sorry. I guess we’re all a little scared.”
[Taichi wants Whamon to surface so they can fight!]
Whamon: “I have an idea. If it works, we should be able to lose the enemy!”
Palmon: “If it… works?”
Whamon: “Let me try one more thing. Hopefully, it will work.”
Palmon: “What do you mean, ‘hopefully it will work’?”
Mimi: “That’s what the captain of the Titanic said!”
Yeah, but he was talking about ramming the iceberg. No icebergs here, so we’re fine.
[Whamon dives even deeper!]
Hangyomon 1: “It’s best to stop struggling!”
Hangyomon 2: “This is it! Surrender!”
Phil: “You, in the big whale, pull over!”
Sid: “It’s no use. We’ve got you trapped!”
OH COD WE’RE NOT FINE
Whamon dives even deeper, and one of the Hangyomon’s motors is crushed by the pressure (and probably structural defects). The Divermon add their condolences when one of their pals floats back up:
Jim: “Tough break…”
Bonus Divermon: “That’s gotta hurt!”
[Whamon, on the other hand, is totally fine]
Koushirou: “Water pressure! So this was Whamon’s plan!”
*relief*
Gomamon: “Whamon is a deep-sea Digimon, so water pressure is nothing to him!”
Jou: “You did it, Whamon!”
Izzy: “Prodigious! They can’t take the water pressure. That was Whamon’s plan all along.”
Gomamon: “Whamon is built to handle pressure, unlike some of us.”
Joe: “Well, forgive me for not being a whale!”
Never.
[At Koushirou’s suggestion, Hikari has blown her whistle so he could use sonar, something whales can do on their own, to find a hole]
Whamon: “Yes, I felt it, too. Apparently that hole is near land above ground.”
Tai: “Isn’t that great, Whamon?”
Whamon: “What?”
Tai: “I said, ‘isn’t that great?'”
Whamon: “I can’t hear you; someone was whistling in my ear. But there’s a tunnel up ahead. It should lead us to land.”
Yeah. Whale. Probably should have asked first.
The worst part is Koushirou whispers his idea to Hikari, so Whamon can’t even hear it to chime in, “yeah, I can already do that. You don’t need to give me a migraine.”
[The whistle echos through the seas to MetalSeadramon’s tympanic membranes]
MetalSeadramon: “I see your entire plan.”
Metalseadramon: “Those fools think I don’t know where they’re headed. They’re easier to figure out than a two-piece jigsaw puzzle!”
It looks easy on the box, but once the pieces are out, all bets are off.
Back in the whale, they come up to the hole, and Mimi gets excited. She reaches for Palmon, who backs away, thinking she’s going to get swung around again! In the dub, Mimi adds, for some reason, “I’ve got to get changed!”
[MetalSeadramon is after them now, so Whamon squeezes through the cavern to the surface]
Yamato: “I never thought the sun’s light could feel like this!”
Matt: “I feel I’ve been underwater so long, I might never take a bath again!”
Great. Thanks a lot, Whamon.
MetalSeadramon: “This is as far as you go, Chosen Children!”
Metalseadramon: “It was only a matter of time before you came up for air. Now you’re going down with the ship!”
Whamon’s special attack, Tidal Wave, retains its name for the dub.
[Taichi orders the team to shore to get ready for battle]
Jou: “Then Gomamon and I will cover you!”
Taichi: “I’m counting on you!”
Sora: “The waves are subsiding!”
Joe: “Uh, Gomamon and I will stay here and bring up the rear!”
Sora: “Joe, don’t be such a coward!”
The rear is the most vulnerable part, Sora!
Agumon has warp-evolved to WarGreymon and is about to face off with MetalSeadramon, when…
[WarGreymon smacks MetalSeadramon in the face with his Dramon Killer]
MetalSeadramon: “It’s the same Chrome Digizoid alloy! You can’t hurt me that easily!”
MetalSeadramon: “What was that, a love tap? I’m made of Chrome Digizoid too, you know. You can’t hurt me that easily!”
Chrome Digizoid has not been mentioned in the dub up to this point. WarGreymon’s Digimon Analyzer scene left that information out.
“Hey Digimon” plays in Brave Heart‘s place again. It is no less awful than before.
[The kids make it to shore]
Taichi: “Thanks, Whamon! Leave the rest to us!”
Whamon: “But…”
Yamato: “You’ll just be a target at your size! Hurry up and get out of here!”
Sora: “That’s right! Hurry!”
Whamon: “I understand!”
Tai: “Whamon, thanks for everything, but you can leave the rest to us!”
Whamon: “What? No tip?”
Matt: “Hurry and get out of here. You’re an easy target; you’re just too big!”
Whamon: “Are you calling me fat? I’m just big-boned.”
GET OUTTA HERE
WarGreymon uses Brave Shield for his attack on MetalSeadramon, but dub WarGreymon calls it “Terra Force”.
[116 sec]Again, the episode ends at the climax of the battle in the dub, and the original ending is moved to the beginning of the next episode. In this case, the original episode doesn’t end on “running away”, but instead a bittersweet one. Poor Hikari must be wondering, “WTF?? This is horrible! Why did everyone agree to come back here?!”
This may look like a chonker of a cut, but keep in mind the episode gained a minute from the previous episode’s ending being brought in.
The Digi-Verdict
And Hikari wouldn’t be alone in her ponderance, because there’s like a billion or twelve episodes left, and everyone we love is dying! D:
I do like how they let MetalSeadramon be silly! It’s a nice reprieve in an otherwise serious arc. He was kind of silly in the original because he kept reminding people that he “rules the seas”, but nobody ever called him on it, and it’s not played for laughs. Otherwise, between Izzy’s technical ineptitude, taking more potshots at Mimi and Joe, and Gatomon’s singing along to Matt’s harmonica, this one’s pretty unforgivable. I give it an F, for “fish scream”, which was probably the most enetertaining bit in the episode.
I know since you’ve grown as people you started to see Jeff Nimoy is not the villain fandom made him out to be, and that he’s actually not bad at all.
I am so sad that he admitted if it was up to him he the dub would have been Pokemon 2.0. He wanted to remove Japanese names and locations. And the dub would have been another cookie cutter dub name blandfest. And its even worse since Digimon didnt keep the original music. Even Pokemon did back then.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2023-09-20/the-prodigious-legacy-of-the-digimon-dub/.201234
I mean, yeah, none of the cast or crew are villains of any kind and most are indeed not bad (as far as I know, nobody’s a malicious lizard-person or secretly Dracula); show business is just stupid and weird. Digimon took a hit because marketing to American children is stupider and weirder, and it was an especially stupid and weird time period.
For context for other readers, the quote in the article is:
“‘There was a lot of coordination with Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment, Toei Animation, and Bandai Toys that went into character names. We [Fox Kids/Saban Entertainment] made character name suggestions, and Toei and Bandai would tell us if they approve or disapprove. They had the final say,’ Nimoy said via e-mail. ‘As far as locations go, I wanted to wipe out all references to Japan, considering we had American-looking kids speaking English with mostly American names. But the producers wanted to go with the setting remaining in Japan. If they ever told me their reasons, I don’t remember them.'”
The article doesn’t include the question he was answering with their quote, so it should be considered that it’s taken out-of-context. It’s the only quote from him in the article; the others are from Rita Majkut, one of the producers.
I don’t think the attempted location change would have made a big dent in the show’s quality (other than avoiding the awkwardness when they had to change mid-season), which I feel is carried largely by the voice cast, faithfulness to the story, and visual editing when things did have to be censored to get past S&P.
It is a shame to lose the cultural aspects of the location, but many of those elements would have been changed by necessity due to them not having analogues that don’t require additional explanation (like Sora’s family being an iemoto, or Jou’s entrance exams for junior high).
I would posit that Western TV production studios are villains regardless of time period — definitely regular villains, possibly supervillains. Not sure on the Eastern studios as I don’t actually pay the industry much mind.
Why is there’s no more updates?
Yeah, I’m sorry about that. We have been ridiculously busy and dealing with some hardware failure. I will be able to resume comparing very soon (as in “this week”), though I don’t know if there will be a new post this week.
I can commit to posting a comparison for Halloween, though that will be a re-comparison and not episode 43. I will check in with Gear on the schedule and see if we can get an status update on the site and upcoming work.
Thank you for asking, and I’m sorry to keep you waiting. The site’s not dead yet; it’s just oversleeping.