Digimon Adventure S02E12
Duel on the Digimon Ranch (JP)
The Good, the Bad, and the Digi (EN)
Original Writer: Yoshio Urasawa
Dub Writers: Michael Sorich and Jeff Nimoy & Bob Buchholz
Original Airdates:
June 18, 2000 (JP)
October 14, 2000 (EN)
Gear’s Notes: One of the downsides to the fact that I only watched this season once is that… well, I’ve only watched it once. Meaning if I missed an episode when the show was airing, I never saw it at all.
Basically, I realized I have never seen this episode in either language before. Weird.
Being pursued by Ken’s army of Airdramon, Birdramon calls out to Sora for help. A blast reverts her to Biyomon, and she seeks shelter in an old west-style town, but ends up being captured by Starmon, who is under Ken’s control.
Sora manages to gather Davis, Yolei, and Cody to come to Biyomon’s aid, and they find themselves in the same town. At first, Starmon pretends to be on their side, but soon reveals he’s working for Ken, capturing and imprisoning the kids. Deputymon appears and agrees to free the kids… but only the girls, since boys cheat at cards, and he really wants to play cards. Yolei, Hawkmon, Sora, and Biyomon are taken to an open field to play cards, but are confronted by Starmon, who challenges Deputymon to a duel.
Managing to grab Starmon’s lunch, Armadillomon and Veemon are able to get some much-needed food, allowing them to become Digmon and Raidramon respectively. Digmon gets them out while Raidramon and Davis rush to the girls’ aid. However, an attack by Starmon reverts Raidramon back to Veemon. Getting a second wind, Veemon becomes Flamedramon and sends Starmon flying into the Control Spire, destroying it.
Kari had to race through that recap.
The super casual music in the dub for the moment after Birdramon calls out for Sora (which, as always, she sounds comically terrible in the dub) completely obliterates the tension.
In the original, Sora is apparently at tennis practice, as she feigns an ankle injury, and her coach tells someone else to step up for drills. In the dub, Sora says she’s feeling dizzy, and whoever she’s talking to says, “What-EVAAAHHHH!” Sora then suggests someone else play, implying this is just friends playing together rather than an actual school activity.
Sora: It’s Piyomon in the Digital World!
Sora: It’s Biyomon… but how will I get to the DigiWorld!
Carpool with other season pass holders?
It isn’t clear in either version how Biyomon was able to remain in Birdramon form while being pursued by the controlled Airdramon. If there was a Control Spire or the Dark Digivice in the area, she should have reverted to Rookie. If there wasn’t, the Airdramon shouldn’t be under the Emperor’s control.
Tailmon humming
Gatomon: <That catnip rinse makes my ears look too stiff.>
You’re bathing in catnip? This early in the morning? Gatomon, you may need an intervention.
Hikari: You’re always grooming!
Tailmon: Is that so bad? Stop teasing me!
Kari: Why are your ears standing up?
Gatomon: It’s a new look. It’s all the rage in CAT-mandu.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no.
Hikari: But we’re just going for a walk!
Kari: You know, most cats like mice, not mousse.
Rather than directly painting over the e-mail, they apparently used a shot from a different scene or episode in the dub and just painted over that.
English text is from the subtitles. 
Upamon in the Japanese is super goofy and fun.
The music in the next scene sounds… Irish? Not sure why. Meanwhile, the dub music is the same as ever.
Very subtle, Iori.
Silence
Cody: <Note to self: think of better way to sneak Upamon out of apartment.>
XD
Miyako: Iori, it’s you! It’s not like you to rush.
Iori: I got an e-mail from Takenouchi Sora-san!
Upamon: Dagyaa!
Miyako: From Sora-san?
Yolei: Cody, what have you been eating lately? You must’ve gained 20 pounds!
Cody: It’s Upamon.
Yolei: You ate Upamon?!
Cody: Forget it! Sora sent an e-mail saying Biyomon’s in trouble!
Upamon: [squawk!]
Yolei: Your tummy’s growling.
I take it back. If everyone in that world is as dumb as Yolei, Cody’s technique for hiding Upamon is actually brilliant.
silence
Cody: The only way not to look suspicious is to sneak quietly!
Yolei: Right!
Miyako jokes that maybe the missing Hikari and Takeru are on a date. Daisuke reacts with surprise, and Miyako insists she’s just joking.
Yolei suggests maybe the batteries in their D-Terminals are dead, and Davis counters that maybe TK is taking a bath (weird, but okay).
As always, the dub fills the silence with blather.
Both versions have piano music playing, which alerts the kids, but the dub composed its own.
Narrator: Starmon! A planetary Digimon with his trademark star-shaped armor suit and star-marked gloves and boots. His special attack is Meteor Squall.
Hawkmon: Starmon is a law-and-order Digimon that keeps the peace, but if you break the law, his powerful Meteor Shower will rain down swift justice upon you!
Surprisingly, Starmon serving “Welcome Milk” to the kids is not a dub invention, but rather what actually happens in the episode.
No idea why, but they cut the shot of Starmon spitting his milk out, replacing it with more footage of Sora talking.
The dialogue is slightly different, with the original focusing more on whether or not Piyomon would ever do something that would result in her getting in trouble with the law. In the dub, Sora says that as a law mon, he should protect Bioymon from the “Digital Emperor.”
Starmon in the dub keeps talking even as the camera pans across the room to show everyone is gone, like he somehow doesn’t notice for several seconds even though he’s looking at the room. In the original, his speech stops as he notices they’re gone.
Starmon: Guess I’ll go make a scaffold in the graveyard for you.
Starmon: Here’s the rules. No cookies in your cell. No loud music after eight. And no shucking oysters in months without an R. Enjoy!
Halfway? That was quick.
Why do I get the feeling the second half will be worse?
A shot of the lamp is cut as the dub returns from commercial break.
Sora: Shh, don’t talk. What happened?
Biyomon: You just said “don’t talk,” didn’t you? I wish you’d make up your mind.
So do we, Biyomon.
The dub cut Starmon putting his boot to Piyomon’s head, but kept the next shot where the act was still visible. However, the froze the shot so the pressure he was putting on her head isn’t visible.
Then they cut the scaffold Starmon built for the kids.
Iori: That’s right, we didn’t have breakfast.
Cody: Boy, Yolei, I sure wish we had some snacks from your store.
Yolei: I’ll call my dad! He delivers!
Hawkmon: But Yolei, we’re in prison in the Digital World.
Veemon: You’re right! If it’s more than five miles, there’s a delivery charge!
Making people say dumb things and then immediately calling them out for it isn’t funny, it’s just robbing me of snarky remarks to make.
Narrator: Revolmon! A gun-shaped mutant Digimon. He may have strong morals, but he loves to gamble. His special attack is Justice Bullet.
Armadillomon: Deputymon is a barrel-chested Digimon that shoots from the lip, but usually he’s helpful and harmless.
Was that an intentional malaphor, or did they actually mean “shoots from the hip“?
Though Hawkmon is considered to be male, his dub counterpart claims to be female. This might be him just trying to stay with Yolei by lying, but I honestly think the dubbers just couldn’t make up their minds.
We’ve got some Pokémon-style cuts here because of the guns.
Four second cut of Starmon finishing the scaffold.
Revolmon frees the girls because he wants to play cards with them, but offers no direct explanation as to why only the girls. I think it’s implied to be a sexual thing, bolstered by the fact that he actually got naked in front of them (it was a strip search for a Dark Ring that was surprisingly kept in the English version). In the dub, he says he wants to play cards, but refuses to let the boys out because boys always cheat at cards.
The boss health meter added in for Starmon’s is funny but also really lacking context.
In the dub, they play Old Maid. Sora asks Yolei if she knows how to cheat at that game, and Yolei confirms she does.
In the original, Revolmon’s cards go flying when Starmon shoots them out of his hand. In the dub, the sound of the gunshot is omitted, making it seem like he just dropped his cards in surprise.
Five seconds: an upward pan of Revolmon.
Daisuke tells V-Mon not to eat the food because he already got to eat that morning. Davis tells Veemon that Digmon is their best bet for the moment. The dub dialogue makes slightly more sense here, since the original doesn’t explain why V-Mon doesn’t just Armor Evolve to break them out. The dub implies that Veemon’s too hungry as well, though we still saw that he ate a ton of food for breakfast earlier in the episode, so there’s no telling why he’s hungry again.
To make up for some of the lost time, Digmon and Raidramon get Lengthened Evolution Sequences (LES). Basically, the dub used the full evolution stock footage, while the original abbreviated it.
Revolmon shoots Starmon before the duel is over, but the shot is covered up in the dub. Deputymon never actually shot Starmon in the dub, but he just turned around early.
This leads to 19 seconds being cut as Revolmon starts blasting when Starmon isn’t ready, and keeps doing so until he runs out of ammo.
Also, the original frequently refers to the fact that the kids are going to be executed by Starmon. In the dub, it’s changed to various versions of imprisonment or destruction.
Update – 19 Oct. 2020: At some mild urging, I’ve attached the full video of the duel in Japanese.
V-Mon: Daisuke! This time I’ll attack as Fladramon!
Veemon: Davis! Digivolve me into Flamedramon! He’s a better fighter!
Better how?
The stock footage for Flamedramon was slightly extended in the dub.
Let’s Kick it Up! is playing in the background of the dub and I hate it.
A split second of footage is lost when they cut the hangman’s scaffold from the dub, but the footage continued when Starmon crashed into it, so you can still see the noose.
Cut from the dub. 
Retained in the dub.
About 3 seconds are cut of scenes that have nothing to do with anything, so no idea why.
The scenes of Ken and the Spiral are moved to the end of the episode.
In the original, the group is playing an unspecified card game when Starmon and Revolmon decide they want to play Old Maid. In the dub, they’re apparently playing poker, with Cody getting two pairs… of aces. Dumb joke, but acceptable because I don’t know many 8 year olds who understand poker that well. Then the two Digimon decide they want to switch to Go Fish.
In the original, a cow can be heard in the background. In the dub, it’s switched to an elephant… for some reason.
Total Footage Lost: ≈ 35 - 40 seconds.
This episode was filler, and not particularly interesting filler to be honest. That said, the dub made extensive cuts because of the guns and the noose, though not as much of the dialogue was changed as usual, so it’s a trade-off.
The guy with nothing but free time, and yet still never gets anything done. Former Frontier contributor, current owner of Digimon Uncensored. Actively comparing Zero-Two, Frontier, and Data Squad. Buy me a coffee?
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Let’s all harass Gear to put up a video of the duel scene, because it is something special