Professor Oak was still a recurring character. Sure, he wasn't as common as Team Rocket but he would still have knowledge of the contracts having worked with 4Kids of the series since the beginning. Not sure why his knowledge should be written off just because his character wasn't in every episode.
Recurring != main. He was not a main character who would be there for every single episode's dubbing.
I would trust the people who were regularly there more than the voice acting equivalent of a janitor.
Because FUNimation didn't take away one of 4Kids' biggest licenses and poach voice-actors to continue their work on the other side of the fence.
Oh boy do I have a bridge to sell you about FUNimation and how evil their business is. VA poaching is something they do A LOT. They also routinely employ Weinstein-esque "dub directors" who are long-time VAs like Sabat.
I imagine the contract stated something like that they could only dub Pokémon with 4Kids and no one else.
lol dude even Lionel Hutz wouldn't think this would work.
Because again, the two voice actors who did work with 4Kids who crossed the aisle ultimately never got work at 4Kids again.
4Kids was next to bankrupt in 2006 when they lost Pokemon. 4Kids continued to handle Yu-Gi-Oh basically exclusively. Carter Cathcart voiced one minor character (Weevil Underwood) in like one episode of the original Yu-Gi-Oh and that was it. Kayzie Rogers didn't even do any Yu-Gi-Oh work.
You think 4Kids had some godlike authoritarive power in 2006? lol. Dude they lost One Piece because they were broke. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh were all they had and they lost the former quick enough.
You try getting soundalikes for a reasonable price under a finite amount of time.
Actually trying to get soundalikes period would be doing what they were trying better.
Recasting isn't nearly that simple and TPCi did the best they could do.
It is, though. Also, are we trying to get soundalikes or recasting?
And if TAJ truly didn't want the 4Kids actors back, why did they rehire the original narrator or the two other 4Kids actors I previously listed?
Wow! Like one or two people surely disprove EVERYTHING! The two VAs were hardly "4Kids actors" (especially at that point) and the narrator was likely because 4Kids got immense backlash for removing him. I also suspect he was a TAJ employee given that he disappeared shortly after TAJ's part was bought out in 2003 and then came back when they took over in 2006, his VA career is basically just Pokemon.