Here's a full cast and character guide for Netflix's Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution, comparing how the new cast lines up with the original. Known as Pokémon: The First Movie or Mewtwo Strikes Back, the debut feature-length adventure for Ash Ketchum was released right at the apex of the franchise's popularity. Pokémon had taken over the world, and the anime TV series was a major factor in that domination, alongside the video games and trading cards. For many, the first Pokémon movie is the only Pokémon movie, and is widely remembered for the tragic scene where Pikachu cries over Ash's lifeless body.

The Pokémon franchise has steadily released one movie per year since then, although most of these fell under the radar after Pikachu and the gang lost their hold on the mainstream outside of Japan. However, a recent resurgence of popularity thanks to Pokémon GO and Detective Pikachu has fueled a desire for Poké-based nostalgia, and this is perhaps the reason behind Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution, a Netflix Original CG remake of the first movie. Relatively faithful to its predecessor, there are only a few cosmetic changes to the new release; the absence of Pikachu's Vacation, the addition of a Lapras speedboat and a Drowzee replacing a Golem.

Related: Pokemon: The Netflix Remake's Biggest Change To The Original Movie

But how does the Evolution cast compare to that of the original? And where might you have heard these familiar voices previously? These are all the names behind Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution, and their 1998 counterparts.

Ash Ketchum - Sarah Natochenny (original: Veronica Taylor)

Ash Ketchum and Pikachu look in Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution coming to Netflix

Voicing the ageless Pokémon trainer in Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution is Sarah Natochenny, who has held the role of Ash Ketchum since 2006 across movies and the anime TV series. Natcochenny has made moves into comedy, both with her own series of uncanny celebrity impressions and for College Humor, but her voice acting career has been dominated by the world of Pokémon - cap-twisting, ball-throwing and tournament-losing her way into fans' hearts.

While Natochenny is the longest running Ash voice actor (for the English dub, at least), it's her predecessor, Veronica Taylor, who most will remember from childhood. Taylor is a storied vocal talent and provided the soul of Ash Ketchum until 2005, including in the original Pokémon movie. The change in actress came about as the result of a controversial decision to recast the Pokémon English dub and save costs. Although the English voice might've changed, the Japanese version of Ash (known as Satoshi) is played by Rika Matsumoto in both versions of the film.

Misty/Jessie - Michelle Knotz (original: Rachael Lillis)

Misty and Jessie in Pokemon movie

Michelle Knotz pulls double duty in Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution, voicing both Ash's friend, and Cerulean City's water-specialist gym leader, Misty, and one half of the dastardly Team Rocket duo, Jessie. As with the English voice of Ash, the Misty baton was passed from one actress to another in 2006, moving from Rachael Lillis to Michelle Knotz, who retains the role to this day and features in Netflix's latest Pokémon remake. Knotz has supplied voices for many other figures in the Pokémon world, including Nurse Joy, May and Squirtle.

The classic voice behind Misty and Jessie, however, is Lillis, who appeared in the 1990s' debut Pokémon movie. Despite exiting the franchise in 2006, the actress has continued to offer the voices of creatures such as Jigglypuff and Goldeen in the Super Smash Bros. video games, and has also enjoyed parts in a bevy of other anime series, including BerserkBakuman and Hunter X Hunter. As with Ash, Misty's voice actress in Japan has never changed, with Mayumi Iizuka remaining since the start, although she doesn't also voice Jessie like Knotz does, with Megumi Hayashibara taking that honor in both films.

Related: Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution's Post-Credits Scene Explained

Brock - Bill Rogers (original: Eric Stuart)

Brock pointing with his right hand while standing in front od a white background

The perennial female-botherer, Brock, is a Pokémon breeder and the gym leader of Pewter City, who joins Ash after Pikachu beat his own Onix via illegal use of a sprinkler system. Brock was part of the same season 9 overhaul that saw Ash and Misty switch voice actors, and has been played by Bill Rogers since 2006, including in Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution. Rogers is another anime dub specialist with roles in One-Punch Man and Hunter X Hunter.

The Brock most fans will fondly remember harassing police officers and suffering spontaneous nosebleeds, however, was voiced by Eric Stuart, a musician who also provided the voices for Jessie's Team Rocket partner, James, and for Kaiba in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. Rogers and Stuart's Japanese counterpart is Yūji Ueda, who joins Ash and Misty (or Satoshi and Kasumi) in both films as Takeshi.

Pikachu - Ikue Otani (both)

Ash's Pikachu running in the anime

The biggest name to appear in both the 1998 original Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back and the new Evolution CG remake on Netflix is Ikue Ōtani - the famous voice of Pikachu. Since translating "pika-pika!" isn't an issue, Ōtani plays the electric yellow mouse in both Japanese and English versions of the film. Ōtani is a huge name in the world of anime, voicing Chopper in One Piece and Konohamaru in Naruto among her 30+ years of credits. More recently, Ikue Ōtani's vocal skills found their way into live-action blockbusters, when she provided the natural voice of Pikachu in Detective Pikachu, once Ryan Reynolds had been removed from the creature.

Pikachu isn't the only consistent Pokémon voice in the movie remake, Misty's Togepi is played by Satomi Kōrogi across both classic and updated versions. Satomi will be familiar as the Omni King from Dragon Ball Super.

James/Meowth - James Carter Cathcart (original: Eric Stuart/Maddie Blaustein)

Pokemon Team Rocket James

Rounding out the Team Rocket contingent in Pokémon: Mewtwo Stikes Back - Evolution is James Carter Carthcart, who doubles up as both the rose-chomping James and the group's talking cat, Meowth (that's right). While Cathcart only began his tenure as a Pokémon villain in 2006 as part of the controversial cast overhaul, the actor has been part of the Pokémon series since the very beginning, voicing Gary Oak since the opening season and appearing consistently ever since, establishing himself as the longest running cast member.

Related: Netflix's Pokémon Remake Makes Changes To Original Mewtwo Strikes Back Movie

James was voiced by Eric Stuart in the original Pokémon movie, but Stuart wasn't the first actor to dub the character, as he replaced Ted Lewis after only a few episodes of the Pokémon anime. Incidentally, Lewis is the voice of Geovanni in the new Pokémon movie remake. Maddie Blaustein was Meowth until 2006, before proving another victim of the cast cuts, at which point Carter took over as the mouthy cat. Blaustein tragically passed away in 2008.

Narrator - Rodger Parsons (both)

Ash Ketchum and Pikachu in Pokemon movie

You know the voice. The dramatic tones that book-ended each Pokémon episode and accompanied Ash's exploits were provided by Rodger Parsons and featured in the 1998 Mewtwo Strikes Back movie. Although Parsons took a brief break from pocket monsters during the show's sixth season, he soon returned and remains part of the cast to this day, appearing in the CG Evolution remake as one of the few actors to bridge the 22 year gap. The Pokémon English dub wouldn't be the same without Parsons narrating it.

Mewtwo - Dan Green (original: Philip Bartlett)

Pokemon Sword and Shield Mewtwo

As lead antagonist, Mewtwo is a pivotal role in the first feature-length Pokémon story, and the artificially-creatured psychic type is voiced by Dan Green in the modern CG retelling. Green has a host of major credits to his name, voicing Yugi in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise and Knuckles in more recent Sonic the Hedgehog games. While Green may not have dubbed Mewtwo in the very first Pokémon film, he did play the character in 2001's Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns alongside the classic cast members, and has supplied voices for various non-speaking Pokémon in the years since. The 1998 version of Mewtwo was portrayed by Philip Bartlett, a Broadway actor otherwise known as Jay Goede.

Neesha/Miranda - Lisa Ortiz (both)

Neesha, Rapidash and Vileplume in Pokemon movie.

Another cast member of the original Pokémon movie to make the jump to Netflix's remake is Lisa Ortiz, who plays Neesha, a strong trainer invited to New Island by Mewtwo along with Ash. Ortiz is also the voice behind the ferry worker, Miranda. Although these are relatively minor roles, Ortiz portrays the characters in both versions of the movie, and Neesha has since appeared in Pokémon: I Choose You! in 2017. Most interesting of all, Ortiz currently serves as a voice director for the Pokémon franchise, including on Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution.

More: Netflix's Pokemon Movie Remake Didn't Learn From Detective Pikachu