Pokemon Film Trilogy Retrospective

We've had quite an interesting release this past week in the form of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. It serves as the first live-action film adaptation of the hugely popular video game series Pokémon, which continues to be one of the most dominant media franchises of today’s pop cultural zeitgeist even after nearly two and a half decades since its initial inception. Its various video game releases have sold over 300 million copies worldwide, a feat that’s only rivaled by their parent company Nintendo’s flagship franchise, Super Mario. And while most Pokémon games stem from the RPG genre, there have also been various spin-offs that include puzzle games, an on-rails shooter themed around photography, and the highly popular mobile-based augmented reality game Pokémon Go. But, of course, the Pokémon series has also been successfully expanded into other forms of media. Not long after the initial release of the series’ first installments, Pokémon Red and Green (later Red, Blue and Yellow in the U.S.), a trading card game was developed and has since gone on to become the top-selling trading card game of all-time. But for today’s post, we’re delving into what is arguably the Pokémon franchise’s most notable product outside of the video games, its anime adaptation. The Pokémon anime series debuted in 1997 and is STILL going strong today after more than 1,000 (!) episodes.

Now, this isn’t the first time that I’ve discussed the Pokémon anime on this site. Way back in 2014, I did a review of the show’s first season, Indigo League, primarily due to it being recently added to Netflix’s streaming library. In that review, I noted that while it’s incredibly cheesy and often repetitive with its narrative, I still had positive nostalgic feelings towards it even though I admittedly wasn’t exactly an avid viewer of it back when it originally aired. I also did a pair of posts that went over some of the hilariously strange and awkward moments that have occurred in various episodes of the show’s first two seasons (e.g. that one episode that literally sent hundreds of Japanese kids to the hospital due to its use of intense strobe lighting). But today, we’re not doing another one of those ‘strange moments’ posts. Instead, we’ll be looking at some of the anime’s feature film adaptations. As of this post’s publication, there have been 21 Pokémon animated feature films that have been released, with several of them even seeing a theatrical release here in the U.S. For obvious reasons, I won’t be delving into every single one of these films in today’s retrospective. For one thing, that’s just way too many films to cover in just a single post and I can’t watch them all in time to have this come out a reasonable time that's in line with the release of Detective Pikachu. Part of this also stems from the fact that, as I noted in those earlier posts, my experience with the Pokémon franchise mainly stems from its first two ‘eras’, Kanto and Johto, as the games from those eras were the ones that I grew up with. Thus, today I’ll just be looking at the series’ first three films as they were the only ones prior to Detective Pikachu that were given proper theatrical releases here in the U.S. whereas others had much more limited releases. And so, without further ado, it’s time to “be the very best like no one ever was” and return to a simpler time in the franchise’s history as we look at the first three Pokémon feature films.

(Disclaimer: The three films in this retrospective saw a domestic release the year after their initial releases in Japan, where the Pokémon franchise originated from. In other words, while they’ll all be labeled with their initial Japanese release dates, just bear in mind that the versions of these films that us American audiences are familiar with came out one year later.)

Before we begin, though, I wanted to do a quick little callback to my earlier Pokémon posts by going over one iconic moment from the anime’s first season that I surprisingly missed when I did that first ‘Strange Moments’ post. And I won’t lie, I’m kind of kicking myself for forgetting it because it’s such a hilariously absurd moment. Thus, without further ado…

THE ANIME PULLS OFF A MAJOR BIT OF TROLLING – THE ULTIMATE TEST

In episode 56, The Ultimate Test, series protagonist Ash Ketchum takes a Pokémon League entry exam when it provides him a potential opportunity to be accepted into the Pokémon League without having to earn all 8 of Kanto’s Gym Leader Badges (or 10, if you’re Gary Oak). The notorious duo of Team Rocket members Jessie and James also partake in the exam as well, managing to avoid suspicion via disguises that, as I’ve noted in those ‘Strange Moments’ posts, aren’t very good and yet keep managing to fool Ash and his friends for some reason. During one part of the exam, they’re faced with the simple challenge that every fan of this show is tasked with during a commercial break, Who’s that Pokémon? The instructor presents the first Pokémon silhouette, which comes in the shape of a circle. Ash, Jessie, and James present their options…

Given that, at the time, there are only a few Pokémon with a completely circular shape, Ash guesses that it’s a Voltorb.

James, meanwhile, completely forgets that this test was about Pokémon and says that it’s a Poke Ball “without a doubt”.

Finally, Jessie goes with Voltorb’s evolved form, Electrode, as her answer.

They’re all wrong, however, because the answer is… Jigglypuff seen from above!

Honestly, there’s not much else that I can say about this scene. It’s just so damn silly and yet still incredibly hilarious because of how ludicrous that bait-and-switch is. Heck, they even reuse this gag in the episode’s actual ‘Who’s that Pokémon’ segment, though sadly this was only in the Japanese dub. Here in the U.S., a Vulpix was used instead.

And now… our Feature Presentation!!!

POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE – MEWTWO STRIKES BACK (1998)

Backed by the worldwide success of both the video games and the anime, Pokémon made its feature film debut in 1998 with The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back. It goes without saying that this film was a big deal back when it was released; here in the U.S., it still stands as the highest-grossing anime film of all-time and it sold over 10 million copies once it hit the home video market. Critical reception, however, wasn’t very positive, and from the looks of it, a lot of this was due to the film’s domestic dub courtesy of the anime’s U.S. distributor, 4Kids. The domestic cut of the film didn’t include a 10-minute prologue that goes into the backstory of the main villain, Mewtwo, a clone of the ancient Pokémon Mew. This backstory, which sees Mewtwo befriend a cloned human girl named Amber before being forced to witness her death, makes the character more of a misunderstood villain than an outright malicious one as his characterization stems around him trying to understand his purpose in life. Thus, because this was taken out of the domestic cut, he’s presented as more of a straight-forward antagonist, and while there is still the underlying theme of him rebelling against those who treat him as nothing more than an experiment, his motives aren’t as clear in the U.S. dub. There are also a few noticeable continuity errors here and there (e.g. several instances of incorrectly identified Pokémon) and a more overt American soundtrack. The latter aspect of the film is most infamously represented during the big fight between Pokémon and their Mewtwo-created clones, which is set to a pop song instead of an orchestra like in the Japanese version. And yet, despite all this and the rather notorious sequence where the Pokémon revive a petrified Ash via their tears (an event that, technically, was hinted at earlier in the film even if it was only just as a passing reference by a minor character), I still find this to be a generally harmless popcorn flick.

To be clear, I’m not saying that this is a ‘great’ film. Like the show itself, this film is incredibly cheesy, and as I’ve pointed out, a lot of this was due to 4Kids’ overall handling of the American dub (e.g. at one point, Ash randomly references the Minnesota Vikings football team). There’s also a generally mishandled attempt at having a message that condemns fighting. Sure, it’s a noble cause, but it also happens to occur in a film that stems from a franchise that is literally known for fighting. And if that wasn’t enough, this message is then directly thrown out the window at the end of the film when Mewtwo wipes the main characters’ memories. At the same time, however, Mewtwo is a genuinely iconic antagonist. Despite the lack of his backstory in the domestic cut (which was included as a bonus feature in its initial DVD release but, strangely, not in subsequent releases), the film does succeed in conveying the same mystique that the character had in the games, where he could only be encountered after defeating the Elite Four. Because of this, Pokémon: The First Movie is still an enjoyable watch… though, admittedly, this applies more towards those who are fans of the franchise. If you aren’t a fan of Pokémon, then you’re not going to get a lot out of this film because to be perfectly blunt, it’s not very friendly to newcomers. Still, for those who grew up with this franchise, this film continues to serve as a pleasantly nostalgic trip down memory lane to a simpler time in Pokémon’s history.

Rating: 3/5

POKEMON: THE MOVIE 2000 – THE POWER OF ONE (1999)

While the second Pokémon film wasn’t as big of a hit at the box-office when compared to its predecessor (even with a summer release date), it seems as if fans of the franchise tend to view this installment just as positively as they do the first film if not arguably more so. For one thing, this film’s 4Kids dub wasn’t as overt as the first film’s domestic dub was when it came to changes that drastically alter the story. As such, this film’s plot, in which Ash finds himself having to fulfill a prophecy to save the world from being destroyed by a clash between the legendary Pokémon bird trio of Moltres, Articuno, and Zapdos, does feel a lot more consistent from a narrative perspective. Sure, it’s still a generally straight-forward ‘hero’s journey’ story, but it does manage to do what most sequels tend to do by thoroughly raising the stakes of Ash’s quest. However, if there’s one advantage that the first film has over this one, it’s that it had the benefit of Mewtwo as its villain. By comparison, this film has a generic Pokémon collector (who isn’t even given a name in the film itself outside of the credits, where he’s listed as ‘Lawrence III’) who simply seeks to capture the legendary Pokémon birds so that he can collect another Legendary Pokémon, Lugia (AKA the cover mascot for Pokémon Silver and its DS remake, SoulSilver). Overall, though, Pokémon 2000 is generally on par with the first film in terms of its quality. It can very well be argued that this film is ‘better’ than its predecessor, but at the same time, Mewtwo Strikes Back is also arguably the more memorable of the two. Whatever one you prefer, however, it’s another delightfully nostalgic adventure for those who grew up with it.

Rating: 3/5

POKEMON 3: THE MOVIE – ENTEI: SPELL OF THE UNOWN (2000)

By the time that Pokémon 3 rolled into theaters, the series was already into the Gold and Silver era of the franchise, where the action shifted to the Johto region and introduced 100 new Pokémon to complement the original 151 from Red and Blue. However, just like Pokémon 2000, this one wasn’t as big of a hit at the box-office compared to the first film… or even Pokémon 2000, for that matter. As such, this ended up being the last Pokémon film up until this year’s Detective Pikachu to A.) get a wide release in the U.S. and B.) be distributed by Warner Bros. By all accounts, this was around the time when the initial hype for Pokémon had finally started to die down, and yet, many have touted this as one of the franchise’s best films… and to be perfectly blunt, they’re right. For one thing, this film features some of the best animation to come from a Pokémon film as it more than utilizes the potential of its dream-based narrative to its fullest effect. Said plot sees Ash and company trying to rescue his mother Delia after she’s kidnapped by the legendary Pokémon Entei, who currently serves as the guardian of a young girl named Molly. The duo of Molly and Entei provide the film with a fascinating set of antagonists because just like Mewtwo, Molly isn’t exactly an ‘evil villain’. Instead, she’s just a scared little girl struggling to cope with the disappearance of both her mother and father. As such, Entei ends up personifying her father (which is bolstered by the fact that both Entei and her father are played by the same voice actor, Dan Green) and she has him kidnap Ash’s mom so that she can be her ‘mother’, resulting in a story that’s full of surprisingly effective psychological turmoil.    

Entei is also an equally solid antagonist. Despite just being an apparition created by the other prominently featured Pokémon of the film, the alphabet shaped Unown, Entei proves to be quite an imposing threat to Ash and company while also maintaining complete loyalty to Molly throughout as her new father figure. Not only does this result in an awesome battle between Entei and Ash’s Charizard, but it also strengthens the film’s emotional depth, especially near the end when Entei sacrifices himself to save Molly and the others from the Unown. It also helps to make up for the fact that the Unown are admittedly a rather underdeveloped bunch of antagonists. Sure, the film does a nice job of establishing their mysterious nature, but they don’t really do much plot-wise aside from transporting Molly’s father into another dimension, creating Entei, and transforming Molly’s home into a crystal palace. Ironically, though, this is arguably a perfect cinematic representation of their status in the games, where they’ve frequently been regarded as some of the weakest of the franchise’s 812 current* (as of this post’s publication due to 3 of those being the starter Pokémon from the upcoming Sword and Shield games) species of Pokémon. Ultimately, though, Pokémon 3 truly is a solid animated film as it’s one of the best-paced of the franchise and one of the best-written. Now admittedly, just like the previous two films, it’s still generally geared towards fans of the franchise. However, if I were to pick just one of the many Pokémon animated films to recommend to those who aren’t that big a fan of the franchise, I would choose this one (even if I’ve had more experience with The First Movie and 2000) as it’s arguably one of the most accessible installments for Pokémon newcomers.

Rating: 4.5/5

And that concludes this little retrospective on the original ‘trilogy’ of Pokémon films that were released in theaters. On a side note, this was originally meant to be a much larger retrospective that covered a few more Pokémon films. Specifically, that would also include the two Pokémon films that were given limited releases by Miramax, Pokémon 4Ever and Pokémon Heroes, and the series’ two most recent films set within an alternate continuity, Pokémon The Movie: I Choose You and Pokémon The Movie: The Power of Us. However, due to various reasons that included the fact that Pokémon Heroes isn’t easily available to watch online, I ultimately decided to cut back on the number of films in this retrospective. Even with that said, though, I might consider looking at some more Pokémon films in the future. Until then, be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own personal memories of these films, and you can expect a review of the highly anticipated Pokémon: Detective Pikachu sometime in the next few days.

Pokemon: Indigo League - Strangest Moments

Yesterday, I reviewed the first season of the ‘Pokémon’ anime, more commonly known as ‘Pokémon: Indigo League’ and one thing that I mentioned in the review was that there were quite a lot of odd moments that occurred in some of the episodes. When I say ‘odd moments’, this could mean anything from an strange animation error (which is understandable in this show’s case given how many episodes that have been made and how much hours were probably spent to get them finished on time) or just any instance when a character does something that is really stupid even though they should clearly know better. Now originally I was just going to include this part with my main review of the series itself but then I realized that there were quite a lot of weird moments that happened during this season that I needed another post just to talk about them all. So with that said, here are some of the strangest moments, in my opinion, that occurred during the first season of the ‘Pokémon’ anime.

‘DO THE MACARENA!!’ - CLEFAIRY AND THE MOON STONE

This face says it all...

This has to be one of my favorite moments of the entire season. The episode revolves around the gang coming across a mysterious rock known as the Moon Stone and a group of Clefairy who guard it from thieves. The moment that I’m specifically referring to occurs when Pikachu begins to talk with the Clefairy and of course because every Pokémon that is not Team Rocket’s Meowth only says their name, we can’t understand what they’re saying (although a later episode, which we’ll get to in a bit, fixes this problem). Pikachu then proceeds to try and tell Ash and his friends that one of the things the Clefairy do is that they pray to the Moon Stone and of course because they can’t understand him that well, he tries to have them figure it out via the process of charades but Ash guesses wrong at the end and thinks that the “Clefairy collect all of these stones and… Do the Macarena!” I just love this moment for both the random nature of Ash’s answer as well as Pikachu’s hilarious response to that answer (as shown above).

ASH CATCHES ALL 3 KANTO STARTER POKÉMON IN JUST 3 EPISODES

In the original Pokémon games, Red and Blue, the main character gets to choose one of three Pokémon to be their starter; Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur. In the anime, Ash misses out on getting to start out with one of them and instead starts out with a Pikachu. Well, guess what? Literally in the span of just three straight episodes, Ash catches all three of the starter Pokémon to add to his team. In Episode 10, ‘Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village’, Ash and friends come across a secret village where a girl named Melanie helps sick or abandoned Pokémon with the help of a Bulbasaur, which ends up coming along with Ash. In the next episode, ‘Charmander- The Stray Pokémon’, they come across a Charmander that has been abandoned by its owner so they help it when its life is on the line and Ash ends up becoming its new owner. Finally, in ‘Here Comes the Squirtle Squad’, they come into conflict with a group of mischievous Squirtle pranksters known as the ‘Squirtle Squad’ and by the end of the episode, Ash befriends the lead Squirtle of the group who ends up joining his team, officially completing Ash’s collection of the original 3 Kanto Starter Pokémon. I just find it to be amazing that Ash managed to catch all 3 of the Starter Pokémon in just 3 episodes because having played these games a lot, I know that it isn’t that easy to get all 3 Starter Pokémon in 1 game and Ash manages to do this in just a short amount of time. And for the record this isn’t the only time when Ash catches all 3 of one region’s Starter Pokémon. The same thing happens when the group goes to Johto where Ash ends up catching a Totodile, a Chikorita, and a Cyndaquil. But I’m not looking at that season right now…

SUBTITLED POKÉMON? - ISLAND OF THE GIANT POKÉMON

Remember earlier when I noted how we as the audience can never understand what the Pokémon are saying because all they say is their name? Well, this episode actually fixes that problem in one of the most surreal moments in the series’ history. This episode takes place after an episode where the gang boards the luxury ship, the S.S. Anne, and it ends up sinking. The trio escapes, with the help of Team Rocket, and end up getting marooned on a mysterious island separated from their Pokémon. Because of this, all of their Pokémon end up getting subtitled so that we can actually understand just what they are saying. The main reason why I find this to be a very odd episode is because, to my knowledge, there isn’t any other episode in the anime where the group’s Pokémon are on their own in which they’re subtitled. This is the only instance where this happened and I do question why they didn’t continue doing this but then again, I’m guessing that this is probably not that big of an issue in a series where the main characters are humans. I mean, the episode itself is also rather weird because it is revealed that the group is on an island that is actually a ‘theme park’ full of giant robotic Pokémon that just so happens to be owned by Team Rocket. Again, this was just a really odd episode.

CONTROVERSIAL EPISODE #1- BEAUTY AND THE BEACH

There have been a few infamous episodes of the anime that ended up being banned or removed from the series rotation for various reasons. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is the first of these episodes as a controversial scene in the original Japanese version of the episode had to be cut before it could be aired anywhere else. The episode itself is rather weird because it’s fairly sexualized, more so than one would expect from a show aimed at children, being that it mostly takes place at the beach and revolves around a swimsuit beauty competition… but I’m getting ahead of myself. In this episode, Ash and the gang get into trouble when they end up crashing a boat and damaging a dock, resulting in them volunteering to help the owner of the boat, an old man named Moe (who makes a very odd and creepy remark about how Misty ‘reminds him of his granddaughter’), so that they can pay for the damage that they caused. Ultimately, they decide to have Misty enter a beauty contest in order to win enough money. The main reason why this episode is so controversial is because of a scene in which we see Team Rocket enter the contest as well… and not just Jessie but James as well, the latter of whom wears inflatable breasts… I don’t even know what to say about this, folks. This is just… uh… yeah… and that’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ for you, an odd episode that I would’ve never have expected would come from a children’s show like Pokémon  then again this show is full of odd moments so I’m not surprised.

DONUTS? - PRIMEAPE GOES BANANAS

A common food that appears in the anime is a snack known as a rice ball (shown above). For some odd reason early on, the English dub of the anime occasionally referred to them as something else, apparently so that non-Japanese kids could call it something that they were more familiar with. Notably, in this episode, ‘Primeape Goes Bananas’, they are referred to… as donuts. I’m sorry, but do these things even look like donuts? No, not really and yet they’re referred to as such. Heck, in this episode, Ash actually catches a rice ball in a Poke Ball when he’s trying to catch a Primeape. The strange thing about this whole scenario is that in some of the other episodes, these things are properly referred to as rice balls. So in that case, why bother even renaming these things when you’re just going to end up referring to them by their proper name?

THIS… - SPARKS FLY FOR MAGNEMITE

Uhhhh…. No comment.

POSSIBLE CHILD ABUSE? - THE KANGASKHAN KID

First off, I just want to note that I do not condone child abuse in any way and because of that, this episode just rubs me the wrong way. The main plot of the episode revolves around an explorer couple who are looking for their son Tommy, who went missing a few years ago in the Safari Zone. The reason for this… is because of quite frankly one of the stupidest moments ever committed on any TV show, live-action or animated. The father holds the kid out of the window of the helicopter that they are in and accidentally drops him… wow, I’m at a loss for words here at the pure stupidity of this moment and thankfully the mother scolds her husband for being such a frigging idiot. But that’s not all… once Ash and the gang come across Tommy in the Safari Zone the poor kid gets punched by Misty (literally punched, mind you) when he asks her, “You People or Pokémon?” (Don’t even get me started on how this played out in the original Japanese cut… trust me you don’t even want to know). Then, the parents arrive and try to convince Tommy (who now goes by the name ‘Tomo’ by the way after being raised by a group of Kangaskhan) that they’re his real parents. When Tommy still believes that the Kangaskhan are his family, the father then proceeds to bash him on the head to jog his memory. What the f*** is up with this episode??? I feel bad for Tomo and the crap that he goes through in this episode by those who supposedly care about him.

Connection?

CONTROVERSIAL EPISODE #2- THE LEGEND OF DRATINI

Now we come to the second major controversial banned episode of the anime but unlike ‘Beauty and the Beach’, this one never even aired in North America even though there is reportedly an English dub of the episode. In this episode, Ash and friends meet the supervisor of the Safari Zone… who almost immediately aims a gun at them. Yes folks, the main controversy for this episode revolves around the fact that guns are repeatedly used to threaten people… you know, for kids!! This is one instance where I do agree with the censors’ decision here because I don’t even see why this episode needed to have so many moments where the main characters (who are kids, mind you) are threatened with guns. I mean it’s not like these guns are lasers or anything like that… these are real guns. However, I am aware that because this episode was banned, it caused a bit of a plot hole because in this episode, Ash catches 30 Tauros and because of it being banned, American audiences never got to see Ash catch them. Still, this is just yet another odd moment in this odd anime series.

MOST CONTROVERSIAL POKÉMON EPISODE- ELECTRIC SOLDIER PORYGON

‘Electric Soldier Porygon’ will go down in history as the most controversial episode of the Pokémon anime because it literally sent nearly 700 kids to the hospital. Why? Well, you’ll soon see why. In this episode, Ash and friends visit a Pokémon Center that is having problems with its Transfer System that they use in order to transfer Pokémon between Pokémon Centers. In order to fix this, they are actually sent into the system by its inventor, with the help of the digital Pokémon Porygon, to solve the problem, which is revealed to have been caused by Team Rocket. At one point, the group is targeted by an anti-virus program that thinks that they’re a computer virus. It fires some ‘missiles’ at them which Pikachu destroys with a Thunderbolt attack, causing an explosion that then results in a flash of very bright red and blue strobe lights. In real life, this then resulted in approximately 685 Japanese kids having to be taken to the hospital due to epileptic seizures. I’m only showing one of the images of this infamous scene above because I would not dare show the scene in its entirety (though Wikipedia apparently has the balls to show the entire scene on the page listing this episode… what the hell?). I’m not someone who is prone to seizures, but even with that in mind, I can definitely see why this scene would be a problem to anyone who is prone to them because even I have to admit that my eyes got sort of bothered when I ‘tried’ to watch this episode. It’s yet another episode of the show that got banned for a very, very good reason.

YET ANOTHER CONTROVERSIAL EPISODE- HOLIDAY HI-JYNX

And we have yet another one of the controversial episodes of the anime, which was originally supposed to air after ‘Electric Soldier Porygon’ but of course after what happened with that episode, this episode got pushed back. It instead was aired after the episode ‘It’s Mr. Mime Time’, which caused some confusion in regards to continuity which I’ll get to in a little bit. As for this episode, this is another one of those weird episodes because it revolves around Team Rocket kidnapping Santa Claus… yes folks, that is the plot of this episode. But the main controversy of this episode revolves around the Pokémon Jynx, who originally had a black face which led to complaints that it was believed to be representing the very racist art of blackface. Now I am aware that it might actually be representing the Japanese fashion styles known as ganguro and yamanba and as I’ve noted before I’m not really one who likes to talk about racist themes, but it’s pretty hard to argue against the ‘blackface’ thing and as a result Jynx’s face was re-colored to purple in all aspects of the franchise (games, trading cards, etc…). Now this actually isn’t the episode that was the most notable for being banned because of Jynx. Instead, it was the episode ‘The Ice Cave’ but ‘Holiday Hi-Jynx’ was also removed from rotation for the same dilemma. But now let’s talk about the continuity problem that this episode caused.

So instead of this episode, along with the following episode ‘Snow Way Out’, airing after ‘Electric Soldier Porygon’ (which of course wasn’t released outside of Japan), they instead aired after ‘It’s Mr. Mime Time’… 26 episodes later. I’m guessing this happened because they are both winter-themed episodes and that by the time the show was brought back after the ‘Porygon’ incident it probably wasn’t the winter season anymore. But still, imagine if you’re an American kid watching this show and it got to these episodes. You’ll probably be left confused as to why in these two episodes, Ash’s Charizard is suddenly back to being a Charmander and Misty still has her Starmie and Horsea, which had been left at the Cerulean City Gym a few episodes earlier. Now we know why… it’s because these episodes were supposed to air at an earlier time and instead got pushed back after the whole ‘kids having to go to the hospital’ situation. It’s a weird chronological continuity error that still stands today. Even Netflix maintains this order of the episodes (for the record, they also don’t have any of the controversial episodes that I’ve previously mentioned so if you want to see these episodes you’re going to have to find them online).

THE GANG DOESN’T RECOGNIZE TEAM ROCKET- MULTIPLE EPISODES

A common running gag in the anime is that Team Rocket occasionally tries to fool Ash and the gang by putting on disguises and while to us it’s usually clearly obvious that it’s them, most of the time their disguises are at least good enough to legitimately fool Ash and his friends. But there have been not one, not two, not three, not even four, but five separate instances where Team Rocket is wearing disguises that fool the gang despite the fact that these disguises are so bad that they should’ve easily recognized who they really were. These instances of stupidity first occurred in the episode ‘Showdown at Dark City’, in which Ash and company come to a town that includes two Pokémon Gyms that are both looking to become officially licensed gyms. However, these gyms are also fierce rivals resulting in multiple street fights between them as both gyms look to eliminate the other. While the gang hides out in a local restaurant, Team Rocket comes in dressed in disguise as bodyguards for one of the gyms. However, their disguises only consist of them wearing robes and having their mouths covered. Their hair (and in Meowth’s case, his face) is sticking out which definitely should have given away who they are but yet Ash and his friends doesn’t recognize them and act surprised when they are revealed to be Team Rocket… even though they should have easily realized that beforehand. I mean by this point they’ve already come across them about 40 times already so they should at least recognize them by their hairstyles by now.

But that’s not the only time when the gang is quite easily fooled by poor disguises. In the episode ‘The Ultimate Test’, Jessie and James disguise themselves as Pokémon trainers who, along with Ash, take an Admissions Exam in the hopes of immediately entering the Pokémon League without having to collect the minimum 8 badges. Now Jessie at least changes her hair so I can see how that would possibly fool Ash but James doesn’t change his hair whatsoever. And then we move ahead to the episode ‘The Purr-fect Hero’ in which Team Rocket disguises themselves as a pair of magicians, again without changing their hair and managing to fool Ash and his friends up until they reveal their true intentions. In the episode ‘Fire and Ice’, they try to fool Ash by pretending to run a Pokémon Center with James making no attempt at hiding his hairdo when he pretends to be one of the nurses. Jessie is at least wearing a Nurse Joy mask. Finally, in the episode, ‘A Friend in Deed’, Team Rocket disguises themselves as ‘Pokémon Inspectors’, with really no effort at all to disguise themselves whatsoever. Now I can understand Ash and the gang being fooled so easily by bad costumes at least once but five times? As I’ve made it clear, the main problem with their disguises is that they don’t change their hairstyles. Seriously, I’m pretty sure that not too many people in the world of Pokémon have the same damn hairstyles as they do. You’d think that by this point in the series, after facing Team Rocket a least a hundred times, Ash and friends would be able to see through some of these poor disguises. But NOPE!!!

UNNECESSARY TOURNAMENT- WHO GETS TO KEEP TOGEPI?

In the episode ‘Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon’, Ash managed to find a Pokémon egg, which in the episode ‘Who Gets to Keep Togepi’ finally ends up hatching into the titular egg Pokémon, Togepi. This results in Ash, Brock, Misty, and even Team Rocket’s Meowth arguing over who should own it. They decide to settle this through a tournament which sort of does feel like they’re over-doing it quite a bit in order to solve something that is simple as just figuring out who gets to have the Togepi. Ash ends up winning the tournament by beating both Misty and Meowth but ultimately doesn’t get to own Togepi; instead, Misty becomes its owner. That is because when Togepi hatched, the first thing that it saw was Misty so that means that it thinks that she’s its mother. Ultimately, this makes the entire tournament (the main plot-point of the episode) that the main characters just had…

Also this episode features a very questionable bit of animation involving Professor Oak and a Muk that’s now become an infamous GIF and… well, I couldn’t resist using it here…

…yeah… moving on…

SURPRISED AT JIGGLYPUFF’S APPEARANCE- BEACH BLANK-OUT BLASTOISE

Another one of the series’ running gags began when the team came across a wild Jigglypuff, a Pokémon with the ability to make anyone (human or Pokémon) fall asleep whenever they hear its song. After Jigglypuff finishes its song, realizing that everyone’s asleep, it gets mad and draws on everyone’s face with a marker that it got from Ash’s backpack which it hides in its microphone. In this episode, Jigglypuff gets stuck in a Blastoise’s water cannon, resulting in the Blastoise falling asleep along with the multiple Squirtles and Wartortles on the island that they all inhabit together. Ash and friends help get Jigglypuff out of the cannon but once it does get unstuck, Ash acts surprised that it’s Jigglypuff… despite the fact that just a few minutes earlier, Brock and Misty realized who it was, said it out loud, and all of this was when Ash was right next to them. And yet once it comes out, Ash acts like he didn’t hear what Brock and Misty just said. I don’t know whether to classify this as either a script error or because Ash was just acting really stupid. In this case, I hope it’s at least the former but then again this is the same character who failed to recognize Team Rocket in cheap disguises at least five damn times so it might just be the latter.

SURPRISING DURABILITY OF THE POKEDEX- THE MISTY MERMAID

In this episode, Ash, Misty, and Brock return to Cerulean City where Misty reunites with her three older sisters. They ask if she could be a part of their new underwater stage show because they are having problems attracting an audience. Misty agrees and the show goes on without a hitch… that is, until Team Rocket comes in attempting to steal the Gym’s Pokémon. This then results in an underwater battle between Team Rocket and the gang. During the fight, Misty’s Sisters’ Seel evolves into a Dewgong. Like he does with every new Pokémon that they come across, Ash identifies with the Pokedex… while he is still underwater. Did you know that the Pokedex was water-proof? Apparently it is according to this episode and to my knowledge it hasn’t been used underwater in any other episode of the anime since. This episode also starts an odd practice in regards to the ‘Who’s That Pokémon’ bit that plays during the commercial break. Usually, this part of the show, in which the audience tries to guess the Pokémon whose silhouette is shown on-screen, uses the Pokémon that is heavily featured in that episode. But starting with this episode, the American dub of the anime decides to use the main Pokémon that is to be featured in the next episode instead, which apparently went until the Johto storyline. For the record, this wasn’t the case with the Japanese version; it was purely an aesthetic choice of the American dub. The reason for this turn of events is unclear. 

JUST HOW MANY BADGES ARE THERE TO EARN, ANYWAY? - BATTLE OF THE BADGE

In the video games and in the anime, the main character has to collect 8 badges from the Gym Leaders in the area they’re in so that they can enter the Pokémon League and it seems like you can only get 8 badges in any given region. Well, this episode, in which Ash heads to Viridian City in order to compete for his eighth and final badge, apparently proves otherwise. In this episode, Ash’s main rival Gary battles the Gym Leader, revealed to be the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni, before Ash can and brags to him that he already has… 10 badges? Aren’t there only supposed to be eight badges? I know that there are some unofficial gyms located in Kanto, which in the anime is apparently much larger with all of the towns that Ash and the gang visit (most of which, for the record, are not featured in the games), but is it even possible to get more than eight badges? Apparently according to Gary it is. This episode also gives us our first look at the mysterious Pokémon that would play a pivotal role in the anime’s first feature-length movie (more on that momentarily); Mewtwo, though he isn’t referred to by name here.

TITLE CARD ERRORS AND… ABANDONMENT OF A FRIEND?? – IT’S MR. MIME TIME + SHOWDOWN AT THE PO-KÉ CORRAL

‘It’s Mr. Mime Time’ and ‘Showdown at the Po-ké Corral’ both had title cards that had very noticeable spelling errors. ‘It’s Mr. Mime Time’ was incorrectly titled ‘It’s Mr. Mimie Time’ and ‘Showdown at the Po-ké Corral’ was misspelled as ‘Showdown at the Po-ké Corall’. I’m kind of surprised that those in charge of the American dubbing of the show didn’t notice this. But I also want to talk about another odd moment that occurred in the Mr. Mime episode. In this episode, Ash and friends return to Ash’s hometown, Pallet Town, and come across a traveling Pokémon circus. However, this circus has a problem in that one of its star Pokémon, Mr. Mime, refuses to perform. In order to fix this, Brock suggests that Ash disguise himself as Mr. Mime, which Ash agrees to do, sort of against his own will. But then Team Rocket comes in and steals Mr. Mime… but instead they end up catching Ash, who is still disguised as Mr. Mime. He does manage to escape but I’m just amazed at what Misty and Brock end up doing in this episode when he gets captured. They don’t try to go and rescue him and instead go back to Ash’s house and eat. What kind of friends are Misty and Brock to leave Ash on his own when he’s captured by the bad guys? I mean, Ash does get away from Team Rocket but he doesn’t even get angry at Misty and Brock for not trying to rescue him, which for the record I would’ve done if I was in his situation.

POKÉMON: THE FIRST MOVIE

Of course I can’t talk about odd Pokémon moments without discussing the anime’s first feature-length film, ‘Pokémon: The First Movie’ AKA ‘Mewtwo Strikes Back’. Watching this film again definitely brings back a lot of nostalgic memories but as for the film itself… well, this is a case where the film is more geared to fans of the show and as such is more appealing to them. This isn’t a case like ‘Serenity’ or ‘Veronica Mars’; if you’re going into this film new to the series, then you’re really going to get confused at times. Also, from what I’ve heard, the original Japanese cut of the film was much different than the American version we got. The main change is that a sequence in the original cut that was basically the origin of the Pokémon known as Mewtwo, in which he befriended the clone of a scientist’s deceased daughter, was cut from the American cut, meaning that Mewtwo’s reasoning for mistrusting humans that was fairly developed enough in the original Japanese edition of the film, isn’t really delved on in the American cut. But that’s nothing compared to some of the stranger moments that occur within this film.

First off, this film has a few errors in regards to properly identifying Pokémon. One Pokémon trainer refers to his Pidgeot as a Pidgeotto, Team Rocket think that a silhouette of a Scyther is actually an Alakazam, and a Sandslash is called Sandshrew and apparently those in charge of the American cut purposely left these errors in for the fans to point out. But one of the most baffling elements of this film is its message. The main plot revolves Ash and friends, along with a few other Pokémon trainers, being ‘invited’ to a party hosted by the world’s greatest Pokémon trainer, which is revealed to also be the world’s greatest Pokémon, Mewtwo. Mewtwo then takes all of their Pokémon from them and has them cloned as he plans to take over the world with his clone army. But Ash manages to save the original Pokémon as a massive battle ensues between the real Pokémon and their clones. After a montage of this battle, the trainers, unable to take any more of it, comment on, basically, how ‘fighting is wrong’. I mean, it is actually a good message for kids but at the same time it is very ironic (and actually a bit hypocritical if you really think about it) that this message is being used in a show that is ALL ABOUT FIGHTING!!! And by the end of the film, Mewtwo actually erases the memories of all of the Trainers who were there… which makes the message of the whole movie…

But then we come to ‘that moment’… Pokémon fans, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the event that happens at the end of the movie, when Ash tries to intervene during a fight between Mewtwo and Mew, the latter of which is the legendary Pokémon whose DNA was used to create Mewtwo, and ends up getting caught in their attacks, resulting in him being turned in stone… basically killing him. Now I will admit that I did actually cry during this scene, mostly because of Pikachu’s reaction to it and his attempts to resurrect his friend. But then we get to one of the strangest moments in not just the history of Pokémon, but film history in general. All of the Pokémon begin to cry at the loss of Ash and the collective strength of their tears is able to bring him back to life… I’m not kidding folks, this really happens. Now, for the record, this technically was explained as being possible earlier in the movie when someone mentioned that the tears of Pokémon revived those who had lost their lives in a huge storm but even then, it’s still a very weird moment that doesn’t seem at all possible but it happens. And that’s ‘Pokémon: The First Movie’ in a nutshell for you; a film that is more appealing to fans of the show but also full of some very odd moments. But then again, as we’ve already seen, this show has been full of weird moments so it’s not that surprising.

The feels, man...

A GOLDEN ‘GROWLITHE’? PLUS, CONFUSION OVER STAGE OF GROWLITHE EVOLUTION - LIGHTS, CAMERA, QUACK-TION + THE FOURTH ROUND RUMBLE

In this episode, Ash and friends meet the famous director Cleavon Schpielbunk, who is in town looking for Pokémon to appear in his next movie, ‘Pokémon in Love’, which is basically ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Pokémon. Schpielbunk notes that he has previously won the ‘Golden Growlithe’ which apparently is the Pokémon world’s equivalent of the Golden Globes. But I have to ask… does this (shown above) look like a Growlithe to you? No, because it’s an Arcanine, the evolved form of Growlithe. And folks, this isn’t the only time this season when these two Pokémon were confused for each other although in this next situation it was the other way around. In the episode ‘The Fourth Round Rumble’, Team Rocket tries to fool the police by having their balloon float around while they stay on the ground and capture Pokémon. Two Officer Jennys notice this and one of them commands her Arcanine to use Flamethrower on the balloon… although technically she only has a Growlithe and not an Arcanine. I’m surprised no one working on this episode noticed this error but it’s there, similar to the misidentification of other Pokémon in ‘The First Movie’.

And those are some of what are, in my opinion, some of the weirdest moments that occurred during the first season of the ‘Pokémon’ anime.