Board 8 > Anagram rates the Pokemon anime 8: First Contact (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

you think that shot is so funny because it's f***ing hilarious

--
http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation/exclusives/ron-dancing-animated.gif

Pinch Healing!
"What is it with you and those twerps?"
Score: 2/10

Aaaaaand we follow it up with one of the weakest episodes in a while. Hey, if they want to make good episodes by channeling the quality of other episodes into them, I'm all for it. At least half the episodes will be good then.

Do you know how American cartoons usually don't have overarching plots, so you can make the argument that every episode is filler, since none of them are necessary to understand what's going on? Well, this episode is more filler than an episode of Rugrats. I could give you a real analysis if you’d like, but there’s nothing interesting or funny about this episode at all.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

It has come to my attention that I accidentally missed the ninth movie, which was supposed to be after Aipom and Circumstance!. I'll have to go back and do it retroactively, which may take until the weekend (movies take much longer to review than episodes).

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

There are two kinds of episodes in this series!

--
You should get at least one alt in the event you get warned or put into Purgatory. - Luster
It's probably easier to just not break the rules. - SmartMuffin

That was probably Torkoal's best battle in the series.

--
BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/Rivalry%20BOP.xls
BOP Topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60566352

Since Team Rocket already established that time efficiency will be a theme for this scene, Ash throws out Swellow and downs the balloon in five seconds. Well, that was-- unusually competent from all sides involved.

I kept waiting for the "no not really" joke. I couldn't believe when it didn't come.




They used to show Prince of Tennis? Why did I not know this?!

--
(Maniac64 at work) [Browncoat] ~Board 570901~
All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.

a big poster that says "FIGHT" with all of his pokemons' footprints or clawprints or whatever on it.

So it was just covered in Taurs hooves and a giant Snorlax print? And a stainmark or something from Muk.

--
(Maniac64 at work) [Browncoat] ~Board 570901~
All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.

Despite always mentioning that Ash has 30 Tauros the anime tends to treat it like he has one.

--
BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/Rivalry%20BOP.xls
BOP Topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60566352

oh Torkoal
you jobber you

also man they promoted DPPt a lot in these last few episodes

--
FC 1849 0634 8041
Boring sig is boring

The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing!
"Excuse me, but I like my rut!"
Score: 8.5/10

May is hanging out with Beautifly and Skitty, who, as it turns out, still exist. May is depressed, and Brock and Scott realize that she's this way because of both her loss to Solidad and Ash's loss to Brandon: her battling style is similar to his (so they claim), so, I don't know, I guess it reflects poorly on her or something.

May has them train for a bit, but doesn't get into it very much. Max suggests that she and Ash fight, but she refuses because she would rather be in a slump. Just then, Professor Oak arrives and gives Ash a gift from his pokemon: a big poster that says "FIGHT" with all of his pokemons' footprints or clawprints or whatever on it. He also gives Ash a postcard from Gary, mailed from Sinnoh. I’M SURE THIS WON’T BE IMPOTANT IN FOUR EPISODES.

Ash has a flashback to Gary after their Silver Conference fight telling him to keep battling, a flashback that never happened. I hate it when shows do things like this. Ash decides he doesn't have time to waste anymore, which makes May feel only more depressed: now Ash is active and she's not.

Drew shows up (and no, we never learn why Drew just happens to bump into May here), and after May mopes for a while, Drew challenges her to a battle. Harley shows up for some reason, too. Scott and Professor Oak decide to be the judges, Nurse Joy the hostess, and dozens of spectators show up out of literally nowhere. I'm serious, I have no idea where they came from, they just appear to watch an impromptu contest battle.

Beautifly and Combusken versus Roselia and Butterfree. May starts off strong, but Drew counters everything she throws at him, and May loses by a lot. So much that it's like she'd never battled with Drew before at all. And for once, this is an intentional decision by the writers: she confesses that because of this fight, she can see things differently now, telling him that she thought she'd caught up to him but forgot to keep moving forward. She decides to find a unique battling style all her own, and Drew encourages her to try.

Drew and Harley tell May that they’re heading to Johto to enter the contest league there, and she’s clearly tempted to follow along as they depart. The episode ends with May and Ash both determining to be stronger than they are.

At first I thought little of this episode, but as I wrote about it, I realized it’s actually extremely strong, one of the strongest in quite a while. Not only does everything proceed as it should, if you can get over the ridiculousness of Drew and Harley just happening to bump into May, the theme of this episode is rivals pushing one forward. It’s undermined a little by Ash’s rival only showing up in a flashback, but I can let that go. Instead, it’s all about May’s rivals: Drew is there to push her forward, Harley is there to remind her of what she shouldn’t be, and Solidad is mentioned as the untouchable force that she completely lost to. It’s a slow episode, but a very solid one.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

charmander6000 posted...
That was probably Torkoal's best battle in the series.

Yeah, I was impressed by it, actually.


muddersmilk posted...
I kept waiting for the "no not really" joke. I couldn't believe when it didn't come.

I know, right? It was surreal to see characters act like I joke about how they don't act.



They used to show Prince of Tennis? Why did I not know this?!

I've never watched it, myself.


muddersmilk posted...
a big poster that says "FIGHT" with all of his pokemons' footprints or clawprints or whatever on it.

So it was just covered in Taurs hooves and a giant Snorlax print? And a stainmark or something from Muk.

Nope, just one Tauros hoof. Who knows why Oak chose that particular Tauros to mark it.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

I don't understand why the anime pretends the Pokeball is the only kind of ball that exists. It gets old real fast when everyone and their mother uses a freakin Pokeball like they're restricted to it. Can't they show some variety?? I don't think they ever fixed this >_>

--
Long live Saint Seiya!!

Gathering the Gang of Four!
"Hey, wait!"
"We've waited for nine seasons!"
"Hey, you're Team Rocket!"
"And we’ll still be through season ten!"
Score: 5/10

Tracey sends over Bulbasaur, Officer Jenny delivers Squirtle, and Charizard flies in. Ash declares that he will take his pokemon into the mountains and go on a camping trip to experience how he felt back when he first started being a pokemon trainer. Hey, remember when Ash left all but one of his pokemon with Professor Oak when he came to Hoenn, explicitly saying that he wanted to start over? No? Okay.

At a campfire at night, Ash reminisces about he met each of his pokemon, mentioning that Pikachu used to hate going into its pokeball as if it ever goes into it now. Everyone has fond memories, etc, and Team Rocket decides to celebrate their fond memories by kidnapping Pikachu (they claim that normally they would try to kidnap all of Ash’s pokemon, but originally, it was just Pikachu). Thus, it comes to Charizard, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle to save it. But in actuality Bulbasaur does literally nothing and watches Charizard and Squirtle do all of the work. I mean, it eventually helps, but it does literally one thing over the course of one second while Charizard and Squirtle use flamethrower and water gun like seven or eight times each.

Once their balloon is destroyed, Team Rocket is down on the ground, so Ash has everyone use an attack at the same time to blast them off. Brandon stumbles upon Ash as he wins, so Ash introduces them as "my first pokemon," because suck my balls, Butterfree and Pidgeot. Brandon is impressed by Ash's four pokemon, so he asks for a four-on-four battle come tomorrow.

In the morning, the two go back to the pokemon center, and Scott tells Ash that if he wins, he can apply to be a Frontier Brain. So... did all of the existing Frontier Brains earn the Frontier Symbols and beat Brandon? Does it become progressively more difficult to finish the Battle Frontier as more and more Frontier Brains are added? Anyway, Scott admits that he's also the owner of the Battle Facilities, and that he goes around in a Hawaiian T-shirt because…

Um…

Everyone goes to the Battle Pyramid. Professor Oak, Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, Scott, and all of the heroes are in the stands while Ash and Brandon face off. I admit, it actually is clever to have a professor, a Jenny, and a Joy sit next to each other here.

Brandon sends out Dusclops, Ash sends out Charizard. Aw... I thought Brandon meant they would fight with eight pokemon at a time total. Damn. Dusclops grabs Charizard's wing and uses confuse ray, using mean look to ensure Ash can't recall it. With Charizard confused, Dusclops starts ruining its day with deadly moves like-- Will o' Wisp. Well okay then.

Ash delivers a stirring speech to Charizard and the heroic climax music starts playing, so Charizard now of course recovers. With Charizard in a perfect offensive position and and the music on his side, Ash has this finish, so he then screws up and tells Charizard to use seismic toss on a ghost type, giving Dusclops enough time to finish Charizard off.

Freaking.

Hilarious.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

XD I remember that. I think the writers did the right thing eliminating Charizard right away which makes the viewers feel that Ash is so screwed.

--
BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/Rivalry%20BOP.xls
BOP Topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60566352

oh Charizard
at least you job with style

--
FC 1849 0634 8041
Boring sig is boring

charmander6000 posted...
XD I remember that. I think the writers did the right thing eliminating Charizard right away which makes the viewers feel that Ash is so screwed.

Oh, it does work for that, there's no doubt about it. It's still funny, though.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Pace - The Final Frontier!
"I must've been a Diglett in a past life!"
Score: 4/10

The narrator tells us that this is Ash's last chance to fight Brandon, even though that was never even slightly implied in past episodes.

Ash sends out Bulbasaur, and after Bulbasaur tanks a shadow punch specifically because it’s undodgeable, a confuse ray is soon landed. Bulbasaur is confused! It hurt itself in its confusion!

... Is that really the first time I've made that joke?

Ash gives Bulbasaur a stirring speech, and it snaps out of its confu-- did the writers seriously use the exact same way to end confusion twice? Well, in any case, Bulbasaur wins and Brandon sends out Ninjask. Ash recalls Bulbasaur and sends out Squirtle.
Ugh, double team. It's the most boring move ever, the show always turns into "use a projectile move while spinning." Ninjask uses aerial ace, which Squirtle narrowly avoids. I love how they made a special point of shadow punch being undodgeable just a few minutes ago. After a fight that involves nothing of particular interest, Squirtle one-shots Ninjask with skull bash.

Solrock time! It plays with Squirtle for a bit before it lands a solar beam, destroying Squirtle in one hit. The only interesting thing here is that because of the weird editing of this scene, Ash yells "Squirtle, NOOOO!" twice.

Ash sends out Bulbasaur, and if you guessed “Bulbasaur and Solrock get into an unnecessary solar beam contest and knock each other out at the same time because it’s dramatic even though Bulbasaur is x4 resistant to grass moves,” you guessed right.

It is, predictably, now Pikachu time. Brandon reveals his newest pokemon: Regice, and I've got to tell you, I hate the Golem Trio. They're so dumb, and Regice is the dumbest. And I like ice pokemon!

Regice is slow, but it quickly freezes the battlefield, which allows it to skate around faster. Don’t worry, though: this literally does nothing and never comes up again after Brock mentions its new advantage. A lucky thunderbolt paralyzes Regice, and Pikachu follows it up with iron tail, damaging it significantly. Regice traps Pikachu is a cage of ice and uses rest to recover, but by the time Pikachu can attack again, Regice is already awake. Regice lands an ice beam, freezing Pikachu solid, so Ash delivers yet another stirring speech to give it the strength to break free of the ice, even though you would have to assume it can't hear him.

Pikachu paralyzes Regice again, but Regice does the exact same ice cage/rest combo. This time, however, Pikachu uses volt tackle. Even though Regice wakes up from its rest (meaning it’s now fully healed), volt tackle knocks it out in one hit.

Brandon compliments Ash's "original style, yours and yours alone." I honestly don't know what "original style" Brandon is talking about, unless "Stirring Speech Style" is a thing.

Scott offers Ash a position as a Frontier Brain, but Ash explains that the Battle Frontier is boring and that he would rather be a gym leader or Elite Four member (I may have paraphrased him). All of the adults leave in their cars, motorcycles, or flying pyramids, and Charizard flies off as well, leaving the heroes alone with the narrator.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Best part about the zard/Dusclops bit is Charizard loses without looking too bad. Losing to Dusclops would be pretty unbelievable after beating Articuno, but since the loss was pretty much entirely on Ash, it makes a bit more sense. A rare bit of clever thinking by the writers I thought.

--
"whats a matter afried i might boobs punch you" - ertyu

Shame you rated that episode so low btw, it's one of my favourite battles in the series (it doesn't have much competition though I guess). It has a few logical inconsistencies such as Pikachu knocking Regice out in one hit, but I like to pretend that Rest just works differently in the anime, and Regice was taken by surprise by the hit.

--
http://i46.tinypic.com/301k70h.gif

XIII_rocks posted...
Best part about the zard/Dusclops bit is Charizard loses without looking too bad. Losing to Dusclops would be pretty unbelievable after beating Articuno, but since the loss was pretty much entirely on Ash, it makes a bit more sense. A rare bit of clever thinking by the writers I thought.

Interesting, I hadn't considered this. Very good point.


XIII_rocks posted...
Shame you rated that episode so low btw, it's one of my favourite battles in the series (it doesn't have much competition though I guess). It has a few logical inconsistencies such as Pikachu knocking Regice out in one hit, but I like to pretend that Rest just works differently in the anime, and Regice was taken by surprise by the hit.

Sorry man, I just wasn't impressed by it, especially considering how important it was and how much build-up went into it and that they reassembled Ash's original starters.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Bump

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Pikachu OHKOs a Regice only to lose to random stuff due to a new season.

--
BOP Results: http://www.freewebs.com/charmander6000/Rivalry%20BOP.xls
BOP Topic: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/60566352

The only interesting thing here is that because of the weird editing of this scene, Ash yells "Squirtle, NOOOO!" twice.

I don't know if you did this on purpose or not.
Emphasizing Ash's repeated use of the word "NOOOO!" during this battle.
Which happens to be a battle with Brandon.

--
You should get at least one alt in the event you get warned or put into Purgatory. - Luster
It's probably easier to just not break the rules. - SmartMuffin

Brandon compliments Ash's "original style, yours and yours alone." I honestly don't know what "original style" Brandon is talking about, unless "Stirring Speech Style" is a thing.

Maybe he meant his "due things that make no sense and yet still win" style.

--
(Maniac64 at work) [Browncoat] ~Board 570901~
All the proteins, vitamins, and carbs of your grandma's best turkey dinner, plus 15% alcohol.

FalconPain posted...
I don't know if you did this on purpose or not.
Emphasizing Ash's repeated use of the word "NOOOO!" during this battle.
Which happens to be a battle with Brandon.

I did not! Just goes to show that I instinctively am the ultimate Pokemon reviewer.


muddersmilk posted...
Maybe he meant his "due things that make no sense and yet still win" style.

No, everyone does that.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Anagram posted...
I did not! Just goes to show that I instinctively am the ultimate Pokemon reviewer.

NOOOO!
While your summary was otherwise spot on, your refusal to call attention to one of the most amusing verbal tics to be exhibited by a recurring character has made you look foolish and negligent! Where is your reviewing power?

--
You should get at least one alt in the event you get warned or put into Purgatory. - Luster
It's probably easier to just not break the rules. - SmartMuffin

FalconPain posted...
Anagram posted...
I did not! Just goes to show that I instinctively am the ultimate Pokemon reviewer.

NOOOO!
While your summary was otherwise spot on, your refusal to call attention to one of the most amusing verbal tics to be exhibited by a recurring character has made you look foolish and negligent! Where is your reviewing power?

I must admit it didn't really strike me as extremely interesting, other than in how it freaks out Ash.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

FalconPain posted...
Anagram posted...
I did not! Just goes to show that I instinctively am the ultimate Pokemon reviewer.

NOOOO!
While your summary was otherwise spot on, your refusal to call attention to one of the most amusing verbal tics to be exhibited by a recurring character has made you look foolish and negligent! Where is your reviewing power?

Lol, I didn't watch Battle Frontier, but Brandon suddenly going "NOOOOooo" in DP did strike me as odd. XD

--
GenesisSaga saved the day! - Haste_2
I wanted a sig as awesome as I am. :3

GenesisSaga posted...
Lol, I didn't watch Battle Frontier, but Brandon suddenly going "NOOOOooo" in DP did strike me as odd. XD

He returns? Good. I like him.



Once More With Reeling!
"What is she going to do with those holes?"
Score: 5/10

4chan has permanently tainted me. That completely innocent quote sounds dirty as hell to me.

The heroes are at Terracotta Village, and sadly discuss how they’re going to have to split up soon and head to their respective hometowns. Fortunately, there's a pokemon contest today, an unofficial one that's not part of the greater league, so both May and Ash enter. I love how everyone at the contest is completely fine with May entering. May, who finished in the Top Four at the Kanto Grand Festival. This would be like LeBron James entering your neighborhood's local basketball game. I guess no one would really refuse him access, but still.

May's Eevee uses shadow ball to create fireworks. No, I don't know how that works. I love this next montage of competitors who, because this is a small, local contest, all screw up because they're not professionals, but they're still expected to compete with May. I also love how the announcer introduces Ash as having placed in the Top Eight in the Hoenn League, but not in the Top Sixteen in the Kanto League. Granted, the former is more impressive, but they are in Kanto, and if you're going solely for impressiveness, you would think the announcer would mention that he's the reigning Orange Islands champion.

Pikachu creates three bouncing thunderbolt balls that it bats around using iron tail which then all explode simultaneously, which you would assume is a skill it would use all the time in regular battles given how useful it would be against slow but strong enemies, but apparently not! And also, did Ash just improvise that, or did he plan to enter a contest for a while and this was the first opportunity to use it, or what?

Because this is a small contest, only two people will move onto the second round. Predictably, it's May and Ash, who choose Sceptile and Combusken. Some Team Rocket shenanigans cause Combusken to evolve for… some reason. Seriously, there's no emotional or physical stress or anything, it's just like "Yeah, I've fought Team Rocket like two dozen times, but now it's time to evolve."

Ash is perfectly capable of switching to Corphish or Swellow, but nope. Sceptile battles competently, but all of its attacks miss and cause Ash to lose points. Ash decides to "stop missing," and Sceptile's attacks are suddenly almost 100% accurate, with Blaziken getting thrown around the arena. For no particular reason, however, both are exhausted after a minute of this even though it is just Sceptile destroying Blaziken. Both pokemon are now so exhausted their overgrow and blaze abilities kick in, and they settle it with a head-on pound/blaze kick, which somehow creates an explosion of smoke and dust in front of the scoreboard that blocks out the points. Even the judges can’t tell who won, so-- wait, the judges don’t assign the points? But-- I-- I… That’s not how… I don’t…

Arrrrrgggghhhhh I have no words

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Home Is Where The Start Is!
"Why should we dwell on the past when we can look forward to our future mess-ups?"
Score: 5/10

Ah, the final time I need to listen to this awful theme song. It's almost as bad as the Orange Islands theme.

The smoke clears and we see that Ash and May tied, so both are declared the winners. The last time this happened, the contest went into Sudden Death mode, but… that was in an official contest battle and this is a local one, so I'll let that pass. Nurse Joy has only one medal for the winner, however, so Sceptile cuts it in half and each trainer takes a piece. Hey guys did you know Japan recently invented this cool thing called "symbolism?" I bet you didn't.

As the heroes have dinner, May tells everyone that she's entering the Johto Contest League by herself, and tells Max that she won't take him along because she wants to be more independent and she believes she can only learn new ways to make her pokemon shine by herself. Max is depressed by this information, but Ash tells him to cheer up because when he becomes a trainer, he can battle Ash. Wow, that’s… not something cool to offer him at all. It’s been established that you battle Brock for practice every so often, so that’s not even a real reward or anything, it’s just something you’ll do because Max’s pokemon will be convenient punching bags.

Max and May leave on a ship to go back to whatever the starting town is in Gen 3. I can't remember if I've even taken a boat to travel to another city, but hey, maybe the heroes are too cheap for airline travel. Pikachu is saddened by May's departure, no doubt hearkening back to that other of Ash’s closest companions that he abandoned at the end of season 5: his first hat.

Cut to what is presumably a few days later. Ash and Brock are at a fork in the road, and say their goodbyes. Don't worry, Brock. This time your goodbye will stick. I'm sure of it.

Since Ash is now alone, Team Rocket decides to capture Pikachu, but they instead stumble across an Electivire. Ash arrives just in time to stop them from catching what is, to his knowledge, a wild pokemon, but it turns out it has a trainer: Gary Oak. Gary commands Electivire to blast Team Rocket off, and Ash scans Electivire with his pokedex, only to learn it has no data on it. Oh, sure, but it has data on Munchlax.

Sure.

Sure.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Ash challenges Gary to a battle, but Gary declines for now, as Electivire is too tired from easily defeating Team Rocket.

Ash arrives at Pallet Town, and Oak, Gary, Tracey, and his mom throw him a surprise party that literally consists of a single one of those loud noise popper thingies, and nothing more. Pretty cheap, guys. Pretty cheap. Ash gives his mom the Battle Frontier plaque he earned, and in exactly the same way as when he won the Orange Islands championship, she's like "Oh, that's nice. I’ll hang it up on the wall somewhere.”

Ash and Gary decide to battle again, but Gary so completely outstrategizes Ash that he wins without Electivire taking any damage at all. Gary chides Ash for not knowing about all of the tough pokemon in Sinnoh (even though he won using strategy and not the innate power of his pokemon), and tells everyone that he's leaving for Sinnoh again. Without Ash saying a word, Ash's mom nods and smiles. "I’m glad the entire series has been retconned to take under a year," she thinks, "Otherwise he’d never be able to finish fifth grade." She immediately sets to work sewing new clothes for Ash, because she's evidently too cheap to buy him clothing from a store.

The next day, Oak tells Ash to visit Professor Rowan and gives him a new pokedex. Ash gives Oak all of his pokemon except Pikachu, no doubt not bringing up the time he told Treecko that he loved all of his pokemon equally. "Say hi to Bayleef for me!" What’s especially weird is that he gives no reason for leaving his pokemon behind like he did when he left for Hoenn, this time, he leaves them behind just ‘cause.

Cut to the boat Ash boards to go to Sinnoh, where he finds Aipom followed him because it didn’t want to be left behind. Ash agrees to take it with him, and you have to wonder… if it had been one of his competent pokemon that followed him, like Sceptile or Snorlax, would he have let it come with him?

Also, Ash never put on the new clothing. Weird. And why would you use Electivire to advertise Gen 4? It's related to an existing pokemon. Use a completely original Gen 4 pokemon.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

I know I should technically not do a retrospective until I'm completely finished with the Battle Frontier, and I have one more movie to rate, but screw it.





I am very disappointed in Sceptile. Perhaps expecting the second Charizard was unfair of me, but Sceptile wasn't any more impressive than Grovyle was. It matches Blaziken, but so what? That's May, who doesn't even train her pokemon for proper battles. And it has almost no battles other than that one. Granted, that may have been a conscious choice on the part of the writers to avoid Sceptile solving all of Ash's problems too quickly (remember how they had to always forget Charizard could solve every problem in the show by itself after Charizard Chills?), but what can I say? It rarely battles, and when it does, it's just plain not on Charizard's or Snorlax's level.


Battle Frontier Retrospective

Overall Score: 6/10
Best Battle: Ash versus Noland
Best Episode: Tactics Theatrics!!
Worst Episode: The Green Guardian / Pinch Healing!
Best Protagonist: None
Worst Protagonist: Max
Best Side Character: Brandon
Worst Side Character: None
Best Protagonist's Pokemon: Pikachu
Worst Protagonist's Pokemon: Aipom
Best Side Pokemon: Noland’s Articuno

Battle Frontier is what I can only describe as “adequate.” It has one goal: fill the space between Hoenn and Sinnoh, and in that, I can only say that it succeeds better than the Orange Islands does at the same job. The Frontier Brains are fun, but only Tucker and Brandon are at all memorable… maybe Annabelle as well. The only memorable battle in the entire adventure is Charizard versus Articuno, and only because it’s the first time a regular pokemon takes down a legitimate legendary pokemon in a one-on-one battle. Such a fun, lovable battle. I will give the Battle Frontier this, though: it has noticeably less filler than most of the other adventures. There are only two or filler episodes between the content episodes, and for that, I respect it.

I have nothing to say about the Best and Worst Episodes. They speak for themselves.

No one impressed me this season. Between Team Rocket’s new motto and everyone getting new voice actors, a lot of the personality that characterized the protagonists… well, it doesn’t disappear, but it does change a little. James in particular seems different than he used to be, but I can’t quite put it into words. Max retains Worst Protagonist as always, of course.

Brandon was the obvious standout side character. He’s calling out of Ash for his stupidity is hilarious. No side character really struck me as so bad that he or she deserves specifically mention, however, which is good.

Pikachu earns Best Protagonist’s Pokemon mostly because it has no competition. Ash’s main team this season was Pikachu, Sceptile, Corphish, Swellow, and eventually Aipom, switching out the last spot as necessary. I almost gave the spot to Charizard solely for the Articuno battle, but then I thought, “it wasn’t really a main pokemon this season, that’s not fair.” Aipom does nothing for its entire appearance except… no, it really just does nothing. It knows swift, I guess, and that’s about it. Noland’s Articuno earns Best Side Pokemon only because I am absolutely biased toward Articuno (it’s my favorite pokemon) and don’t care that that’s not fair.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

From: Anagram | #380

Ah, the final time I need to listen to this awful theme song. It's almost as bad as the Orange Islands theme.

Yeah, it really sucks how much they butchered Spurt!:

Still, you're gonna hate the next opening even more. And Sceptile's moment comes much later, though I'd still consider Charizard, Snorlax and a certain DP pokemon to be way stronger than him.

--
*huggles*

BK_Sheikah00 posted...
From: Anagram | #380

Ah, the final time I need to listen to this awful theme song. It's almost as bad as the Orange Islands theme.


Yeah, it really sucks how much they butchered Spurt!:

Still, you're gonna hate the next opening even more. And Sceptile's moment comes much later, though I'd still consider Charizard, Snorlax and a certain DP pokemon to be way stronger than him.

I don't know if that's fair, man. Everything sounds cool when you don't understand it.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Anna, you ready for Sinnoh?

Well I'm not, hurry up and get to Unova already.

--
Black FC: 2150 7444 0817

BNVshark123 posted...
Anna, you ready for Sinnoh?

Well I'm not, hurry up and get to Unova already.

I've already done the first Sinnoh episode. I have to finish the ninth movie before I start posting Sinnoh stuff, though.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Yay Sinnoh soon! I've actually watched most of Sinnoh so I can feel involved again!

--
Look at your quote. Now look at mine. Sadly, your quote isn't mine, but if you watch Adventure Time, it could SMELL like mine. I'm on a rainicorn!

Sinnoh best

Also, Ash never put on the new clothing. Weird. And why would you use Electivire to advertise Gen 4? It's related to an existing pokemon. Use a completely original Gen 4 pokemon.

I guess it evolved from his Electabuzz.

Also Ash battling an Electivire to give him the impetus to travel through Sinnoh works, because it does kind of come full circle in a way.

--
"oh my god oh my god a spider just crawled INTO MY KEYBOARD" -pxlated
"It just wants some web access." - Ness26

GenesisSaga posted...
Yay Sinnoh soon! I've actually watched most of Sinnoh so I can feel involved again!

Sorry you had to wait through all of the boring stuff.


XIII_rocks posted...
Sinnoh best

Also, Ash never put on the new clothing. Weird. And why would you use Electivire to advertise Gen 4? It's related to an existing pokemon. Use a completely original Gen 4 pokemon.

I guess it evolved from his Electabuzz.

Also Ash battling an Electivire to give him the impetus to travel through Sinnoh works, because it does kind of come full circle in a way.

I know battling an Electivire is a reason to go to Sinnoh, but battling any Gen 4 pokemon, except Lucario and Munchlax, is just as good a reason.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

No I mean him battling an Electivire-ah screw it, just watch

--
http://www.celebrityclubber.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Sort_of_want.jpg

I'm impressed that you managed to watch this many episodes of the "new" dub without being tempted to pull a Van Gogh.

I remember feeling underwhelmed by the Brandon fight too. Ash didn't use any out-of-the-box thinking other than having Squirtle wash sand out of its eyes, and Pikachu pulling a OHKO at the end was really anticlimactic. All that build up, and all we really get is Ash yelling "I believe in you!" a whole bunch of times.

There's a fight near the end of Sinnoh with a lot of build up that delivers, in my opinion (easily my favorite fight in the entire series). Look forward to that. Only ~200 episodes to go!

BerkeIium posted...
I'm impressed that you managed to watch this many episodes of the "new" dub without being tempted to pull a Van Gogh.

I remember feeling underwhelmed by the Brandon fight too. Ash didn't use any out-of-the-box thinking other than having Squirtle wash sand out of its eyes, and Pikachu pulling a OHKO at the end was really anticlimactic. All that build up, and all we really get is Ash yelling "I believe in you!" a whole bunch of times.

There's a fight near the end of Sinnoh with a lot of build up that delivers, in my opinion (easily my favorite fight in the entire series). Look forward to that. Only ~200 episodes to go!

There's also the fight in mid Sinnoh that... you know, I'm not even gonna tell you. Just wait for it.

--
Black FC: 2150 7444 0817

Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea
"I'm not a traitor! I was never on your side!"
Score: 2/10

Can you imagine if a less dramatic Pokemon spinoff got a movie?
"Todd, we need a picture of that legendary bird immediately!"
"I'm on it, Ash!"
"No, wait, nevermind. Misty just used her cellphone's camera."

We begin with an opening that's meant to explain what pokemon are to parents who are being forced by their kids to watch with them that, as always, explains nothing. "Pokemon are creatures that can be captured in small balls and released out of said balls. Some people, called trainers, train these pokemon for a variety of tasks, but mostly for battling." There, done. Ugh. The only thing that this opening does do right is explain what the Pokemon Rangers are: trainers who also protect nature.

We really begin under the sea, where a blue-and-red egg is floating around.


The egg is located by several helicopters above the surface, which call in a huge submarine, which is run by the people who could most logically afford a tens-of-millions-of-dollars submarine.

That's right: sixteenth century pirates! Of course! And yes, the leader even has a Chatot.

The pirates take the egg, and the captain boasts of how he’ll soon have the power of the Sea Crown. One of his goons grabs it, tells him that his selfish desires won't get him what he wants, and runs off. He reveals himself as Cloud Strife,

But for some reason, Cloud tells everyone that his name is “Jackie Walker,” even though it's clearly Cloud Strife. He defeats the pirates using clever strategies like "potatoes,"

And though he is eventually cornered by the captain’s deadly-- Pinsir and Parasect? Seriously? You have the most stereotypical pirate captain ever, and you give him a Pinsir and a Parasect? But-- Aren't you going to give him a water pokemon or something associated with thievery or at least bad behavior? No? Come on… I mean… Dude.

Jackie uses the pokemon ranger capture circle thing to take control of a Mantine and escape, even though he couldn't have known a Mantine would be near the submarine and if it hadn't been, he would have been easily caught by the pirates. We then have a CGI opening title sprawl over ten minutes into the actual movie (dude.).

Cut to the heroes, who are lost in a wasteland. I'm not-- I'm not really sure how that can happen. Unless you’re in Salt Lake City and need to reach Las Vegas, there’s not really any situation that would involve walking between two cities with more than one wasteland in the way.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Fortunately, the bump into the Character of the Movie, Lizabeth, who owns a Medicham that she's trained to use psychic to shape water for the Marina Underwater Pokemon Show (no, it's not a marina and it's not underwater).


Lizabeth and her family run the show, and because the heroes are thirsty, take them into their trailer for a drink. While there, they accidentally see the blue-and-red egg from earlier, but Lizabeth's father conspicuously covers it up, because there's nothing that will get a ten year-old to stop thinking about something like awkwardly pretending it's not important. We then get a montage of the show performing.



After the show, May again accidentally checks out the egg, but one of the show's clowns takes it and gives it to Lizabeth. Team Rocket sees the egg, and realizing it's valuable, call the pirate captain from earlier, whose name we are now told is "Phantom," to tell him about it in hopes of a reward. How do they know Phantom is after it? Well, it's mentioned in Team Rocket Quarterly, the official mafia magazine. No, that isn’t a joke.

At night, the egg is exposed to moonlight or whatever and glows. May is asleep in the same as it, and has a dream of swimming with a Manaphy to an underwater temple.

In the morning, as they have pizza for breakfast (?), May talks about her dream, and Lizabeth and her family instantly recognize what she's talking about. Her mom asks if they've heard of "the People of the Water," which is just about the most ambiguous term ever. Freaking Venetians could technically be called “People of the Water.” In any case, Lizabeth's family is descended from the People of the Water, and her grandfather explains that their ancestors revered and worshipped the water, building the Sea Temple. They no longer live in the Temple, but they frequently dream of the temple. How is this? It's "a memory written straight into your DNA." I could seriously complain about this explanation for pages, but in the interests of eventually getting around to writing my British Literature essay, I’m going to make another joke about Japan misunderstanding simple concepts.

You so silly, Nippon.

May and Max wonder if they're descended from the People of the Water as well, since she had the dream, and the grandfather admits it's a possibility. Spoilers: the answer is maybe, and no one ever brings the question up again.

Team Rocket finds and steals the egg, which glows, but this time, it switches all of their bodies. Meowth is in James, Jessie is in Meowth, and James is in Jessie. I could make a joke about that last one, but nah. Too easy. The heroes and Lizabeth's family discover them, but they escape in their balloon. Ash can't just have Pikachu attack the balloon because it could damage the egg, so he sends out Swellow to grab it before having Pikachu down the noooo he just lets them escape. Fortunately, it's revealed that the clown from earlier is Jackie, the Pokemon Ranger, who enlists a Fearow to stop Team Rocket.

Jackie explains that he's on a mission, and the Marina Group is helping him out. He is to ensure the egg hatches safely and to deliver it to the Sea Temple. This is an event that literally affects all of the oceans in the world, all of the water pokemon everywhere on Earth, so you would think the Pokemon Rangers would devote more than one agent to the task.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Nope.

Jesus Christ, can you imagine what the other Pokemon Rangers must be doing if this, the fate of all of the ocean everywhere, only warrants one person’s attention? Can you imagine? Are they trying to stop a meteor from hitting the planet? Are they trying to stop aliens from infiltrating the new Libyan government? How many Rangers do they have assigned to protecting the owner of In N Out from McDonald’s-brand assassins, whose job it is to slip a knife between his ribs and make sure a whisper of “We love to see you smile” is the last thing he hears? Can you imagine the world-shaking events the Pokemon Rangers must be dealing with if “the fate of all of the oceans everywhere” is so unimportant that they have devoted only one person to it? Even if Jackie is their best agent, and there’s no reason to believe he is, I want to know what their other agents are up to.

Well, anyway. The pirates show up and send out their deadly Beedrill. The egg ultimately ends up with May, and then the weirdest thing ever happens: the captain literally picks up a boulder larger than himself and throws it at Jackie (we later learn he’s wearing a suit that gives him superhuman strength), and almost immediately wrestles with May for the egg, failing to take it from her. May, who literally has the upper body strength of a ten year-old girl. That’s not an exaggeration, that is a fact.

The egg chooses this moment to hatch, morphing (not hatching) into a Manaphy. May is its first sight, and of course it identifies her as its mother. The heroes, Lizabeth’s family, and Jackie escape in the family car while the pirates chase them.

Everyone finally reaches the ruins. "What ruins?" you ask. "I don't remember ruins being mentioned earlier." Well, I don't know. Lizabeth's father and grandfather activate the ancient temple holograms (…) to open the secret underground river passages. The pirates follow along, Phantom somehow knowing all about the People of the Water. A passage allows the heroes and Lizabeth's family to travel using their water pokemon, and leads them to a cathedral, which has a mural of the aforementioned Sea Temple.

Lizabeth's family explains that the Sea Crown is hidden within the temple, and traps prevent thieves from taking it, as thieves are wont to do. The temple also blends into the sea so no one can screw with it, but it drifted out into the sea one day and everyone lost track of it. Wow, the People of the Water, they’re… kind of incompetent. They built a fancy temple and failed to secure it to anything? What do you even say about that? Well, the temple appears only during the lunar eclipse because the People of the Water had a holiday back then or something, it’s not really clear. No one knows how to find the temple, but they suspect Manaphy will be able to find it because the temple was originally built where the Manaphy originally lived, and so all Manaphy have a homing instinct locked onto the temple. Ash finally asks who the pirate captain is. Jackie explains.
"Phantom the Pirate. He's one mean dude."
That is literally everything we learn about the villain during this entire movie. My God, we learn more about Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, and most people who have watched ANH wouldn’t even be able to tell you who that is.

The pirates leave the ruins, realizing that there's an elaborate underground river system that only the People of the Water can navigate properly. Phantom knows they're heading for the temple, however, so he decides to just wait and let them lead him to it, even though he has no idea where they will exit the ruins and thus this plan makes no sense.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Lizabeth's family takes the heroes through the river system, and Jackie tells the heroes that they have to leave, because this is Pokemon Ranger's job. Even though he's happy to involve Lizabeth's family and he wouldn't have succeeded thus far without the heroes' help. And Manaphy is only comfortable with May. At a port town, Lizabeth's family takes their boat (that they never mentioned before) and leave the heroes behind. To no one's surprise but the characters in this movie, Manaphy immediately starts screaming as it leaves May, so Manaphy switches Ash's and Jackie's bodies because... uh... Well, that is, I...

Cut to the next scene, where the heroes are on the boat and Ash and Jackie switched back. Jackie explains that Manaphy has an ability called Heart Swap that swaps peoples' bodies for a short time. Believe it or not, this is the last time Heart Swap will be mentioned in the movie. Once they're out at sea, May lets Manaphy into the ocean to guide the boat, which it does for a few days, the lunar eclipse drawing ever closer.

There is now a preposterous amount of padding. It’s several minutes of Manaphy leading the boat and playing with wild water pokemon, it’s just that. At one point, Ash asks Jackie why he became a Ranger, but other than that, nothing. It’s just Manaphy dicking around.

Finally, Manaphy learns the phrase "I love you" from May and manages to repeat it, so he tells May that she needs to separate herself from Manaphy: if it grows too close to her, it won't want to leave her. It's destined to become the leader of all the Sea Temple pokemon (no, I didn't cut that out earlier, it was never mentioned before), and May realizes that she might be causing a problem. As May mulls this over, Manaphy keeps telling her that it loves her.

Cut to the pirates, who are following the heroes. What a necessary scene.

Cut to the ship anchored for the night as Manaphy sings. Yeah, apparently it can do that. It attracts a huge audience of water pokemon that want to listen to it while May continues to think about what Jackie said.

The next day, May loses her bandana to a sudden gust of wind, so Manaphy goes after it. The heroes think it got lost, so the four of them and Lizabeth take the submarine (I guess they have a submarine, too?) to follow it. Yes: none of the adults go in the submarine, but Max, a seven year-old child, does, and this is after Jackie explained that as a Ranger he’s the only person suited for this kind of thing. When the heroes find Manaphy, May realizes that she can’t let it go, and decides to ignore Jackie’s advice.

Manaphy leads the heroes into the Sea Temple (which I guess they were right next to?), and Phantom follows them in a minisub by himself, not taking the larger submarine with all of his men because... Well, because. Even though it was light outside a few minutes ago, the lunar eclipse begins, and the Sea Temple is now visible.

When they reach the temple, Manaphy sings again, and the temple sings back, and a way opens for them. Manaphy leads the heroes to the Sign of the Sea Crown, a tablet written in ancient... People of the Waterian, I guess. None of them can read it, but Phantom shows up and just so happens to be literate in an obscure, ancient language that even the descendants of the people who wrote it can’t read. He translates: whoever wears the crown behind the doors behind this tablet shall be the King of the Sea. Ash is ready to attack him, he warns everyone that even if they all attack him at once, he would still win, and everyone seems to take his word for it, I guess, even though none of them have seen him fight. Then again, if they did, they would probably try attacking him, given that he owns a Parasect, Pinsir, and Chatot.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

Phantom arrives at the sea crown (no one tries to stop him), which is... a big rock with a bunch of crystals embedded in it? Phantom takes one of the crystals, but this destabilizes the entire temple somehow and causes it to flood. The heroes decide to hightail it out while Phantom laughs about how he's won. Jackie arrives at the temple, and tells the heroes to escape while he handles Phantom, and completely uncharacteristically, they do exactly that.

Jackie fights Phantom and tries to replace the crystals, but he and Phantom and one of the crystals are drawn into the flooding water.

Ash, May, and Manaphy go back into the Temple to save it while the rest are drawn into the submarine and have to leave. They decide to put the crystals back into the crown, but one of them is of course missing. Realizing that he screwed up the Temple, Phantom decides to simply run away, and both he and Jackie escape. Although Lizbeth wants to take the submarine back into the Temple and help Ash and May, it’s pushed away by the current. Even though since the temple is flooding, they should be pulled toward it and not away from it, but hey, at least the show is aware of the concept of currents, and that’s honestly a little more than I expected from it.

While running through the Temple, Ash and May find the final crystal, and also find a discarded lifepod from Phantom's submarine, so Ash sticks May, Pikachu, and Manaphy in it (even though the last can breathe underwater) and goes back to place the last crystal. Ash runs through the temple, doing things that Faith from Mirror’s Edge would be hard pressed to equal, and almost succeeds, but finally runs out of breathe and falls unconscious. Meanwhile, May prays for Ash, so Manaphy uses its powers to transmit her prayers to him (which it can apparently do), and this somehow gives him the strength to keep going. He places the final crystal, and the Sea Temple is now fine.

Thousands of pokemon, including Kyogre, come to the Temple because why not. Phantom takes one last stab at the whole “villain” thing, capturing Manaphy using-- his arm. Hey, quick question, Manaphy: why don’t you switch Phantom and May’s bodies? That way, May is the huge guy wearing a suit that gives you superhuman strength and Phantom is a ten year-old girl.

May is helpless to stop Phantom, but fortunately, Ash-- goes Super Saiyan, flies after him in a golden shroud, and the grandfather explains that Ash wore the Crown, so he's the King of the Sea.

Apparently being the King of the Sea gives you flight. I honestly did not know that.

Despite all of his new power, Ash still can't stop Phantom (Jesus Hell), so finally Kyogre just does it. Ash takes Manaphy back, but Phantom's submarine and crew finally show up, so all of the water pokemon destroy the submarine. By the way, there’s no shot where we see the pirates inside of it being okay, so I choose to believe they all died.

Everyone now has flight powers for some reason, and they celebrate by swimming with the water pokemon. Yes, they can fly, so they swim. If you could fly for a few minutes, would you spend those minutes swimming? If you're a character in Pokemon, the answer is yes. We now learn that the Sea Crown isn't the crystals, it's the shrouds of light surrounding the humans. Whatever.

Manaphy says goodbye, the Sea Temple disappears (better not put a tracking device on it or something, it would sure suck if you could find it again), and May decides she'll be alright, even though leaving Manaphy hurts for now. She’ll be so alright, in fact, that she’ll never mention any of this ever again.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

This movie isn’t just bad, it’s lazy. It’s so lazy, it’s clear that they put absolutely no effort into it. The plot makes no sense, Manaphy is stupid and boring, Ash has no characterization beyond “the hero,” Brock, Max, and Lizabeth’s entire family do nothing to affect the plot, and Phantom is a really boring villain.

This movie is guilty of a very rare, very specific flaw, a flaw I call “Inappropriate Villain Syndrome.” It when you have a villain who’s inappropriate. Forget that Phantom has no backstory or motivation beyond obtaining power, forget that he’s just really boring and incompetent. He’s just not a big enough villain for this plot. This plot has consequences can potentially affect the entire world; a pirate captain just isn’t the right villain for that. Individual pirates don’t have global consequences; even the concept of piracy itself barely really affects the world in a tangible way. In the same way that you wouldn’t write a story where Joe Chill tries, through political and marital maneuvering, to become the Emperor of Japan in the 1700s, you wouldn’t write a story where Darth Vader plans an elaborate bank heist with a team of specialists including Nurse Ratched, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Norman Bates. They’re not even bad villains, they’re just not the right size for the plot. Phantom’s only advantage for this plot over any random bad guy is that he’s associated with the ocean.

The movie fails to foreshadow anything it needs to foreshadow (no one ever mentions they have a submarine before they take the submarine, for example, but this happens constantly), and the most obvious example of foreshadowing, Manaphy’s Heart Swap, never comes up after it Heart Swaps Ash and Jackie. You don’t introduce a device like “switching peoples’ bodies” and do nothing with it in the climax. That is against the goddamn rules of storytelling. Imagine if Obi-Wan Kenobi gave Luke Skywalker a lightsaber and then he didn’t use it at all during the climokay that’s a bad example.

There is an incredibly amount of padding in the middle of the movie, and even much of the plot relevant stuff could be cut with no consequences at all.

But worst of all, this movie is called “Pokemon Ranger.” It advertises Jackie heavily, and do you know what? Jackie does almost nothing. Except for stealing the egg at the beginning of the movie, Jackie does not do a single thing that Ash couldn’t have done if given two extra minutes. Jackie isn’t even a bad character, but he’s an utterly insignificant one who serves almost no purpose except to advertise a spinoff game.

The only thing the movie does right is displaying May’s love for Manaphy, but even that’s tainted by the awfulness that is Manaphy itself and the way in which the love is established.

--
Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005

xd at Cloyster
man i love using that guy now

--
FC 1849 0634 8041
Boring sig is boring

So, how many different kinds of royalty has Ash been at some point now? I'm pretty sure that by some point he'll be able to just lay claim to the entire planet with all of his titles remembered by some random faction or other.

Also, what was the name of the Pokemon movie which you actually liked?

--
Demons run... when a good man goes to war