Pokemon
So, Pokemon (if you don't like Pokemon or don't want to read about it, feel free to ignore this post). I've decided to get back into Pokemon again. I heard some talk online about the new games X and Y that recently came out, and so Pokemon has suddenly come under my radar again. I hadn't really heard much about it for a while, so maybe Pokemon is experiencing a sort of revival right now, or perhaps it never truly left? This doesn't mean I'm going to run out and buy a 3DS and play Pokemon again. No, but it did get me nostalgic for the TV show.
I was recently surprised to find out the show was even still airing. Other similar shows such as Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh have long jumped their ship, but Pokemon still continues to go on. Maybe it's because the creators keep coming up with new Pokemon. There's over 700 now I hear. I remember when 150 Pokemon seemed like a lot. Who could ever "catch em all" now?
Looking back I do find Pokemon kind of inspiring. It fosters friendly competition and encourages goal setting behavior. I mean when you listen to the first lyrics of the theme song from the first season, it goes "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was." Here Ash was talking about being the world's greatest Pokemon master, but I think it's a great message about pushing to be the best you can be at whatever you want to do. Back when I was younger, I just thought it was cool whenever Ash found a new Pokemon and I learned all their names and I still know them, at least all the first generation Pokemon.
I was already entering my teenage years when Pokemon started becoming popular, so I was kind of on the older end of the fandom most likely. My brother and I had good times watching it together, buying the cards and playing the games as well. I never really got into the card game (but getting shiny cards was always like a Christmas present), but I do remember replaying the Gameboy games several times. I had Blue and Gold and my brother had Red and Silver. I never played beyond the first two generations of games. I guess I sort of grew out of it. My brother would challenge me to battles sometimes, but I think I always lost lol. We also had the link cable to trade Pokemon :) I still have the games and my Gameboy Color in the house somewhere. I also still have stickers of Pokemon on my wall, but I don't know when I got those. Charmander is above my bed. He was always my favorite Pokemon and he still is. I have wonderful strong memories of Pokemon.
So, I decided I wanted to revisit the Pokemon show again, the first season at least, but I have full intentions of going beyond that. I actually did get to season 2 back then, but I don't remember if I watched past that or not. It's been so long. I did set myself a "got to watch em all" goal and I do realize I may not meet this goal. It would take a long time to watch all the seasons and I know there's a lot of filler, terrible episodes, repetitive episodes, that it may not seem like it would be worth it to watch everything. I do know that Pokemon did decline in quality, on the other hand I heard the recent season might be good. Maybe some are good some are bad. I also know that Ash's voice actor changed and the art style changed also. It will be weird, so we'll see how I do. My plan is to watch as much as I can and if I find myself getting burned out or I'm not enjoying it anymore, then I'll just see which episodes look essential to the storyline or are interesting and just watch those. I'll see how far I get. Some might say why would you want to watch all 700+ episodes? I'd say it's because of the completionist in me and I'm actually insane. Really the only reason I want to watch them is because I want to see all the new Pokemon I missed.
So far I'm at around episode 23 of the first season of a total 81 episodes. The very first episode of Pokemon I saw was not actually the pilot, but it was episode 13, "Mystery at the Lighthouse". It was actually a good starting point because they did a little recap of everything that happened before so it was like watching a first episode of a show. I've enjoyed it just as much as I used to. Of course it can be really corny with the puns, but I always thought it was back then too. Pickachu is still cute. :) Misty is still annoying, so nothing changed there. Pokemon battles are still entertaining to watch. Because I was already a teen when I watched, there were no hidden innuendos or anything that I might have missed back then because I was old enough to understand them all. :P
I know there's been a lot of Pokemon movies too that tie into each season, but I'd probably watch those after. I think I had seen two or three of those when I was younger. I actually rewatched the first movie a couple of years ago and still find it good and a tear jerker. I think that's about all I have to say about Pokemon for now. I'll let you know later if I failed or succeeded in my Pokemon watching journey. And here's a Charmander
I was recently surprised to find out the show was even still airing. Other similar shows such as Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh have long jumped their ship, but Pokemon still continues to go on. Maybe it's because the creators keep coming up with new Pokemon. There's over 700 now I hear. I remember when 150 Pokemon seemed like a lot. Who could ever "catch em all" now?
Looking back I do find Pokemon kind of inspiring. It fosters friendly competition and encourages goal setting behavior. I mean when you listen to the first lyrics of the theme song from the first season, it goes "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was." Here Ash was talking about being the world's greatest Pokemon master, but I think it's a great message about pushing to be the best you can be at whatever you want to do. Back when I was younger, I just thought it was cool whenever Ash found a new Pokemon and I learned all their names and I still know them, at least all the first generation Pokemon.
I was already entering my teenage years when Pokemon started becoming popular, so I was kind of on the older end of the fandom most likely. My brother and I had good times watching it together, buying the cards and playing the games as well. I never really got into the card game (but getting shiny cards was always like a Christmas present), but I do remember replaying the Gameboy games several times. I had Blue and Gold and my brother had Red and Silver. I never played beyond the first two generations of games. I guess I sort of grew out of it. My brother would challenge me to battles sometimes, but I think I always lost lol. We also had the link cable to trade Pokemon :) I still have the games and my Gameboy Color in the house somewhere. I also still have stickers of Pokemon on my wall, but I don't know when I got those. Charmander is above my bed. He was always my favorite Pokemon and he still is. I have wonderful strong memories of Pokemon.
So, I decided I wanted to revisit the Pokemon show again, the first season at least, but I have full intentions of going beyond that. I actually did get to season 2 back then, but I don't remember if I watched past that or not. It's been so long. I did set myself a "got to watch em all" goal and I do realize I may not meet this goal. It would take a long time to watch all the seasons and I know there's a lot of filler, terrible episodes, repetitive episodes, that it may not seem like it would be worth it to watch everything. I do know that Pokemon did decline in quality, on the other hand I heard the recent season might be good. Maybe some are good some are bad. I also know that Ash's voice actor changed and the art style changed also. It will be weird, so we'll see how I do. My plan is to watch as much as I can and if I find myself getting burned out or I'm not enjoying it anymore, then I'll just see which episodes look essential to the storyline or are interesting and just watch those. I'll see how far I get. Some might say why would you want to watch all 700+ episodes? I'd say it's because of the completionist in me and I'm actually insane. Really the only reason I want to watch them is because I want to see all the new Pokemon I missed.
So far I'm at around episode 23 of the first season of a total 81 episodes. The very first episode of Pokemon I saw was not actually the pilot, but it was episode 13, "Mystery at the Lighthouse". It was actually a good starting point because they did a little recap of everything that happened before so it was like watching a first episode of a show. I've enjoyed it just as much as I used to. Of course it can be really corny with the puns, but I always thought it was back then too. Pickachu is still cute. :) Misty is still annoying, so nothing changed there. Pokemon battles are still entertaining to watch. Because I was already a teen when I watched, there were no hidden innuendos or anything that I might have missed back then because I was old enough to understand them all. :P
I know there's been a lot of Pokemon movies too that tie into each season, but I'd probably watch those after. I think I had seen two or three of those when I was younger. I actually rewatched the first movie a couple of years ago and still find it good and a tear jerker. I think that's about all I have to say about Pokemon for now. I'll let you know later if I failed or succeeded in my Pokemon watching journey. And here's a Charmander