E-mail me at:
cod@compusmart.ab.ca

Kathy: Welcome back, people! Due to popular demand, we'll be doing a weekly commentary on the English Pokemon series. How's that for service, eh? We're sorry about the late delivery of the commentary, but installing Windows 98 took a lot longer than I thought.

Brad: [snarf, munch] Pizzachu!

Kathy: Shh! You're going to give away the fact that we live on nothing but greasy junk food and Coke!

Brad: Hey, we need an excuse for our insanity, don't we? ^_^

Kathy: ... eh... ^^;

Anyways, before we start ranting about the episodes shown this week, I want to congratulate David Lo and David Pittman for figuring out what the pun with the colours on this page was! Not too many people caught it, but those two wrote in first. For those of you who didn't figure it out, the colours represented Musashi/Jessie for me, and Kojiro/James for Brad.

Brad: That one was easy... but the quiz at the end of today's commentary will be tough! Heh heh... no one will ever guess it... heh heh heh... [degenerates into maniacal laughter]

Kathy: ^^; (I thought I was nuts...)

Brad: Ahem. Moving right along...

Episode 1 starts with a preview of the Game Boy game; the little black and white battle between Gengar and Nidorino comes right from the game opening! From there, we get a wonderful view of the battle in the arena... and shortly after that, a wonderful view of Ash's Pokemon-merchandise-filled bedroom.

Kathy: I'd do almost anything to get some of that stuff... reminds me of the Pokemon display at E3... [sighs wistfully]

Brad: There, there, dear...

I won't go into great detail about the episode (the synopsis is better for that), but I think the best part of this episode is seeing just how much Ash cares about the Pokemon he owns, and how true his friendship with them really is. Pikachu starts off treating Ash very badly, ignoring and zapping him... but when Ash selflessly sacrifices himself to save Pikachu, the little electric mouse is moved...

Kathy: Either that, or he knows a sucker when he sees one. ^_^

Brad: A-heh. ^^; Either way, the two of them eventually form a deep friendship in later episodes, but this is where it starts. A good way to start the series.

Kathy: On to Episode 2! Now, I was looking forward to seeing this one since, strangely enough, my fave non-Pokemon characters are the two from Team Rocket, but the way this episode turned out...

Brad: [sweat] Here we go...

Kathy: Now, I'm usually lenient on the voice acting in dubbed anime... I mean, no matter how good the voice actors are, you just can't replace a character's original voices with someone else's. Team Rocket's voice actors (I don't know their names, but if someone out there knows, please let me know) aren't that bad, but my point is that they don't act well enough. I mean, if you listen to the original voices, there's... I dunno, "feeling" in there, there's pep (but that could be because of Megumi Hayashibara, I dunno). There's just not enough energy/enthusiasm in the acting. It's particularily obvious when Meowth says that he's the "top cat" at the beginning of episode 2 and they say "we know"; wasn't it supposed to be "We know! We know!" (as in, "Shut up, Meowth and put that huge ego of yours away!")? Give me Shinichirou Miki and Megumi Hayashibara anyday... [trails off, mumbling how they messed up her two favourite characters' voices...]

Brad: Uhm... ^^; All things considered, though, the voices are not that bad. Since we're not likely to see subtitled versions of anime on the air, we'll have to make do with the new voices. On the bright side, they manage to make the characters memorable. Not only does Team Rocket only collect rare and valuable Pokemon, they only work with that kind, too; Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing are some of the more difficult Pokemon to find and capture in the games. (You may need to trade with a friend if you want them; Meowth can't be found in the Red version of Pokemon, and Ekans is missing from the Blue version.)

Kathy: Still... waah! I want the original tapes! ;_;

Brad: Anyways... the third episode has to be my favorite so far... even for a bug, Caterpie is CUTE!

Kathy: No, he isn't! O_O;

Brad: You're as bad as Misty... This episode is a lot calmer than previous episodes, at least until Team Rocket shows up again, so it's a welcome change from the previous action-packed episodes. You get to learn a lot about the characters, and see some of the cute things that Pokemon do when humans aren't watching... the night-time conversation between Caterpie and Pikachu is adorable and cavity-inducing.

You also get to learn a little about Pokemon-battle strategy. Misty made a good point in this episode: fighting a bird with a "worm" is asking for it. So here's my second "Tip for Expert Trainers":

Learn the Pokemon elements, and use them wisely. There are fifteen different elemental "types" of Pokemon, and each one has different advantages and disadvantages when fighting other Pokemon. Bug Pokemon don't fight well against flying Pokemon, while water Pokemon defeat fire Pokemon easily. The fifteen types of Pokemon are: normal, fire, water, electric, grass, ice, fighting, poison, ground, flying, psychic, bug, rock, ghost, and dragon.

Kathy: [yawn] You still talk way too much... ^_^

Brad: [facefaults] D'oh!

Kathy: I never thought Caterpie was so powerful, though. It's not quantity that counts, it's quality!

Now you get to see just how moronic Team Rocket is; I mean, you don't protect yourself against Beedrils whose stingers can go through solid wood with a "tank" made out of cardboard! I wonder whose idea that was...

Brad: Not mine, that's for sure... probably Kojiro's...

Kathy: Or Meowth's. It's his style. ^_^; Speaking of Meowth, he's a tad on the violent side, isn't he? That bit with scratching Ash's face must've hurt...

Brad: A little, but I still like him. He's no worse than the Beedrils, who send whole swarms of themselves against people for the slightest provocation. Vicious and deadly, but then they wouldn't be "pocket monsters" if they weren't.

I only have one other comment about episode 4; the Metapod battle. Samurai isn't as experienced as he suggests... [sweat] What did you think, Kathy?

Kathy: I... have... no... comments. ^^;

Anyways, that covers all four episodes and what we think of them! Next week, we'll have a commentary on Episodes 5 through 9, so stay tuned!

Brad: Here's a little interactive game for all you Pokemon fans; each week, I'll come up with four quiz questions (easy, medium, hard, and insane); you won't win anything if you can answer them, but everyone who answers will get to see their names in lights on the board next week! Here are the quiz questions for this first week:

Easy: In Episode 3, what are the three things that Misty says she doesn't like?

Medium: Besides providing Pokemon Trainers with information about the Pokemon they meet, what else is a Pokédex used for?

Hard: In Episode 2, how many Pikachus are powering the Pokemon Center's backup generator?

Insane: Tell me how many different kinds of Pokemon have been seen in the first four episodes, and name them all. You can't count Pokemon from the preview episode, the Pokemon from the Poke-rap, the mysterious Pokemon which flew overhead in episode 1 (you can't name it), or any Pokemon merchandise shown.

If you like the quiz, let me know, and you can be sure there'll be another one next week!

Kathy: Just write to us at cod@compusmart.ab.ca with the subject "Pokemon Quiz"! The answers will be posted on next Saturday!

Bye-bye for now! (Say bye-bye, Brad!)

Brad: Pika-pika! o^.^o