Suede's Pokémon Journey, Episode 20
Added 2023-12-03 11:12:25 +0000 UTCThe Ghost of Maiden's Peak
THIS IS NOT A PAID POST
Much apologies for the sound quality, but this is the video, warts and all 😆 At least we got one of the best Rocket Mottos!
Comments
Also an unrelated note: on the topic of Squirtle and Bulbasaur implicitly fearing their final forms, you may notice that, within "Island of the Giant Pokemon" several episodes back, Ash and TR's lost 'mons encounter the Venusaur and Blastoise animatronics, on which (I believe) both respective pre-evolved starters comment, but never encounter the Charizard animatronic (unlike Ash and co.). Based on this, it's easy to note which of Ash's three starters never developed a fear of their evolved form (an understandable issue given the 70ft-high monstrosities the other two first witnessed them as) and thus became the only one of the three to both evolve altogether and to reach their final form. It's a subtle detail, but it seems to match.
DisgruntledFilament
2023-12-07 19:34:58 +0000 UTCIf anything, I actively appreciate this episode's presentation of Gastly as an enigmatically-potent supernatural force capable of human speech and impromptu shapeshifting, chiefly in that it grants the concept of Gastly a greater sense of agency linked to analogous real-world myths and legends and establishes it as a distinct lifeform with its own set of roles and behavioural preferences related to its type, instead of simply relegating it to a visually-intriguing utility wielding "ghost powers" at the command of a human trainer as with many episodes in later seasons. This being Shudo at work here, I also appreciate the episode's willingness to run with the collision of human cultural rituals and mythology and the immensely-powerful magical creatures with which they happen to coexist: it feels plausible and alchemically-textured (the episode is alternatingly eerie and comedic, befitting Gastly's role as a mercurial spectre primarily beyond human comprehension; it is communicating something genuine or simply toying with you?) in a way that many equivalents in later seasons (which all-too-often assume the form of a much more generically-conceived "oh, we love [insert Pokemon here] so much that we have a festival centered around it!" that seldom uses the tentpoles of the central Pokemon's design and concept to fuel a tonally-distinct experience; note that the festival isn't even consciously centered around Gastly here; his presence is more an extension of the layers of historical unknowability than drive this episode's atmosphere) often don't. It's an approach to worldbuilding that feels distinctly more organic and engaged with perspective than its successors.
DisgruntledFilament
2023-12-07 08:49:21 +0000 UTCLast episode, we got a giant, psychic Tentacruel. This episode we get a talking, shapeshifting Gastly that's apparently stronger then many legendries. Early Pokemon was WILD, man.
Nefrekeptah
2023-12-04 06:00:43 +0000 UTC
