Did the DP series go overboard with training/battle episodes?

[Cybersai]

One thing about DP that was different than all the other sagas is how much emphasis there was on training and battling. DP is where it felt less about the adventure and more about everyone training their pokemon and constant battling. Character interaction came second fiddle to all the constant "Let's teach and train our Pokemon" episodes.

While at first people seemed glad that Ash and Dawn were training their pokemon on-screen (something we rarely saw prior), most people then wound up getting tired of it, where entire eps were spent practicing Contest appeals or Ash teaching his pokemon a move.

In Best Wishes, and in AG prior to that, there are still training episodes, but they play second fiddle to all the adventure-type episodes they have. On top of that almost every episode in DP was focused on constant battling, much moreso than any other saga.

Did the DP saga go overboard with training/battling type episodes? Best Wishes seems to have toned that down and returned the "adventure" feel of the series that the other sagas had. Does anyone else notice how battle-heavy DP was compared to the other sagas?

 

[Aestivate]

I had no problem with it, only because Hikari and Satoshi were obviously shown their work at the end of the series. Their victories throughout their competitions seemed way more justified.

 

[SolgaleoGX]

I preffered it actually. Better battle/training centric episodes than pointless COTD filler.

 

[JennaJayfeather]

I think it might have been a bit much for me (going by the person who doesn't like too many of the battles) but I'm not sure if that was my problem with DP :/ all I know is something felt "odd" when compared to the other sagas (including Best Wishes)

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

There should be a fourth option in the poll:

"Yes, DP had many training/battle type eps and I did like it"...

 

[CommanderPigg]

There should be a fourth option in the poll:

"Yes, DP had many training/battle type eps and I did like it"...

Wouldn't the second option be most fitting for that? ;P

I never liked battles until DP came along...some of the training episodes were more tedious than others, and the fact that DP introduced a lot of them ALONG with a lot of pointless cotd episodes made it a bit tedious to watch; but as I'm sure some will say, it made their victories in the end more justified...and I guess I kinda miss that feeling a little XD

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Wouldn't the second option be most fitting for that? ;P

Second option including a line about "they went overboard on it". I don't think they really went overboard on it.

 

[Eitarou]

Of course not. This is Pokemon for goodness sake. It's supposed to be about training and battling.

 

[Pidgeot]

No way. I loved them and it changed a pointless filler to Ash/Dawn working out a strategy for a future battle/contest. For instance, I loved Double Time Battle Training! and Teaching the Student Teacher! because it gave insight on Dawn's next strategy.

 

[Tye Taylors]

Of course not. This is Pokemon for goodness sake. It's supposed to be about training and battling.

This^

 

[Ampharos King]

The training and contest episodes saved DP from having to air more "filler episodes" that introduce random and unimportant COTDs as well as their pokemon.

It allowed certain pokemon, especially those that belonged to Ash and Dawn, to develop to their full potential. So, no. Even though they may have been repetitive and over the top, I preferred the training episodes over the simplified plotlines that had existed in "filler" episodes.

 

[Shinneth]

Okay, where's the option for "I don't think DP went overboard with the training/battle episodes at all and I think it improved on previous series (and following series) by showing consistency with Ash and Dawn's goals and made it more believable when they won battles because you know they actually did the hard work to show for their efforts"?

Seriously. I refuse to say DP went overboard here in any way.

 

[Cybersai]

I don't think we needed entire eps to see Contest appeal training. They could have covered that in 5 minutes, not 22 minutes.

I remember everyone being sick and tired of all the tedious training eps when we were in the later half of DP. They were also repetitive to the point where it was shoved down our throats.

Even eps that were fillers, like the ep Buizel learned ice punch, were barely made important because of that one attacked learned.

 

[Froakie]

No. At least DP showed battling and development of the pokemon, to make any wins in the league actually seen plausible, unlike some other current season.
Pokemon is about battling, training and growth. Not about problem solving and luck.

 

[Shinneth]

Admittedly Dawn's training wasn't really all that and really it just centered on her inventing (and experimenting with) cool appeal combinations by late-DP... which in retrospect makes sense because in early-DP, Dawn was struggling with just getting through the appeal rounds (though her battling abilities, both with Contest and traditional battles, always seemed pretty natural to her), so the added focus later on was a nice continuity nod. But I blame the underwhelming nature of Dawn's Pokemon for why her training skits weren't nearly as impressive as Ash's... and for that I blame a certain whiny blue penguin for usurping all the meaningful spotlight.

But like others have said, seeing the main characters actually train their Pokemon beats the hell out of using that time for uninspired filler. Plus, it helps establish which Pokemon is flourishing, which one's struggling, et cetera... and those were often used to help give Ash's Pokemon character development. Sorta why Ash's Sinnoh team actually had individual personalities that were worth a damn.

And again, this was a great representation of how we, the players of the Pokemon games, "train" our Pokemon by level-grinding. We saw strategies being implemented that were carried through when the serious business came about, and consequently many DP battles came off as engaging and believable. Which is probably part of why they resorted to Tobias charging in with legendaries to ensure Ash would lose the Sinnoh League... they probably couldn't think of a way to top the final battle with Paul using traditional means and knowing Ash was at his peak by this time, they had to use SOMETHING to crush him in a way that makes sense, and oh hai Darkrai and Latios. Ash getting crushed by those makes sense, however cheap the whole premise was.

And, ah, not to mention the time invested in training showed that Ash and Dawn were serious about keeping their eye on the ball, and their main rivals were frequently mentioned as the driving force behind their training. It's... it's good storytelling, man!

Of course, the writers thought something was broken with all this sense-making business once they got to work with Black & White, and now we're rewarded with a "Show, Don't Tell... Oh Wait You're Just Gonna Tell Us, Huh. Niiiice." scenario with our current series. Yes, because that's so much better than showing us proof that these guys are actually doing the work, especially when Ash is throwing strategy and type logic out the window for no apparent reason and Iris' skill level changed like overnight. Yeah, so much better than those tedious, sense-making, character-developing battles from before.

Okay, now I'm getting too bitter.

 

[Pidgeot]

I don't think we needed entire eps to see Contest appeal training. They could have covered that in 5 minutes, not 22 minutes.

But then that means we would have 17 minutes of 'Here's a CoTD, here's a Pokemon who hasn't debuted yet, now do stuff'. That's what made episodes like The Bells are Singing! a piece of crap.

I remember everyone being sick and tired of all the tedious training eps when we were in the later half of DP. They were also repetitive to the point where it was shoved down our throats.

That's because this routine happened: New title>Seems like a training episode>People annoyed - Episode airs>People actually like it.

Even eps that were fillers, like the ep Buizel learned ice punch, were barely made important because of that one attacked learned.

You just contradicted yourself in the same sentence. If a Pokemon learns a move in an episode, then by Joe, it's not a filler.

 

[Magmortar123]

I kind of liked all the training episodes. It gave the pokemon more development.

 

[Catzeye]

I rather have an episode where the characters train and bond rather than COTD #12345 show up. Not only does it give character development and interactions, it also shows that Ash and co actually do something with their Pokemon.

No the DP saga didn't go overboard. These episodes didn't happen every other episode.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

You should add a few more answers to the poll. Given the three possible ones, I can't help but think that the poll is meant to reflect your own opinion.

As far as I'm concerned the number of training episodes in D/P was just perfect. Just look at how all the other regions failed to show us that Ash was actually doing some serious training. Case in point: Unova. In terms of (serious!)training and battling (and many other aspects btw) Unova is a total catastrophe!

How I miss Sinnoh which, and I could repeat it a thousand times, was just perfect!

 

[Musashi]

I loved all the training episodes and wish BW would do more of them.