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For Us 90's Kids

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ThePalletTownKid

Really Miss Misty
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For those of us who remember getting up at 6:30 in the morning or getting up early on Saturday when the show was on Kids WB. Why does the Original Pokemon series (Season 1-5) feel so Nostalgic?
 
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Even though Kids WB over-promoted and relied on Pokemon, even at the expense of their other shows, at least they cared. It's better than just keeping its license, but doing nothing with it (CN).
 
fierydestroyerbowser said:
Even though Kids WB over-promoted and relied on Pokemon, even at the expense of their other shows, at least they cared. It's better than just keeping its license, but doing nothing with it (CN).
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Yeah, and at least the promos had the different characters interacting with each other. Who doesn't like Terry McGinnis as Batman talking to Ash Ketchum? Really, it's hilarious! Then the MIB guy saying, "Well, at least my momma doesn't cut my hair" to Ash = ROFL.

Even 4Kids cared enough to at least give us a decent English dub. Even if the dub had plenty of edits and some problems here and there, at least the voice actors, musicians who composed the dub music as well as the intros, and the script writers actually really put out good, solid work. I frankly don't see that kind of effort or passion nowadays from TPCi in the least.
 
TPCi/CN may have cared back in Battle Frontier, when they had promos everywhere, and early DP, when they had episodic previews and showed it at least every other day (if I recall correctly), but they don't now.
 
Pokemon is just so different now than the one we grew up with, I can't explain it but it's not just the different voice actors or that we're older ( because I still enjoy watching old episodes). And yeah I miss 4kids too.
 
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ThePalletTownKid said:
Pokemon is just so different now than the one we grew up with, I can't explain it but it's not just the different voice actors or that we're older (I because I still enjoy watching old episodes). And yeah I miss 4kids too.
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Agreed: even the writing has changed (IMO, for the worse) since Takeshi Shudo departed the franchise around mid-Johto. The focus has shifted from emotional moments and lightheartedness with subtle character development over time, to battles and nothing more than a focus on competence than the characters themselves. The Pokemon focus has also diminished in the newer arcs as well. The newer characters also don't really have much distinguishing them from previous characters: Serena literally seems very similar to Dawn right now, Cilan was essentially the same as Brock in many ways sans his focus was on being a Top Connoisseur as opposed to a Pokemon Breeder (and later Pokemon Doctor), etc.

It doesn't really feel like the same series anymore, does it?

Honestly, The Origin reminded me more of the older episodes than the newer ones do.
 
EmotionalTensionPKMN said:
ThePalletTownKid said:
Pokemon is just so different now than the one we grew up with, I can't explain it but it's not just the different voice actors or that we're older (I because I still enjoy watching old episodes). And yeah I miss 4kids too.
Click to expand...

Agreed: even the writing has changed (IMO, for the worse) since Takeshi Shudo departed the franchise around mid-Johto. The focus has shifted from emotional moments and lightheartedness with subtle character development over time, to battles and nothing more than a focus on competence than the characters themselves. The newer characters also don't really have much distinguishing them from previous characters: Serena literally seems very similar to Dawn right now, Cilan was essentially the same as Brock in many wans sans his focus was on being a Top Connoisseur as opposed to a Pokemon Breeder (and later Pokemon Doctor), etc.

It doesn't really feel like the same series anymore, does it?
Click to expand...

No, I caught D&P a couple time and it just doesn't feel the same. I think Veronica Taylor and that guy who voiced Brock said it didn't feel like the same show during an Anime expo Q&A. Like I said in a different thread, I stop following the show closely when Misty left but still watch it. And when they changed the voice actors I stop watching completely. It just doesn't have the same hearts anymore that was there during the first 8 seasons.

Speaking of Kids WB, I love how they used to have like different Holiday theme shows, like during Halloween weekend they would do Halloween skits with different characters and show Halloween theme episodes.
 
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The theme weeks on WB were always a blast. Remember how oddly specific it would get? Sometimes it would be something pretty wide open, like Water Pokemon Week, but then it'd be like Gary Week or Professor Oak Week or Brock Almost Gets Laid Week. Good times.
 
Look what I found guys

[video=youtube;95RLwGCsGso]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95RLwGCsGso[/video]
 
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Look what I found guys
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I didn't watch Pokemon on WBkids. I watched it on YTV everyday after school right before an episode of Digimon. Good times, good times. When I got older I occasionally watched it on WB but not often.
 
Wow, it never aired that early in my country... thankfully.

I miss the old episodes too. I'm not such a big fan of anime and I don't have much spare time to keep up with my main shows, so I rarely watch the new episodes but when I do (usually after looking up things on Bulbapedia and seeing it's referenced in the anime) they feel less atmospheric. Some of the old episodes just had the characters exploring a new town doing nothing with the only battles being Team Rocket if that and focusing more on their friendship with the pokémon. The ones I see now are invariable battles, more battles, and battles. I love battles, but I also like getting more than just a passing glimpse of what a given area is like or how different human characters befriend their pokémon.
 
Well here's what I'd recommend to the OP; start out by asking us some specific things about Pokemon in the 90's ex; is Pokemon nostalgic to you and why? Ill go ahead and answer that one with a loud YES! The reason being because it has its own unique strengths to it than other shows. Now I like everything Pokemon but I'm primarily an anime fan so my entire post is going to be about that. There's a spirit of adventure, friendship, personal accomplishment, and the thrill of it all that got me hooked. Pokemon is one of those shows that has more than what I guess you'd call "cartoon fluff". That is to say, it has the potential to impact you more than just getting your cup of saturday "coffee".

I know that I face criticism when I say it but, I'm with people who feel that maybe Pokemon is missing something these days. Its not an easy thing to describe in one way without upsetting someone so to put it bluntly, I don't feel as connected with the characters like I did then and I'm mature enough to understand that its more than just my aging for that reason. A lot of Pokemon's primary excitement seems to come from wanting to see or his friends win battles or overcome rivalries which is only the tip of the iceberg. Its like, that's to be expected isn't it? The more exciting and perhaps more uncommon draw comes from character relationships exemplifying deeper values. Its the times when the adventure feels adventurous or dangerous and the friendships feel like its what brought them there or gets them through the hard times. Even the things like those songs the dubbers would play on a regular basis via the "Pikachus jukebox" segment helped to solidify the "Pokemon spirit" the show sought to uphold. Is that spirit still there? This is where many will differ and sometimes argue but in short I will say that yes, only I feel it has much more unused potential. In fact I would go so far as to say it has limitless potential, that even in times when the show is exerting the best it has to offer there will always be room for improvement and I want to see an attitude of improving and not simply continuing from its creators. To do this I think a few things need to happen;

one is to put aside the goal of making it the best for kids and go a step higher to aim for the best for the whole family. Let the media and people who know little about Pokemon call it what they want, but when people who really know what the show is are using the term "kids show", it really feels like the term is generally being used to exclude other audiences IMO, something that the show did not and should not do.

two is to not underestimate the intelligence of your audience. if they still want kids to like it and more importantly, remain loyal to it, then don't feed them juvenile and watered-down dialogue or mannerisms. This is kind of something every kid-friendly show has trouble with, even some instances with Pokemon from day one. keep only as much of that which is necessary to make it believable and don't be afraid to make battling logistics less obvious, or make more complex jokes, or have more emotional struggles for both people and Pokemon. Bottom line, we live in a world where we have much more diverse and high-tech communication and education platforms than before. kids today are figuratively speaking, geniuses compared to the generation of our parents. Don't underestimate their cognative and learning abilities.

Tying in to the above, I'd say three would be to rework how marketing decisions are made; sometimes when a company is up top its far too easy to sort of "play it safe" and go for what sells. you hear it all the time, that Pokemon is an advertisement for the games, an I don't deny that, only that its more than that and there is long term value which indirectly affects sales through building loyalty. Sometimes its all too easy to forget the big things and even lots of little things that make a show great if you think too much about your latest game or dvd sales charts. Real success cannot be measured with mere numbers and predictions. Pokemon has a lot of loyalty through its fandom,so build off of it! I'm not suggesting they are blind to that or anything, I just think that sometimes its too much business as usual and doesn't feel like whatever their latest innovation is, its being done in faith of their community to take off with it so much as in faith it will sell anyway.

Whatever the case may be, I have confidence that however you see Pokemon, whether its bad or good nowadays, it has potential for improvement that will one day be fulfilled as the business turns and changes.
 
Nail on the head Blue, we cared about the characters, their goal, and their interaction with each other. That's why we got up early in the morning.


At the very least, us older fans will always have that memory and the good times with Kid's WB. I hope the younger fans here will go back and watch the old series.
 
I don't know about nostalgic, but it's more fun to watch because it's not all about battles (as stated before), it has better characters, and it just feels more complete.
 
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