• Forum Moderator applications are now open! If you're interested in joining an active team of moderators for one of the biggest Pokémon forums on the internet, click here for info.

Professor Oak

FabuVinny

May the Aura be with you.
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
6,027
Reaction score
4
Butch and Cassidy have got away with all the Pokéballs at the lab, but now they are surrounded. As Ash's Bulbasaur steps forward to battle, Professor Oak says this:
"If it's a battle you want, then it's a battle you're gonna get. All right, everybody. Let's go and get those Pokéballs back. Let's see, I think I'll choose... Ah, yes, of course. Bulbasaur, one of my oldest companions. Let's fight together. I choose you, my friend."

This tells us one or more of the following:
1) The Chronicles team is crazy.
2) Professor Oak is going senile.
3) Professor Oak knows something we don't know.

Bulbasaur, of course, had only gone to the lab a season before to deal with the fighting after Tracey and Oak had failed to solve it. Oak later showed that he couldn't even keep the peace for even a day while Bulbasaur was with Ash in Hoenn. So unless it teaches May's Bulbasaur a thing or two then, thanks to Oak, Ash won't be using Bulbasaur again.

But that isn't the only negative thing we can say about the world's foremost authority on Pokémon. For one thing, he wasn't exactly thinking in episode one. Granted, had Ash not overslept he would have got his Squirtle, but then it would have been Gary who ended up Pikachu. Professor Oak knew that four trainers were going to start their journey that day. Why wasn't he prepared?

Tracey is probably a big help, but Oak didn't look for him. Tracey came to Oak.

Anything else? Well, a herd of Tauros almost demolished his lab. This being quite a while after they broke a fence.

So he isn't as good as he looks on the surface. But with all that said, he is still highly respected for the work he does. His heart is in the right place, and he is very hard-working. Right now, one of his projects is researching Pokérus in order to work out and prevent whatever Team Rocket are planning with it.

In the first generation of games, Oak has three Pokémon left: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Interesting, then, that the only Pokémon we know he had as a trainer was a Charmeleon. Is it now a Charizard very close to Ash's Charizard? Who knows, but what of Bulbasaur? Did he have one but then left it to protect some Pokémon in a reserve between Cerulean and Vermillion City?

When you think that his childhood rival is now a member of the Elite Four, it is likely that he was a very powerful trainer at one point. But for some reason, all his Pokémon are gone now. Dead or nearby? It's an interesting thought.
 
I'd say dead. Maybe he tried the trainer thing didn't manage that well and became a professor instead. That is what Agatha seems to imply in the games. I mean he has probably been one for many years now. The starter were probably gifts, offsprings of older pokemon or rare species caught to examine.
 
Maybe some of both. The ones that are still around may not be as powerful as they used to be, especially since they probably haven't gotten much training in since Samuel became a pokemon researcher. That and the fact that pokemon age, too.
 
In the anime, the starters are bred at special sanctuaries and sent to the professors when they are ready to join a trainer. I think he was a good trainer, (he seemed to be from what we have seen,) but chose to be a researcher later... just as Gary did. Whether this was due to a serious loss or just a want to research after feeling a sense of completion as a trainer is another matter.

As for Agatha, I can't remember what she said exactly, but I don't think she fully understands him. She took her training right to being a member of the Elite Four, while he stopped training to be a researcher.
 
Depends really, I mean he doesn't seem to be a person that would aim to be champion or anything. And really what else is there for him to do as a trainer? And if he did aim for that was he champion? And if so who beat him? Did he resign to be a researcher? Many questions. I would say he has travelled and his pokemon got strong with him. He then stopped and settled. Some pokemon may still be with him, dead or given to someone else. I truly think the starter thing is a bit silly but doesn't affect much if it is necessary.

Agatha said he is a shadow of his former self and that he was tough and handsome. That doesn't exactly fit in with what I have said because that implies that he had been a trainer with goals in battling. However, it is hard for me to imagine him crossing just Kanto and fighting leaders.
 
It's hard to say where his Charmeleon would be now. If they're anything like real-world lizards, they would have long life spans, but there's also the issue of a battle-intensive life...
 
Another Fan said:
I'd say dead. Maybe he tried the trainer thing didn't manage that well and became a professor instead. That is what Agatha seems to imply in the games. I mean he has probably been one for many years now. The starter were probably gifts, offsprings of older pokemon or rare species caught to examine.
Actually, she implied he was one of the greatest but in his old age preferred fiddling with his Pokedex and studying Pokemon.
 
I know. Just it is hard for me to imagine that. I guess the greatest would be the champion but I just think he may have quit early on.
 
Please note: The thread is from 21 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom