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Why was Lapras the only released pokemon given a follow-up episode?

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Cybersai

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As we know, Ash's 4 big releases in the series were Butterfree, Primeape, Pidgeot and Lapras. I am not counting Charizard, Squirtle or Gliscor considering he still owns them and has called them back for battle.

And as we know, Ash never saw his first 3 releases again. However he sees Lapras again at the very tail-end of Johto, and Lapras had matured and taken over as leader of its herd.

Why do you think the writers actually had Ash meet his old Lapras again, even if it was only for a single episode, yet they didn't bother to do the same for Butterfree/Primeape/Pidgeot? Obviously now its way too late, but they could have gotten follow-ups back in the Johto saga the same way.

What made Lapras more special than the others?
 
I have to say I really don't get why Primeape didn't get mentioned, or even reappear, despite the P1 Grand Prix itself getting another episode - at least Butterfree got a few flashbacks and I think Ash mentioned Pidgeot once or twice afterwards, but Primeape was totally forgotten. I suppose being owned for the shortest amount of time might have something to do with it, but considering the P1 thing came up again, I really don't get it.

I hope Pidgeot appears in the next Kanto return episode - say Ash/Pikachu are all alone again walking back to Pallet, *event occurs*, and then Pidgeot comes out of nowhere to save the day. I think it is probably too late for Primape/Butterfree, but Pidgeot is conveniently located and isn't as farfetch'd of a comeback. That said, I think Butterfree would need to be included somehow in a final episode of the anime, being Ash's first capture and all, though other than in the context of a final reunion sort of episode, I can't see it being possible to work it into a regular episode plot.
 
The only time Ash ever mentioned Pidgeot again was during Falkner's Gym in early Johto. When Ash see's Falkner's Pidgeot, he tells him that he used to own one. After that Pidgeot was never mentioned again.

And as said, Butterfree got two separate flashbacks in DP, one as a Caterpie and the second as a Butterfree with its pink mate.

Primeape was only owned by Ash for a grand total of 2 episodes, so that's probably why.
 
I don't think there is a definite reason. Whether Lapras has more importance than Butterfree or Pidgeot is debatable, but I will agree Primeape doesn't stick out enough to warrant a return, and even if they wanted to, they should've done it while we were still in Kanto. (the first time, not the second time) It becomes apparent to me that Lapras is at the center of the reason why Butterfree and Pidgeot didn't return, as indeed it is the only one that was released that returned. They could've easily done either of the other two under the same circumstances, so why didn't they? Distance is not a problem since Char could go back to Kanto. (admittedly, that didn't happen until AG, so I am not sure they had that in mind yet) Why did they choose Lapras over the others? Was it really that prominent? Was it random? I don't really have an opinion on the matter since Lapras could have equal importance to them.
 
Butterfree and his mate flew off to a different part of the region, or even the world for that matter. He was mentioned a few times in DP as a Bug-type pokemon that Ash had once owned, but he was not too important to the storyline.

Pidgeot and friends are presumably still in the Viridian Forest, which we can assume that Ash and co. never transversed to again. If not, Pidgeot and friends are probably flying around the region or the world. Pidgeot was less special than Butterfree in that it was only mentioned once after it was released (in the Falkner episode) and was the second pokemon he caught in Kanto. Pidgeot (as a Pidgeotto) was kept for 70 episodes, but the majority of its appearances were focused on it trying to follow TRio in their balloon. Pidgeotto was hardly used in battle and Pikachu and the starter pokemon (especially Charizard) practically overshadowed its usage.

Primeape was owned for a mere 5 episodes and was only truly seen in two of them. Primeape is presumably with Anthony and his daughter training for the P1 Grand Prix. Since there was a P1 Grand Prix in the Johto region during the Tyrogue episode, we can assume that these competitions are region exclusive.

Lapras is definitely the most important of Ash's released pokemon. Even though it was only kept for a good 30 episodes, Lapras was used a hell of a lot more than the other pokemon. Lapras was seen in almost every episode of the Orange Islands since Ash and co. had to use it to get to each island. Lapras was used in two gym battles against the Orange Crew. Lapras was used in the Orange League match against Drake's Gengar where it surprisingly tied against the pokemon despite its inexperience in battle.

Lapras was probably given a follow-up episode over the others because it was arguably more memorable than any of Ash's other released pokemon. It just did a lot more and was seen a lot more than the other released pokemon.
 
As others have said, Primeape was around for an extremely short time. I still think he should've made a reappearance, because Ash has a bond with each of his Pokemon so Primeape shouldn't be an exception.

I really NEVER expected to see Butterfree again. Not sure why, maybe because bugs don't live that long in the real world or maybe because it found a mate. Just don't really see how it'd be able to make another appearance.

I always thought that having been mentioned in the Falkner battle that Pidgeot would appear again one day.

I don't think it can be argued that Lapras is the most memorable of the 4, even if its only because it was used to ferry the group around most of the Orange Islands. any kids who watched that and continued to watch Johto would've been happy to see the water Pokemon again.
 
Force Fire said:
Wait wait wait. The P1 Grand Prix appeared after that infamous episode? When?
Click to expand...

There was a terrible Tyrogue filler in the middle of Johto where a guy was training his Tyrogue to enter a P1 Grand Prix. Sadly Ash doesn't mention Primeape at all.
 
Gliscor'd said:
There was a terrible Tyrogue filler in the middle of Johto where a guy was training his Tyrogue to enter a P1 Grand Prix. Sadly Ash doesn't mention Primeape at all.
Click to expand...

I actually very recently saw this episode again, and Ash didn't even flinch when the P1 Grand Prix was mentioned. Kiyo mentioned that he was competing in it and Ash's reaction was something to the effect of, "Sounds interesting."
 
Maybe because the writers thought that Lapras was more than a seating object and thought it should get another debut.
 
PAK Man said:
I actually very recently saw this episode again, and Ash didn't even flinch when the P1 Grand Prix was mentioned. Kiyo mentioned that he was competing in it and Ash's reaction was something to the effect of, "Sounds interesting."
Click to expand...

Well, that's the Johto saga for you!
 
My guess is that Lapras was the most memorable of these four Pokémon. I mean, they did have alot of screentime since they spent almost the entire Orange Islands arc riding on it's back. No other Pokémon aside from other out-of-ball Pokémon (Pikachu, Togepi, Piplup and Axew) had that much screentime.

I also think that Primeape was dumped and forgotten about because it really was a mistake to add him into the cast. After the episode it was caught in, they quickly realized that there was literally nothing they could do with the character (it was supposed to be angry and violent all the time, what kind of development could be done?) So they got rid of it as quickly as they could and the fans were made to forget about it.
 
I don't see why Primeape couldn't have just been Oak'd the same way Kingler, Muk and Tauros were. Its not like he had to stay on the roster or be released. He could have been another one of those Kanto captures sent to Oak's, and Ash could have used him in the Indigo league like Kingler/Muk.
 
I actually think that Lapras' release was planned from the start and that it would eventually rejoin its own pack at the end of the saga. Its later return showed how much it has matured since that time (it was young during the OI adventures) and eventually even given the postion as leader of the group. So I think the writers may have felt that Lapras' story wasn't finished and gave it a follow-up episode.
 
Not sure what Lapras so special, but I'm 99.8% certain that the writers never had any intention of bringing Primeape back again...and I have my doubts about Pidgeot and Butterfree.

From around mid-Kanto, it seems somewhat obvious that the writers were dead-set upon Ash always having an open slot on his active team (the exact purpose of which I'm not really sure, given that it never led up to any important captures before the League, nor did Ash attempt to make any use of his reserves at Oak's lab within this time). Butterfree had quite a lot of significance at the start of the series, since he was Ash's first capture, and got to showcase a couple of early instances of evolution. Three gym badges later, however, and Ash had a whole batch of starter pokes to pimp in addition to Pikachu, and presumably only needed one flying dogsbody on hand to whirlwind Team Rocket into oblivion. The butterfly pokemon had outlived his usefulness, so the writers did the humane thing and set him free before he really started to stagnate (remember, in these days oaking a long-term team member was not treated as an option). I do remember there being some talk, at the time, about the possibility of him returning, but with hindsight it seems obvious that the writers wanted to close the book on him then and there. He didn't go away to get stronger or become a better battler, but to start a new life spreading his genes about. Character wrapped.

I'd argue the same for Pidgeot. Here we have a pokemon who never displayed much personality within his time and was totally overshadowed by Pikachu and the starters. Even if the door was left open for him to return, if the writers so desired it, I think they were equally intent upon giving him an exit which offered some form of closure (evolving and becoming leader to a group of wild Pidgeottos) so that they could jettison their most expendable team member and move onto something new. By the time Ash returned to Pallet Town, there was a whole new generation to advertise and the writers were probably twiddling their thumbs as to how and when they should start fazing the freshly-redundant Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charizard from the team, so I doubt that Pidgeot was much of a priority.

As others have already pointed out, Primeape was on Ash's team for only a very short length of time, and he barely bonded with the pig-gibbon at all. Regardless of whether the writers had at any point considered making Primeape a long-term team member or simply wanted Ash to have a Fighting type for the upcoming Fighting tournament (assuming they were even planning that far ahead back then), in the grand scheme of things, he was a monster of little importance.

You can argue that there was never any need for these characters to become fixtures of Ash's team once again in order for them to be revisited - they could have made cameos, guest appearances, etc. But those are just the reasons why I never felt that the writers ever had very much interest in doing so. I'm also aware that you could argue the exact same case for Lapras - with the Orange Islands coming to a close, he too had outlived his primary purpose (to ferry Ash and friends around from island to island), and by reuniting him with his family they also appeared to be closing the book on him. As I say, I don't know what made Lapras stand out, but I'd hazard a guess that he, being the most recently released of Ash's earlier pokemon, would simply be considered the one likely to be freshest on the viewers' minds.

(And shit, this is the last time I write a full-blown essay on the subject... :p )
 
As others have said I dont really have a clear mind on why they gave Lapras a comeback episode. I suppose it could be because he was the latest released Pokemon at the time. Also has Ash ever released any more of his current Pokemon?
 
LetsPlayPrince said:
Also has Ash ever released any more of his current Pokemon?
Click to expand...

Technically, no. Ash gave some of his pokemon, such as Charizard, Squirtle, and Gliscor, to other trainers so that they could become stronger. Ash used all three pokemon in a battle at some point after they were given away.

The only pokemon that Ash actually "released" since his Lapras was a Seaking that he caught in a fishing contest that had to be sent back into the wild as part of the rules. Lapras was the latest "long-term" pokemon that Ash had on him that was explicitly released.
 
Technically its the Beedrill he gave to Casey. But he only owned it for what....about 2 minutes of an episode?
 
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