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A little help here please?

Nikator

RnG- The Masterpiece
Hi all, as a kid I only ever watched the Indigo series and Orange Islands before I lost interest in Pokemon (foolish I know!). However due to buying Black i'm now having a pokenaissance and have started watching from the first ep again, i'm enjoying it. But the filler Episodes bug me. So I was wondering if anyone could compile or point me in a direction of a list of all the non-filler Episodes. (Ie, Ash getting a new pokemon, Gym Battle, Major Character introduced.) Thanks
 
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Haunter ゴースト

Well-Known Member
Hmm, well from the first series, a lot of episodes are actually non-filler and most of them act towards each event in the 80 Episodes lmao.

Orange Islands starts to gain a few fillers if I remember right.
 

MidnightMelody

Hopeful for Gen 8
The thing with this anime is what one might consider filler another may not. So its kind hard. Like the Eevee ep could be filler but we do see Pokemon we never sw before so yea...
 

Haunter ゴースト

Well-Known Member
Personally to me, a debut isn't really filler, unless it's captured, or the same Pokemon is in another episode, like Jigglypuff for example.
 

Nikator

RnG- The Masterpiece
true.. I guess i'll have to work my way through the lot then. Though i'm sure I won't mind this, its just finding the time!
 

An00bis

Wicked Witch
What constitutes a Filler is subjective. Some people feel that just because a Pokemon is revealed to know an attack doesn't make an episode a Filler (like the episode Piplup learned Hydro Pump) or an episode where there's " Character Development " doesn't constitute a Filler (the James episode in Sinnoh).

Personally I recommend that you watch every episode once since you never know what you'll like. It also makes you appreciate modern Fillers more for actually trying more then the " Ash and co stand around while the CoTD solves their own problem " Filler episodes of old. Every once in a while one of those stinkers make it into recent sagas.

Well, since today I'm off work I'll make a preliminary list for Kanto:

Episodes that Ash won a Badge:

Showdown in Pewter City - Boulder Badge
Waterflowers of Cerulean City - Cascade Badge
Electric Shock Showdown - Thunder Badge
Haunter Versus Kadabra - Marsh Badge
Pokemon Scent-sation - Rainbow Badge
The Ninja-Pokeshowdown - Soul Badge
Volcanic Panic - Volcano Badge
The Battle of the Badge - Earth Badge

Episodes that Ash caught a Pokemon:

Pokemon! I Choose You! - Pikachu
Ash Catches a Pokemon - Caterpie / Pidgeotto
Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village - Bulbasaur
Charmander the Stray Pokemon - Charmander
Here Comes the Squirtle Squad - Squirtle
Mystery at the Lighthouse - Krabby
Battle Aboard the St. Anne - Raticate (temporary)
The Tower of Terror - Haunter (temporary)
Primeape Goes Bananas - Primeape
Sparks Fly for Magnemite - Muk
The Legend of Dratini - Tauros

Episodes where Ash's Pokemon Evolved or Refused Evolution:

Ash Catches a Pokemon - Caterpie to Metapod
Challenge of the Samurai - Metapod to Butterfree
Electric Shock Showdown - Pikachu refused to evolve to Raichu
March of the Exeggutor Squad - Charmander to Charmeleon
Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon - Charmeleon to Charizard
Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden - Bulbasaur refused to evolve to Ivysaur
Pallet Party Panic - Pidgeotto to Pidgeot

Episodes where Ash released or attempted to release a Pokemon:

Battle Aboard the St. Anne - Traded Butterfree for Raticate, then reversed the trade
Bye-Bye Butterfree - Butterfree
Haunter Vs Kadabra - Haunter (who was temporary)
Pikachu's Goodbye - Pikachu (failed)
The Punchy Pokemon - Primeape
Pallet Party Panic - Pidgeot

Episodes where a Supporting Cast Member caught a Pokemon:

Pokemon Emergency - Misty's Goldeen, Jessie's Ekans, and James' Koffing are revealed
Showdown in Pewter City - Brock's Onix and Geodude are revealed
Clefairy and the Moonstone - Brock's Zubat (new) / Misty's Staryu is revealed
Water Flowers of Cerulean City - Misty's Starmie is revealed
Tentacool and Tentacruel - Misty's Horsea
Hypno's Naptime - Misty's Psyduck
Pokemon Fashion Flash - Brock's Vulpix
Dig Those Diglett - Jessie's Ekans and James' Koffing evolve
Attack of the Prehistoric Pokemon - Togepi's Egg is found
Holy Matrimony - James' Growlithe is revealed
So Near Yet So Farfetch'd - Jessie's Lickitung is mentioned
Who Gets to Keep Togepi - Misty's Togepi
Princess VS Princess - Jessie's Lickitung
The Breeding Center Secret - James' Victreebel
It's Mr. Mime Time - Deliah's Mr. Mime

Noteable Mention:

The Misty Mermaid - Misty left her Horsea and Starmie at home during this episode.
 

CliveKoopa

Well-Known Member
For me personally, very few episodes are true fillers as almost every episode has some form of character development and most episodes introduce a new pokemon if you don't include captures and gym battles, etc.

Altough the Orange Islands is considered filler, we are introduced to Ash's Snorlax and Misty's Poliwag as well as Tracey. And it is through the Orange Islands that Ash eventually arrives at Johto so is not filler.

Character development in particular is quite a complicated topic as it could mean anything. Looking at all the episodes, James appears to be the most developed character and there are plenty of episodes dedicated to him. If you consider the reveals about TR failing at Pokemon Tech and being in a bike gang character development, then those two episodes could also be non-filler even though it is very small and non-important character development.

Charizard starting to obey Ash in Charizard Chills and the Chimchar episodes are obviously not filler as they have heavy character development what will affect the future storyline of Ash's team. This applies to a lot of other episodes also.
 
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Memo

Active Member
CliveKoopa said:
Altough the Orange Islands is considered filler

The Orange Islands and Kanto Battle Frontier are referred to as filler arcs simply because they are not based on the games, or the usual gameplot. Outside that they really aren't all filler, because there are numerous captures, evolutions and so forth that are relevant. Also, the KBG-battles are for the most part among the best battles in the series. 8)
 

munchlaxboy

Catching up on XY
I don't know why you would want to skip filler, especially the Kanto filler. Those were some of the best Pokemon episodes ever! The School of Hard Knocks, Pikachu's Goodbye, and The Pi-Kahuna are some of the best episodes of the series: all filler.

My advice: Gotta watch 'em all! :) (Well, in the Original Series, at least.)
 

Reign G

Roggen and Rolan
If you're worried about fillers, worry about Johto. It got ridiculous sometimes.
While Sinnoh was longer than Johto, it also had much more entertaining fillers. So I wouldn't worry about DP that much.
 

Nikator

RnG- The Masterpiece
Yeah, I think the problem is that I already know the plot since i've seen them before, albeit many years ago. But i quickly remember what happened. I think i'll skip straight to Johto and start from there!
 

GetOutOfBox

Original Series Fan
Yeah, I think the problem is that I already know the plot since i've seen them before, albeit many years ago. But i quickly remember what happened. I think i'll skip straight to Johto and start from there!

If you still vividly remember most of the Kanto and Orange Island eps, than you probably will want to skip to Johto if you haven't seen it. When I did my first rewatch, I started right from the beginning, since I hadn't seen the show since I was a little kid, and even then, I hadn't seen it consistently.

However, if the only reason you're skipping Kanto and Orange Islands is because you find them boring, well good luck, because they're pretty much the best season out of the entire show. Both are really unique and interesting, after that, the show kind of goes downhill, though BW is promising so far.

The Johto seasons are alright, they have some really good episodes, but there's also a ton of boring, repetivive episodes with Ash and Co typically helping some random person out.
 

RickHoenn

Banned
I think the best seasons in the anime are in the original series, Kanto, OI and Johto were amazing arcs. :)

I'm rewatching Johto in japanese and I must say it's been great, I much prefer the Johto fillers than the Sinnoh ones. I find the Johto Journeys, Johto League Champions and Master Quest far more enjoyable than DP seasons.

Hoenn was a nice season, Battle Frontier was good too and BW is fine till now.
 

pokemon fan 132

Well-Known Member
Within fandom its not easy to determine which episodes are filler and which isnt with everyone having different perception on them.In general fillers are episodes which dont advance plot in any way or give character development,as well not containing pokemon captures,evolutions,learning of nw attacks, gyms or any important recurring characters(Like rivals for example).

However if you already watched Kanto and Orange perhaps its best(in my opinion anyway) to start from Johto and continue from there since you never watched those episodes before.

Johto was little long and had good chunk of fillers but it also had good chemistry between original trio and several great episodes introducing many great arcs(like Whirl islands,Lugia,Dragonite or Red Gyarados).
Speaking of fillers some were pretty bad but many of them were enjoyable to watch.

Hoenn introduced contests and AG group of four complimented each other well bringing something new in show though it had its bad moments being inevitable with very series.

Sinnoh was pretty long but it handled character stories and plot pretty good with Ash and Paul rivalry being handled great and Dawn contest arc was pretty good too.

So my recommendation is to give all of them a chance depending on personal taste if h will enjoy in something or not.
 

CliveKoopa

Well-Known Member
Finally, someone here agrees with me about Johto. I am sick of the Johto bashing what goes on here so its nice to hear something good for a change.
 

Yeul

Green Eyed Girl
It hate how the filler tag automatically means that an episode's a load of BS.
Just because they don't have anything major to contribute to the plot doesn't mean that they can't be funny or entertaining, ya know?
 
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