Korobooshi Kojiro said:
Yes, but they could atleast have Onix and Pikachu have a decent battle as well.
But if Pikachu had beaten Onix fairly, Ash would have had no reason to turn down the badge, and it just would have been a generic 'the underdog triumphs' story. Plus, it was Ash's ineptitude that made Flint want to help him in the first place.
I really love the way ep5 starts out by making it seem like Brock's this big scary overpowered gym leader who beats on Ash-the-woobie, but then we find out Brock's tragic backstory and start feeling all sorry for him, and then Onix gets blasted by the sprinklers and suddenly the entire thing reverses, and Ash is the one with all the power, and Brock's this defeated, noble guy who knows he's going to get beaten but wants to continue anyway because his sense of duty tells him to, and then all the little Brocklings storm the gym and call Ash a bully and
he suddenly gains a sense of duty and decides to do the right thing and... *wibble* ...it's cute.
That's my idea of a proper plot, rather than "Ash faces a gym leader. Ash has a tough battle. Ash wins. Yey!"
Like S. Suikun has brought up, the Pryce episode mixed character with battles. Even [spoil]Hyouta had some character dev., and a kickbutt battle to boot[/spoil]
Well sure, it's better when we get a decent arc
and a good battle. But I'd rather have the former than the latter. I guess I'm more interested in characters than plot (though I love plot too!). But ideally, the two should be dependant on each other.
It's more the fact people (such as my friend Maestro) act like every other season is devoid of any sense of plot, character development, plot twist, or drama...when it's not, and instead focus on every single negative aspect like "the floor tiles". 0.o
Yeah, Pokemon's quality is fairly consistent. All the regions have plenty in them to like. And like I said, May's contest arc blended plot, characters and battles very nicely.
CyberCubed said:
Wait, who said they don't do the Kanto development stuff with the Hoenn Gym leaders?
Brawly got three episodes, one in which he wasted Ash and then two after a training arc with Shauna the battle girl.
The Brawly-arc was, as far as I recall, the one time in Hoenn when Ash had character development connected to a gym battle (well, him and Wattson, kinda). It was only Brave the Wave that did this, though; the only person who developed in the two subsequent episodes featuring Brawly was Shauna.
I did greatly enjoy the battle in Just One of the Geysers, though.
Wattson wanted to retire after Ash beat him, (by having Pikachu supercharged), and came back in a later ep for a rematch.
Wattson got some great spotlight in that episode, and it was refreshing in the extreme to see the writers break out of the usual gym formula. I'd hardly say that the ep contained any development for Ash, however. Sure, he offered to give the badge back, but the gesture wasn't nearly the big deal it was back in Showdown in Pewter City. Ash was pretty incidental to the ep, really. (<-- not a criticism, it worked as a Wattson-centric storyline.)
Flannery was great because she was a newbie Gym leader and had no idea what she was doing, and her grandpa went undercover to make sure she was doing well.
Norman is obviously May's father, who got focus in AG3 and had the whole subplot with Caroline thinking he cheated on her.
That's not what I'd call terribly significant backstory. None of it led to anything big. The Caroline/Norman/Joy subplot didn't contribute to anything related to Ash - it barely affected Norman either, for that matter. The emotional turbulance was all Caroline's. Max got a good arc during the Petalburg saga, though.
But at any rate, I'm not even saying that Kanto was all characterisation and the later sagas were all soulless battling. I find Norman, Brawly, Roxanne, Wattson and the rest more interesting than Koga, certainly. (The Soul badge episode was the one when Psyduck first unleashed its powers, though, IIRC. r0x0rs.) It's just that people condemn the Kanto gym matches for the sole reason that "pity badges suck", which I find an exasperating argument that places the emphasis on spectacle and nothing else.
Lil Brother said:
when people make jokes about Brock's sprinkler system,
...I thought there was a euphemism there at first.
...*snerk*
Well, Brock's sprinkler system
does cause the biggest recurring joke in the show.
I think the way Ash got the Boulder Badge was the best of all the Kanto gyms. This is the pity badge that I like.
Agreed, it really set the bar.
The Cascade Badge was a letdown. I would have prefered for Team Rocket to do wacky antics and not even see the twerps like they did in the first gym. The way Misty just kind of gave up in fighting Ash was kind of odd and they clearly just wanted to wrap the episode up.
I thought the set-up with the revelation about Misty's connection to the gym was very good. Ash and Misty's battle being interrupted wasn't a problem for me; it would have been a shame to see their power-struggle settled at that point. The writers using Team Rocket to cause the interruption was pure laziness, though. Plus, I think it would have been better if Ash and Misty had been on a more equal footing before the match ended; as it was, Pidgeotto kind of hammered Starmie. Though I assume Misty still had Staryu in reserve, as it would make no sense for her to call it out of the battle when it still had most of its strength if she wouldn't be able to put it back in play later. But all the same, the battle could have been longer and down to the wire.
Rainbow Badge... Eh, I would have liked for Erika to be a witchy "You don't like perfume, so I don't like you, GTFO!" type. Ash could have taught her a lesson, something like "Hey, stop being so immature and live up to your gym leader duties by letting all challangers face you". We alos could have seen Charmander kick some arse and maybe evolve sooner to give Charmeleon more screen time.
Yeah, that would have been better. Pokemon Scentsation had TR making Ash crossdress, though.
