Poké-Month: Pokémon 2000: The Power of One (Part 2)

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Continuing this review today!

Territorial clash

That was... surprisingly easy.

BOOOOAAAAAAT!!!!!

On Fire Island, Ash keeps following Pikachu on the path leading to a shrine. Unbeknownst to them, Team Rocket has landed nearby and are planning an ambush. The electric rodent climbs onto the altar and points to the glass sphere in it, which is glowing a bright orange. In case we hadn’t understood that Ash’s buddy knows what’s going on… The Pokémon trainer picks up the sphere and motions to leave, but Jessie, James and Meowth appear on top of the stairs to recite their motto. They don’t get to do much, however, as a certain magical staircase-climbing boat nearly crushes them.

…Nope, I still can’t make sense of that. It can't possibly do that on its own! And if the winds are so strong they can push your boat upwards a stone construct, you have bigger things to worry about than going up said construct.

After the boat finally comes to a stop, Melody admonishes Ash for jumping headfirst into the quest – a quest that, may I remind you, is (in normal circumstances) little more than a fun ceremonial thing for tourist trainers. Once again, she slips in a remark further teasing Ash and Misty… Something that even Team Rocket gets to comment on. I swear, this film is a Pokéshipper’s dream.

Melody literally thinks Ash and Misty will
marry someday. A literal shipper on deck!

Hm... I've allocated the F-word to Moltres
already... what's the choice curse that an
angry Zapdos would use...
Right! "YOU D!!CKS!"

However, before any more ship teasing can occur, Zapdos comes in, erupting with thunder, shrouding the place with static, marking the territory. It claims Fire Island as its own, now that its original occupant has mysteriously disappeared. I didn’t think these birds could be so territorial. And so angry, too. Pikachu attempts to communicate with the mighty thunder bird through electric blasts. Somehow, Meowth is capable of translating the electricity the two trade between each other into full English sentences… Pokémon are capable of some impressive things, but I ain’t buying it. ….Not that Pikachu can communicate through electricity; rather, that Meowth can understand it. My suspension of disbelief is getting stretched here!

That must hurt.

That’s when the mega-fortress descends from the skies, absorbing Zapdos’ energy. When Lawrence thinks his prey may be weakened enough, he once again sends special steel rings that emit restraining shocks. Much like Moltres before it, Zapdos puts up a fight but is caught – and due to being of a similar size, so is Melody’s boat, alongside everybody around it.

Mixed message

Zapdos: *screaming* "Let me out, you d!cks!"
Moltres: "Dude, shut the f@ck up."
Ash: "I'm glad I don't understand them."

Yes, she will call someone out on collecting
in the franchise known for collecting.

The reluctant stowaways have been imprisoned in a cage, from which they can see the ancient slab on which the prophecy is written. Around them, Zapdos and Moltres, still contained. The collector has quickly learned about their presence and descends to meet them, and brags about his achievement, mentioning that he’s still one short of a full set. Misty quickly calls him out on his attitude. “The way you talk, it’s like Pokémon are just things to collect, like dolls or stamps!”

Uh, Misty? You’re at the worst possible position to be the one saying this precise thing. You’re one of the protagonists for a franchise whose tagline, at the time, was literally “Gotta catch’em all”. Hello, Mrs. Kettle? You have a message from Mr. Pot. Yeah, 4kids dropped the ball badly on that one. Let’s be clear, this mistake is from the English dub only – instead, in the original Japanese, she asks why he uses this method to catch Pokémon instead of using Pokéballs, y’know, like someone normal.

And in Japanese, Lawrence responds that he wants the Legendary Pokémon he catches to be on display, or else there’s no interest in having them. In English, he doesn’t say any of that, merely stating that he began his collection with an Ancient Mew card, and now he has all this. “Started from the bottom now we’re here”, to quote Drake, with no explanation of how he got there.

So, are we ever gonna learn why he became a collector,
why he has this fortress, where he's from, or why
he's so obsessed by that prophecy? Nope!

The thing is, Misty could have a point in both versions. Pokéballs are said to be harmless to Pokémon. In fact, the ones that are captured choose to join the trainer that caught them. That’s actual lore. In contrast, the collector’s electrical rings not only look unpleasant, but even painful to the Pokémon caught. And there’s no accepting or refusing; a Pokémon entrapped by these rings is taken, willing or not, going against one of the core themes of the series. Even in English, to some extent, Misty could have a point. Like all of the anime’s protagonists, she cares for the Pokémon she catches – she builds a relationship with them, and treats them like friends. She even spends the vast majority of the film with Togepi, itself a rare species in Kanto, in her arms. Contrast with Lawrence, who doesn’t care about the birds’ well-being or emotions, only seeing them as additions to a collection. Heck, when I play Pokémon, I’m a collector type. I play to complete the Dex, I seek to catch everything I can. But I do try to care for those Pokémon – as much as the games will allow, at least.

Of course he lets them go; they're worthless in
his collection, like a Luvdisc or a Trubbish.

One theory I’ve read online, and that I love, states that the first Pokémon films each deconstruct an aspect of the franchise. “Mewtwo Strikes Back” deconstructs Pokémon as fighters; this film, as collectibles; and “Spell of the Unown”, as companions to humans. It's unclear whether it was intentional, but if it isn't, then it's a nice coincidence. I grew up with those three films. I believe this holds up. In particular, having a collector as the antagonist of this film, a villain who collects the “wrong” way, is an excellent way to prove the point. Now, maybe those who worked on dubbing the film did want to make these points, but with the limited time they had in Misty’s rebuttal, maybe they couldn’t think of anything better, or didn’t want to; she never gets to say any of the arguments I extrapolated. As a result, her calling out comes off as lukewarm at best, a complete failure at worst. A shame, really; it’s like the dub was afraid of taking the deconstruction to a point where it could have been significant.

Lawrence lets the humans go free, then leaves to resume his hunt for Articuno.

Not-so-science… and actual science

Pictured: Loads of Water Pokémon (and one Ekans)
converging towards the scene of the prophecy.

During that time, Professors Oak and Ivy have taken a helicopter with a news crew. Ash’s mom has tagged along. News report indicate that thousands if not millions of sea and air Pokémon are converging towards the region of Shamouti, while land Pokémon worriedly look on from the shores. Not only do they feel something is wrong – they know exactly where it’s happening.

I still wonder why the news crew would
have let Ash's mom onto the helicopter.

Oak explains the phenomenon. In the original Japanese, he had a line stating a (debated) theory that life began when lightning struck volcanic seawater, meaning that both ice, fire and lightning played a part. He also states that in many folklores of the Pokémon world, Shamouti is claimed to be where that event took place, and is also the source of all the water in the world. Therefore, a disturbance of its climate could influence the rest of the planet. This is what is happening, with the imbalance of power in the area causing climate to go haywire, and the “Beast of the Sea” from local legends is actually the undersea current that’s spreading the series of natural disasters, eventually flooding the planet – or, as we see for the rest of the film, causing a new ice age.

Okay, but that doesn't explain the "ice age" part.

Eh… Pokémon has given us weirder stuff since. I’m not gonna complain too much about it. It does feel more in the realm of esotericism than science, but Oak has probably seen his fair share of weird stuff that, in this world, is the proper basis for the science he studies.

The Ketchum decision tree:
"[Problem]: Ram into it? Yes/Sure/Please
Did it work: Yes/No
Are you still alive? Yes/No
Use Pikachu or another Pokémon (finally)?"

In the Flying Palace (yes, Lawrence’s airship has a name), the group re-reads the prophecy on the slab and realizes that part of it is coming true. Ash concludes that Zapdos and Moltres have to be freed to solve everything. His first action? To ram into Moltres’ cage. Dude, you’re not a Pokémon, you can’t Tackle! Also, stop freaking ramming at everything! Look where that got you when you tried to do that against Mewtwo in the previous mo- …Oh right, you don’t remember that…

The second plan is wiser. Ash brings out Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charizard, and has the latter two blast their water and fire respectively at the electrified cage while Pikachu also zaps it. Team Rocket attemps to do the same with their own Pokémon to Zapdos’ containment. The combined attacks from Ash’s Pokémon provoke a massive explosion that frees the fire bird, who liberates its Electric counterpart in a single blast, with both flying out and fighting for dominance.

Meanwhile, nobody mentions Bulbasaur.

"Get down, this is gonna blow!"
For the record, this is Tracey's shining moment
in the film... and 4Kids cut it out.

Wait, an explosion? How did that happen? Well, in the original Japanese (yes, I’m referencing it a lot), this was where Tracey got to shine, by correctly deducing the explosion and telling everyone to take cover. He even brings up the proper science behind it: Water struck by electricity splits into its base components of hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as electrolysis. Hydrogen gas is very flammable, so Charizard’s fire breath combusts it, resulting in a “biiig ba da boom”… to use the proper scientific terminology.

Why did 4kids cut it? My money is on them thinking children would want to try and replicate that at home. I’m not sure how they would, but hey… Way too many of 4kids’ changes could be summed up as “better safe than sorry” with a pinch of “think of the children!”

…Chosen One, huh?

Goodbye, multi-billion Pokédollar flying saucer!

The clash between the titan birds causes untold amounts of destruction to the Palace, which loses altitude and crashes onto Lightning Island. Ash, Misty, Tracey, Melody, Jessie, James and Meowth make a run for it. Propellers from the fortress destroy the island’s altar and the glass sphere of lightning conveniently rolls off in front of Ash. That was one treasure easily obtained!

"Hey, a tornado showed up to help us! ...wait..."

What might make things difficult, however, is the all-out brawl between the birds. Melody’s boat miraculously survived all that and then fell into the waters unscathed, so everyone jumps aboard. The battle breaks the ice and creates a waterfall that they’re almost thrown out of, but before they can have a nasty landing on the frozen sea they’re caught in midair by a tornado screeching a song… A tornado that carries them across the ice before throwing the boat near the shrine on Shamouti Island.

We also never find out why this Slowking speaks
English. Either way, like Meowth of Team
Rocket, it's weird how much more
anthropomorphized it makes him look. I
wonder if he talks to the people of Shamouti.

The Slowking at the shrine tells Ash, whose name he already knows, to put the treasures on the shrine. The trainer has gathered the fire and lightning balls, but is still missing the ice one. The legendary birds are approaching dangerously, attacking each other, but before they can strike the shrine, the tornado blocks them and, from it, Lugia appears. After seeing the film and for the longest time, due to its connection with the depths of the ocean, its role and appearance, I thought Lugia was a water-type. Maybe Water/Flying, even. Nope; Psychic/Flying. I was disappointed when I found out. On hearing the beast’s cry, Melody is reminded of the song she played at the festival, and the prophecy associated to her island’s folklore.

"Though the waters’ great Guardian shall arise to quell the fighting

Alone its song will fail, thus the world shall turn to ash"

The sea guardian VS three angry birds.
Place your bets!

Lugia puts up a fantastic fight against the irate elemental trio, but like the prophecy states, it gets overpowered and defeated, falling into the sea again. Gee, some resolver of conflict we have here. As things look dire, the kids at the altar – and the occupants of the helicopter approaching Shamouti – witness thousands upon thousands of Pokémon arriving on the scene. Even land ones, who walked there on the ice. Fun fact: If you take a moment to look at the crowd shot of Pokémon, you’ll notice it is comprised of 3D models from Pokémon Stadium.

That IS a lot of Pokémon. Dammit, and I'm all out of balls!

Ash, you were mentioned by name.
Good luck bowing out of that.

By the prophecy, Lugia wouldn’t suffice to end the fight – but the part about “the world turning to ash”? Yep, Ash is the Chosen One, directly stated in the text. Nobody else can take on the mantle and save the world from destruction. That’s a lot to put on a ten years old’s shoulders. As if to emphasize Ash’s role, when Lugia is reawakened through Melody playing her song, it speaks telepathically to the trainer and says that only he can gather the treasure from Ice Island and return it to the shrine to bring back the harmony. Lugia claims that Ash can choose not to, but the Pokémon world is currently re-enacting The Day After Tomorrow, so it’s not like he actually has the option to bow out.

And yes, it’s another of 4Kids’ edits. It makes the prophecy a lot more poetic in tone, but also dumbs down the story into yet another cookie-cutter Chosen One plot. “The Special”. The only person who can make everything right. I’m not a fan of Chosen One plots because of how common they are. And rarely do we get an interesting twist out of them. To its credit, the dubbed version makes a nice play on words around “ash” and actually gives more details as to what is going on. It mentions the Beast of the Sea, but is still vague enough that it could mean Lugia (as Lawrence understands it) or the undersea current that’s causing the natural disasters.

However, it ultimately goes against the themes the original Japanese version was going for. In that one, the prophecy only called for an exceptional trainer, and Ash was merely the best candidate available. It could have been any other exceptional trainer who happened to be there in his place. It also means that Ash did not have that apparent burden of being the “only one” to do this. He was allowed to get as much help as he could, which aligns perfectly with later events in the film, where several characters actually assist Ash on that quest.

Lawrence got it all wrong; Lugia is the Waters'
Great Guardian, not the Beast of the Sea!
But I can understand the confusion.

Alas, we’re not watching the Japanese version, are we? So we’ll have to go with “Ash, savior of all” for now. His own Pokémon even come out to encourage him – Pikachu, the starters and Snorlax. With his friends and Pokémon by his side, Ash is (sort of) ready for this quest.

We’ll see how that goes in the conclusion – in Part 3!