The Steves discuss the 1998 anime blockbuster, Pokémon: The First Movie, along with what's making them happy.
What is making us happy?
Our discussion on Pokémon: The First Movie answers important questions, like....
What did you think of the episode? E-mail us at happylifepod@gmail.com !
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the 1998 anime blockbuster, Pokémon: The First Movie, along with what's making them happy.
What is making us happy?
Our discussion on Pokémon: The First Movie answers important questions, like....
What did you think of the episode? E-mail us at happylifepod@gmail.com !
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello returning happies and new listeners. So this is Steve Bennet-Martin, and
Stephen:this is Stephen Martin-Bennet. And
Steve:welcome to a lifetime of how. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way. And today
Stephen:we're going to clone our pets and make them face off against each other, in a battle Royal to see which one is severe
Steve:you monster. That sounds like a horrible time. Well,
Stephen:you're the one that wanted to cover Pokemon the first movie.
Steve:Now, why don't we just talk about it instead of reenacting a deer?
Stephen:But first what's been making you
Steve:happy. My allowance. Well, in video game, adjacent news, we finished our super Mario 64 question block from the Lego company. We
Stephen:finished the what? The super Mario. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah. Could have sworn you said
Steve:Mario, I don't know what you're talking about.
Stephen:Yes, we did finish that and it was fantastic. Yes. I love that. You get to build a cool, cool mountain. And
Steve:that'll
Stephen:feel battlefield and it had the mother penguin and the baby penguin from cool, cool mountain. And it even had enough parts leftover that I was able to build Luigi.
Steve:Yes. And of course it wouldn't be a Mario set if you didn't have your Luigi in it. But yeah, I think that they did a great job of making it creative because they were considered micro figures that we were building because they weren't. The mini-figs that you typically see that are a little more recognizable. So we were like, we're putting these pink and yellow pieces together and we're like, I don't know what the heck this is going to be. And then you're like, oh, wait a minute. That's for P yeah.
Stephen:And it was there. Each of the little micro figures were less than half an inch tall and they were really, really cute peaches. Castle was fantastic. It even had the. That you come out of at the beginning and the little winding path up to the castle and the camera and the camera that's there floating. It was really, really well done. So if you're a fan of late. And then Tendo the super Mario 64 question block is a must have.
Steve:Yes, it's certainly is animal, but look a beautiful on our shelves filled with Lego.
Stephen:Yes. In our whole Lego room.
Steve:Yes. And what else has been making you happy dear?
Stephen:So last night I finally beat Metroid dread for the Nintendo switch and that's a
Steve:Metroid
Stephen:game. It is a Metro game. It is technically Metroid five because we had Metro. Metroid the return of Samma super Metroid, Metroid fusion, and now Metroid dread. And these are the in order 2d games. There are also the three Metroid prime games that take place between one and two.
Steve:Yes. That you love very much. And you want to have a remaster come to switch. If Nintendo is listening, please make it happen. Yes.
Stephen:And Metro dread was absolutely fantastic. Not only was it a gorgeous. The controls were better than an any Metro game I've played before the environments were fantastic. I loved the puzzles. It was all really well done. It was definitely a challenging game, but it was not unfair. And so there's a big difference there that there wasn't no boss that I couldn't beat. Now. Some of them took many, many trials. Before I got it, but none of nothing in there is unbeatable. And it felt like a very fair
Steve:challenge. Yes. And you only lost like one night, like running through it, empty hallways. You've already cleared.
Stephen:It was so bad. And I don't know what was up with me that night and I got to a part and then there was nothing I could do. And I was like, I must've missed something earlier on in this. And no, there were two squares that I should have shot in the floor to fall down. And there is a power up later on where you pressed the right arrow button and it will send out like an echo and it'll show you where breakable blocks and stuff are. I did not have that yet, but it clearly even tells you what the beginning of the game, if you're stuck shoot around the area that you're in, there's always the way to advance. I don't know what was up with me that night, but
Steve:gone, it was smooth sailing from there and you, you beat it and you're ready for the next Metroid game,
Stephen:which will be a while. But with the sales of Metroid dread I, it sounds like we're going to be getting more
Steve:Metroid games, excellent to here, and you know what other games we're going to be getting more of real
Stephen:soon. I'm going to be guessing it Pokemon. Games for the Nintendo switch.
Steve:Yes, we're going to be getting a Pokemon brilliant diamond and shining Pearl around this time next month. Yes. We're very excited to revisit the Sunoco region. Yes.
Stephen:And just so that people are listing, we're recording this in October. You're going to be hearing it in November. And the games do come out in November.
Steve:Yes. Core wrecked. And not only are we going to be revisiting snow for that game, but in the new year, we're going to have Pokemon legends Archaeus and that they are releasing new Pokemon forms. Little by little, they just. We released the one for Zuora and their work. And it was really cool and the way they, they did it with that found footage video that was grainy and unclear the first time. And you're like, what the fuck? All of a sudden we're in Pokemon horror. And then, you know, it's not unusual for Pokemon to get a little horrific as you see in the Pokemon entries, but to see a man flat out, straight up die and get killed by two Pokemon was something pretty cool only to find out that it is the new forms of Zuora and sororities.
Stephen:And they looked fantastic
Steve:too. Yes. So that's what making us happy and inspired me to revisit the first Pokemon movie MuTu strikes back. That is a 1998 Japanese anime film directed by Kunihiko you, you mama, the chief director of the Pokemon television series. And if you can't tell by the title, it's the first one.
Stephen:I, you know, I wasn't sure when it was called Pokemon, the first movie. If it was the first movie
Steve:I know, but can you, I mean, the amount of confidence that they had, that it was going to do well, and that it would be just the first of many, I mean, obviously spoiler alert. It was the first of many, many, many, many, but I mean, can you imagine if every movie that came out that was the first one, they were like, you know, Halloween, the first one I screamed the first
Stephen:one. With the other Pokemon movies, are any of them called the second?
Steve:No. The after that they went to more traditional titling, but this movie is written by Satoshi to Jerry, the creator of Pokemon and to Kashi. Shuto a writer from the anime, with the English versions adaptation written by Norman J gross field who worked as the executive producer for the Pokemon TV series through 2005. No,
Stephen:I did read that Grassfield took liberties with the translations purposefully. Portraying MuTu was malicious. And quote, queer clearly evil rather than the morally ambiguous ones seen in the Japanese
Steve:version. Yes. In the original movie, he definitely is a pure villain. It was even a little more of a gray area in the evolution remake. But in the original one, you're like, yeah, I'm your choose a bad guy. And like, they took out any sort of shred of doubt of like the, you know, the fact that he's contemplating his whole existence and having an existential crisis. And just made them evil. We've had
Stephen:this discussion before that there actually are no evil Pokemon. Yes. It's just bad trainers, correct? Correct. Except that MuTu who never has had a trainer and is a cloned form of another Pokemon. Seems to break that mold since he's his own trainer.
Steve:Yes. The only thing I can say is, well, he didn't have a trainer. He definitely had humans that influenced him upon his creation. And it was those bad people that ended up leaving that taste in his mouth. So fair enough. Yes. In the movie, the original movie Ash is voiced by Veronica Taylor. Brock is voiced by Eric Stewart, Misty by Rachel Ellis and YouTube by Philip.
Stephen:Veronica was also ashes mom
Steve:in the anime. Yes. And one of my favorite things from the anime is that you always see the mom and originally a fan theory was that it was Giovanni who was his dad, but then later on, they went on to say that Ashley's dad is potentially Mr. Mime.
Stephen:I don't believe at all because Mr. Mime is. And they're silent and Ash never shuts
Steve:the fuck up. Yes, that is true. And also later on, you end up do see a flashback scene where Ash captured Mr. Mime disproving that theory. But until that episode of the anime came out for the longest time, mostly stemmed from the fact that like Mr. Mine and his mom have a very, like, almost like domestic romantic relationship with one another, where, when they were on a vacation at one time, Mr. Mine's hand was like resting on her inner thigh. Oh Molly, while they were training, like we're going from plenty to point. And just the casualness of that, they were like, something's going on there. Explain how, you know, even in terms of like Pokemon anime characters, ashes, a little extra. Yeah. I see that now this movie was first released in Japan on July 18th, 1998, before coming to America over a year later on November. 1999, what took so long translations and stuff? It used to be horrible. They used to like make it for Japan audiences, release it and then make, and this happened for the games as well, to the point where as I got heavily into Pokemon and I had my own disposable income. Like a new game, like I would say starting and probably diamond and Pearl. I was the first one that I was like, I am not going to wait until like a year after it comes out to be able to play it. So I would order it through the Japanese website, because back then the Nintendo DS was in the GameBoy of ANSYS were in that region locked. Yeah. And so I would buy the Japanese game and play the game in Japanese. So that I could have a heads up for when it came out in English about a year and a half later. So
Stephen:you pretty much couldn't understand the story and you just knew what the menus were like, right? Yes,
Steve:I did it mostly through learning and trial and error with Pokemon moves. Luckily the numbers are the same across all languages, thankfully. And. Just my Pokemon knowledge. I mean, now, nowadays I could probably still read like tackle and water gun and Japanese, which is just, you know, a talent that will be used nowhere else, because now starting in the release of Pokemon X and Y they do do worldwide releases for most of the, for all of the games. And for the movies are still sometimes a little bit staggered, but at least I don't have to wait for my games anymore.
Stephen:X and Y was the first generation I played. Correct?
Steve:Yes, it is. And you've been a convert ever since. Yes.
Stephen:Our own Pokemon is very active this morning. If you hear any squeaks in the background that has our little Pokemon.
Steve:Yes. Remy the Pucci. Anna. Now the English version of the movie was produced by Nintendo, of course, and for kids entertainment. And it was licensed by Warner brothers pictures. Now it has
Stephen:with a budget of 350 million. Yeah. Yeah. It's about$5
Steve:million. I know, but I just, sometimes I want to take all the money that we have and bring it over to Japan and convert it to you. And just for a moment. So it sounds like we're really big ballers. Yeah. But in us dollars then at a box office of 172.7 million clearly ensuring that this really would be just the first movie and
Stephen:the movie ended up being. Three different segments. And I didn't see two of the segments until we were preparing for this. One that is very wholesome and fun was he could choose vacation, which is a 21 minute feature focusing on peach, Pika, Chu, and other Pokemon as they go to. Adventure park.
Steve:Yes. And then it is followed by a 10 minute prologue title, the origin of MuTu, which was not included in the theatrical release through to being too dark, but was later included in the DVD version of MuTu returns.
Stephen:Yeah. It's super
Steve:dark. Yes. And we'll get into that, but then those are both warmups for MuTu strikes back the 75 minute film feature. Yes.
Stephen:And all of that together is. Almost two hours. Yeah. The movie, which is interesting for a kids movie.
Steve:Yes. But I know that I took my friends to see this for my birthday and it had my attention in the full-time.
Stephen:So, but you were also 13 at that point,
Steve:I probably was. If your math is correct. It usually is. Yes. So this movie takes place during the first season of Pokemon, the indigo league, which has the first series. You can tell that Ash has received all his badges, but has yet to battle in the league, placing it between episodes 64 and 74.
Stephen:According to shoot a certain episodes in the animate were intended to tie in with the movie prior to its release in. However, this was nixed due to delays surrounding the controversy of something called Pokemon shock.
Steve:Yes. Well, back in episode 38 and Japan Deno Senshi Porygon, which is translated to electric soldier or computer warrior Porygon, depending on the translation. Oh,
Stephen:Porygon is the one that looks like geometric
Steve:shapes. Yes, it is. And it was shown once in Japan on December 16th, 1997 and visual. And near the end of the episode, induced photo sensitive epileptic. She has seizures and a substantial number of Japanese viewers and was referenced as Pokemon shock. This resulted in 685 children across Japan being hospitalized. Two of them were in the hospital for more than two weeks. So Merry Christmas. Now,
Stephen:Those of us in the U S heard about the urban legend of, you know, flashing lights will give Japanese children epilepsy, but none of us heard that it was due to. Pokemon, which is
Steve:unless you were a Pokemon fan at the time, I knew I knew what it is, but it definitely has been something that's been referenced in pop culture to this day. I know that south park did an episode of it when they were taught, covering can Pokemon. They poke fun at the Japanese children, having seizures, a family guy did something with it as well. So I know it is something that reached the audiences on our coast whether or not they knew where it came from. And obviously the episode was never shown again, but it also resulted in a four month hiatus from the anime for precautionary reviews, removing the chance of it happening again, but also removing the chance of tie-ins for the movie. Interesting,
Stephen:interesting, interesting.
Steve:Yes. And in promotion for the movie leading up to it in July of 1998, there was a five episode radio drama titled the birth of MuTu that was broadcast over the five Sundays leading up to the movie premiere in Japan. It was written by sudo and the drama delves into YouTube origin prior to the star of the film, along with the origin of team rocket under Giovanni's and mother, which would have been cool. She was called Madam boss. Yeah. And it also mentions the last known whereabouts of Mia Moto who's Jessie's mother who is famously absent in the anime. And Jessie oftentimes mentions how she went missing, never to be seen or heard from him. Oh, Jesse,
Stephen:I love me some team rocket.
Steve:Yes. Now do-do, it's mature themes. It was never dubbed in English, but I love to hear it. Yes. And, and another promotional material that, of course they did. Even, you know, that Pokemon was not just an anime or a video game series. It was also a trading card game. Yes. And so that was heavily featured during the promotion of the movie. I know select theaters, distributed cards with tickets, including elective, us Pika, Chu, MuTu, and drag. Did you
Stephen:have these movie
Steve:cards? Yes. Luckily they gave them all out randomly with your ticket. And so I, part of the reason why I brought all my friends to see it on my birthday was not only so that I could watch the movie with my friends, for my birthday, but at the end of it, I was like, all right, guys, cough up your cards. Let's see who has one that I didn't get. I would take their cards as my birthday gift
Stephen:note. Were you able to get them all from that day or did you have to trade more? The
Steve:ones I was able to get them all from that day. I had enough friends. Luckily back then.
Stephen:Well, that's good. Like I could see nowadays. A whole theater would only get like electable and you'd have to find somebody that went to another theater that got the peak at chew and they would've made it much harder these days.
Steve:Yes. Now for the March, 2000 home video release, not only did they have a new limited edition U2 card packaged with the video different than the MuTu in the movie theaters, but they also had companies like Clorox and Kraft having a contest to win a trip to Japan. And I did not enter those contests, but that would have been fun.
Stephen:So either with your Mac and cheese or your bleach, you can win a trip to
Steve:Japan. Yes, of course. With the Mac and cheese, I'm pretty sure it was for the ones that were Pokemon theme, which was the thing back then,
Stephen:I was going to say, I remember Pekichu Mac and cheese. Yes.
Steve:Now, one of the biggest promotions, not only in terms of the amount of giveaways that they had, that I remember collecting, but also the biggest controversy was burger king. Burger king had their own kids' meal twice to help promote the movie cards with Pokemon that were not trading card game cards, which I lamented because they were a different sizes. They didn't fit and they didn't have the moves. It wasn't Pokemon trading card games. It was just Pokemon collectible cards. Yes.
Stephen:It seems like a waste at
Steve:that point. I'm sorry. I know. Luckily back then burger king was my mom's idea of cooking as lunch, over vacations. And so I was able to collect all of those cards. I think for the most part, how many cards were there? I want to say it was enough for like two sheets to probably like a couple dozen. But with your, with your meals, you're able to also enter a contest to win. And one of 6 23 carat gold Pokemon cards with the certificate of authenticity signed by Nintendo of America, chairman Howard Lincoln,
Stephen:23, carat gold. I have never heard of such a thing. I've only heard of it. Four karat gold,
Steve:I guess they were just too cheap to dish out that extra carrot. Now it gets interesting here because all of these cards were given away in plastic, Coca balls. And I remember that cause I just had plastic Pokeballs floating all around the house around that time. But on December 11th, 1999, 13 month old Kiera Murphy from California suffocated to death when half the toy became stuck over her mouth and her nose 12 days later, a second child in Kansas survived a similar. This led to angry moms, making a website, title Pokemon kills, evil dies tonight. Yes. That led to a recall of the twice on December 28th, 1999, adults were urged to discard or return both pieces of the toys yet nearly a month later, another child suffocated to death because their mom didn't listen. So it's her fault.
Stephen:But if you return the polka ball to burger king, you got a free small loader, a French fries. So
Steve:it all worked out in the end. Yeah. I guess. So I had free French fries for a month after my, you know, a couple
Stephen:dozen poker balls. And now, like these days, if you had kept the balls, are they worth
Steve:anything? I have no idea. I think they're worth a trip to the RFE, her child, a stupid child. Yes. So. Not only did this movie come out with great success, but it was so successful that during the credits of Pokemon, the movie, the power of us released in 2018, it was announced that a remake of MuTu strikes back would be released in full CGI, entitled Pokemon U2 strikes back evolution, which is funny. Cause we all know MuTu doesn't evolve.
Stephen:Exactly new to is justice.
Steve:Yes. Now as the 22nd Pokemon film that continue to be released in Japan. And it had a box office of$27 million upon its release in July 12th, 2019. And it was later released worldwide on Netflix, on Pokemon. And 2020 on February 27th becoming the most watched anime title on Netflix that year. And
Stephen:I personally think it is beautiful.
Steve:It is beautiful. And so when we talk about the movie, we will be talking about a combination of the original anime, as well as the evolution. But one thing that the evolutionary makes it not have was Pika choose vacation.
Stephen:Oh, poor. Pekichu no vacation with a remake. I
Steve:know. And the premise of it is they Ashton Misty and Brock drop off all their Pokemon at a paradise for Pokemon to go on vacation without their trainers.
Stephen:Okay. Before we get into that, I do have a question, sorry. Misty is
Steve:the gym leader of certain Liam city
Stephen:and Brock
Steve:is the gym leader of Peterson.
Stephen:And in all the animators, they're wondering around who's leading their gyms while
Steve:they're gone. And Brock's and pewter city, his dad takes over again and in the anime Misty's sisters takeover.
Stephen:Good. I was just wondering if these kids were like, You know, I have a job, but this other kid seems like it'd be a lot of fun to run around with him. Screw
Steve:my job. Yeah, no, I didn't do research into this, but if my memory serves correctly, the whole thing was that Brock was taken care of like his like eight siblings, because he had an absentee father who was so moved when he lost to Ash that he decided to step back up as a dad again, and take over the gym and take over parenting so that Brock could go on his journey to become a Pokemon. And
Stephen:I actually saw that episode with you.
Steve:Yes. Meanwhile Misty, I think was kind of covering because her three sisters were in the anime, the main gym leaders and they all, all three were just doing ditzy bimbo stuff. So Misty jumped up and battled with Ash, but she was never actually like the official gym leader at that time. Anyway, she was kind of the understudy for her three sisters. Thank you for
Stephen:your explanation. I appreciate
Steve:it. Yes. Now all of them drop their Pokemon off and it leads me to that question of if they had such a thing for dogs of basically like a vacation place where Remy can just go and have fun without us for a day or two, would we let him go?
Stephen:No, because the Pokemon, no matter their size usually have something where they can protect themselves. And in. Unlike, you know, I'm gonna there. We might get hate mail for this. Not all good boys are good
Steve:boys. Yes. Not all dogs are good boys. So you'd be afraid of the snuggles of the group. Yes,
Stephen:absolutely. Well, I think that he would make so many wonderful friends and have a fantastic time. I think that there would probably be some poorly behaved things there that would make it hard for the good little boys and girls.
Steve:Yes. And so one of the things in this anime that starts off with the vacation with topi P being a hungry baby crying and Pika, Chu, and squirrel are trying to cheer it up with funny faces, which is adorable. It is adorable and they go off to find food, which Bulbasaur gets before Psyduck. Cause Psyduck is the dummy Pokemon and Volvo source sings it to sleep in it's vines.
Stephen:Bulbasaur is a
Steve:great nanny. Yes, it certainly is. Now at the time, Toca P was a big deal because it was the first-generation to Pokemon announced. So it was the first one to kind of shown in the anime before gold and silver camp. And also introduced the idea of Pokemon eggs. Since back in generation one, there was no such thing as Pokemon breeding or Pokemon eggs, or even Pokemon genders, except for knitter ran, which is why to this day knitter and male and the neuron female are two different evolutionary paths and not consider the same Pokemon, even though they have the same name.
Stephen:That is fascinating because I do remember the first time. Experienced him. I was like, wait a minute. How is that one? A Nitto king? Why is it? I saw the entry for Nitto queen. How does this happen? And you had to explain it. Yes.
Steve:Now as it goes from the transition from Toca P being swept off to sleep into the main conflict of the movie, which is the rivalry between poco Ash's Pokemon and Misty's Pokemon against other. I appear to be, it'd be abandoned in that park. Well,
Stephen:I Ashton, Misty and Brock just leave them there. So I'm guessing that there's probably a campsite nearby for all the
Steve:trainers trainers. Yes. But I see this trippy interlude where it looks like bell sprout is on literal acid as was whoever was making it. Those
Stephen:were the thing of nightmares, especially that first bell sprout. Like that actually showed up in my dreams the night after we watched this. And I don't ever need to see that
Steve:again. Yes. Later on they had ones, including slowpokes yawn, magic harp doing his Derby thing, Chancy cheering and Jigglypuffs lullaby. But all of these transitions were definitely just something out of an acid trip. Oh, I did not care for them. Yes. Now we met. As I mentioned other rivals for the episode, so to speak snuggle and Merrill for the first time ever. Similarly, they were revealed in this movie, although they were generation two Pokemon and their friends with the right shoe and Cubone. And you were happy to see Cubone in this. Why? Because
Stephen:Cuban looked to be having a good time. When he usually doesn't because he's always wearing his dead mother's skull. That is true. Now I was not a fan of snuggle in this and. Cause I don't care for bullies and SNOBAL is a bully. Snuggle
Steve:is a bully. It is like the bully Pokemon that's it's kind of stick. Yeah,
Stephen:not
Steve:a fan. Yes. Meanwhile, I was a fan of Merrill, even though I was a little salty that it ended up beating Squirtle and their swimming race because Goldeen ruined it, but it was deem did ruin it, but squirrel being my favorite Pokemon, any chance I got to see it being on screen. I'm a little bit happier.
Stephen:And then of course Pete could chew and write you. Right. You being the PICU evolution? Yeah. They have an electric cheek race around the Allen that's ruined when they piss off chars, ARD, who chases after them with fire and things. And then karma gets his head stuck in one of the stone playground things. And, you know, nobody likes having their heads stuck in things.
Steve:No, not at all. Luckily everyone works together to help get them out. Even the bully. And
Stephen:except originally Cubone decides not
Steve:to help because he's the lonely Pokemon and he's used to being alone.
Stephen:Well, it sounds like he deserved to have his mom.
Steve:Oh, no, maybe that's why he's lonely. You never know, but it ends up that, that little Pokemon strength cause Onyx, his strength was not enough. It's
Stephen:crazy to me. A giant rock snake was not enough to pull jars hard out
Steve:of the whole, but luckily little tiny baby Cubone goes in and it's enough strength to bring them out. And they all work together to help rebuild the structures that they broke. Yup. And
Stephen:whenever they all fly out of there Psyduck does have a 10 point landing. It was impressive.
Steve:So, what are your thoughts on this as a warmup or intro for the main movie?
Stephen:You know, I love things where everyone works together. But my summary of it is worst vacation turns into best vacation. Yes.
Steve:I agree. Pete gets, you really only got that last two or three minutes of the episode to be able to enjoy himself. And it
Stephen:feels like. Because there were other movies when I was growing up that used to have like five or 10 minute short, little animated sequences before the movies came out. And so Pixar did
Steve:that for the longest
Stephen:time and Disney had it on a couple of theirs before it was Disney and Pixar together. And. You know it, I know they're time fillers, but they're cute.
Steve:Yes. They certainly are. You know, it wasn't as cute.
Stephen:The origin of
Steve:mute to yes. And now in the origin of MuTu, this is a 10 minute short where at the begins with the researchers hunting mew in the ruins to find a fossil that lets them clone
Stephen:it. Yeah. Because, because they believe that mew is extreme. Spoiler alert. He's not.
Steve:Yes, but they end up finding his like eyebrow or something or a hair of his tail or something like that. That was a fossil. It's a fossil, but it's like a fossil of a piece of you. Yeah. Which makes me wonder if mew is a, one of a kind Pokemon, how did it have a fossil?
Stephen:So there is only ever one mew
Steve:generally. Yes. Okay. So
Stephen:here is my guests. If it can live forever. Yeah. And there's only one then my guess is that it took dyno damage at some point and lost like either a finger, which over time grew back or cause the fossil honestly looks like a tiny little piece of a tail that maybe its tail got blocked off and. That's where I think it comes from.
Steve:All right, I'll take it. Meanwhile, it is enough to make Mewtwo and we get to meet baby MuTu. Who's in his little slumber chamber, gaining consciousness. And in his mind he meets a girl Amber to and she introduces him to the three cloned starters, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander. And she's been getting to teach him about how the world works.
Stephen:Yes. And the reason that they were doing all this of the cloning and stuff was for Giovanni. The head of
Steve:team rocket. Yes, but the researcher had his own motivations for identity.
Stephen:He did because he wanted to find a way to clone his dead daughter back to life. He had her consciousness, Amber too. But was not yet able to figure out a way to do the
Steve:body. We see his wife leaving him as he's devoted to his research more than his wife who insists we can't bring her back. She's dead.
Stephen:No, I have her consciousness. Just bear with me a little bit more.
Steve:Yes. And as Amber Touche teaches mew too, about how the world works near the end. We see a Charmander to fade away and die followed quickly by a squirrel and bulbous or two. And then Amber two begins to fade away and as she fades away and U2 cries, and she shares a legend that Pokemon here has have magical properties. Listeners remember this for later? Yes, exactly. And then she dies and then they try and make MuTu forget it. And while he doesn't remember specifically what happened, he does remember like missing her. Yup.
Stephen:But they've also gone and done pissed
Steve:him off. They certainly did. And so. I, what do you think of this in terms of an opening for the movie? So
Stephen:I do think it's important. I do think it is a little dark, but I also think in terms of today's standards, not the nineties, but for today, I think it should be. Included and part of
Steve:the whole yes. One way that I figured they could have made it a little bit, or it still would be as dark as it is, but if, instead of showing Pika choose vacation, then the origin of MuTu and then you two strikes back. If they just swap the two, start with the origin, let you feel really down then happy could choose vacation, build you up and make you happy again. That might make it a little bit better before going into MuTu strikes back.
Stephen:And in my mind, him like just scrap, he could choose vacation, put MUTOs origin as part of MuTu strikes back.
Steve:Yes. Which they ended up doing. They did use that at least the very beginning intro. They scrapped the part with Amber too, and the clones all being there and then dying. But they did have that initial. Worked into the introduction for them. You strikes back evolution where we see them finding the fossil. Now getting into the thick of it with Mewtwo strikes back, which is a play
Stephen:on the empire
Steve:strikes back. Yes. And in that we seem you to awaken as Dr. Fuji explains his origin as. And we choose very unsure of his purpose. But he ends up unleashing his power and destroys the lab and likely most, if not all of the humans in it.
Stephen:Yes. So many questions about life and creation and MuTu can't handle the existential questions while the human celebrate their own brilliance. So he tears the house. And it just made me think of the quote from Jurassic park. You were so focused on if you could, you didn't stop
Steve:if you should. Yeah, exactly. Meanwhile, in the wreckage and burning of the island, Giovanni from team rocket arrives and convinces me to, to partner with him as the world's most powerful Pokemon to help him control his power so that he doesn't destroy the world. Yeah.
Stephen:That just seems like a really good thing. And they're like, oh, you'll be able to help us out. But you know, that Giovanni is just doing it for destruction and conquest and, you know, he pleases the protective arm around him that dampens his powers and use him to capture Pokemon and battle. And Jim fights and MuTu keeps having his existential questions about who and what he is. And, you know, something like MuTu can only handle being controlled by humans for so long.
Steve:Exactly. And meanwhile, I was, as we watch MuTu, you know, when fight after fight in the gym battles because in the original game, Giovanni was the gym leader of the eighth. I just want to know though, if MuTu is a scientifically engineered Pokemon, that isn't like an official Pokemon found in the wild or even a legendary Pokemon that it was created by man, would that be allowed to be used in official gym fights? Cause that seems really sketchy to me. Let
Stephen:me consult with the official Pokemon training board. No, that is not allowed any gym badges earned through the use of music. Our now
Steve:forfeit. Well, luckily MuTu beat them all underground. So none of them got badges, but I feel like a lot of them should go back and rematch now with Gary because he ended up taking over as the gym leader in later seasons. Now, when do you have any eventually pushes me too, too far by saying he was made by humans to serve humans. MuTu does not like that. Desi, babe.
Stephen:No, that's just one of those things again, where earlier he didn't like them celebrating that they made him. So you're just going to piss him off again. So YouTube destroys the base and runs off to an island. And during the conversation though, he posits that is a manmade creation. He is not necessarily a complete Pokemon either.
Steve:What do you think? I would think he's more Pokemon than human for sure. But the fact that he has extra powers, I would say that. Like, especially being that I know from the game see is a polka Dex entry. He is recognized as a Pokemon. He definitely is. He earns his legendary status and it's a little more complicated than just being a Pokemon of legend. But I think that is, you know, the same way that you can either be born a legend or made a legend he's made into a legend through his actions.
Stephen:And it's also weird that he can. Telepathically communicate in English. Yes.
Steve:But we do see as the, as the series goes on and as the world's become bigger and bigger, that he's not the only Pokemon that has that ability either. Yeah. But
Stephen:now we meet Ash from pallet town, which they always in the animation. Make sure to say Ash from pellet down.
Steve:Yes, for sure. He is hanging out with Misty and Brock who are stopping for a bite to eat. When a pirate challenge is asked to a battle over the opening credits,
Stephen:stranger danger. But we do get a good opening credit theme song.
Steve:Yes. And in the original, the pirate looks more like a swashbuckling pirate with a big old pirate hat and like very like pirate while in the evolution. He's more of like a cool modern day hipster pirate. Yeah. And another difference that you'll notice during the opening scenes is that he originally has a Golem that's swapped out for a drowsy for, for reasons. But. I understand that this was more to be visually appealing during the opening, but it also does make me wonder or realize how different battles in the anime are than in the game. For instance, as much as I love squirrel there is no way that one of his water guns would one hit Kao, a matte champ of any level.
Stephen:Yeah. I was like, wait a minute, like water gun. Isn't really. That good.
Steve:No, and it's not like it's super effective against a fighting type either. So it really is basically all about the plot in the anime. You'll oftentimes see in the anime, like Asheville use a Pokemon that has like a four times a weakness against an opponent, but because through the sheer will of determination, like the. He good shoes, electricity somehow managed to make a Brock's Onyx faint in the gym battle because he set off the sprinklers. I'm like, no, it's still ground and electricity. Doesn't go through ground, no matter what kind of water is over the electricity. It's the power of friendship. Exactly. So the power of friendship comes into play a lot more in the anime than it does in the video games. And that is okay because it's all fiction, but it is kind of
Stephen:funny. Hopefully kids aren't watching the animation. Okay. I need to remember this for later and then get owned real hard.
Steve:Although that would be funny.
Stephen:Well, Dragonite, one of the most powerful Pokemon in the original games shows up dragon Heights at glorified mailman here and invites Ash and his companions to a party with the world's greatest Pokemon. Of course they
Steve:accept. Of course they do our heroes arrive at old shore Wharf, which is not an in game town, amidst a bad storm that MuTu created.
Stephen:And is it like it's called old shore Wharf. And so you would be expecting like Sailing vessels that have like actual cloth sales and docks made out of wood. No, it's a very modern
Steve:port. It is, but because of the storm, the ferry to new island is canceled, but
Stephen:what storm who created
Steve:this storm? Yeah. And then. And it doesn't stop a handful of trainers from braving the storm anyway, using their Pokemon to get across. But as we're seeing them go, we also get a little sidebar that they, if they end up getting injured, that there was no nurse joy at the Pokemon center that can help them because she's been missing a week. Oh
Stephen:no. And you know, what's funny. Is, she looks so familiar to someone we've already seen.
Steve:Yeah. I wonder whether that will relate. It doesn't stop for Brock going all horny over her poster. Just like he has for literally every woman in the anime except Misty. Yeah.
Stephen:Brock needs to learn the word. No, I like he is very modern day
Steve:creepy. I know the me too movement really hurt Brock.
Stephen:The good thing is Vikings who are clearly Jesse and James offered to take them across in a boat that you can tell are not going to make it. And I love anytime team rocket shows up in disguise and they perform a Broadway number. I do have a. Theory
Steve:about them. Yes. And you got the theory watching evolution where they're singing sailors and a mechanical process that looks a little bit more stable.
Stephen:Yup. Even though it ends the same way with them crashing and they have to use their Pokemon to make it the rest of the way.
Steve:Yes. But why do they sing, perform and use costumes so often in their Srixon scheme? So
Stephen:Jesse and James were attending Julliard. They were Broadway bound, but then Giovanni refused to pay any more their tuition unless they captured ashes peacock. So they had to turn to a life of crime and recruited their friend Meow, who had just been cut from the company of cats. And what is actually not known is that Meow is actually a human who had severe plastic surgery for a role. He felt he was born to play, and he is only pretending to be a Pokemon. Other than YouTube. He's the only Pokemon that can talk. So it makes more sense that he's actually a human than had severe plastic surgery to make himself look like a cat to
Steve:star and cats. And I love your theory. I do. I just say that later on this movie, it discredits it. When a piece of fur off of its tail recreates, a actual mouse Pokemon.
Stephen:Well, what do you think that they used for his severe plastic? Parts of
Steve:chopped up Meow. Oh no. That makes it even darker, babe. Well, that's
Stephen:perfect for this
Steve:movie. Yes. Meanwhile, AMU arrives on the island as our heroes do as if he's drawn to MuTu. And we see as playful personality on the fan looking turbine and thingy. I know, I
Stephen:love me. So much, like he just seems like the type of thing that you wouldn't want around, but he's childlike and just excited about everything. And I
Steve:liked me. Yes. She has many of those qualities with Remi. Now we learned that the attendant helping MuTu is nurse joy. I know they really held that mystery for a while. Didn't they? Although she insists that she's been there since the beginning. Hmm.
Stephen:Now, how do you feel about MuTu making nurse joy as on
Steve:slave? Well, normally humans aren't going around left and right making on their slaves, I guess
Stephen:turnabout is fair play. And this way nurse joy gets a bigger part in the movie that mainly she would have been in for 30 seconds from there. Like, would you like to heal your Pokemon?
Steve:Exactly. Doon, Doon, Doon too. Yup. Now we meet all the trainers that made it and their Pokemon before they need. Meanwhile I'm you follows team rocket in, through the lower levels,
Stephen:through the sewer, which Jesse is not pleased
Steve:about. No. And while the trainers are exchanging words with Mewtwo upstairs, as he villains speaks team Rocca, stumbles upon the clone farm downstairs where mouth does get cloned.
Stephen:Yeah, because of the, for that he had transplanted on him from an
Steve:actual yeah. Yes. Now MuTu, some ins has clone. Pokemon of chars are blast twice in Venice, upstairs to battle the training. And I do. Do you know why Charles R doesn't listen to D have you, are you came to that bit of the enemy or did I not make you watch so many episodes?
Stephen:I don't know, but I know that MuTu makes a comment of what an awful trainer he is and that he's just. If he was a better trainer, his Pokemon would have listened to him. Yes. Well, it actually is a
Steve:call. Oftentimes the enemy and the video game are two separate entities. And the rule says, we talked about with Pokemon battles work very differently, but do you remember when we were playing some of the games when I would trade you a Pokemon and after you used it and used it and used it, it started not listening to you in battle,
Stephen:right? Because. I had gotten two highly
Steve:leveled and you didn't have enough Jim badges, right. To be able to get it, to listen to you. Ashes Charles R was originally a Charmander that was traded to him. And as it leveled up faster than Ash could keep up with the gym battles. And eventually it became part of his personality type. The charters are wishes to Dick because everyone loved seeing him be a Dick to Ash and like blow him up in flames left and right. But it all did start because the whole idea is that Ash was under leveled and enabled to control such a powerful Pokemon as such a newb. I like that. Yes. Now, as the trainers use their Pokemon to battle against the clones, the clones, when M YouTube takes and captures their Pokemon to become clear. Which is
Stephen:interesting. Cause there's like that dude, bro trainer that's there and says Pokemon can be Pokemon trainers and mutuals, like little boy. I shall take all your books, a good mom. And
Steve:he does. He takes them all one by one until he could choose the last, they had that crazy scene where Pikachu is running up the stairs, trying to avoid the polka balls and ashes following him.
Stephen:Oh, that was such a good scene. You know, he had to stop electrify and then run again. And it was done really,
Steve:really well. It was eventually though Pika Chu does get captured into the polka ball and. Ash follows it down the chute to the basement, as they all begin getting cloned. And we get to see how that is made as they're cloned one by one.
Stephen:And the pop-up on the screen in a silhouette form and team rocket gets to go who's that Boca
Steve:mom, which is from the Annonay, that's how they ended. They had commercial breaks where they started, but during the original team, rocket misidentify, some of the Pokemon like calling Alec Jose. Sandwich slash they called sand Shrew and there was one more that they got wrong, but they got three Pokemon names wrong and it made it to release
Stephen:well, by the time they do the evolution. Yeah. They get there, they get them. All right. So in 30 years time or 20 years time, Team rocket learned
Steve:some stuff. Yes, they did. And that was the reason why they kept it in the original acrylic creator said like, they realized that it was wrong, but because it was coming from team rocket, they could see them getting it wrong. So they didn't bother fixing it, which is like the same way. Like after this podcast, if I make a fuck up and it makes it to air. I left it there on purpose, wink, wink, wink. Exactly. Now Ash frees the Pokemon after they're cloned destroys the cloning machines and brings them back upstairs for the final confrontation.
Stephen:Yes. And that is.
Steve:Ash Russia's MuTu and is about to be thrown to his death before mew saves it with a magic bubble. Then he makes another bubble just to bounce on it, being all cute and shit
Stephen:and mutual battles of mew acts like they're playing a game of catch. If mew was one of a kind, like you said, how did they find a fossil? But
Steve:we know it's because it was a piece of that
Stephen:mew and. That makes more, I didn't know before this discussion though, that it is one of a kind, so like if I'm guessing that in the animate, nobody ever keeps mew and a polka ball, like he just exists.
Steve:Well, you can, you can actually, you can't even really catch him in the main games. He's just handed out by distribution. And so of course, It's a Pokemon and it's schemes that everyone can get their own one. But can I like in the lore of Pokemon the same way, like Archaeus is the God Pokemon. There's only one. Every time you add a legendary Pokemon in the climax of the finale, it's the only one of course, you know, when you'd go online, you battle other people. They all have those Pokemon. But in Canon, like in the lore of the universe, they're one of a kind Pokemon him. You is one of those the same way. MuTu is one of a kind of. He was only made once. It wasn't a clone factory where they made a billion U2 for every player out there, as you see in the games. And
Stephen:now in the anime though, each of the, like, can anyone capture the legendary? Did they just exist
Steve:in the wild? You can capture them in most games. Like there's
Stephen:no, like in the cartoon. Yes. Has Ash ever captured one of the
Steve:legendary? Not that I know of. I believe that in sun and moon, Or no, maybe in sword and shield, but where they have like world destroying Pokemon that like they've captured them before to kind of like put them away to sleep where it's not like it's on his team and he's battling using legendary Pokemon, but they have like got them in polka balls, but then like they put them away somewhere so that they can be like put
Stephen:away now when it comes to muse versus MuTu, which ones actually start. Well,
Steve:they have different benefits to one. Another mutual definitely has more raw power because of the way its stats are distributed in the game. It is designed as more of a attack sweeper with higher, special attack and higher speed than YouTube has Mitchum means that's going to be more likely to act first and use more powerful. The MuTu, however mew is known and it's the only Pokemon even now out of the billion and five Pokemon out there that can learn every single TM move or hidden machine move out there so it can know literally any single move while MuTu still has its own. Batch of moves that it's disposable. So you can learn its moves. You can learn how to work around it's moves. You can, you know, knowing that it's a psychic type, you can wallet with a dark Pokemon or a steel Pokemon or something where it would be not effective or not very effective. While on mute while mew, you technically never know what it is that it's going to throw at you, it can use all types of any sort of moves because the idea is that it has the DNA of every single Pokemon in it. So
Stephen:it could really just come down to. What moves each one's using as to which one
Steve:wins. Exactly. Yes. That's how it works in the game. In the anime. It seems to be a very even mashed though, as we see them fight through the climax, doesn't it? It
Stephen:does. But it's also seems to be. Pretty much an even match on the battlefield when it's clone versus the original. Why is that?
Steve:Well, because they're using the same Pokemon and we all know, like, if you're a fire Pokemon using fire moves against another fire Pokemon, it's not going to be very effective. It's not very effective not to mention that none of these Pokemon seem to be using moves at all. They're just using bitch slap, which
Stephen:is so in, like, all they're doing is tiring each other out. And like that just seems to be a thing of they're fighting and fighting until they're like a toddler that refuses to nap.
Steve:Yeah. And it becomes more heartbreaking as you see, like, especially like the peak choose cause like ashes pick country doesn't want to battle, but like, it has to like try to try to defend itself as the other peak. And she keeps bitch slapping the hell out of them. You see all these Pokemon where there clearly is no winner. Everyone is losing on both sides. Now
Stephen:there are differences between the original and the evolution. What was, is that
Steve:the music playing in the background and this changes of course, from region to region as well, because in Japan, they were using like Japanese, like pop music that was popular at the time in the, in the English version. They had brother, my brother playing, which I remember being slower and sadder than when I rewatched it. But I do just remember. Having like the music about like, you know, why are we fighting each other and being really sad while you preferred the orchestra version in evolution? Didn't shoot.
Stephen:I did, because I felt that it matched the seriousness of the situation. Cause whenever we listened to the brother, my brother, I was like, that seems a little too fast for. What's going on here, thematically.
Steve:Yes, exactly. But it does show the, just whether you like the orchestra version or the song version better just goes to show that like, what I didn't like in the evolution is before the orchestra started playing, there was just the absolute
Stephen:oh. Which I thought was just, I loved that because I think an amped up the severity of it that all you heard. And saw
Steve:we're just the fights and it just goes to show how important sound design. And a movie. Yup. Now as all the Pokemon basically faint or get worn out and U2 and mew are preparing a massive attack on one another. What does Ash do, babe?
Stephen:He being the smart, smart trainer that he is. Jumps into the middle of their blasts and gets turned into
Steve:stone. Yes. Now Pekichu tries to Thunderbolt and back to life, but we all know electric moves. Aren't very effective against ground in stone and Pika Chu and all the other Pokemon originals and clones, like begin to cry over Ash to sacrifice. And there are tears all come together to revive him, just like Abby, to hinted in the cut origins. The first time
Stephen:I saw this, it really got me like just the pain that Pekichu was going through and how his anger. Spread to all the other Pokemon that they could feel his hurt. Like that was so deep because when I was watching and I was like, that's how Remy would be if
Steve:we were hurt. Yeah. And if something ever happened to you and he, you know, he would just be like, daddy, daddy, wake
Stephen:up, wake up. Oh, it just killed
Steve:me. Yes. Across all of this MuTu realizes that all of them involved are living beings and that the circumstance of your birth, isn't what counts. It's what you do with your life.
Stephen:Yep. He prepares to take all the clones to an island where they can live their own lives, returning our protagonists and their Pokemon back to the time before they leave for new island with no memories of what transpired. And nurse joy has returned as
Steve:well. Exactly. Yes. And as Ash and his friends are looking out at the clouds as the storm is now over in this new timeline, Ash does seem you from the clouds and reminisces on how he saw a legendary Pokemon. And the very first day he set out on his journey and he feels like he just saw another one that. Ah,
Stephen:and I remember back when he set out on his journey, he was horrible at catching Pokemon. Yes.
Steve:He's still not so great. But he's gotten better.
Stephen:Thank goodness for Pekichu winning him. All those
Steve:badges. Yes. Well, and that's one thing I like about the new way that they are. They're doing it in the sword and shield anime. Is that Ashley? Not concerned about catching them all. He has no interest in catching them while he just wants to battle to get the strong Kokomo, Nita, to win the badges while go, his partner is the one who catches Pokemon left and right. And like, he actually does, like every episode he catches like three or four Pokemon. Like if they run across a Pokemon, he's like, I'm going to catch it. I'm like that. I should have been doing for this entire time being that his last name is literally catch him. But I do like that in the new anime, how they do have a trainer going along with them who is actually focused on catching
Stephen:Pokemon. So it's kind of like when you and I both started, or when I started playing, you were Ash. I was actually. And I was just like over leveling my Pokemon so that I could win everything without having to catch anything. Yes.
Steve:Now, how do you feel about the ending with Mewtwo in terms of him going off to live on his own and realizing that, you know, it doesn't matter where you come from, it's what you do with your life?
Stephen:A true story. Yes. B I think that that is good for him, that he has this tiny. To be by himself or with the other Pokemon just existing, away from humans. And he can put some real thought into his life and what he wants to do. And I think we all need some MuTu islands
Steve:sometimes. Exactly. Now, if they were to remake, cause there is a MuTu returns in the movies, which you haven't seen yet in the anime, but if they remade it as an evolution, would you want to watch it? Of course,
Stephen:because. I personally loved the animation in the evolution version of this. I loved the computer aspect of it. I even liked the people and their 3d aspect to all of them. I thought it was beautifully well done. The only time that. Pokemon have looked any better was in detective Pikachu.
Steve:Yeah, I agree. And speaking of detective Pikachu, that is next on our docket, isn't it? It is. Yes. And so we would love to hear your thoughts on this original and the remake of MuTu strikes back. So let us know by emailing us@happylifepodatgmail.com,
Stephen:you can also find us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. And now tick talk at happy life
Steve:HOD. Yes. And stay tuned next week for detective Pika Shu. As we solve the mystery of where the dad went,
Stephen:it's a horrible name, detective Pikachu in the mystery of where my dad went. I don't, but who knows? I guess we'll I find out
Steve:together, I guess we'll find out together next week. And until that time, everyone stay happy.