A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games

Detective Pikachu (2019)

November 10, 2021 Steve Bennet-Martin, Stephen Martin-Bennet Season 1 Episode 93
A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games
Detective Pikachu (2019)
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

The Steves discuss the 2019 blockbuster, Detective Pikachu, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today!

What's Making Us Happy?

  • Your feedback!! So e-mail us at happylifepod@gmail.com please!
  • Actraiser Remastered (Nintendo Switch)
  • Marvel's What If? (Disney Plus)

Our conversation on Detective Pikachu's includes highlights such as...

  • Why we wanted Tim to stay in Leaventown
  • Who would our Pokémon Partners be and why?
  • Comparisons from the movie to the video game
  • How can Ryan Reynolds do no wrong?
  • Why Mr. Mime was almost cut from the movie, and why we are glad he wasn't
  • The connection between this movie and Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back
  • How quickly did we solve the mystery? (Spoiler alert- not fast enough!)
  • Our hopes for a sequel.

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

Support the show
Steve:

Hello, returning happiest and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin

Stephen:

this is Steven Martin Bennett. And welcome to a

Steve:

lifetime of. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other events 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 hang up our Pokeballs as we move to rhyme city and decide to live harmoniously together with our Pokemon partners.

Steve:

That sounds awesome. Just like in the 2019 blockbuster hit detective Pikachu.

Stephen:

That's exactly where it going. But first, my love what's been making you happy this week.

Steve:

All of our listeners have been making me beyond the moon. Happy we've got all of them, all of them, but especially the ones recently that have reached out to us directly via email, as well as some of the people that are making comments on our tick-tock. You know, podcasting is oftentimes a very intimate relationship. And a lot of times though, on our end of things, it's just us talking into a microphone and to each other, and not really knowing where our voices end up. And so it's been just really amazing hearing feedback from some listeners about how they found our podcast. You know, brought them some happiness in their life. So I know we always end the show with asking people to reach out to us, but I thought I would just say in the beginning of the show, like, because we read each and every single email because we read each and every comment and do our best to engage in reply. Definitely email us@happylifepodatgmail.com. If we've managed to bring a smile to your face through any of our past episodes, we would love, love, love to hear.

Stephen:

And if we have made you upset or you hated to some of our episodes only email Steve.

Steve:

Okay. I'll take that. But yes. In fact, our listeners have mentioned the ones that have reached out to us recently, how much they loved our original Pokemon episode. And that's part of the inspiration behind us covering these episodes. So you can help shape the very future of this podcast. Oh my goodness. That's a lot of power, a lot of power. And all you have to do is just email us. Appreciate. What's been making you happy? My love, well, I,

Stephen:

you grew up during the SNES era of video gaming and back in the day back when it was square soft, before it was squaring an X, they developed a game called act racer. And it was one of my favorite games on the SNES. I don't know how many times I played it. And recently on a Nintendo direct they were like, We have act razor resurrection, and it's a remake HD with added things for the levels. And it's the game you love with more and they were right. It's the game I love with.

Steve:

Excellent. I'm glad you've been enjoying that. And we also did manage to finish marvels. What if and as big Marvel fans, I want to say that going into it. I wasn't sure at first, you know, these single off episodes, I was very convinced that it'd be just each one doesn't relate to the other, but in the very end it does. And that's what did it for me as I just love how all these, what if stories actually combined into an arc at the end? And, you know, I love

Stephen:

me some captain Carter, anything with Peggy Carter and. Spoiler alert episode one. Instead of Steve becoming captain America Peggy becomes captain Carter and it's amazing.

Steve:

Yes. And so definitely check it out. If you haven't already it's streaming on Disney plus

Stephen:

and you know, there's so much good things on Disney plus not just the Marvel things, but if you're a Marvel fan, Hopefully you've seen Juan division and, you know, Falcon and winter soldier and low key by now because they're all too hop to your shows.

Steve:

Yes, they certainly are. They took some time getting into television, but they're doing it right now. Yes they are. And you know, what would also make a really great movie or TV show? What's that darling detective.

Stephen:

Well, thank goodness it already

Steve:

is. Yes. And you wouldn't think it because it is based on a Nintendo DS game. That was not for me. I was not having really high hopes for this movie. And till I learned that Ryan Reynolds would be voicing Pikachu and then I had very high hopes and I would say it achieve them all. Why do you love detective Pikachu?

Stephen:

So I actually love seeing. I know they're not it's computer generated like Pokemon in real life, not animated. It's fantastic. And they're exactly how I always pictured. They

Steve:

would like. Yes. It is a 2019 mystery film directed by Rob Letterman and is loosely based. Like I mentioned, on the 2016 video game of the same name Letterman is known for his directorial debut in 2004, his shark tail, which was an, a native movie. Yeah. That was the one.

Stephen:

They worked at a carwash and I believe that that is Christine Agular had the remake of doing it at the

Steve:

carwash. Okay. And he also did the 2015 goosebumps movie and the upcoming Netflix video game movie based on the series beyond good and evil. Yes.

Stephen:

And that was a great game back on. GameCube or in 64, 1 of the two and you know that was good. So I'm excited for that.

Steve:

Yes. Meanwhile, Letterman helps write it with Dan Hernandez and Benji. Sameet both are working or did the Adams family too, which came out this year. We haven't seen that yet, but I know you love the idea. Remake, so to speak,

Stephen:

the cartoon was fantastic. It totally captured the spirit and essence of Adam's family was you know, exaggerated animation, but it really captured what it was supposed to be. Yeah. And

Steve:

it was rounded out with Derek Connolly of the Jurassic world trilogy based on a story by Hernandez Sumeet and Nicole Perlman. Who is also known for doing the stories for guardians of the galaxy and captain Marvel, which we love both of those. Yes. The movie was produced by legendary pictures and Toho as the first live action Pokemon film, as well as the first live action film based on an intended game property since super Mario brothers in 1993, that's a long time. It is a long time. Why do you think that it took Nintendo so long before it let someone do a live action movie?

Stephen:

So super Mario brothers, the movie is either loved or hated. It is all tra campy now, and I do not believe it was intended to be as campy as it is. There's some great over the top performances. And in the end, it is a fun movie. It's not what you would expect from super Mario brothers and the mushroom kingdom. And I think that's what threw so many people off. They were wanting, you know, green fields and giant mushrooms, not hellscape cities. Yes. And. Nintendo didn't have the power then that they do now. So they didn't have control over, you know, final product and things like that. So, you know, it probably was awhile before someone could convince them, Hey, we're going to take your property and we're going to do a very good job with it. And you can tell that Nintendo had their hand in. Because it definitely still kept to the theme and the essence of Pokemon.

Steve:

I felt, I agree. It also is the first Pokemon movie in theaters since Pokemon heroes in 2003. It worldwide, of course, as we mentioned last week, in our episode on Pokemon, the first movie, the movies still come out in Japan and do quite well, do they? They do like the Pokemon MuTu evolution. I forget the number, cause it was last week's episode, but it made like millions of

Stephen:

dollars. And so that, that still comes out in the theaters. It's always interesting to me. When things will come out, other places, but not here. Now I understand like German films and like specific films in that language and stuff. But Anna Mae films like this that are obviously going to be dubbed into English because we did get versions of. What made them decide that it wasn't gonna make enough to put in w

Steve:

probably history, because after a while, like there was being the 23rd Pokemon movie that like, after the first dozen, they didn't sell as well as they did in Japan as they

Stephen:

like here. When he had been released in the theaters by the time heroes was in 2009, I think

Steve:

heroes was like in its first, like five to 10. I'd have to double check that.

Stephen:

So that's a lot and like, 10 years time.

Steve:

Yes. It could also be wrong. It might've been, but I think it was w the fifth installment in the series in like,

Stephen:

because didn't we say that the Pokemon movie came out in 1998. Yes. So that's five movies in five years.

Steve:

That's. Yes, exactly. So I'm glad that they came back in the theaters for this, because we saw it in theaters and it was amazing. It does, as we mentioned, starring Ryan Reynolds is the voice and facial motion capture of peak. Along with justice Smith as Tim Goodman, Cathy Newton, as Lucy Stevens and bill Nighy as Howard Clifford.

Stephen:

Yup. Ryan Reynolds, you know, from everything. And if you want to hear some more about what we think of Ryan Reynolds, check out our Deadpool

Steve:

episode. Yes. Meanwhile Smith was in Jurassic world. Fallen kingdom is Franklin web and he is returning in that same role for Jurassic world dominion next year,

Stephen:

which I'm very excited about. Cathy Newton played Abigail on big little lies for both seasons of the show. She was the lead in freaky, which is the body swap horror movie where she gets swapped with a serial killer. And it was so good. And that was originally titled freaky Friday the 13th, which I think they should have kept that title because I think that was on. Pretty good. Yeah,

Steve:

I agree. And she's also going to be starting as Cassie Lang and the upcoming Ant-Man and the loss Quanta mania and Cassie Lang is related to ant man. Yes. And so she'll be playing obviously a big role in that.

Stephen:

And the final, big role is bill Nighy and we love him from his role as Billy Mack in love, actually. So go check out our episode on that. That should be honestly required viewing for everyone every Christmas, because it is the best Christmas movie.

Steve:

Yes. And what was fun? And when I was reading that this is, this movie gave bill a huge love of Pokemon. He had gone back and like was watching all the animated movies, playing the games. Like he was, he became a Pokemon fan by doing this movie when he didn't really know what he was getting himself into at first. And he

Stephen:

actually took some of the. Set pieces home that were some of the like statues from his office. And I think that that's really cool that you know, he's a very well-respected actor. He did a fantastic job in this movie, totally committed to the role. And he came out the other side, a big

Steve:

thing. Yes, he did. So did we, the movie was released in Japan on May 3rd, 2019, and the, in the U S a week later on May 10th, it was distributed by Warner brothers pictures and all the different IMAX, 3d movies that were very popular at that time. Yeah.

Stephen:

Unfortunately, the movie leaked online a day before it's us.

Steve:

But this time, it didn't make you angry. Like normally is high writers make you so angry and so angry. Did this make you angry though? No. Do you know

Stephen:

why? Why? Because when it was downloaded, it, it was just the first minute of the movie followed by an hour and a half of Pika Chu dancing. Yes. So

Steve:

ha yes, that was a funny now with a budget of 150 million. Wow. Yeah, that's a lot of money to put into a movie, but I understand it with all the CGIs it had a box office of 433.9 million making it the second highest grossing video game film adaptation behind Warcraft, which I could have sworn

Stephen:

bomb. Well, it did here in the U S but it didn't thanks to the international box office. So I actually had to look that up and it was definitely the international box. That gave it its big thing, but because pardon me, they were expecting, you know, there are millions upon millions of people worldwide to play world of Warcraft. Yes. And so they were expecting all of those people to go see the movie. Yes they didn't. No, they did not. And so they did a heavy advertising campaign. Leading up to it. And even though it made 433.9 million, I'm sorry. Even, even though more than the craft made more than that it actually lost money between all the marketing and things they had to do for the movie. So figure, say that the movie still lost$30 million out. Yeah. So Yeah, I may be wrong, but I don't think that there's probably another world of Warcraft movie on the way.

Steve:

No, unfortunately not. There's not even talks of another detective Pikachu cause while it was successful financially, it wasn't as successful as they were hoping. But we can talk about that later with our hopes of what SQL would be just in case the pokey gods smiled down on us, just in case Archaeus smiles down on us one day and says I shall grant the another detective Pikachu movie.

Stephen:

I hope so. And so. The movie opens up in a very. I don't know I was having deja VU when it opened. Yes.

Steve:

The movie opens with a CGM U2 in a tank, destroying a lab. And I was wondering if we were watching another remake of MuTu strikes back just like last week. Yeah. Yeah. Like

Stephen:

it was definitely like, I think I just saw this movie. Yes.

Steve:

But then we seem you to going after a car and. Blast throws the car off the bridge. Oh. And I realized that we're in a new movie that just so happened to start exactly very similar to the last movies dark. Yes. Meanwhile, we then go over to 11 town where

Stephen:

Oz is 11 town, a known town in the Pokemon university. It is not, it is

Steve:

not. Although I believe that in the video game that this is based off of, they mentioned that that was his hometown and that's where it's named. Cause I don't think it was named in the movie. So

Stephen:

it couldn't have been. Ash from pellet town. It's not Tim from Levin town.

Steve:

No, it was not. But Tim is from Levittown. Yeah. And he, and his best friend Jack are hunting a Cubone who Jack feels would be a perfect partner for Tim since they are both lonely. Tim fails to catch it and gets a bone bone rush for it. Ah, I see what I did there by accident. He did not get coupons, Bonar. He got coupons, bone thrown at him.

Stephen:

Yes. And. Oh, Cubone is just still the saddest Pokemon. And it even shows him just in that field

Steve:

crying. I know that's a stick. Meanwhile, you know, as much as Jack is kind of teasing or poking fun at his friend, Kim for being lonely, we also just see so much charisma oozing out of this character that I wish that there was more Jack in the

Stephen:

movie. I know like it was. So, so minimal for his role, but congratulations to that actor, because he, you know, sold what little bit of screen time he had. And it was definitely

Steve:

memorable. Yes. The actor who plays him, Karen Sony was in the Ghostbusters 2016 movie as well as office Christmas party. Oh yeah. And so we have seen him in a couple places before and he is definitely a funny guy. And

Stephen:

so this whole live action. Movie with Pokemon. You didn't get to see as much capturing it battling as you would've liked. No,

Steve:

it definitely made me want more capturing and battling the whole live action aspect of it just brings this whole different degree to it. We do see battling in the underground later on,

Stephen:

but, and you hear the good news about the live action Pokemon show on Netflix.

Steve:

I did not. Cause they must not have done actual real news on it recently.

Stephen:

Oh yeah. So there is a Pokemon live action TV show coming and, but we don't know the plot or anything of it yet. So my guess is that it's probably going to skew closer to. The video games then,

Steve:

This yes. And knowing our lucky will be coming out in like 20, 28.

Stephen:

Speaking of our new friend, Jack, what do you think his Pokemon was? I would

Steve:

say I was thinking about this when I saw that you were going to ask this question and I'm going to say, cause he was very funny and charismatic. But a little bit like Ms. Devious, like kind of poking fun at us friend for being lonely, I would say an empty.

Stephen:

Infidelity. And what kind of Pokemon is that? That was the,

Steve:

the evolution of grim snarled from the latest Pokemons sword and shields. And part of the dark fairy. The impotent was the one that was like a little amp.

Stephen:

Okay. Cause I was kinda thinking because it isn't there one of the ghost Pokemon, whether it's not, might not be gringo. But that's like plays pranks on

Steve:

people. Yeah. Like a

Stephen:

hunter hunter. Yeah. So I was like, gang,

Steve:

gosh, just like scary nightmare eating. Maybe Jack has a haunter could be, but yes, we were both on the same page with that. Yeah. Now Tim gets called to rhyme city by the police department where the TV on the train provides exposition about rhinos. I was created by Howard Clifford as a place where humans in Pokemon live side-by-side with no catching or battling or polka balls.

Stephen:

And we get to see the city start to open up on his way into

Steve:

the station. Yes. And that had me thinking, who would your partner Pokemon be and what would your career be? And

Stephen:

I put a lot of thought into this because while I enjoy Pokemon, I do not have. The years of knowledge that you do. I came to it in the last eight years. And so it is all very new for me. So I had to do a lot of research about personalities and things like that. So if I lived in rhyme city, I would want one of two jobs, so I have to Pokemon, so we're going to go through it. So job a would be that I would own a movie theater or, and that also did plays and musicals as well. And then that would mean that I would need an electric Pokemon because they are outgoing and give off a lot of energy and they can light up a room. And electric type personalities are a powerful source of light and inspiration and can be admired leaders if they harness their power properly. And so with that, I started looking into the different electric type. And I would go with a Lux Ray. Yes. Because they are kind and warm and they always make sure that the people around them are happy or comfortable. So I thought that was really good or I would want to be a metaphysical healer, like Reiki, taro, things like that. And at that point, I feel like I would need a fairy Pokemons cause the fairy type Pokemon are generally considered cute and elegant, but can be incredibly powerful. Ferry types. Also have some, a magical appeal to them. Powers related to magic in the supernatural and known for purity and rejuvenation. And with this, I would go with a guard of war who is psychic ferry, able to see the future using its psychic powers has an upbeat cheerful personality. She appears to be very happy to get people in. Isn't a spray and afraid to display feelings of warmth towards others and can be a shining.

Steve:

Well, very

Stephen:

nice. So that was my research for that section. If you were going to have a partner Pokemon, what would be your job and what Pokemon would it be?

Steve:

Well, I have two different answers for like you do, but a little differently. I would have the one that I would use in my career. And then I have the one that I would want to keep around the house, or she's been my best friend and. I would think that I would still, as much as it's fun to say that you would do all these different careers. I mean, I feel like I've been called to working in senior living and with seniors. And so Adina would be the perfect Pokemon for that. It uses the feelers on its ears to tell how someone's feeling and it helps heal Pokemon. It is very similar kind of clerk role that Chancy holds in battle has a great sense of hearing and a kind heart. By, and it can like help kind of sense what people need. So that would make it helpful, not only in caring for seniors, but also in my sales, you can touch them and kind of sense what they're feeling and let me know. So I can close that sale. Meanwhile, when I'm at home, I would love to have a swab blue because it's a cute little bird Pokemon that's blue and it loves. So it's entire thing is like, it wants to, it has like feather, like a cloud clouds for wings, and it uses the clouds as basically like Swiffers to clean up. So we would have the cleanest house ever. If we had a swab blue as our partner Pokemon for around the house.

Stephen:

Well, it's good that you would stay in a career that would make us money because I figured it for Rhonda, Rhonda. I'm going to start fresh and try something new,

Steve:

go for it. I will support you. And it goes to show that pretty much any Pokemon could be a partner for any job doesn't have to be related because Lieutenant your SITA, his Pokemon is your least

Stephen:

one of my least favorite personality type Pokemon snuggle. They're so not nice. I know. And you know, I love all good boys and girls and he is not a good boy. No, he is

Steve:

not. Meanwhile, Lieutenant, we S we meet snuggle followed by Lieutenant your SITA, who, funny story. He dubbed himself in the Japanese version

Stephen:

as he should. He's a very well-known and respected Japanese. Yes.

Steve:

He breaks the news to Tim that Harry Goodman. And his partner, his dad's partner Pokemon went missing. And so he gives Tim the keys to his dad's apartment to help clear it out. Cause his dad is presumed dead and

Stephen:

whenever he gets to the apartment complex, which looks kind of shady. He meets a side doc and sidewalks trainer Lucy. Who's a reporter for C N M. And she reveals that Tim's dad was onto something big before he went missing.

Steve:

Yes. He brushes it off though. Presuming that his dad is dead and because he has daddy issues. He ends up just working on clearing out the apartment. We learn more about his daddy issues because after his mom died, he went to live with his grandmother. And at that point kind of distanced himself from his dad, despite his dad's best efforts. We see that in the apartment, his T like Tim at a room that was all set up just for what a good. Fourth grade version of Tim would have loved.

Stephen:

And he has a peek at you bed?

Steve:

Yes, he certainly does. That is for, do you have a Pikachu bed? I did not. My parents didn't let me decorate my room like that. Oh, sorry. I know it's the life of

Stephen:

trauma and child. You weren't able to decorate your room. Fun ways? No. Oh yeah. Like my room was all like X-Men. It's kind of like this room. Yes. X-Men Paula Abdul. Nintendo. Yeah. I I've just continued decorating that way anyway.

Steve:

No, it was just my Ikea furniture. I've I've my dad had issues even with posters on the wall because he was afraid that they would leave marks on the wall and there was no way to possibly get marks off of a wall. Once they were marked up, dad was

Stephen:

like, just don't use.

Steve:

Yes while we had very different childhoods.

Stephen:

So Tim's there in the house and he's looking around and he finds a vile that is purple and I'm like, Ooh, purple. But then I remember that there is nothing good in the Pokemon world that comes from purple Pokemon on, on

Steve:

the whole. Yes. What do you

Stephen:

explain? So Ratoto's yeah, yeah. They're purple and Zubats purple. Like none of the fun things in the Pokemon world are

Steve:

purple as far as cute. And he's purple.

Stephen:

Who's Esper.

Steve:

It's a psychic type

Stephen:

Pokemon. Oh, I don't know that one, but he lets open the. And this purple cloud starts going out and he's coughing and there's some, a Palm outside the window and they start going feral and all this. He could choose in the apartment and Pika could can talk. And Tim understands him. Oh, he is cute. You just showed me a

Steve:

picture of that one. Yes, I did. Oh, and he's not as purple as his evolution. Meow stick.

Stephen:

Oh, okay. Tim starts thinking his elucidating. Yes.

Steve:

From. He could choose don't talk. No, not even me out. It's talking this universe Pokemon don't talk, human English, Pika Pika is what they say. Exactly. Meanwhile, this Pokemon has SAS

Stephen:

and good comic delivery and things, but there's no time to focus on that because the Farrell, a Palm break into the apartment and start trying to.

Steve:

Yeah. And so they end up chasing up to the roof for a really cool action sequence of them trying to escape. They end up escaping down a trash shoot and the effect on the APM wears off just as they get out to the street for, he was about to be like, they're crazy. They're crazy. And of course they're all like, boom, boom, boom. Cute.

Stephen:

So, what were your first impressions of this peak at Hsu? I

Steve:

love this peak at shoe. I feel like Ryan Reynolds, characterization of the, of made the movie just to kind of show what it would be like. Imagine for a moment, if Pika Chu was just a very serious detective, how different the entire feel of this entire movie would be everywhere. They've been very new AR yeah. And so it just would be so, so different that like he brings and the plot itself is pretty dark as well. Trying to find a dad who you presumed as dad and like the corporate, you know, and messing with genes. And all of this plot is very dark that like this would have been a very dark movie if this peak at Hsu, if Ryan Reynolds sin and bring that, that charm and that humor to the role.

Stephen:

And he actually makes me like Pika choose in general more.

Steve:

Yes. Which you often feel are overrated because they're not easy. Sorry, not sorry. Yes. Meanwhile, in the busy street Tim realizes, he's the only one who can understand Pika Chu as the little girls like he's like, do, can you hear him talk? And she's like, yes, I can do Pika Pika. And so. You know, he learns that peak at shoe was Harry's partner. Pokemon has amnesia and loves coffee. Okay. Can I

Stephen:

ask you this the other day we were watching who is the bartender Pokemon? It

Steve:

is a Luda colo,

Stephen:

fantastic. Like some random Pokemon that I've never seen in a game. And He was very cultural appropriation with the whole sombrero act to it all. What was fantastic. Like I, what they do with these Pokemon out in the world is so fantastic and bring. I know a whole other level of appreciation for me of Pokemon in general.

Steve:

Yes. I mean, Luda colo in the anime is normally kind of more of like a musically based Pokemon. Like not in its typing because it's water and grass, but it's Pokedex entries involve how, you know, a dance has when it hears upbeat music and brings happiness to children and is attracted to festive music and dancing to work in a bar slash coffee shop. Eh, but you know that he also like we'll do like open mic night and stuff like that. Well,

Stephen:

he probably doesn't get a chance to do open mic night because. G E

Steve:

yes. Who is singing a gentleman to sleep in the corner while picket she's getting us a caffeine on with a coffee. And

Stephen:

I love the Pika. Chu was like, you know what, there's something going on here. I can feel it in my jellies. What are jellies, babe? So most people would say, you know, I feel it in my bones. Yes. I don't know if PQ has any bones. I

Steve:

was gonna say, what if he's made out of jelly, that would be fantastic. And so yummy

Stephen:

Pika shoe. So, you know, you feel it in your soul, it's your sixth sense and it's your gut instinct. He feels it in his jellies. And I fully approve of any money that uses that phrase from now.

Steve:

Yes. A grade. Meanwhile, they go back to the apartment and the next morning they decided to meet up with Lucy to help solve the mystery of what happened to her. And that's where we meet Howard Clifford in the flesh, his partner, ditto, we see quickly and his disgruntled son, Roger Lucy has seen the same mystery vials that cause Pokemon to go up as they're down at the

Stephen:

docks. Of course it was down at the docks and they have an interesting chemistry. Like you can tell right away that Tim likes her. Yes. And that he has zero expense. Talking to girls, but at the same time, you can see Lucy's like, this is going to help my career. This boy is just a way forward. She's not seeing anything romantic at this point

Steve:

and we'll come. Meanwhile Psyduck is just a very interesting interpretation in this universe. I know that he's, he was always kind of Derpy in the anime. He was like the butt of a lot of jokes where he would just be like, yeah, On his own and like getting confused and he has this headache, but in this one that he fall on with like explode when he got stressed. Yeah. So

Stephen:

this is like mental health Pokemon. Yes.

Steve:

And it makes me wonder why someone would have a Psyduck like, what benefits does it bring you.

Stephen:

I, and especially because it looks like she has a very stressful job, it looks like she would just be punishing her sidewalk

Steve:

all the time. I know it is a lot, but it does lead to some very fun humor as the movie goes on. Yes. Meanwhile, speaking of humor, the next at the docks we meet Mr. Mime. Yay. Recognizes peek at Hsu. When we learned was Harry's informed. They capture him after a really hard getaway.

Stephen:

It was fantastic. He gets onto a bike to get away and unfortunately has a horrible accident.

Steve:

And I know, meanwhile, he's miming all of this. It's not actually happening yet.

Stephen:

And, but it's fantastic. And It's great that Mr. Mimes powers, you know, like you've seen a mime that, Ooh, they're trapped in a box. Yeah. Well, Mr. Mom can actually create a box forcefield he

Steve:

has his lights screen and reflect

Stephen:

and Tim finally gets it and realizes, you know, if there's a box, there's a door and he goes in and he's trying to get Mr. Mom to talk and Mr. Mine won't do it. And so Tim starts playing along and so he starts Mike. Tossing gas all over Mr. Mime, and he's about to light a match and throw it down. And Mr. Maya is blowing out the imaginary match and things, and then Tim walks out, pours a little more. And Mr. Mind finally talks, fortunately Tim still drops me imaginary match and it blows up like it's all done. So,

Steve:

oh, well, like I know it was interesting because the Pokemon company tried to keep Mr. Mind from appearing in the movie because they thought that, Hey man, other human noise, like Pokemon Pokemon that can resemble humans a little bit. We work well in the universe with humans. And we kind of just cause more of a comparison of like what the differences are rather than what the similarities are. So Rob Letterman ended up needing to pitch the whole idea personally to the Pokemon company's president to control them into letting him appear. I hope that

Stephen:

he acted out the scene because that would have been fantastic.

Steve:

I, he must have messed up my love.

Stephen:

Now this leads them to the, our house. Just because I've seen enough and played enough Pokemon, just seeing something with the letter. R what's it make you think of team rocket? Yes. And we have no proof that that's what

Steve:

the, no, but it is a place with underground Pokemon battles where a Pekichu is challenged to a battle by a char as our trainer who doses his chars ARD with the, our class. The purple cloud of angriness. Yeah. And we learned Pekichu has performance issues. He doesn't

Stephen:

remember how to do his electric bolt and like, he's like, can everybody turn away and very sad.

Steve:

Yes. And in the battle that ensues Tim jumps in to try and help, then the other Pokemon trainer chars, our strainer comes into. So fight back and ends up falling on his front, where he smashes all of the purple vials of AR and all the Pokemon lose control in the entire place. It

Stephen:

was fantastic

Steve:

to see, and she has a great idea of how to save the day with a Magikarp.

Stephen:

Like Tim's, Aleg Magikarp is DERP and he's like, no, no, no, if you can get it to evolve, it just needs a little, and then it does become gear dose, and it's like the scariest gear dose I've ever seen. And that whole scene was just really, really good. And it brought up another question. Yes. What Pokemon would you pick as your partner for battling and why? Well,

Steve:

I would say that I originally had guests luck SRE, because not only does he have the electricity going for him, but he can also see through. Which would also be a cool utility to have in day-to-day life. Who did you pick? I picked

Stephen:

Dell Fox, which is the final form of Finnegan. It is a fire psychic type Pokemon. It was your first Pokemon. It was my first Pokemon and it ended up like pure chance, but it evolves pretty much into dark Phoenix. So it uses psychic powers who had snared to an amazing, a fiery. Capable of reaching 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit. That is 3000 degrees Celsius for our listeners in every other country

Steve:

in the world. Yes. And so that would be cool to do. And then meanwhile, another one that I thought of would be Alec Ozan because not only. He likes strong in competitive battling. Cause he has one of the highest special attacks Pokemon, but in Pokemon lore, he has basically a photographic memory remembers everything that he's ever seen and has psychic powers. So he basically be like the, the Jean Gray of Pokemon without the dark Phoenix.

Stephen:

Sometimes things just need to be. Yes. So Tim gets arrested because of

Steve:

all this. Yes, he does. And Yoshida doesn't believe Tim can understand Pete or that Harry is alive, but does let him out after showing him pictures of the crash or a video of how the crash went. Just so it can be summoned by Howard who builds up the story that his son is the creator of AR and the mastermind behind. He uses holiday graphic imagery to recreate the accident Harry was in, and we learned that Harry survived the crash and was approached by MuTu where it appears MuTu wiped, Pika choose memory and took Harry dun dun

Stephen:

dun dumb. Yes. And that was really interesting how they did the holographic imagery, but BU to Howard cliffs. For not warning people in advance. He scared the shit out of Tim when it first

Steve:

happened. Yes, he certainly did. And what I really like about the rewatch is that as we were first going through this, we didn't know that he could chew was actually hairy and that they had merged. Fully spoiled podcasts. I know. I'm just kidding. And so you know, with that though, the way that they did it, like they did give you little clues through the scene. And like, as you seem more like in the opening, you assume that it was MuTu who caused the accident. If you go on with that assumption through this one where it looks like MuTu is like taking him away or something capturing him and they never lie to you though through all of the news, they will mislead. But they never lie to you. And that's one of the good things about when you can rewatch a movie. Cause I hate it in movies and plots where like, they'll like go back on things and read con things because like they lied to you for the sake of like ha we were lying.

Stephen:

And so that's one of the reasons I love clue. Like they were able to have three different endings with. Phubbing or contradict or contradicting anything that had happened before. Like it was all built in there. So that's the type of stuff I appreciate.

Steve:

Yes. And this holds up meanwhile, they then meet up with Lucy and heads of the lab that Harry was investigating on the way Pika Chu give Psyduck a foot rub

Stephen:

because he he's afraid. The sidewalk's going to go crazy and explode everywhere. It's totally a guilt foot rub.

Steve:

Yes, it certainly is. Now meanwhile, at the lab, we learned that they were experimenting on Pokemon like Greninja and tore terror to manipulate their evolution. We meet Rio Rita Ora as the bad scientist. Who's been experimenting on YouTube to create the RCRM and just as she finishes up something called a neural link, MuTu woke up in Brooklyn. Well,

Stephen:

that's karma bad

Steve:

Rita Ora. Yes. Bad Rita Ora. Meanwhile, they mentioned that MuTu escaped from the Cantor region 20 years ago. And this movie is 20 years from the first movie. So what does that mean, babe? It means that

Stephen:

it's Canon and ashes 32 years old now. Yes,

Steve:

it does mean ashes 32. It also does make this the same YouTube we met in last week's episode. Which is pretty cool. I know,

Stephen:

I love that. They're saying, you know, at first anime movie it happened, and this is just

Steve:

later. Yes. Meanwhile, the green injures are released by who we appeared, who appears to be Roger and his our heroes do escape through the tortilla chain. And Pikachu gives Psyduck a headache. So he explodes and pushes away. The Greninja only to learn as the ground is shifting beneath them. And I did not realize this until we saw the eyeball that the giant or Tara garden that they went through, that didn't have giant tour. Tara actually led to them being on the back of a giant ass. Tartara the entire

Stephen:

time they built the lab and everything. On the tour

Steve:

Terra garden. Yes, they certainly did. And in the fall off of the tour, Tara island Pikachu does get injured. And so that leads to some fields. It leads to

Stephen:

some fields. Tim finally says, Hey partner,

Steve:

yes, he's been very resistant to the idea. Of that a single Bulbasaur arrives in Tim pleads for help resulting in a herd of them coming to help Pika Chu get to MuTu. Right.

Stephen:

And what is great about that is Lucy's like they can't understand you. And he had talked to. Pikachu before had said, yeah, they can understand your intentions though. And so Tim was very earnest and sincere in his pleading and was able to get that intention across to the Bulbasaur. And that's how they were able to. You know, get the bobble sores to help them.

Steve:

Yes. And so whether I want to admit it or not, Mickey ball, the source were a little more helpful in this movie, then squirt over

Stephen:

Squirtle, put out a dangerous fire.

Steve:

I'm sure it did. Yes. I know we did. Meanwhile, get to MuTu. Yes. Who heals P good shoe. And then as explaining that Pekichu freed him and just as he's about to solve the mystery of what ha. Roger captures Mewtwo and it cuts them off in a way that it leaves Pika Pekichu to feel like he betrayed Harry. So he could shoot goes off on his own. All emo as Tim returns to the city on Pokemon parade day.

Stephen:

Where Pika choose kicking himself and crying as he's walking. What is he singing as he's walking along, he's singing the

Steve:

Pokemon theme song and it is epic. Although he's sing kind of sad. What does she sing it for us? No, I can't because of trademarks.

Stephen:

Oh, okay.

Steve:

Gotta catch him. Oh yeah. It's not as fun when you do it. Not Ryan Reynolds. I was gonna say, sorry, but I've I Ryan Reynolds with the win on that one. He does end up stumbling upon the crash and deduces that Howard sent the Greninja after the car and caused the accident and that it was MuTu who is protecting. Justice, Timmy, it's up with Howard, who is wearing that Neuralink, taking over MUTOs body.

Stephen:

What Howard was the villain all along? How could we have not seen.

Steve:

Well, cause he was the one manipulating the information that was given out. Howard's master plan is to use the parade floats that are filled with the Argus to lead the Pokemon into a craze state, where then he can use power to turn human souls and transfer them into Pokemon. That way Pokemon and humans can live harmoniously, just like he always wanted with rhyme city, although in actually being in one another's body in this case.

Stephen:

And they would live forever because Pokemon live for attorney. Yeah. And, you know, as we talked about at this point, all the clues are there and, you know, we figured out what happened with Pekichu and. But we still, I honestly, the first time we saw the movie, I didn't get it yet. I didn't, I didn't have the Pekichu Harry

Steve:

connection yet. Oh yeah. Even with a seeing MuTu merging everyone in the city, I still wasn't like, maybe that's what happened with Harry and Pika Chu. Like,

Stephen:

Nope, I was so in the story that I

Steve:

wasn't thinking ahead. Now, while it did have us thinking, though, if you were to be merged with a Pokemon, who would you most want to be merged with? So I

Stephen:

was looking at them and I thought of two, but I think that mostly I would want to be in the form of article, our Akuno. Okay. Who was flying in site? And it's pretty much just pre purple and majestic as fuck. And you would get to fly around all the time. If I was going to be a Pokemon, I would want to be able to fly. Yes. Now, APOE, what about you? What Pokemon would you most want to be?

Steve:

I would probably want to be a. Craig sire clack sires of water, ground Pokemon. And while he can look a little dirty at times, he is completely oblivious to the world and he's always greeting people with the biggest smile on the face. He just is one of those where like, you know how sometimes, like you feel like it's the people that don't know what's going on in the world around them that are the happiest because of their just oblivious nature. Yeah. He's like that in Pokemon form where I would just be so happy about everything. I'll show you a picture of him. He's just so happy to just be at the party. He doesn't even know what party Derby he is. So I would say him, although in hindsight, I think that he would suffer the same problem, being a water Pokemon that Squirtle would have, unfortunately, in the real life, which is that they'd be slamming. I don't like to be slimy. So another option would probably be why not? The pre-revolution of LABA fat because it always is just, again, it's just a very happy. And see

Stephen:

I'm going to be the glaring in our Cuno up there. Just that's

Steve:

flying. That's flying sounds. Yes. I was going to say they don't see you flapping your arms here. It's a, it's an audio form. So

Stephen:

sometimes I forget that they're not in the room with us,

Steve:

unfortunately, not

Stephen:

now on the reverse of that. What are Pokemon that you would absolutely 100% not want to be Garvin or

Steve:

travish obviously

Stephen:

garbage Coco who wants to be a. You don't want to be a garbage person in real life. You don't want to be a garbage Pokemon.

Steve:

Yeah, no, not at all. And if I couldn't, if I had another option or had to choose someone else, it was also just a similarly going with the smelly, but gloom is so odiferous in a bad way that only one in a thousand people can actually tolerate and like the way that it smells to the other 999, it turns away. And so not only would I be stinky as fuck, but also no one at all would want to be around me. How sad is that

Stephen:

that is sad. And my other one is cleft key because it's not cute. It's just stupid floating keys ball.

Steve:

Oh, but you never lose your key again. It's entire thing

Stephen:

is you are a key. It's not like you're going to drive. Like, it's just dumb. Like that was one of those things where the Pokemon company was like, I need three more Pokemon before you can go to lunch. And he came up with two good ones and he sees his key sitting there so that he can lock up and go get some sushi. And he's like keys. It's a key Pokemon. Okay. I'm going to lunch at work

Steve:

though. It's

Stephen:

dumb.

Steve:

Okay,

Stephen:

fine. I like, and if anyone listening, if your favorite Pokemon is. Please let us know.

Steve:

Yes. Meanwhile, back in the movie Howard's master plan with that starts going off pretty much as planned. The gas ends up being released. The Pokemon go crazy. He merges them all together, even Psyduck is merged with

Stephen:

the Lucy. And since bowl is with your Shita, like it's all

Steve:

happening. Yes. Meanwhile, Pika Chu is battling new two in the skies. And similarly, just like in the games where, you know, peek at, you would never be able to fight you too, but

Stephen:

it's really cute that he's trying,

Steve:

he is trying. And then as, and he even gets to learn how to do his volt tackle. This moves again, and

Stephen:

Tim finds the real rod. Taped up in a closet,

Steve:

which means that the fake Roger was ditto.

Stephen:

Yeah. Howard's partner. Pokemon

Steve:

has been genetically engineered to be able to mimic

Stephen:

humans and is so creepy with those

Steve:

eyes. Yes, the dead eyes.

Stephen:

And so Pika Chu ends up distracting Howard as Tim and Roger beat down. And you know, Pekichu does that volt thing where it's going to knock him out, he faints and he's like, did you think you could beat me? No, I just needed to distract you. And Tim's able to pull off the neural link and boom.

Steve:

Yes. MuTu on, does the merging Lucy gets her big break on the nightly news and MuTu reveals that Pika Chu has been merged with Harry this entire time, because it was the only way to save Harry at that time. Exactly. Like

Stephen:

I remember when we first were watching it, I was like, how did

Steve:

let's see, how did I not see that yet? That we were both like, wow. And then when we realized we should've figured that out an hour ago, we both were like, wow,

Stephen:

but it was so well done because you're so invested in the story and stuff like that. That I just, I gave up on the mystery. I was like, we'll figure it out. I don't need to figure it out on

Steve:

my own. Yes. Meanwhile some days later Harry is getting ready to say goodbye to Tim, but Tim decides he wants to stay with his dad for a while saying he wants to give detective work,

Stephen:

which is really, really cute. And then it left me with one question for you. Yes. So this whole time, Tim has not had his own Pokemon. Yes. And then he had Pika Chu, which was Harry's Pokemon and Harry. And when it's time for Tim to get a Pokemon, what Pokemon do you think he'll get? Do you think his dad will be. Pika Chu or do you think you'll get another Pokemon? And if it is another one,

Steve:

what one is? I think that his dad should be queen him good shoe. I mean, at this point, Pikachu is the one who made him go from like being against Pokemon and not wanting to be around Pokemon, to believing in Pokemon again. And as much as that was part of his link with his dad, I feel like he also will always have those memories with Pika Chu. That that would be the nice thing to do. However, if his dad was a Dick and didn't want to give him his PKU. Then I would say that you can always get a Picchu, which is like a pro pre-revolution of Pika Chu. Oh,

Stephen:

that would be really cute. I like that

Steve:

idea. It could be like a father and son with a Pika Chu and a Picchu.

Stephen:

Okay. Okay. So earlier we said that there are currently no announced plans for a sequel. Yes. And if there was going to be a SQL. I came up with

Steve:

an idea. Alright. And I love it when you have your ideas so sexy,

Stephen:

it's not really in this one, because like you, the secret to this movie was having Pika Chu voiced by Ryan Reynolds. You gotta have some way to make them together again. And like, I don't know how it is, but you're like there besides having. The project, our CRM, there was something else and it ends up blending Pikachu and Harry together again. And so we know Harry's in there and stuff, but now, like they are forced to like find a way to do it again. You two's not around, they have to find the serum and stuff. And so maybe this time, like we find some more. Scientists or we go on a bigger adventure. I don't know, but I mean, the whole thing is you, you have to get Harry and peek at you back in the same box.

Steve:

I would agree with you on that. And I haven't thought further because even to to the actor who plays him, it said as of this past, like March or may, that it looks like a SQL is not going to happen.

Stephen:

And I hope that that's not the case. I hope that it's just that the pandemic has delayed things so much. That they just haven't been able to move forward with it because it's not like Marvel where they're planning 10 movies out at a time. Yeah, they're doing it. One-off so maybe we can cross our fingers and everyone that enjoyed detective Pikachu, put a good thought out into the universe and we'll get a sequel.

Steve:

Yes. In the meantime, though, stay tuned for, as of right now, they're saying the live action on Netflix will be 2020. Yes. So with COVID probably 20, 24. No, I

Stephen:

think that they're almost done filming if they're not done filming already. Cause they is filming started last spring.

Steve:

Okay. Well, I'll take it. Like I said, something to look forward to, we have Pokemon games look forward to coming up, like.

Stephen:

In

Steve:

days. Yes. So I'm very excited for it. It will be able to peel me away from final fantasy for teens, new expansion here and there. So I'm very excited for our next chance to go battle

Stephen:

each other. And I'm hoping to be able to have. Act razor done by

Steve:

then. I'm sure you will. I love

Stephen:

we

Steve:

can hope. Yes. Meanwhile, listeners, we want to know what you think of detective Pikachu, what your hopes for SQL it would be, or what you'd like to see in the live action Pokemon TV show series, or movie on Netflix,

Stephen:

and the best ways to do that. Or you can get in touch with us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Tik, TOK, or Twitter, and also like, feel free to just shoot us a message and say, Have you guys covered this? Why don't you cover this? We're always open to suggestions. The worst thing we can say is, you know,

Steve:

yes. And we wouldn't say that to your face cause we have manners. Yeah, totally. Exactly. You can also email us@happylifepodatgmail.com.

Stephen:

Oh, fantastic darling. Well, until next time everybody stay

Steve:

happy.

What's Making Us Happy Today?
Detective Pikachu: Names and Numbers
Welcome to Rhyme City
A Talking Pikachu?
Mr. Mime is Hysterical!
Bad Rita Ora
Merging with Pokémon