Thread: Why did the writers end the original series with a terrible filler episode?

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Didn't they actually show all those other coordinators feel like beginning trainers with crappy appeals? I haven't watched it in a long time, but I remember things like Magikarp flopping around on a table or some stuff like that.

That episode had some bad animation too, a Sceptile Vs. Blaziken battle should have been much more epic.

Two were bad, two were good, and then there's Satoshi and Haruka. I do find it hard to believe that only bad coordinators entered that contest and that said contest had such convenient rules. Dogasu's comparison phrases my problems with the episode perfectly: "If the anime had wanted to pit the two main characters in a Contest together, they could have found a more...believable way to do it."

But the actual Hoenn finale was pretty good, so whatever.

In terms of all the series finale episodes, the last episode of DP was by far done the best. Not only was it three characters going their separate ways for good this time, but it also gave the promise of Ash finally entering a Champion league.

That scene with Ash watching Flint battling Cynthia on TV, and then imagining himself in Flint's place battling with Infernape against Cynthia was wonderful. It brings tears to my eyes that such promise at the end of DP was completely shattered when BW started and they regressed Ash. What a shame.

First things first, finale to original series was in reality "Gotta Catch Ya Later" if you ask me since this was episode where original group departed and went their own ways, Gary was wrapped up and it set up Ash journey to Hoenn region.

"Hoenn Alone" was nothing more than simple transition between Johto and Hoenn, bridge between two regions not being supposed that anyone view this as some saga "finale".

Which was interesting enough in sense of having Ash travel alone with no one on his side for first time, being closest as were ever going to get of Ash doing solo journey. There's all there is to it really with writers trying something new for a change giving viewers small bit of Ash relying on himself instead on companion help like he usually does. So in some aspects it was refreshing to see that.

Technically im not sure if "Hoenn Alone " can be even classified as filler given how it set up actually subplot of Pikachu becoming ill due to big magnet, leading up to May meeting in first place.

But with all that left aside, is there any criteria through which we can determine if certain episode was boring or not?

It all depends on personal interpretation and matter of taste anyway.

Originally Posted by Blazing Charmander

Remember that AG's finale episode came some four years after that for the Johto saga. The writers had probably learned from past mistakes which led to such a good final bow for the AG series (equally so for DP in my opinion).

If "Gotta Catch Ya Later" counts as finale which it should since this was when Ash, Misty and Brock departed marking end of OS era, i have to say it was far more emotional and memorable than split of Hoenn and Sinnoh group.

Judging by general reactions, it left bigger impact for viewers than end of AG or DP that's for sure.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

In terms of all the series finale episodes, the last episode of DP was by far done the best. Not only was it three characters going their separate ways for good this time, but it also gave the promise of Ash finally entering a Champion league.

That scene with Ash watching Flint battling Cynthia on TV, and then imagining himself in Flint's place battling with Infernape against Cynthia was wonderful. It brings tears to my eyes that such promise at the end of DP was completely shattered when BW started and they regressed Ash. What a shame.

I know, it's a shame what they did to Ash in BW was essentially stripped him completely of his character and flanderized him back to his Season 1 self, with little to no character development returning at all, and instead focusing on developing the rivals and companions... rather badly...

Given Ash lost that league (like every league), it at least made us wonder what it would be like to see him in one, essentially, in the end, the ending to DP amounted to nothing and essentially gave us empty promises.

Originally Posted by pokemon fan 132

First things first, finale to original series was in reality "Gotta Catch Ya Later" if you ask me since this was episode where original group departed and went their own ways, Gary was wrapped up and it set up Ash journey to Hoenn region.

"Hoenn Alone" was nothing more than simple transition between Johto and Hoenn, bridge between two regions not being supposed that anyone view this as some saga "finale".

Which was interesting enough in sense of having Ash travel alone with no one on his side for first time, being closest as were ever going to get of Ash doing solo journey. There's all there is to it really with writers trying something new for a change giving viewers small bit of Ash relying on himself instead on companion help like he usually does. So in some aspects it was refreshing to see that.

Technically im not sure if "Hoenn Alone " can be even classified as filler given how it set up actually subplot of Pikachu becoming ill due to big magnet, leading up to May meeting in first place.

But with all that left aside, is there any criteria through which we can determine if certain episode was boring or not?

It all depends on personal interpretation and matter of taste anyway.

Originally Posted by Blazing Charmander

Remember that AG's finale episode came some four years after that for the Johto saga. The writers had probably learned from past mistakes which led to such a good final bow for the AG series (equally so for DP in my opinion).

If "Gotta Catch Ya Later" counts as finale which it should since this was when Ash, Misty and Brock departed marking end of OS era, i have to say it was far more emotional and memorable than split of Hoenn and Sinnoh group.

Judging by general reactions, it left bigger impact for viewers than end of AG or DP that's for sure.

To be honest with you, I agree, this was the closest we ever got to Ash doing a solo journey as opposed to constantly having to rely on two other trainers to accompany him. Tell me, who do most trainers travel with? Most trainers do have company on them, being their Pokemon they don't need another trainer to accompany them. This episode proves that Ash is capable of traveling alone without companions, he just doesn't for some reason.

Unfortunately, I often feel like the anime went in a totally different direction from where it was going before. My biggest problem was they kept bringing Brock back in Hoenn and Sinnoh for virtually no reason, and the chemistry of the later groups were not as strong as they previously were.

The ending of the original series where the original trio broke up was probably the most emotional ending of them all, though DP also had an emotional ending as well, despite giving us an empty promise at the end and then regressing Ash in BW to his season 1 self.

If you want to talk about Ash regressing, there are threads where you can discuss it, like this thread.

Originally Posted by pokemon fan 132

First things first, finale to original series was in reality "Gotta Catch Ya Later" if you ask me since this was episode where original group departed and went their own ways, Gary was wrapped up and it set up Ash journey to Hoenn region.

"Hoenn Alone" was nothing more than simple transition between Johto and Hoenn, bridge between two regions not being supposed that anyone view this as some saga "finale".

Except "Hoenn Alone" is the real last episode of both Johto and the original series. Its episode 276.

That's why I said the ep has no real reason to exist. They should have used, "Gotta Catch Ya Later" as the series finale, not some random one-off filler nonsense afterward.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

In terms of all the series finale episodes, the last episode of DP was by far done the best. Not only was it three characters going their separate ways for good this time, but it also gave the promise of Ash finally entering a Champion league.

That scene with Ash watching Flint battling Cynthia on TV, and then imagining himself in Flint's place battling with Infernape against Cynthia was wonderful. It brings tears to my eyes that such promise at the end of DP was completely shattered when BW started and they regressed Ash. What a shame.

I don't really consider that a promise of Ash finally entering a Champion League. It was just what he would have wanted to do and simply imagined himself in Flint's place because they both have an Infernape and beating the Champion League is one step to becoming a Pokemon Master, so of course he would have liked to participate in it himself. Even so, I didn't consider that a promise by any means and doing so seems like a huge stretch. It has been awhile since I saw the last episode of AG, but I do think that the finale to DP was the best because of how the primary focus was on the group going their separate way and how that was sad for everyone, even if Piplup was the most vocal about it for most of the episode. I still think that the finale to the original series was okay. It could have been better, but it was an interesting attempt at making a transition episode.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Except "Hoenn Alone" is the real last episode of both Johto and the original series. Its episode 276.

That's why I said the ep has no real reason to exist. They should have used, "Gotta Catch Ya Later" as the series finale, not some random one-off filler nonsense afterward.

Except that it does have a reason to exist because it explains why Pikachu got sick. That alone doesn't make it a filler, so I don't know why you're so sure that it is a filler. I agree that Gotta Catch Ya Later would have been a better finale, but I do like the experiment they made with having an episode with only Ash and Pikachu and it really wasn't that bad of a note to end the original series on.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

That's why I said the ep has no real reason to exist. They should have used, "Gotta Catch Ya Later" as the series finale, not some random one-off filler nonsense afterward.

Then call it AG000 - It's already the meaningless 12th episode of Season 6 as far as the dub views things - it's just a label. The episodes serve different purposes, Gotta Catch Ya Later does a very good job of finishing off the original series, and Hoenn Alone does a good job of transitioning to AG.

If they tried to make just the one final episode for the OS, then it would be one bad episode trying to do what's in both of them so that AG could still start fresh in introducing May.

The Scheme Team is an interesting episode for thinking about how they could end a series - because while it's very disappointing on the whole goodbye front (well it didn't need to because they all come back an episode later) - it sets Team Rocket up rather well and shows Ash's gains in strength rather well with his battle as well as setting up for his new quest.

Pikachu could have gotten sick at the end of GCYL, TR does attack Ash in that episode and they could have done it with that magnet machine in that ep instead.

Its like the writers had to kill a week but didn't want to show a rerun or clip show so they made this random pointless episode.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Pikachu could have gotten sick at the end of GCYL, TR does attack Ash in that episode and they could have done it with that magnet machine in that ep instead.

Its like the writers had to kill a week but didn't want to show a rerun or clip show so they made this random pointless episode.

If Pikachu got sick at the end of that episode, they would have been in Pallet Town, so Ash wouldn't have been out of his element and Professor Oak would have been able heal Pikachu instead. There wouldn't be enough time in the episode for them to jump from Ash getting his new Pokedex and outfit to arriving in Hoenn and realizing that Pikachu was sick.

This episode wasn't pointless by any means. Just because you don't like it as an episode or as a finale to the original series doesn't make it pointless. It was a transition episode and while I still agree that Gotta Catch Ya Later would be a better episode to end the original series on, I don't think that makes this episode terrible by any means. It definitely could have been better, but since this was their first attempt at ending a series, I'm not too upset with it, especially when it was an interesting experiment with trying out an episode with just Ash and Pikachu. That hasn't happened since the first episode, if Misty's brief appearance doesn't count, and it was interesting to see them end the original series with the two of them being on their own again. I think that they were going for something like that with this episode. Since Ash and Pikachu being on their own is what kicked off the series, ending it with an episode with just the two of them on their own again seems kind of decent note to end the series on. The B-plot was still pretty boring, but like I said before, it wasn't the main focus of the episode and it doesn't make this episode either a filler or pointless.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Why did the writers end the origial series with a terrible filler episode.

I don't know what filler was the last episode of the Original Series. I'll try to remember... Ah!!! The final episode of the Original Series. The first without Misty and the first with Ash in it.

That one episode you didn't like doesn't make the episode filler. This episode isn't filler because Ash is travelling to Hoenn and this episode setup the part where Pikachu will be resetted for the first time.

However, the episode isn't a good episode. The only part that I want to see of this episode are the ending part where Ash is heading to Hoenn.

Also, you can consider this episode AG000 for his characteristics of transition episode between OS and AG. At least was better that what happened in DP where the setup episode needed to be pushed to Best Wishes!!!!

Remember: A filler episode is a episode that you can skip the episode completely and nothing that could affect later episodes are affected for each episode.

Episodes that you didn't like aren't filler episodes.

Originally Posted by fer92

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Also, you can consider this episode AG000 for his characteristics of transition episode between OS and AG. At least was better that what happened in DP where the setup episode needed to be pushed to Best Wishes!!!!

Except for the last time, its officially a Johto episode and part of the original series.

Remember: A filler episode is a episode that you can skip the episode completely and nothing that could affect later episodes are affected for each episode.

Episodes that you didn't like aren't filler episodes.

Many of my favorite episodes are filler episodes. This ep on the other hand was bad. And let's put it this way, 90% of that episode was filler and the only remote scene that was important was Pikachu getting sick.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Many of my favorite episodes are filler episodes. This ep on the other hand was bad. And let's put it this way, 90% of that episode was filler and the only remote scene that was important was Pikachu getting sick.

It was also important to see how Pikachu got sick since just seeing Pikachu being stuck to a magnet in the flashback in the premiere to AG would still be kind of confusing to people. I remember being kind of confused about that flashback when they aired the first couple of episodes of AG as a sneak peek on Kids' WB, so while the B-plot was boring, I wouldn't say that 90% of the episode was filler. An episode is either a filler or not with no percentage about it. Since this episode did explain how Pikachu got sick and that was important for the first AG episode, I don't think it's accurate to say that this was a filler episode or even mostly filler.

Originally Posted by The Fighting Misty

Pikachu could have gotten sick at the end of GCYL, TR does attack Ash in that episode and they could have done it with that magnet machine in that ep instead.

Its like the writers had to kill a week but didn't want to show a rerun or clip show so they made this random pointless episode.

The writers can't cram in so many things into a single episode, and when they try, they fail miserably. If anything, one could argue that there was no real reason to make Pikachu sick at all, but that plot line provided what I think are some really great and adorable scenes between Satoshi and Pikachu, so I'm glad they did it this way.

Perhaps it would have been better if we had more episodes with Ash by himself at the end of Johto. If they cut out some of the filler from the middle of Johto, they would have had extra time for the end.