Pikachu time loop(celebi movie)

Just rewatched this movie not too long ago and me and another Pokémon fan were having a debate on a theory that I have about Pokémon that stems from this movie(movie 4). My Theory is that the reason Professor Oak gives ash a pikachu instead of the other starters is because during the movie ash meets a young professor oak. While that may not mean anything ash has other time traveling adventures that usually end in the episode with no consequences but I think this one had an effect on ash's life without him realizing it. Before the movie ends it shows that professor oak clearly remembers meeting ash as a kid. So my theory is that somewhere along the way when oak was growing up he discovered pikachu in the wild and since the anime has shown many times that trainers could identify other people's Pokémon I think he caught pikachu to return it to ash but when he went to pallet his timelines ash was either not born yet or too young so he waited until ash was 10 before he gave him pikachu. So in a weird way pikachu is somewhat of a self fulfilling time loop. This is all a theory tho so don't take it to serious just something to chat about.

That's a cool idea. You're right, the movie does establish in the canon that Professor Oak remembered meeting Ash when he travelled to the future. To me that movie adds an extra dimension to how fond he has always been of Ash and why he is extra helpful to him. As much as I like the idea of Oak planning ahead to give Ash Pikachu, I don't think he probably arranged this conscientiously.

I believe the events of the forth movie were not probably conceived as ideas quite that far back, but at some point after the GS Ball was introduced as a plot for the TV show but dropped, since originally Celebi was going to be the secret inside of the ball.

While my memory might be failing, I don't recall in the movie that Ash ever told the young Samuel how he acquired Pikachu from his professor. So unless I missed such a conversation I don't think he would search for Pikachu specifically for the purpose of uniting it with Ash. For all he knew Ash could have caught this Pokemon in the wild at any time.

At most I think seeing Pikachu with Ash as a kid might have filled Oak with a sense of nostalgia for this particular species of Pokemon that made him want to catch and study them at his laboratory.

The reason Ash got Pikachu was technically because he overslept and missed Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle. While I do think it was Ash's destiny to be with Pikachu, I don't think Oak was knowingly bringing it about, but just an instrument of fate again himself. Ash has to beg Oak to give him a Pokemon, and I think he would have been more eager to present him with Pikachu if he realized how important it was that Ash have this particular pokemon.

It's a fun theory to think about though!

I think that the theory does make a lot of sense. It would explain why Professor Oak had Pikachu there instead of another Pokémon. Seems like it's entirely possible.

But that's just a theory….