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"Charmander - The Stray Pokémon" Episode Discussion

This was a nice episode. Better than most of the other fillers in Kanto. The abuse of Charmander was a nice touch.

Rating: 8.5/10

*to the other episodes*
 
"Charmuunnnnnnnnnder!" XD

I think this is my favourite of the starter captures. It wasn't really abuse, it was more neglect (not that it makes it any better). It's funny how Brock looks after it and it goes to Ash haha. Oh, and Ash and Brock want a fight. Oh, didn't Brock say Charmander would DIE? I'm still mentally scared from even a mention of the word! 4Kids, how could you!?
 
So, I have to ask...

Whats with all the new thread discussions over the old old episodes? xD
Are they re-airing somewhere, or is it just for some random discussion purposes?

& Jorah, yeah Brock did say that Charmander could die.. xD; I suppose that towards the start, 4Kids hadn't totally decided to eliminate death from the series. Because nowdays.. Pokemon are immortal. >_>;
 
Drew said:
So, I have to ask...

Whats with all the new thread discussions over the old old episodes? xD
Are they re-airing somewhere, or is it just for some random discussion purposes?
Click to expand...

Random discussion purposes, as their 10th anniversaries are here. So, I figured "why not?" Heh.

https://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/kanto/ep011.html

Here's the episode comparison. Not much beyond music edits, though, it does show a good slice of 4Kids' thinking.
 
xD Ah! Gotcha.
That makes sense.

It's hard to believe that these all aired 10 years ago.
How time flies..

I've always loved the Charmander episode though, and I have no idea why. I suppose it was because poor little Charmander was abandoned,
and then Ash and the others gave him a new home. I was always like 'zaawww~. ;~; ' Plus the fact that the first time I watched it, I wasn't
sure whether or not Charmander would heal.. xD I thought maybe it would die. Of course it wouldn't.. but at the time I didn't know that.
 
That's my favorite episode, I'd give it a 10/10.

The thing why don't 4kids add even a little violence or even a little strong language. The anime is much too MUCH childish. Even when in the japanese version, they said even a very little strong word, When they translated that, they changed it.

Why TOO childish. You know in "charmander - the stray pokemon", that was the good part, they actually said DIE.
 
Isn't this the episode when Brock sees Nurse Joy for the first time, EVER? :D That part always makes me laugh!!
I also like the whole "neglect" idea, that makes this show seem a bit more realistic. Anyone notice the similarity in Sinnoh? *coughChimcharcough*
 
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Drew said:
Plus the fact that the first time I watched it, I wasn't sure whether or not Charmander would heal.. xD I thought maybe it would die. Of course it wouldn't.. but at the time I didn't know that.
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I wasn't sure, at the time, as I've been watching TV and their plots for so long. So, I didn't think it would die, but it could end up in a bad way.

Of course, these days, I'm far more genre savvy and cynical. Hahaha.

Those were the days.

Actually, I have no opinion on the episode, per se. Although, I think this is where I started to like Brock and how I really miss his seriousness. Beyond that, it's almost filler-lite, but that's just me.
 
D:

This is true about Brock.. now he's just comic relief.
Unless he's narrating a Pokemon battle.. -sigh-

I also wanted to beat the ..erm.. heck.. out of Damian in that episode.
He was just gonna let Charmander die.
I was almost sure at the time that Charmander would just run away from Ash, instead of going with him at the end of the episode. xD;
Except for the fact that there has to be a happy ending.
 
Charmander was my first pokemon in the games so I really hated the character who abandoned him and left him to die.

Probably the reason he turned out to be so disobedient when he evolved too.

But like Squirtle, I love the personality and back-story they gave this Pokemon. It made me wanna cry when the episode first aired here.

I have mixed feelings about Chimchar's similarities. It's nice to see them giving the newer pokemon back-stories and personalities, but it still feels recycled.
 
People complain about Chimchar being similar to Charmander, but at least they decided to keep the abuser around as a recurring character, likely and hopefully for retribution.

Anyways, yeah, this episode was grim. Poor Charmander. His counterpart trainer in the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga was a lot nicer, serving to emphasize just how bad that thing had it in the anime.
 
PorygonSquared said:
People complain about Chimchar being similar to Charmander, but at least they decided to keep the abuser around as a recurring character, likely and hopefully for retribution.

Anyways, yeah, this episode was grim. Poor Charmander. His counterpart trainer in the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga was a lot nicer, serving to emphasize just how bad that thing had it in the anime.
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Indeed. And the Chimchar Trainer would become far more interesting than Daisuke/Damien could ever hope to be. Although, the latter actually had a comeuppance, so we'll see.

I have to admit, compared to the recent run of episodes (Mt. Moon, the Misty Gym battle, Pokemon Tech), I think this is the first real dark episode we've had, which makes a difference (unless you consider the first three episodes as dark, so some do). It's a nice slice of reality from the happy-go-lucky show we'd be accustomed to. And it would get darker, still, in the next stretch of episodes (the next episode, Lt. Surge's episode and the St. Anne three-parter).

Shows how much has changed since, eh?
 
This was probably the first Pokemon episode that I legitimately liked.

Or more specifically, this was the episode that officially got me to like the show, because it actually touches on alot of things that would probably be common if Pokemon was actually a real world scenario. Such as the abandonment scenario that Charaxes mentioned. If Pokemon were actually to parallel real world animals and pets, we'd see that kind of thing everywhere in that 'utopian' world. In all honesty though, Nurse Joy really didn't seem too concerned about the guy abandoning his Pokemon. So that probably means it does happen alot in the Pokemon world, or at least in Kanto (or at least it DID back then).

But more than that, it also created tons of opportunities for character development, which I'm happy to say the show did indeed capitalize on during that episode. Both Brock and Ash got lots of time to really get emotional, and even Misty got a little emotional (though not quite as much as the other two). Brock even said 'die', which is usually a taboo word in anything 4Kids dubs. So, props to them for having the guts to do that.

Team Rocket was actually NOT as pointless in this episode as they usually are though. They actually were used as a clever plot device and weren't around for half the episode. About two minutes. That's it. But as I said, they were used to stress Charmander's abilities rather than just to waste time. Which proves that having comedy relief villains in a show can work, if done right (if only Pokemon would consistently use them correctly).

All in all, great episode. I really don't give ratings, but I definitely recommend it to anyone that hasn't seen it. I know you people are reading this too. So check it out.
 
i'd say about 6 or 7 out of 10. Why not 8 or 9? well let me answer that question with another question - WHY WAS DAMIAN BRITISH? grrrrrrrr...grumblegrumble...americans...hate the brtish...but we hate them more...grrrr.
 
alipeewee said:
i'd say about 6 or 7 out of 10. Why not 8 or 9? well let me answer that question with another question - WHY WAS DAMIAN BRITISH? grrrrrrrr...grumblegrumble...americans...hate the brtish...but we hate them more...grrrr.
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Oh LOL at first I thought you were saying you hated the British and I went on this huge rant, luckily I realised what you meant.

Anyway, if anything, Damien would have a Brooklyn accent because he was voiced by Maddie Blaustien.
 
Jorah said:
Oh LOL at first I thought you were saying you hated the British and I went on this huge rant, luckily I realised what you meant.

Anyway, if anything, Damien would have a Brooklyn accent because he was voiced by Maddie Blaustien.
Click to expand...

He should have a Brooklyn accent, but the character sounds British. Heh. Oh, dub people can be strange like that.

Didn't he look like over-the-top with the cowboy boots and the sunglasses on his head? Too bad "Queer eye for the straight guy" wouldn't materalize for a few more years. We need an anime version of it. Hah.
 
When I first saw it, I didn't see it on TV. I saw it on a VHS. I thought Charmander was going to die to since it's flame almost went out.
 
Pokemon abusers are not awesome. They're the very opposite of awesome. Charmander is totally cool retro firebreathing dragon thingie, and some idiot just ditches him! Like a dirtbag. But other than that, I loved the episode. I love Charmander. That cute dragon thingie.
 
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