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Reviews
Poketto monsutâ: Tai ketsu! Pokemon senta! (1997)
A fun second episode!
The second episode is directly sequential to the first episode, something that often isn't the case for this show normally, with Ash rushing Pikachu to the Pokemon Center to treat his wounds from the previous episode.
It's kinda funny seeing how different the show was back then as compared to now. Ash's mom and Professor Oak are pretty mean to him, both of them basically calling Ash a loser when they talk on the phone. Cut him some slack, it's his first day still! And as a different reviewer pointed out Team Rocket are much more serious in this episode but unlike them I don't mind the change, they try to make them serious again in Black and White and from what I remember it really wasn't very good, I think they work better in a more comedic role. Not that they're bad in this episode being so serious, but I love the direction they went with them after this.
Another notable thing in this episode is the start of enormous Pokemon Centers, they really got creative with the designs of these buildings in the anime, I love them!
Poketto monsutâ: Pokemon Kimi ni Kimeta! (1997)
An iconic episode to start things off.
I just started a full series rewatch/watch (I haven't seen all of the show) a week or so ago and figured I'd review them all as I go. Maybe it'll help me actually stick with it for the entire series.
I love the first episode of Pokemon so much. <3 It's so nostalgic, and funny, but also so sweet, and also very cool towards the end. Pilot episode of all time.
It shows off a lot of the great things in Pokemon; cute little animals, hilarious characters and jokes, exciting conflicts involving the Pokemon, and Ash being an idiot but loving his Pokemon a ton, even going to extreme lengths to protect them.
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: Falling Star Man (2021)
A great example of the weakness of this show.
The entire premise of this show makes it very hit and miss, since some guests are comedic and well known and actual actors, and some are just a football guy. He might be well known in the football world, but I don't know him and that really hurts the enjoyment of the episode.
This show is so busy talking up the guest stars that it barely has time for actual jokes, and basically no time for the Scooby Gang. Fred, Velma, and Daphne literally don't do anything for at least a third of this episode!
This show makes me miss Be Cool so much, it was funny, Daphne had an actual waist, there was actual character development for the gang.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
A great sequel!
As someone who did not grow up with the first movie but has seen it recently, I thought this was great! It was a great movie in general, seemed to respect to first movie instead of doing any of the "the previous movie didn't matter and everyone's terrible" stuff that sequels are so fond of doing, and I think the plane tricks are cooler in this one.
I didn't cry over this one though, so Top Gun (1986) does have that over this new one.
Top Gun (1986)
Cool plane stuff, suprisingly emotional
I watched this with my dad to get ready to go watch the new one, and I was expecting a fun action movie with some sexism (it is the eighties after all), and I did get that, but I also got about 10 minutes of crying off and on over Goose.
All the cool plane stuff and Goose being an awesome person bring it up in rating, but most of the guys being so sleazy brings it down again.
Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?: Returning Of The Key Ring! (2021)
Sean Astin is fine but...
This episode is pretty much the usual fare for Guess Who, Sean Astin (the guest star) is allowed one trait/reference and they run it into the ground, there's a passable mystery, and Scooby and Shaggy get to do stuff.
My main problem with this episode though was a scene about halfway through. The gang have split up, with Fred, Velma, and Daphne together as usual. Daphne slips a bit on a puddle of what she correctly identifies as hydraulic fluid on the floor, afterwards Fred says that there are also various other fluids in the aisle like brake and steering fluid. Then he points out that they're in the automotive aisle. And Velma responds with possibly the worst sentence I've ever heard any of the gang say in Guess Who.
"Thanks for the Mansplaining, Fred."
This is so jarring to hear. I literally recoiled back from the screen as I was watching this episode. First of all, how is this Mansplaining? Fred is not explaining something he knows very little about to a woman who knows more then him, or talking over or interrupting a woman. This is a subject that he knows/is passionate about and has been for several iterations of Scooby Doo, so it makes sense for him to comment on it. Secondly, it's a super common thing for someone in the gang to say something obvious, on a sliding scale of obvious vs not obvious, but still. It is not offensive for Fred to point out the obvious fact that they are in the automotive aisle even though all three of the characters probably would already know this, we as the audience didn't know that, and this could have been a perfectly fine way of informing us. Thirdly, Velma has shown no signs of particularly caring about feminism in this manner. Velma (and Fred and Daphne) gets hardly any focus in this series so wasting any screen time on this just ridiculous to me.
Not to say "Rrrrrrrr feminism bad!" but this was just painful. It comes out of nowhere, and it's very mean spirited. A video essay I watched recently about the Scooby gang pointed out that some of the worst versions of them are when you get the feeling from them that makes you wonder why they're even friends. I don't wonder that a huge amount in this series, but this moment did not feel like an interaction between friends. Velma's tone is very aggressive and seems more like something she'd be saying to a stranger not one of her closest friends. (I also don't think she'd use the word Mansplaining at all really but whatever.)
I know I didn't talk a lot about the episode as a whole, but there's really not a whole lot else to talk about, it's pretty much an average Guess Who episode. I wish they'd picked something else for Sean's running gag then not getting to carry the ring in the LotR movies (which isn't even true), and the episode introduces Sean by saying that him and Daphne are good friends but then after the whole gang meets him Daphne doesn't even talk to Sean after that scene, but I mostly cared about the Velma line.