Some might want to say that creating a live action Pokemon series could be a knee-jerk reaction to the fact that the Detective Pikachu movie didn’t bomb out, but others would likely applaud HBO Max for trying to bring this to the fore in a way that would be seen as a sign of the times. The animated series has, for a long time now, been one of the most popular cartoons among children since Pokemon is, well, it’s Pokemon. Kids go nuts over the cute little creatures that can evolve and turn into more powerful and mysterious beings that can be trained to fight against each other in tournaments. There are plenty of us that would roll our eyes and say that it’s just a game and just another phenomenon, and we wouldn’t be wrong. But we wouldn’t be completely accurate either. Joe Pring of We Got This Covered alludes to this being a way to spoil the fans since live action is as serious upgrade from animation when it’s done right, but there’s even less room for error since the fans have become so much more discerning at this point, and have begun to do so at a younger age than might have been witnessed when Pokemon first made its rise. Admit it, looking back at the old cartoons that we used to watch we now notice just how their mouths don’t always move right, or follow their words, and how the lack of movement in every frame is pretty common since it implied a number of things, along with the idea that it was cheaper in some ways.
In a way it’s amazing that a larger number of people haven’t gone through Pokemon overload at this time since the franchise has been around for a while and it’s had its ups and downs like any other idea. But the staying power of the creation is something that has been amazing really since it’s been able to make its way back time and again into the forefront of the public consciousness in order to take charge once more as it virtually shoves other franchises out of the way in order to do so. That might sound a little melodramatic really but the truth of the matter in this case is that Pokemon is one of the most successful franchises the world over and it’s not an arguable point given the statistics. It might not be counted as one of the most popular kids’ shows these days, but it’s still a worldwide phenomenon that a lot of people are willing to pay into since it happens to be something that a lot of people have grown up with and still care about.
As to how long a live action series could last, well, that’s kind of up to the fans. The cost of creating such a series is bound to be pretty expensive since having to render each Pokemon in such detail takes a great deal of time and effort for those behind the magic of it all, so thinking about all the costs that go into it could give one a better idea of just how the series might have to go in order to sustain a single season, let alone anything following that. Imogene Groome of Streaming Wars has more to say on this subject. As it’s already been seen in the past, Pokemon has a number of movies, a popular show, games, and a great deal of merchandise that’s helped to make it the phenom that it is today. But thinking that it couldn’t possibly suffer a setback from going to live action is kind of shortsighted since it’s entirely possible, though not desired obviously. When changing up the medium there’s always the possibility of people responding in a negative way to what they’re seeing if only because they’ve grown used to what they had and don’t want to see it change. Plenty of us have been there, admit it, and we’ve railed against what we saw as something new and not at all capable of replacing what we’d already had. Of course sooner or later we realize that it’s not really replacing it, but breathing new life into the franchise by trying something different. We saw this issue with Star Wars and Ghostbusters in 2015 and 2016, the whole issue of people thinking that someone had come along to ‘destroy’ something they’d liked. The truth is that the attempts weren’t the best, but they didn’t do anything to the movies that came before and laid the groundwork for them.
So really, Pokemon as a live action show could be a good idea and if it works it could be a leap forward for a franchise that’s already proven itself as one of the most enduring throughout the years. If nothing else it will be an intriguing attempt at bettering something that’s already considered to be immensely popular.
Follow Us
