Recap: Pokémon Paparazzi

“Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, cannot truly be adults themselves. When I was 10, I used to read fairy tales in secret. Now that I am 50, I read them openly. Part of being an adult is the need to put away childish things such as the desire to be grown up.”- CS Lewis

Hello everyone. By the time you all read this, I will have turned 25 years old. A lot has happened over the course of the past year; and it’s also hard to believe it’s been 5 years since I first posted my first recap of “Love, Petalburg Style” here. As a present to both myself and you all for my birthday, I thought I would help ease back into this year with something from Kanto! Let’s open up “Pokémon Paparazzi” and get this started! 

There’s really not a whole lot I can say about the Pokémon theme that I haven’t said before; so I’m definitely going to link to it once again. Since the teaser for the “I Choose You” movie appears to have some arrangement of the “Aim to Be a Pokémon Master” theme in Japanese, hopefully something similar could be done when the film is dubbed at some point.

We open on the group having rice balls on their way to Cinnabar Island, and Misty is feeding Togepi some! Really enjoying the new Pokémon Refresh feature in Sun and Moon by the way (I’ve logged over 150 hours combined as of this writing). If I come across a Togepi there; I will definitely do some similar doting with the Poké Beans.

Anyway, as someone spots Ash’s Pikachu through the viewfinder of their camera; I’m honestly every bit as surprised as you are that 4Kids didn’t rename the rice balls to “donuts” or other such foodstuffs. Given how Brock was shown making them, I guess they couldn’t. Thankfully, when The Pokémon Company got the license; they put an end to that practice. 

In one of Ash’s more morbid flights of fancy, he mistakes the camera lens for a sniper’s scope and imagines all his friends getting killed! 

Snake? SNAKE!?

This leads to him preemptively trying to save his friends, but he ends up wrecking their snack time and even punching Pikachu! Jeez, dude! I haven’t seen a scuffle this bad since the PS4 launch! By the way, finally getting a PS4 with some of my birthday money as well as some games (the unit I’m getting is the Uncharted 4 bundle, and a bunch of big titles got unveiled for this year at PSX not too long ago. Should be cool.).

SHORYUKEN!

Needless to say, no-one else is pleased about this ruckus; least of all Pikachu.

The title card comes up; and it’s pretty clear that this episode is to help tie into the release of the N64 title Pokémon Snap. Much like my associate Dogasu pointed out in his look at this episode; it’s fairly easy to imagine how the process of making this episode went. I even have a similar idea about how the back and forth went on the story:

“Mr. Tajiri, some of the people I’m working with at OLM have some ideas about how to work this new game that’s coming out soon into the anime.” “Sounds good, Mr. Yuyama, eager to see what you all can come up with. What’s it about?” “Well, there’s a character that’s the lead of this spinoff that we could probably work in. What do you think?” “I like the cut of your jib, I can’t wait to see what you can do.”

Naturally, everyone else is wondering what Ash was doing; and Ash has Squirtle reveal the character referred to in the mock conversation above! This is Snap, also known as Todd. Yeah, depending on which version of the dub you find, there are some ADR differences because of this apparent legal snafu with Kellogg’s over the name. Some versions I’ve seen have his name as Snap (which is what he’s called in the accompanying game); others call him Todd. The version on my Netflix profile I’m using to write this recap is the latter; so that’s what I shall call him for the sake of argument.

As for this whole bit with Todd in the Blastoise mask: apparently it’s some sort of wordplay that doesn’t really work well in English, so 4Kids basically took the easy way out and rewrote the scene.

Todd takes everyone back to his place, and after showing them a photo he took of Aerodactyl in “Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon” (I may think about that one in the near future), he decides to make up for spooking everyone by making them some pancakes. Works for me. 

He also asks to take Pikachu’s picture; but Pikachu seems reluctant about the idea. 

Also, this scene here is one of many reasons why I like this episode so much; as well as me being among many that want a potential sequel to Pokémon Snap. With the Poké Finder feature in Sun and Moon as well as the recent Wii U Virtual Console release of the game; I would very much appreciate a new game on the Switch with the new monsters introduced in Alola.

Todd clicks the shutter, but this spooks Pikachu and he shocks him! 

Todd is undeterred, but he prefers a more naturalistic approach to photography; disliking the appearance of posing Pokémon. I like that idea, since I took photojournalism a while ago; and sometimes that’s the best approach.

However, Pikachu is still reluctant about the idea; and it turns out that Todd was hired to do this by a suspicious old couple with an ulterior motive! 

As they have a plate of meat; Meowth tells them that Todd is the best at capturing Pokémon from his correspondence in the Pokémon Times, though not in the sense he understands.

After grandma takes the last bite of steak, it turns out that it’s another crazy scheme from Team Rocket! Yeah, this might be a bit tricky; fellas. Especially since Meowth doesn’t understand the difference between Todd wanting to take a shot OF Pikachu, not a shot AT him at he posits.

Anyway, Todd then begins trying to get a picture of Pikachu; but even with an SLR in 1999; he can’t prevent Ash from photobombing him! See, this was happening before that Hiker interfered with Kiawe’s trial in Sun and Moon!

Not even hanging upside down will stop Ash from trolling Todd! You were close! Yeah, just downloaded Snap on my Wii U while typing this; trying to relearn how to play it. Still, HAL Labs did a good job with it; there was no way my N64 copy could do quasi-HD graphics at 60 frames per second. 

Meanwhile, Team Rocket has one of their old standby traps ready; a pitfall for their enemies!

As they try to disguise themselves before Todd comes back, they even get mixed up! Whoops!

After a quick change, Todd meets with the “old couple” and decides to wait for Pikachu and the others to come by. 

Todd also overhears Ash say how he doesn’t consider their feelings right as they fall in the trap!

Team Rocket is quick to gloat about their presumed success; however, their joy is short-lived when Todd gets the photograph he wanted after all!

Meowth then discovers that Todd’s credentials were for “capturing Pokémon on film,” causing Jessie and James to knock him away! Nice try, fellas. 

Then, due to a crack James made where Ash is sitting; he falls through the floor of the hole and into a waterway!

Todd follows them down the hole as they scramble to find some way to get out of the current! 

Just before Ash goes over the waterfall, Todd gives him the strap of his camera to hold onto in the nick of time! 

Guy did a Peter Pan right off of this dam, right here!

Team Rocket, realizing they’ve been had; decide to go with a Plan B of using a rubberized net to snatch Pikachu! This can only end well, can’t it?

As if that weren’t enough, they actually start throwing bombs at Ash and Todd! Jeez, they’re already precariously at the edge of a waterfall, what more do you want? 

Ash then decides to use the camera to distract Team Rocket! As for how he managed to get it while still holding onto the tripod: I’d suggest not to worry too much about that, you’ll enjoy yourself more.

The last bomb explodes in James’ hand; but Jessie kicks him for messing up the shot and her makeup. Such as the fate of the ineffectual sympathetic villain. These guys are more or less on the same level as Plankton or Wile E. Coyote in that regard. 

Ash then has Bulbasaur free Pikachu and attack Team Rocket! 

They end up getting chased and Vine Whipped all the way down the waterfall! Yet, even with all the furor certain fans have towards the Alola redesigns; they still provide some good levity. Good contrast to darker villains like Team Skull (definitely interested to see where their inclusion is headed; since other villain factions have had varying degrees of involvement in the anime).

As Brock and Misty catch up to Ash, Pikachu and Todd; they discover they’ve become friends for a simple reason: they both like Pokémon! That’s a good way to start a friendship, it’s worked pretty well for me and still does.

So, we close on a variation of the everybody laughs ending; where Todd takes a photo of his new friends after he slips on a leftover rice ball. A good way as any to end my first recap since last Christmas. 

“Pokémon Paparazzi” is among my favorite episodes of the Kanto series, and I’m very glad I chose this as one of the choices I had in mind. With some colorful animation and a pretty fun way of integrating one of my favorite N64 games into the series, it’s one I never pass up an opportunity to revisit. The other material I had in mind can be done later this year, including my looks at the Jirachi movie and some of the Sun and Moon anime; but first I want to determine how busy I’ll be over the course of this term. For now, I’m going to enjoy celebrating my 25th birthday as I play my Virtual Console copy of Pokémon Snap (as well as Mario Kart 64 once it finishes downloading) and have my cake with my family. Next time; however, due to circumstances beyond my control; I will definitely do more Code Geass R2. Just thought I would do something I’d enjoy first before I get back to the junk. That’s all for now. See you, space cowboy.