>>33300965Agreed. There was a sense of adventure and especially of discovery that was in that original series that barely ever happens now. As many new Pokemon as they make, they've never managed to reclaim it - I feel like it disappeared around late Johto early Hoenn. This is probably also a reason why so many people long for Misty and Brock - they're not actually looking for them, they're looking for what came with them, a sense of mystery and weight that isn't as forced as "IM GONNA TAKE OVER THE WORLD" or "TIME TO GENOCIDE KALOS." Smaller stories, stories like Tower of Terror, anything involving Lapras directly, the existence of psychic abilities in humans and what Pokemon could do, that episode in Johto where that centuries old Ninetales wanted Brock to stay with it, Pokemopolis, all that - that's what's missing in later series and usually gets relegated to MUH RUINS and MUH LEGENDARY POKEMON now. The Pokemon themselves hardly ever carry any real threat nowadays, but then look at the Squirtle Squad. They had a whole town pointing literal guns at them. The power plant episode, the music and color used there set a brilliantly bleak tone for that city. Unrelated but
It was even somewhat present in the games. Tell me hearing the Unown broadcast in the ruins the first time didn't give you chills as a kid. There was a real present sense of danger that wasn't comedic pink plush bears HIIIIIIIIIIIIII-ing into the camera. It was more believable danger, more tangible adventure. That's what's missing, and few episodes have been able to reclaim it.
