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How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW?

Would the quality be better if TR weren't shoved in every ep?


  • Total voters
    36

Cybersai

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As we can see, Team Rocket are missing a lot of episodes in Best Wishes. But the question is....what if the writers ALWAYS did this since the beginning?

I think its safe to say TR should have never appeard in any Gym battle or heavy battle-centric episodes, since their scenes were almost always useless filler. Even their roles in the leagues could have been removed. They were fine during Contests obviously because Jessie competed in most of them.

There are also a lot of filler eps where Team Rocket only ever got 2-3 minutes of screentime. A large chunk of fillers just have TR show up at the very end for a quick blast off, and the eps would have probably been better off without them.

So I ask you, what if Team Rocket weren't always shoved into every Kanto, AG or DP episode, and they were excluded in eps they didn't need to be in?
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I think there would be more antagonistic Pokémon in episodes, similar to the increased level in Best Wishes.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

The poll's question and options are not compatible with each other.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Like Iteru said, there would be more antagonistic Pokemon.

I'd actually prefer the Pokemon to the alliteration abusing...........Oh god, I'm doing it too!
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Some of Team Rocket's appearances during a gym battle annoyed me because they'd usually just do their "dig a hole under the gym" or "wait until Pikachu gets weak and grab it" strategies. But at least they were funny (pre-DP in the dub at least). I probably wouldn't mind if they didn't show up for gym battle episodes but I really enjoyed pre-BW TR a lot more than they are now. But in the episodes they weren't in we'd have the jerk pokemon like we have now.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Hey as long as Pikachu is not a damsel in distress anymore I am find with it.I mean let's face it sometimes all pikachu really was was a damsel in distress which I never thought to much about.However since it really has not happened this season I started thinking about it and it makes me mad the more I think about.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Well it would have made DP a lot shorter! The TRio has there place, but just not in every episode where the plot is SO PREDICTABLE: TRio plan to catch Pikachu/other Pokémon, TRio catch Pikachu/other Pokémon, the group gets Pikachu/other Pokemon back, TRio gets blasted off. Not very entertaining hundreds of times in a row! :/
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I feel as if TR should have been in every episode up till Johto, but then when AG started they should have stopped appearing in every ep.

Since TR were only ever used as a crutch in most AG episodes, its pretty obvious they didn't need to be in every single episode back then. With DP again they shouldn't have appeared in any of the heavy battle-centric episodes.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

It would make Jouto a lot more tolerable.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I don't care about them appearing every episode - it's the part where they say their motto that drives me crazy. The Team Rocket catchphrase was cool and I liked it, but it really was a pain in the neck to hear it every damn episode. It's like watching every makeup dressup those magic girls go through every single episode in magical anime. That motto doesn't even take 5 minutes, which makes it hard to skip when watching pokemon on DVD!
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I don't care about them appearing every episode - it's the part where they say their motto that drives me crazy. The Team Rocket catchphrase was cool and I liked it, but it really was a pain in the neck to hear it every damn episode. It's like watching every makeup dressup those magic girls go through every single episode in magical anime. That motto doesn't even take 5 minutes, which makes it hard to skip when watching pokemon on DVD!

which is why they mix it up sometimes, even doing a self-parody now and again.

I feel as if TR should have been in every episode up till Johto, but then when AG started they should have stopped appearing in every ep.

I'd stop having them appear in some episodes during Jouto, personally. In some regards, the Rockets' comedy were the only thing making a lot of episodes (and the puntastic Sounansu only freshened things up a bit). In other regards, though, it really seemed like they interfered with the plot. Gym battles aside, I really hated how they were just being used as a cheap cop-out for a character-of-the-day to suddenly grow some confidence, as if they couldn't find a more appropriate way to pull that shit off (and such plots were already worn out without Jouto repeating them about 50 times). But what gets to me the most is when, on a rare occasion, there actually is a character-of-the-day, or especially a Pokemon-of-the-day (because, you know, it's totally impossible for a Pokemon to be bad), that's very clearly acting like an asshole, but by the end of the episode, they totally get redeemed just because they helped fend of the Rockets, whom are apparently there to make them look nice only by comparison (even though the Rockets are friggin' saints compared to some COTDs, but the writers don't expect us to notice when they put said COTD in a position of self-defense).

In fact, there were episodes that just plain didn't need them as far back as early Kanto. Now, the first Gym battle did well enough to only include them as an opening and closing gag, and nothing more. Some of the Gym battles afterwards, though, they just interrupted what should've been a fucking serious battle (the kind of shit we were rarely getting in Kanto as is), try to kidnap some Pokemon, and then Satoshi gets the Badge for saving the day. This seemed especially egregious in the battles with Kasumi and Erika (the first of which, Satoshi was clearly winning, the latter of which brought Satoshi down to one Pokemon only to cop out, and thus the anime has forever lost its chance to display strategies against stinky Pokemon). Thank god Kyou and Katsura were actually willing to put their foot down and say "I don't do that shit!" before making Satoshi actually fight for his prize.
 
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Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I'd stop having them appear in some episodes during Jouto, personally.

Well I only said that because there were some Johto fillers that Team Rocket SAVED. Some of those Johto eps would have been unbearable if it weren't for some of the things Team Rocket did in them.

The Wobbufett fillers in Johto were all great.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I probably would have been OK with the trio not appearing in every episode by the time Houen started since that's when the organization as a whole started to be less relevant.

Torterra Trainer said:
Well it would have made DP a lot shorter!

How? The length of Diamond & Pearl is due to things like Hikari's constant Contest losses, all those training episodes, the mini-arcs (tag battle, summer school, HGSS promotion), featuring all the side trainers from the games, spending more time with each Gym Leader, and a better focus on the evil team of the region. If the Roket trio hadn't appeared in every episode, all of those events would have still happened and the series would have been just as long.

The TRio has there place, but just not in every episode where the plot is SO PREDICTABLE: TRio plan to catch Pikachu/other Pokémon, TRio catch Pikachu/other Pokémon, the group gets Pikachu/other Pokemon back, TRio gets blasted off.

The trio not appearing in every episode *now* hasn't exactly fixed that. At least half of their apperances in Best Wishes! have followed that exact formula you hate so much.

Gliscor'd said:
Since TR were only ever used as a crutch in most AG episodes, its pretty obvious they didn't need to be in every single episode back then.

They still saved a lot of episodes that would have otherwise been terrible. AG was also when they started to do the Boss Fantasies more regularly, and those things were great.

darkqueen said:
I don't care about them appearing every episode - it's the part where they say their motto that drives me crazy. The Team Rocket catchphrase was cool and I liked it, but it really was a pain in the neck to hear it every damn episode.

They didn't say it in every episode, and they cut it short in a lot of the episodes they *did* say it in.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

I probably would have been OK with the trio not appearing in every episode by the time Houen started since that's when the organization as a whole started to be less relevant.

It makes you wonder why they did. AG was originally billed as a fresh start for the franchise, almost the same way BW is now....yet it still clung to many original series staples like Brock and Team Rocket.

I guess back then the writers didn't want to completely change the show too much in case it backfired?
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

How? The length of Diamond & Pearl is due to things like Hikari's constant Contest losses, all those training episodes, the mini-arcs (tag battle, summer school, HGSS promotion), featuring all the side trainers from the games, spending more time with each Gym Leader, and a better focus on the evil team of the region. If the Roket trio hadn't appeared in every episode, all of those events would have still happened and the series would have been just as long.



The trio not appearing in every episode *now* hasn't exactly fixed that. At least half of their apperances in Best Wishes! have followed that exact formula you hate so much.

Well you can't deny that the approach the TRio takes in their way of trying to catch Pikachu is very different than DP plotlines. They do have a slightly more serious nature. In the episodes so far they haven't really captured Pikachu, like in the Litwick episode. And they haven't been blasting off at all. So these BW episodes have not followed the "exact" formula of the DP episodes.

And DP would have been shorter. Some episodes were centered around the TRio trying to capture Pikachu and had no large relevence to Dawn's contest battles, Ash's Gym battles or one of the other examples you pointed out. I admit I exaggerated that it would have been a lot shorter, but it would have been shorter.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

In the episodes so far they haven't really captured Pikachu, like in the Litwick episode.

Which means that they've actually gotten *worse* at capturing Pikachu than they were in the past.

Also, they've done the "capture the Pokemon of the day" thing in Best Wishes! before, and have failed each time. Same as always.

And they haven't been blasting off at all.

Yes they do. Blasting off and blasting off with rocket packs is the same damn thing.

And DP would have been shorter.

It wouldn't, because the length of the sagas is determined by when the games come out, not by how much screentime the Rocket trio takes up.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Yes they do. Blasting off and blasting off with rocket packs is the same damn thing.

It wouldn't, because the length of the sagas is determined by when the games come out, not by how much screentime the Rocket trio takes up.

Hardly. Yes they still are forcefully removed, but I would say flying away on Rocket Packs is a little bit more of a controlled situation for the TRio. As for the length of DP, I'm saying the length as in episodes would be shorter. I suppose the actual length in time would be the same, but if episodes that had no impact on the main plot, or parts of episodes that pertained no relevance to the show were cut out and devoted to plots that contributed to the major plot, perhaps the DP episode total would have been shorter.

I guess it doesn't really matter since DP is already said and done, but that's the point of this thread.

To tell you the truth Dogasu, responding to your posts is a daunting task! I hope I don't sound like a doof.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

That'd have made both Johto and Sinnoh a bit more tolerable.
Well, in Johto I actually thought they were quiet enjoyable, but they could sometimes go on my nerves, but in Sinnoh they were just annoying.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Johto would have been worse without them. The Johto fillers generally consisted of nothing more than Ash and co. helping some one-dimensional character and their problem, TR helped spice up some of those episode.

Wobbufett was by far the best thing to happen to TR in Johto. Back when Wobbufett was actually funny.
 
Re: How would the previous sagas be different if TR were not in every episode like BW

Johto would have been worse without them. The Johto fillers generally consisted of nothing more than Ash and co. helping some one-dimensional character and their problem, TR helped spice up some of those episode.

Wobbufett was by far the best thing to happen to TR in Johto. Back when Wobbufett was actually funny.

I agree with Wobbofett being the only thing to liven things up. However, it would've been much better if Team Rocket weren't in every episode. Try calculate every single second they made an appearance - they took up more than a few episodes in total. I would say at least a fifth or sixth of the entire Johto saga.


Just my opinion - they should've reduced any unneccesary Team Rocket fillers and put more of Ash's story in it. Or, if the whole thing was too much Ash, then maybe Gary or some other important character. Speaking of Gary, he didn't get much episodes in Johto, when he was still the main rival, right?
 
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