We play with our Pokemans! Lisa falls out of a boat! Joz says “Pika”! Carolyn discovers religion! Scott hits on ladies!
Episodes 63-64 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1998 anime movie.
The journey of pokémon trainers Ash Ketchum, Misty and Brock has now led them to the city of Old Shore Wharf, where they quickly notice that something strange is going on. The local pokémon centre has been closed and its' overseer — Nurse Jenny — has gone missing. They soon realize that the local pokémon lab has been overtaken by Mewtwo, a genitically engineered pokémon with plans for world domination. Will our heroes stop him? Or will he succeed in starting his crusade against humanity?
Starring Lisa Kopitsky (First Appearance) as Ash Ketchum, Jocelyn "Joz" Vammer as Pikachu, Carolyn Faye Kramer as Misty, Scott Aiello as Brock, and Paulo Quiros as the Dungeon Master.
Followed by Time Bandits.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Sexuality: Misty starts flirting with Officer Jenny upon seeing her, to the surprise of the other characters. (Out-Of-Universe, it came about because Carolyn didn't realize the police officer was a woman, being unfamiliar with the source material.)
- Adaptational Villainy: Ash captures/kidnaps Travis's Golem and later lies about it to Officer Jenny, claiming it was always his.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication: Mew now only gets a short, unexplained cameo at the end of the story, turning it into a Gainax Ending.
- Adaptation Name Change: To the surprise of the other characters, Pikachu decides to rename himself Jeff.
- All-Loving Hero: Misty, who believes that maybe Mewtwo and his evil clones would be much nicer if somebody just gave them a hug.
- The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: While it doesn't work that literally, our heroes have far more success reasoning with Mewtwo than they have trying to take him on in a straight-up fight.
- Ascended Extra: Officer Jenny now joins our heroes on their journey to the island.
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Broken Aesop: Paulo feels this way about the film's pacifist message, given that the whole show is based around a series of fighting tournaments. Granted, Mewtwo is far worse than the average Pokémon trainer, as his fights are to the death, but it's probably not a coincidence that our heroes suffer literal Aesop Amnesia in the end. Otherwise the very premise of the show may have been derailed.- It's worth pointing out that this message wasn't in the original script at all, but only added in the English dub due to Executive Meddling.
- Casanova Wannabe: Subverted with Brock, who actually manages to woo Officer Jenny and share a kiss with her. He isn't nearly as lucky with anyone else, however.
- Crosscast Role: Ash and Pikachu, played by Lisa and Joz, respectively. Of course, this trope was already in play in the original animé, so it's not like it's anything new.
- Death by Adaptation: May have happened to Meowth, who falls into the ocean in the first episode. Granted, they Never Found the Body…
- Also, when Mewtwo turns over a new leaf and blows up his cloning lab, it's only afterwards everyone (including the GM) remembers that the other trainers were still inside.
- Disney Death: Our heroes fear that their pokémon have been killed in the lab explosion, but Mewtwo assures them they they are safely contained under his arena. The other trainers are not as lucky.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Brock tries to seduce Officer Jenny so that Ash and Misty can sneak into the Pokémon Center unseen. It ends up working so well that she just lets them in willingly.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Mewtwo simply doesn't understand the concept of frienship. Even after getting interested in the idea, he views it simply as some kind of mutually beneficial scientific experiment.
- Face–Heel Turn: Downplayed with Mewtwo. Our heroes convince him to break the Cycle of Revenge he's trapped himself in and do something more constructive. He does, however, not become outright good, just non-hostile.
- Fake Defector: The Pokémon consider "joining" Mewtwo's cause only to get an oppurtunity to stab him in the back. This backfires when he orders them to kill their masters to prove their loyalty, something they just can't bring themselves to do.
- Fantastic Racism: Pikachu develops a deep-rooted aversion to water type Pokémon, due to his traumatic experiences in the first episode.
- Freud Was Right: Carolyn gets a lot of mileage out of the phallic imagery at Mewtwo's lair.
- Gone Horribly Right: Ash tries to convince Mewtwo that his experiments are a bad idea. Mewtwo agrees... and proceeds to immediately blow up his laboratory, killing at least the three other trainers still locked in their cell.
- Hypocritical Humor: Discussed: After Mewtwo blows up the cloning lab, Joz makes it clear that she can never again be called "a cold-hearted bitch" as Paulo, in letting Mewtwo do that, had accidentally killed three NPCs in one act.
- Mondegreen Gag: Our protagonists mishear "Mewtwo" as "U2", leading to a fair amount of Waxing Lyrical.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Pikachu tries to turn the lights on with his powers, but instead ends up destroying the only functioning lamp in the room.
- Oddly Named Sequel: Inverted Trope. The rerollers point out how strange it is that the film's alternate title — Mewtwo Strikes Back — follows the Revenge of the Sequel pattern even though it isn't a sequel. The story does have Mewtwo striking back against his creators, but is also his
introduction in this continuity. - Paper-Thin Disguise: Worn by Team Rocket, as usual. True to form, they still somehow manage to fool everyone. Even Misty — who is suspicious of the "travellers" from the beginning — doesn't actually recognise them as Team Rocket.
- Shout-Out: The voice Scott uses for Brock is compared to that of Jack Nicholson. Later, Scott says that he's starting to slip into a Casey Kasem impression.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Chelsie can "talk" to pokémon using her Psychic Powers.
- Suddenly Voiced: Joz occasionally portrays Pikachu as a voiced character to illustrate Mewtwo or Chelsie communicating with him telepathically.
- Villainous Crush: Inverted. Brock considers trying to seduce both Mewtwo and the Eldritch Abomination-like mutant. It doesn't work.
- What Does This Button Do?: Pikachu's meddling with a keyboard accidentally creates an enormous, misshapen monster who begs to be killed. He does, however, take out most of Mewtwo's evil clones later.
- Wham Line: Right as Paulo states how Mewtwo has blown up the cloning lab at the top of the castle:
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: In-Universe. Carolyn speculates that Pikachu is actually an inner aspect of Ash, and also represents Jesus Christ.
- Would Hurt a Child: Mewtwo has imprisoned Chelsie — the eight-year old daughter of a now dead scientist — and performed experiments on her, making her develop telepathic abilities.
