Summary

• Netflix may be working on a live-action Pokemon series following Red, a silent protagonist from the games.
• Fans are hesitant about Red speaking in the show.
• Despite challenges, Pokemon's massive popularity ensures fans and viewers will likely give the series a chance.

A prominent leaker has suggested that Netflix is still working on a live-action Pokemon series. It will f🍌ollow Red. The protagonist of the original games, Pokemon Red & Blue, has had his story told countless times, from the numerous Gen 1 remakes to the excellent anime series Pokemon Generations.

He's one of the most iconic characters in all of Pokemon, standing only behind Ash and Pikachu in terms of recognisability.

168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Team Rocket might have something to say about that.

His party consists of six iconic Pokemon: Pikachu, Venꦫusaur, Blastoise, Charizard, Snorlax, and Lapras (originally Espeon). His story is as iconic as his monsters. He makes perfect sense for the protagonist of a live-action Pokemon TV show. So why a💦re fans so dead set against it?

Red is a silent protagonist. He never speaks. Even when you meet him as a postgame antagonist in later games, he doesn't say a word. Apparently, he will speak in the live-action show. That makes sense, seeing as I've never seen a TV show with a silent protagonist - it's simply much more difficult to pull off in the medium.

But fans are annoyed by this tweak to his character. It doesn't matter that he's only silent because the Pokemon games don't have much player choice, agency, or voice acting. It doesn't matter that his later appearances were only silent as a nod to his first adventure. It doesn't even matter that he spoke throughout Generations, an excellent short anime series that captured the magic of Pokemon for viewers of all ages. Pokemon fans would seemingly rather boycott any adaptation in which Red speaks than see what Netflix has in store.

Red's not the problem, however. I'm not the biggest fan of revisiting his story again after so many Kanto expeditions in the games, but nostalgia pays the bills in 2024. Everything has to be a remake, a sequel, or both. Pokemon has played it safe by choosing Red as the protagonist. Where it's pushing the boundaries further is with the choice to film the series in live-action.

Detective Pikachu worked. The story was fine until the final half hour, the dialogue was akin to that of most modern IP films, but the monsters looked fantastic. From Pikachu's facial expressions to Charizard's scales to the water dripping off Magikarp's back, the computer generated monsters were incredible. I loved getting an insight into life coexisting with Pokemon in Rime City and the movie gave the best depiction of what it's really like to be a Pokemon trainer since Pokemon Go augmented our realities back in 2016.

But this was a Hollywood movie with a gargantuan budget. Ryan Reynolds played the titular star. Bill Nighy was Mewtwo. The budget for the visual effects team could have (and should have) been higher than those two stars' salaries combined.

The Netflix show will not have a comparable budget. Gone are the days when the streaming giant threw millions at countless original series. Perhaps the promise of the Pokemon IP will coax a few more dollars out of Netflix's purse, but it still won't come close to Detective Pikachu.

This is a problem. Whoever the protagonist of any Pokemon show, the real stars are the monsters. And they need to look good. We may not need to have every electric yellow hair on Pikachu's body individually animated, but it needs to sell the idea that these are real monsters inhabiting a real imagined world with our real actor, whoever that may be. With a Netflix budget, I'm not sure that's possible.

In anime, you can get away with stylising the monsters. Illustrated frames don't have to look photorealistic and illustrated monsters don't have to obey the laws of physics. You can grow limbs to emphasise an attack or humanise emotions to tug at the viewers' heartstrings. It's far easier to personify a cartoon Pokemon than one that's supposed to look like a real tortoise with accurate proportions and cannons in its shell. I worry that, without the budget of a Hollywood blockbuster and without the creative license that comes with anime, the live-action Pokemon series will fall into an uncanny valley. I'm certainly more worried about the monsters than I am about whether Red tests his vocal cords or not.

My dream fan casting for Red would be Timothee Chalanet who is a little too old and a lot too expensive. Realistically it'll be one of the Stranger Things kids, won't it?

With an overreliance on nostalgia, Pokemon that look like Doctor Who villains, and a protagonist who speaks out of turn, is the Pokemon live-action adaptation doomed? Not in the slightest. Pokemon is . Kids will lap up anything with Pikachu🍰 slapped on the front. Many adults, mysel🎐f included, will check it out due either to curiosity or nostalgia.

Ultimately, the series' success will come down to the execution. If the script is tight and the Pokemon look good, Netflix is onto a winner. Heck, you could probably get away with a half-baked script if the monsters are cute enough to keep the audience watching. Fans are fixating on the wrong part of Pokemon as information trickles out of Netflix HQ. Netflix isn't going to ruin Red, but it could well muck up the monsters.