Flight Of The Lugia
Episode 2 of Pokemon Journeys begins with Ash late again but eventually hurrying off to Professor Oak’s lab. With an opening ceremony for a research facility in Vermilion City coming up, Ash’s initial elation is squashed by his Mother tagging along for the ride. Once there though, Ash discovers a brand new Pokemon he’s never seen before – an electric dog called Yamper – barking at him outside. After receiving a shocking welcome, he eventually makes it to the ceremony and greets Professor Cerice, who discusses finding and recording all the different Pokemon in the world. The young boy from the previous episode, Goh, is already one step ahead though and uses his pokedex to head down to the docks. Unfortunately a sleeping Snorlax blocks Ash’s path but the rest of the group watch in awe as Lugia appears out the sky and brushes off attacks from various Gen 1 Pokemon including Gengar and Jolteon. The trainers decide to team up though and prepare for a Raid Battle. However, both Goh and Ash have a different idea and jump onboard the Lugia where they meet each other for the first time. After exchanging pleasantries, the duo are dropped off by the rare flying Pokemon and make their way back to Vermilion City. Cerice is pretty impressed with their exploits and gushes over how they managed to capture rare footage of the Lugia. Cerice decides to make them his apprentices and tasks them with capturing footage of more Pokemon and working together, living at the research lab for now in a shared dorm. Goh decides against choosing a starter Pokemon too and instead, focuses on trying to catch the legendary Mew he saw out in the woods, which is where the episode ends. With a few nods toward Pokemon Go and more Pokemon species to marvel at, the inclusion of Lugia in the middle of the ocean alongside these different trainers with evolved Pokemon does help to give a sense of scale to the world. The animation is decent too and the usual cut-aways, including those trademark Ash knockout poses and stock screens, retain the charm seen in the previous seasons. The introduction for both Ash and Goh has been good too and it’s nice to see some of the later Pokemon joining the Gen 1 troupe. As an introduction for a new generation of fans, Pokemon Journeys is so far shaping up to be a pretty solid entry. Published: 03 June 2020 at 1:15 pm on TheReviewGeek.com This review is based on the live showing on POP TV which exclusively aired the first four episodes. Expect the rest to arrive on the 12th June!
