Pokemon Vol. #23: Show Time!

By: Andrew Tei
Review Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Release Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2000



What They Say
The Stars are Born! A famous director is making a Pokemon movie, but who's going to be the star? Can Psyduck get top bill-ing? Then, it's off to Hollywood for the big premiere, but Meowth's been there before! See the long-awaited origin of Meowth, and find out why it can speak! Plus, Bruno is one of the Elite Four and an expert in ground Pokemon, but can even he stop a rampaging Onix? Season Two, Episodes 16-18.

The Review!
Hollywood, there?s no place like Hollywood. It?s time for Pikachu to hit the big screen and check out the glittery town. Plus one of the Elite Four makes an appearance as Ash trains for the Pokémon League.

Audio:

The only language included is the English dub that is a stereo mix with pretty much all the sound directed towards the front sound stage. The sound track is clear though, and there were no problems in the sound levels. Dialogue is also very clear.

Video:

The bright colors used come across pretty well. For the majority of the DVD, the compression was also great, there were very few compressions artifacts presents. You really need to look hard for most of them.


Packaging:

Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Togepi, and even Meowth adorn the cover in style for a trip to a Hollywood premiere. The spine doesn?t have a volume number, but the back does list every episode present on the DVD. The insert inside, repeats the main image on the back cover and a 3D holographic card of Squirtle is inside.

Menu:

The menu is very simple with selections for starting each episode, the opening, or the end. It?s static and there?s no audio.

Extras:

None.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)

Three more episodes are presented, with just the opening and closing credits surrounding them.

In Lights, Camera, Quack-thon, the trio encounter a director getting ready to shoot his next film. This film though, features a lot of Pokémon, so a casting call goes out. Even Team Rocket gets their Pokémon to try out. Who?s the star though? Not that duck!

After the film is made, it?s off to Hollywood for the movie?s premiere in Go West, Young Meowth. This episode has nothing to do with the main cast though, as the title points out. We get Meowth?s back-story before he was a part of Team Rocket, why he can walk on two legs, and why he can speak.


Last off, we round this DVD off with To Master the Onixpected. Brock and Ash learn that one of the Elite Four Pokémon trainers, Bruno, is training nearby. They are convinced that Bruno has a secret behind training pokémon that makes him such a great master. After finding Bruno, they begin their training, but really what is the secret?

All these episodes are filler between Ash getting the eighth gym badge and the start of the Pokémon tournament. The Meowth background story is pretty interesting, but the other two episodes are pretty weak, especially the heavy-handed lesson in Bruno?s episode.

Features
English Langugae

Review Equipment
Toshiba 3109 player, Toshiba 36? Cinema Series via component, Pioneer VSX-810S receiver via optical, Cerwin Vega front speakers, Pinnacle center and rears