Recommended episode(s): (Human-Pokémon bond) "Bye Bye, Butterfree" (Pokémon [first season]) -Ash must release his beloved Butterfree during its mating season "Pikachu's Goodbye" (Pokémon [first season]) -Ash believes his Pikachu may be better off with its own kind, but Pikachu chooses to stay with Ash "Snow Way Out!" (Pokémon [first season]) -Trapped in an avalanche, Ash's Pokémon refuse to return to their Pokéballs so they can keep him warm "The Pi-Kahuna!" (Pokémon [early second season]) -Tale of a 20-year friendship between a discouraged surfer and the Pikachu that helped him rediscover his love of surfing "Tracey Gets Bugged" (Pokémon [Orange Islands; second season]) -Tracey helps an aging Scyther forced out if its swarm to regain its pride "Charizard Chills" (Pokémon [Orange Islands; second season]) -Ash's disobedient Charizard develops respect for its trainer after Ash stays up all night nursing it back to health "Turning Over a New Bayleef" (Pokémon Johto League Champions [fourth season]) -After Ash uncharacteristically yells at his Bayleef, it runs away and Ash must work hard to regain its trust "Fly Me to the Moon" (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -With encouragement, a determined Pidgey flies higher than any Pidgey in history "A Tyrogue Full of Trouble" (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -An out-of-control Tyrogue is tempered by a tough but caring new trainer "As Cold as Pryce" (Glacier Badge, part one) (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) "Nice Pryce, Baby!" (Glacier Badge, part two) (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -A cynical gym leader regains his love for his Pokémon when his lost Piloswine is found years later "A Bite to Remember" (Pokémon Advanced [sixth season]) -Max encourages a feisty Poochyena to learn the skills needed to evolve "A Corphish Out of Water" (Pokémon Advanced [sixth season]) -Ash carries his Corphish miles to the nearest Pokémon Center when it swallows a piece of rope "Grass Hysteria!" (Pokémon Advanced Challenge [seventh season]) -After befriending May, a protected Bulbasaur learns to trust the world outside its preserve "Where's Armaldo?" (Pokémon Advanced Battle [eighth season]) -A frightened Armaldo returns home because of its trust in the scientist who revived it "Showdown at Linoone" (Pokémon Advanced Battle [eighth season]) -A boy realizes that despite his Zigzagoon's evolution, Token, now a Linoone, is still his same beloved pet "Journey to the Starting Line" (Pokémon Chronicles) -A new trainer only interested in strong Pokémon learns the value of training a timid starter "Sweet Baby James" (Pokémon Battle Frontier [ninth season]) -James must leave his beloved Chimecho with relatives when it becomes too ill to travel "All the Glitters is Not Golden!" (Pokémon Battle Frontier [ninth season]) -When a Sudowoodo runs away following an unintentionally cruel experiment, its trainer tries desperately to rescue it "Twice Smitten, Once Shy" (Pokémon Diamond & Pearl [tenth season]) -When Dawn gives up too quickly on her newly-caught Pachirisu, her friends remind her that good relationships take time "Tanks For the Memories" (Pokémon DP Battle Dimension [eleventh season]) -Brock teaches an inexperienced Miltank trainer how to understand and bond with her Pokémon (and dozens more I can't even begin to name...just watch the whole series!!)

In fact, the kinder, gentler existence in which Pokémon live is an ideal view of the ways which we humans should live in peace with the animals we otherwise take for granted. Pokémon has given us humane interpretations of their use in medicine (i.e. Parasect, Shuckle; a move secretes the used Stun Spore or Berry Juice²); fishing (Pokéballs are used with lures and caught Pokémon are new friends); wool (Mareep shed their wool and in a week it grows back³!). Even a dairy farm is a pleasant place for Pokémon and humans alike. Got Milltank? Too bad the Goldenrod Gym episodes didn't air before Pikachu's fad-induced 'Got Milk?' ad4. I might have believed it.

And while most stories center around battles and badges, I cannot stress enough the issues Pokémon has covered which are parallel to animal issues addressed in our world. This has been the most evident in the 2002-03 Master Quest season in episodes which called for an even more peaceful existence between humans and Pokémon ("For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll") to a look inside the tortured mind of a newborn Larvitar, terrified of humans and plagued by painful memories of being stolen as an egg from its mother by poachers ("Address Unown"). Also featured were multi-part sagas in which the deeper, darker side of Giovanni's Team Rocket is seen (it's not all Jessie and James "Let's nab Pikachu and give the twerps a hard time"). The stories of taking a parent and baby Lugia from their home in the sea - and each other (see below) - and more genetic engineering gone wrong resulting in an enraged, red (a deformation of its normal blue color) Gyarados (see below) prove that Pokémon is more than just a game. As a writer, Pokémon has been more of an inspiration (one of many) to me than the age-old stand-bys. And hopefully, being that these and other Pokémon stories are on television and not in the movies, both new and old viewers can see them and draw their own conclusions, instead of having their minds already made up for them by critics who still can't pronounce or even spell Pokémon.

Recommended episode(s): "For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll" (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -The story of the legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh, who will only return to Earth when peace among people and Pokémon is achieved "The Mystery Is History" {Lugia; part 1} (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) "A Parent Trapped" {Lugia; part 2} (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) "A Promise is a Promise" {Lugia; part 3} (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -A Team Rocket scientist uses an infant Lugia to lure its parent into an experiment that measures a Pokémon's power by an artificially-induced rage "Talkin' 'Bout an Evolution" {Red Gyarados; part 1} (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) "Rage Of Innocence" {Red Gyarados; part 2} (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -The forced evolution of a Magikarp causes rage and destruction from its evolved form Gyarados, through no fault of its own "Address Unown" (Pokémon Master Quest [fifth season]) -After reaching into its subconscious, Ash finally learns why his newborn Larvitar is so terrified of humans

¹An annual awards program spotlighting animal awareness in major media, including both children's and animated programming
²From the episodes "The Problem with Paras" (Pokémon [first season]) and A Better Pill to Swallow (Pokémon Johto League Champions [fourth season])
³Pokédex (Silver) entry: "Its fleece grows continually. In the summer, the fleece is fully shed, but it grows back in a week."
4The "Got Milk?" magazine ad featuring Pikachu (2000) was published in the U.S. significantly before the introduction of the bovine Pokémon Miltank (notibly raised in open pastures and milked using gentle machinery) in Pokémon G/S games and later in Pokémon Johto League Champions [fourth season] episodes (September 2001). Before then, the source of milk produced for human (and Pokémon) consumption was not yet defined in the Pokémon world.