by Scott Thompson
As of March 1, Pokémon fans were treated to the arrival of their beloved television series on Netflix, featuring two seasons: Pokémon: Indigo League and Pokémon: Black & White. They also have two movies: Pokémon: Black and Pokémon: White. This is the first time the massively successful franchise has been on Netflix, making it a cause for celebration amongst its fans.
The Indigo League is the season that introduced people around the world to Pokémon, with 10-year-old protagonist Ash Ketchum setting off on his first ever Pokémon journey, on which he aims to be the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world, along with Pikachu, arguably the most well known Pokémon thanks to his role as Ash’s sidekick in every Pokémon series and movie.
While many aspiring Pokémon trainers will distract themselves with watching the original series for the first time since 1997, it’s important to see this on a larger scale. In adding two seasons and two movies, Netflix showed that it’s willing to spend big money in order to bring in more viewing options for its customers.
In a press release at the beginning of the year, Netflix announced it would be spending upwards of three billion dollars throughout 2014. This is one of the first major additions since that statement.
Bringing a huge franchise like Pokemon into their catalogue is the perfect statement to start proving Netflix’s ambition, and it will be interesting to see what other major television shows and movies follow. Hopefully even more Pokémon seasons are in store for the coming months.
Sophomore Scott Thompson is Arts & Entertainment Editor. His email is sthomps2@fandm.edu.