Pokémon Detective Pikachu released on Friday and it’s a solid film. It’s selling tickets, reviewing well, and even diehard Pokémon fans have nice things to say about it. And now that the film is out, its creators are being more open about its development process and how it came to be. Case in point, the main writers, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, recently appeared on the Blank Check podcast and offered all kinds of interesting insight into writing the film and successfully argued against any notion that they might not care about Pokémon.
In discussing collaborating with the Pokémon Company, Hernandez and Samit said they were told, “Squirtles don’t strategize.” They also explain why it’s not the Red/Blue storyline and why Detective Pikachu was the starting line for the story. They say that starting with Detective Pikachu as the first live-action Pokémon movie would have been a bit like the first live-action Mario being about Dr. Mario said it was a like, “writing a Star Wars movie without a light saber or the force.” Since they couldn’t use trainers or battles in this world, they decided to focus just on the concept of evolution.
Hernandez and Samit did not confirm a sequel (though that is apparently already in the works), but said they want to get into what it’s like inside a Pokéball in future live action films, which is a topic we’ve asked Pokémon producer/composer/director Junichi Masuda about in the past when he said, “It’s a space that’s incredibly comfortable for Pokémon. So comfortable, that they want to enter the Pokéball without any sort of outside encouragement.”
Hernandez and Samit were the driving force behind making sure Psyduck was included as a main Pokémon character and also said that Garbodor was in early drafts of the script and it was one they really wanted to see in the film, but he was cut, probably for being too weird. You can listen to the whole episode below, which you should because it’s a great episode of a great podcast.
For more on Pokémon Detective Pikachu, head here to read all about our visit to the film’s set, and here to listen to our spoiled episode discussing the full film. You can also find all of the strange questions we’ve ever asked The Pokémon Company by following the links below, like what does Rare Candy taste like, what happens inside a Pokéball, and is everyone in the world of Pokémon?
[Source: The Blank Check Podcast]
