Pokemon Production Notes

A NEW ADVENTURE

Professor Spencer Hale, a dedicated Pokémon researcher, has been working very hard to learn the secrets of a mysterious Pokémon called the Unown. The Unown, Symbol Pokémon, appear as 26 individual entities in the shape of letters of the alphabet. They have the ability to read human dreams, thoughts and emotions and transform them into reality ñ but a special kind of reality.

As he works, the Professor is suddenly pulled into another world, in the same way his wife disappeared two years earlier while probing the mystery of the Unown. His young daughter, Molly, is now all alone in the Hale house with neither mother nor father and no one to comfort her.

Distraught, Molly dreams only of being reunited with her father. The Unown sense her loneliness and transform her simple wish into action, surrounding the Hale home with a colossal wall of crystal and creating a dreamworld inside where Molly can have her heart’s desire. They send Entei, a leonine Pokémon with power and a terrible growl but a good and gentle heart, to be her guardian and to take the place of her father. For Molly, Entei takes the form of Spencer Hale and she calls him Papa.

“Entei is a character dreamed up out of a storybook,” explains Norman Grossfeld, who produced “Pokémon 3 The Movie” for American audiences and wrote the English-language adaptation together with director Michael Haigney. “Reading the storybook is one of the last things that Molly does with her father before he disappears and she mentions that Entei reminds her of him. Later, missing her father, she remembers the story they read together and wishes he would come back. Somehow the Unown reach into her mind and interpret those feelings to produce the creature Entei, who is the embodiment of her father.”

Soon, Molly longs for a mother as well. Once again, the Unown respond. They do not send Molly her real mother but instead select Delia Ketchum, Ash’s mother, as a surrogate and dispatch the faithful Entei to bring her to the Hale house.

Meanwhile, champion Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum, along with friends Brock and Misty and their constant companion Pikachu, are busy exploring the neighboring Johto region en route to Greenfield. Ash is looking forward to competing in the Johto League to earn his Pokémon Master title. Along the way they are joined by another young trainer, Lisa, who engages Ash in a friendly Pokémon battle and then decides to accompany the gang as they continue toward Greenfield.

Upon their arrival in the town, Ash is surprised to encounter his mother and Professor Oak, who have come to investigate the strange disappearance of Professor Hale. The group sits down to enjoy lunch together and that’s when Entei strikes, swooping up Delia and rushing away with her while the stunned Ash watches in horror and bewilderment.

Inside the Hale house great crystals begin to grow and reach up to the sky, transforming the simple home into a sparkling palace of sheer impenetrable walls. Molly is happy again. But poor Delia! She understands the little girl’s need but misses her own son and knows she must get back to him before this crystal palace becomes a prison forever for herself and Molly. The question is, how?

With no solution in sight, Ash makes a brave decision. As he stands before the house with its monumental crystal reinforcements and the formidable Entei barring entry, all thoughts of the Johto League championships are forgotten. Ash marshals all his strength and resources to save his mother from the spell of the Unown and keep both her and Molly in the real world where they belong.

“Ash makes the decision to go into this dangerous area where nobody seems to be able to break through, to figure out what’s happened to his mother and try to rescue her,” says Grossfeld. This he does despite his fear. “It’s a big thing for a kid to take upon himself,” Grossfeld continues. “I think a part of what makes Pokémon special and makes Ash special is that he is definitely not a superhero. He doesn’t have superpowers and doesn’t necessarily do incredible things but he usually does the right thing and the thoughtful thing. He’s pure of heart.”

And Ash succeeds, to a point. He meets the challenge and breaks the spell of the Unown this time but he does not conquer the Unown. They recede back to the mysterious realm from which they cameÖfor the moment.

“There are some unanswered questions in the movie,” says Grossfeld. “The subject matter is very interesting and quite deep. One of the things Ash learns in this adventure is that when you face a power that’s inexplicable and unknown everything might not be resolved. You just have to deal with the fact that there are some mysteries out there we may never solve.”

Director Michael Haigney agrees, adding that “the Pokémon world is an unfolding, unending one filled with wonder and discovery ñ about the Pokémon and about ourselves.”

In keeping with this theme of discovery and mystery, “Pokémon 3 The Movie” features a brand new original song “To Know the Unknown,” written by Norman Grossfeld and performed by the female pop group Innosense.