Pokémon Forever - How The Brand Stood the Test of Time. That and More on Today’s Finale of “The Big Hit Show”

We’ve reached the final battle, trainers – the fifth and final episode of The Big Hit Show Season 4 is now available – closing out the documentary-style podcast from Spotify and Higher Ground exploring the pop-culture phenomenon that is Pokémon.

Over the course of the five-episode season, host and journalist Alex Pappademas has investigated how this 90’s Japanese video game became the highest-grossing global franchise of all time. Along with his personal team of Pokémon trainers, Pappademas embarked on a Pokémon journey of his own, running through the history of the franchise, covering everything from its origin to how it became an unstoppable mecca full of video games, trading cards, animated series, feature films and more.

In this week’s finale, “Evolution,” Pappademas and his crew discuss how the franchise evolved into a lasting global sensation consistently at the forefront of pop culture, and how it effortlessly continues to change with the times. Starting with the turn of the 21st century, every modern-day generation has their version of Pokémon, and that’s one of the reasons why it has stood the test of time. The brand still iterates, and always will. The popular video games transitioned from adorable pocket monsters getting caught behind a Gameboy screen to jumping through that screen and into our world with 2016’s Pokémon Go. The same type of change goes for the television and film adaptations. What originated as a cute anime set in a pastoral landscape eventually became 2019’s Detective Pikachu, a live-action murder mystery set in a noir-like big city. In this episode we’ll find out how these evolutions happened, hear from those who aided in said iterations, and understand how the brand managed to surpass all competition to truly become the greatest of all time.

About The Big Hit Show

The Big Hit Show will take listeners on an epic journey that spans genres, mediums, and generations to explore what happens when a wildly successful piece of pop culture gets so big that it changes the world. The series will feature four chapters, each dedicated to unpacking the genesis and impact of a “new classic” in entertainment and culture through in-depth conversations with the visionaries who created them and the fans responsible for their legacy. So far, The Big Hit Show has looked at Twilight, the teenage vampire romance novel turned multi-billion-dollar movie franchise that has been revisited in the Tik Tok age for some of its more problematic themes; and To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-Award, emotionally complex album that fans are still unpacking half-a-decade later; and Fight Club, David Fincher’s 1998 cult-classic that re-framed how media looked at and treated masculinity and violence. The fourth and final chapter, covering the global phenomenon Pokémon, is out now.

Author Profile

Al Mega

I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!