Does the BW saga have the least filler out every series?

[SlimeStack]

I just counted roughly how many episodes it took Ash to get 8 badges, and then how long it took to see the conclusion of each Pokemon League, and I got these rough numbers:

Kanto: 63, 80
Johto: 138, 156
Hoenn: 111, 131
Sinnoh: 179, 189
Unova: 84 (86 with TRvTP?)

The Unova League could maybe conclude by maybe 110. It's soon, isn't it?

Anyway, I didn't see AG or DP so I'll be interested to hear opinions here. We all know that Johto being twice as long as Kanto did it no favours, and they really screwed up in using all that extra time effectively.

Would anyone say that Kanto, Hoenn and Unova have less filler than Johto and Sinnoh? I guess we should take into account that the former two got extra seasons to fill in the gap before the next series, and Unova is likely to have one too.

I feel like Unova has way less filler than the show I watched growing up, but that show spent a lot of time in Johto!

[Nyarlathotep]

Unova indeed has less filler than the other series.

Sinnoh had a good amount of them, but not as much as Johto.
I did not watch AG, so I can't opine about it.

[7threst]

Unova in that regard is excellent in a way that the pacing is really fast and that almost any episode has something noteworthy to happen. But - with that in mind, I'm almost certain that with the release of Black/White 2 and the upcoming conclusion of the Unova League, that there is going to be a "filler season" to fill the gap between now to the point when the makers conceive the 6th generation and its series and games for it. Similar as they did with the Orange League and later the Battle Frontier.

[SlimeStack]

How was the Battle Frontier? Was it all COTD, or was there a lot of character development both for the humans and the Pokémon? A filler season is fine as long as the episodes stay relevant to the filler plot arc.

[Hero of Ideals]

How was the Battle Frontier? Was it all COTD, or was there a lot of character development both for the humans and the Pokémon? A filler season is fine as long as the episodes stay relevant to the filler plot arc.

Wow, you really need to catch up.

The Battle Frontier was original in Pokemon Emerald, where in the 9th season, Ash, May, Max, and Brock traveled through Kanto where the frontier brains, same as Gym Leaders, are located and Ash battled them while May took on the Contests in Kanto. Ash won the battle frontier and was given the offer to be a frontier brain, but declined for now (some got made he turned it down, but don't understand Ash would continue his adventure). This victory is a possible road Ash will follow, if he takes Scott's offer again.

[SlimeStack]

Wow, you really need to catch up.

The Battle Frontier was original in Pokemon Emerald, where in the 9th season, Ash, May, Max, and Brock traveled through Kanto where the frontier brains, same as Gym Leaders, are located and Ash battled them while May took on the Contests in Kanto. Ash won the battle frontier and was given the offer to be a frontier brain, but declined for now (some got made he turned it down, but don't understand Ash would continue his adventure). This victory is a possible road Ash will follow, if he takes Scott's offer again.

I know what happened in the arc, I'm just asking how much of it was filler. :P

And I'm not catching up. That'd mean I have to watch like 400 episodes. @_@ Getting back into it at Unova seemed to work great for me.

[Hero of Ideals]

Ok

I know what happened in the arc, I'm just asking how much of it was filler. :P

And I'm not catching up. That'd mean I have to watch like 400 episodes. @_@ Getting back into it at Unova seemed to work great for me.

Filler wise, I say most of the episodes, since rhere was frontier battles, May's contest, cameo of Pokemon rangers, Eevee, Aipom, it wasn't bad or alot. There was a small gap between Ash's final symbol rematches but most of it was for May's last ribbons and the Grand Festival.

[pokemonsquared]

It has less filler than most, but the quality of the nonfillers has dropped steeply from the past seasons.

[CyberCubed]

It has less filler than most, but the quality of the nonfillers has dropped steeply from the past seasons.

Unova doesn't have less fillers it has more. Unova is probably goin to end at the 110th episode in terms of league making it only 20 episodes less than Hoenn.

There was plenty of filler in BW.

[Hero of Ideals]

Unova doesn't have less fillers it has more. Unova is probably goin to end at the 110th episode in terms of league making it only 20 episodes less than Hoenn.

There was plenty of filler in BW.

I'm sorry but how do you know that to be sure, we don't even have the episode number for the start of the league.

There wasn't that much filler.

[CyberCubed]

Unova is almost as long as Hoenn was without a full quest for Iris. That alone says there's a lot of filler.

And no, a 1-2 minute TR scene doesn't save an entire episode.

[sidrick]

It feals like less filler but the ep's to me at lest seem to have a beter quality of storry to them, apart from the continuity mistakes.

[An00bis]

I think it's that later seasons have gotten better at cleverly disguising Filler.

In the Original Series and maybe even in Hoenn it was blatantly obvious which episodes would be Filler and which would have Story Building stuff in it. The first time I really noticed it was in Sinnoh, and there they had ways of weaving important events into episodes that would otherwise be Filler. Then we have archs where stuff happens but it is essentially Filler which was predominate throughout Sinnoh.

In addition to clearly obvious Filler we've also have Archs that were put in basically to make the time between Ash getting badges more interesting. In Hoenn and Sinnoh that was the Contest Arch that for someone who came judge for Badges and Gyms and Battles can be considered Filler. In Unova we have the Don Battle Archs which while action packed and chock full of Rivals is also essentially regional padding.

I guess, depending on your definition of Filler, Unova can be just as Filler-rific as any other region. It just doesn't feel like Filler because there's a lot of mindless battling.

[ChaosMage]

Well, it depends on how you define "filler". A recent(ish) trend is for a pokemon to start learning a move or combo in one episode which will play into a future plot point. In Sinnoh, almost every training session brought some foreshadowing or development. So even if the main plot was ultimately irrelevant, there was some set-up. Similarly, Unova often has fillers which contain little bits of unrelated build-up for Team Rocket's next big plan, thirty seconds or so at a time. The line has been blurred, is what I'm saying.

[SlimeStack]

My original point was that series with less episodes must have less space to fill. So it makes me wonder if Kanto/Hoenn/Unova simply have less time to kill than Johto/Sinnoh, and therefore have less filler. Again though, one could argue that the majority of the filler is simply moved to after the league, in the form of the Orange Archipelago and Battle Frontier.

Very good points on the writing of filler episodes, I didn't think of that.     Spoiler:

Show Spoiler

 
So in the dub on Saturday, we watched Luke win a movie making competition at Pokéstar Studios. While Luke's life is irrelevant to the story, one might feel that the story had advanced through the brief scenes of Team Rocket and Meloetta.
 

So like it was said above, the line is blurred.

Though, to be honest, Black & White probably just feels like it has no filler because the last series I watched before it was 2 or 3 years of Johto, lol.

[fer92]

Unova doesn't have less fillers it has more. Unova is probably goin to end at the 110th episode in terms of league making it only 20 episodes less than Hoenn.

There was plenty of filler in BW.

Unova is almost as long as Hoenn was without a full quest for Iris. That alone says there's a lot of filler.

And no, a 1-2 minute TR scene doesn't save an entire episode.

Cyber, youre wrong. I count the number of Best Wishes fillers and I see 10 fillers in 84 episodes, being four of them debatable until the end of the league (for example, the Gothita episode has Scraggy's development and potential to Katharine to return in the League).

    Spoiler:- Including japan episodes:

Show Spoiler

 
All only-Japan episodes, the Cubchoo episode in Dawn's cameo is the only filler until date. Because the Layla episode isn't filler.
 

Also, one time I count all the filler of the diferent series and Hoenn has more fillers than Sinnoh or Sinnoh could get one-two more fillers, not more. And I only count Hoenn, not the Battle Fronteir (who had like 16 fillers).

[Pokemaniac24]

Cyber, youre wrong. I count the number of Best Wishes fillers and I see 0 fillers in 84 episodes, being four of them debatable until the end of the league (for example, the Gothita episode has Scraggy's development and potential to Katharine to return in the League).

    Spoiler:- Including japan episodes:

Show Spoiler

 
All only-Japan episodes, the Cubchoo episode in Dawn's cameo is the only filler until date. Because the Layla episode isn't filler.
 

Also, one time I count all the filler of the diferent series and Hoenn has more fillers than Sinnoh or Sinnoh could get one-two more fillers, not more. And I only count Hoenn, not the Battle Fronteir (who had like 16 fillers).

Um, the Bouffalant episode, the Litwick episode (sorry it was, You could take that episode out and not miss anything important), the Cottonee episode and I am sure there are more. Count again.

[SlimeStack]

Yeah I remember seeing filler episodes in Unova too. I just don't remember seeing too many.

[Pokemaniac24]

The Maractus Musical is another that comes to mind. So, Fer92, Unova definitely didn't have 0 fillers. For someone that claims to have so much knowledge of everything Pokemon and acts like they know a lot, the fact that you didn't catch this is alarming and says a lot.

[CyberCubed]

There were tons of fillers in Unova. 1-2 minutes of TR screentime does not make an episode non-filler.

[Hero of Ideals]

There were tons of fillers in Unova. 1-2 minutes of TR screentime does not make an episode non-filler.

It can't be that much, why don't you do researc

[CyberCubed]

It can't be that much, why don't you do researc

There was a lot of filler early on and in the middle. Episodes about Cottonee, Buffalo, the one taking pictures of the deer, etc.

The belief that Unova has little filler because it moved faster is nonsense...we're still not at the league and Japan is approaching its 100th episode.

[An00bis]

Unova Fillers off the Top of my Head:

All of the Episodes between Meowth Joining and Leaving the Group: Purrlion, Dream Thief, Bearic
Detective Cilian (Audino) and its sequels
Zen-Mode Monkies in the Clock Tower
Pokemon Musical Episode
The Deino Episode
Cottonee in Love
Afro Episode
    Spoiler:

Show Spoiler

 
Onix Island
Nursery Episode
 

[pokemonsquared]

There was a lot of filler early on and in the middle. Episodes about Cottonee, Buffalo, the one taking pictures of the deer, etc.

The belief that Unova has little filler because it moved faster is nonsense...we're still not at the league and Japan is approaching its 100th episode.

Kanto was the only main region that took less time to get to the league.

[fer92]

There was a lot of filler early on and in the middle. Episodes about Cottonee, Buffalo, the one taking pictures of the deer, etc.

The belief that Unova has little filler because it moved faster is nonsense...we're still not at the league and Japan is approaching its 100th episode.

Cyber, I need to complete the fillers list. I only see the Cottonee, Elgyem, Audono (detective), Maractus, seasonal Sawsbuck and Bouffalant as absolute fillers. Is very probable that the Darmanitan (debut), Gothitelle (Bridge), Litwick Mansion, Purrloin, Gothita (Katharine).

    Spoiler:- New episodes:

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Possibly the Cubchoo episode in Dawn's cameo. And the next episode isnt filler because is where Ash knows where is the league in this episode.
 

And not only that, Hoenn has a technical draw with Sinnoh (has some debatable episodes in the two sagas) although Sinnoh has 60 more episodes than Hoenn (yes, I count the fillers one time).