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This fan-made YouTube series has given me a newfound appreciation for the majesty of Pokémon. It’s called “Pokéarth” and it reimagines the fictional creatures as if they were the subjects of nature documentary series like Planet Earth. The episodes show a new side to beloved Pokémon like Wailord and Spheal.
Animator EnlargedKai has released four episodes so far, each centered around a different Pokémon. There’s a video that follows Magikarp, another based on Spheal, one on Clodsire, and another on the humongous float whale Pokémon, Wailord. Each story has a narrative inspired by the habitat and behavior of the creature as we observe it in the wild, just like a nature documentary would.
The animation style depicts each Pokémon in stunning detail. Flourishes like the furry coat on Spheal come to life and lend a sense of hyper-realism required for a documentary series. EnlargedKai said that everything in the show is made with the 3D animation tool Blender and it can take him about two months to complete an episode for the series.
Paul Warren does the voiceover narration for each episode. He speaks with a deep voice and British accent that could make David Attenborough himself proud. As you watch a glorious overhead shot of a Wailord breaching, Warren will narrate facts about the creature, like the “fact” that a Wailord’s heart is the size of a Snorlax.
EnlargedKai told Polygon that the narration uses a blend of lore-accurate Pokémon facts from Bulbapedia and real-life facts inspired by the animal a Pokémon is based on. For example, the Wailord episode uses some facts from real-life whales.
“I try to merge fact and fiction as much as possible but sometimes it’s just too clunky so I make up my own stuff to try and bridge the two,” he said.
As for what Pokémon is next, EnlargedKai says that it’s up to his personal preference, but that he also might have Patreon members pick the next Pokémon to feature.
The short videos might be about Pokémon, but they’re so detailed that any fan of nature documentaries could enjoy them. So if you want to see stunningly rendered wild Pokémon, you can watch the full series on YouTube now.
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