Pokémon the Series:
Sun & Moon
Check out an episode that’s near and dear to our hearts. Who doesn’t want a cat-like Pokemon?
Our work on Pokemon The Series: Sun & Moon began with Season 20.
Season 20 | Episode 7
That’s Why The Litten Is a Scamp
This is one of our favorite episodes, both from a musical and dramatic standpoint. Enjoy, and ask yourself whether a kitty that can throw (up?) flaming hairballs would be a worthy companion.
Here’s the official word on this episode from Pokemon TV.
Using the theme song as score in Sun & Moon
We like to use the theme song as a score in the course of the season, and the instrumental version of “Under the Alolan Sun” is a good example.
For this season, we did a relaxed, island version of the song with a reggae vibe, especially in the chorus. And we thought it would be fun to hear the marimba and the steel guitar together playing reggae because they’re opposed in a lot of ways.
The steel guitar sounds lovely doing these beautiful sustained tones, sixths and thirds, with vibrato and a lot of delay and echo. The marimba, on the other hand, is a little percussive note and, depending on the room that it’s in and the size of the instrument, has varying degrees of resonance. The two do completely different things and they sound beautiful together.
Establishing Pokemon character themes
One of the things that was especially nice about the first season of Pokemon The Series: Sun & Moon is that we got to stay in one place, the Pokemon school, and establish the characters there over the balance of the season.
To amplify that sense of place, we wrote a theme for the school that appeared in various guises. It’s in 7/4 time, which is always an odd time, playing cheerful, melodic music.
Influences on music for Pokemon The Series: Sun & Moon
Odd time signatures takes Ed back to the music he dug at the ages that the show is geared toward, around nine to 12 (in addition to folks 13 to 82, of course).
He was into the music of Leroy Anderson, like “The Syncopated Clock” and “The Typewriter,” and especially Boston Pops hits from the ‘40s.
Plus, bands like the jazz piano quartet Dave Brubeck doing “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk.” Jazz of the ‘60s like Felonious Monk were really influential for me.
So were TV and movie theme music of the ‘60s, especially action music like Henry Mancini’s “Mission Impossible” theme, which is lovingly referred to as crime jazz.
Also the great pop songwriters like Paul McCartney and Chris Martin. They use odd times as a way to make things catchy and he likes to do the same thing.