The Real-Life Digi-Future

by Mac McFearson

"That’s home. Planet earth. But I’m not sure that’s where I am right now.” 

Those words started it all. Those words started the phenomenon known as Digimon: Digital Monsters.

Was it really all that long ago? August of 1999 (was the date Digimon debuted in America) seems like an eternity ago for me. I was just a kid then, most of us probably were.

Back then things were so different, I was so young, the U.S was at peace, Pokémon was king of the American air-waves. If back in 99’ someone would have walked up to me and told me that in four years I would be writing opinion articles for one of many Digimon websites I would have told them to stop sniffing the glue.

But that’s because I didn’t know what the future held. And in reality, no one really knows beyond a shadow of a doubt what the future holds.

Back on that hot humid day (that’s how it was where I lived) in August of '99 I never could have imagined that Digimon would become what it has. I, along with just about everyone else, was just wondering if Digimon would even make it. Sure it was a hit in Japan, but could it really compete with the giant Pokémon had become. Especially with everyone thinking that Digimon was just a cheat copy of Pokémon (even though it really wasn’t).

By the beginning of the whole Myotismon phase in season one the question of whether or not Digimon could compete with Pokémon had been answered. Digimon was obviously a force to be reckoned with.

By the near end of season one the question was being asked, “is Digimon better than Pokémon?” And that question was the centre of many heated debates between the fans of the respective shows.

But during 02 Digimon began to really take off. People loved seeing their favourite 01 characters four years later, it was like the excitement of seeing an old friend that you hadn’t seen in quite awhile. That in addition of new Digimon, new evolutions, and of course a whole new set of characters the fans to enjoy was enough to make Digimon a huge threat to Pokémon’s reign.

But by the end of 02 Digimon was looking like it was ready to overtake Pokémon. While Pokémon wasn’t what it used to be, Digimon was in it’s prime. You could choose Digimon: A show that offered more action, more drama, better comedy, and a plot that offered unexpected twists and turn in every episode. Or you could choose Pokémon: A show with, at best, playful action, comedy that was good but at times became irritating, and episodes that over time became plain and repetitive. The choice was simple. All Digimon needed was one more season. One more season and it would be the best.

Then came season three. The Tamers. It was different, but it was still suppose to be the season where everything came together. Instead it was the season where everything fell apart. Ratings went down, my friends stopped watching and I was made fun of because I still did, Digimon just wasn’t “cool” anymore.

Things are different now.

No more Fox Kids. No more Saturday mornings. Instead it was UPN and (at least where I live) early Monday mornings. Frontier is good, it’s real good. It’s not as good as the first two seasons but it’s much better than Tamers. It’s a good mixture of all three seasons. I think the writers did a great job of trying to bring Digimon back to the status it was once at. And I do believe they’ll have at least one more season to do that.

What was the purpose of all that?

It’s a fair enough question. Why did I just recap the highs and lows of Digimon’s very interesting history. To make a point. To make the point that in August of 1999 we had now idea that any of this would happen. We couldn’t predict it, we didn’t want to. We just wanted to enjoy what we knew then, and what we still know now, is the best anime out there.

Will there be a season five? I think so. I can gather the facts and make an educated guess, but I, nor anyone else, really knows the future. People will make many predictions just like when this whole thing started, and just like when this whole phenomenon started, almost all of them will be wrong.

So as Digimon and its fans once again stare down the long, dark, dreary road of uncertainty, let’s do what we did the first time. Let’s not try and make predictions and worry about the Digi-future, let’s just enjoy Digimon while we still can and enjoy the real life Digi-present.

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