We all know the story that Mewtwo is a
clone of Mew commissioned by the (initially)
orange-suited power-hungry Svengali figure that
is Giovanni and
created with the cloning skills of Dr Fugi. But
how many of you know of the real reason how Dr Fugi got involved in this project? Are you
aware of the extra 10-minute
short that was added to the
start of the first movie after it's first release? Like me, you may have
already seen the first few minutes of it as an added extra on the film's first
VHS/DVD release in late-2000, the scene where the scientists find the Mew
fossil in Guyana. What happened
in the remaining seven minutes is (SPOILER ALERT) tragic.....
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Dr Fugi's main motive to work on this
project was to aid his personal project to clone his dead daughter. It was like
what happened to Shou
Tucker in the 2003 version of the Fullmetal
Alchemist anime. He
had successfully made a copy of her conciousness (in the form of a
holographic cloud) inside a tube (I think he planned to make her body after
working out the kinks in the making of Mewtwo.). The interesting thing is that
in the lab Amber (the dead daughter) and Mewtwo (in an
infant stage) communicated telepathically. During
their correspondence Amber showed Mewtwo the outside world through
her (child-like) memories. But during so her concious in a tube began to die in
the lab. As she began to fade from Mewtwo's mind Mewtwo started to cry. Been
the first time he ever cried he was puzzled by the liquid coming out of his
eyes. Amber said they were called tears and said....
"They say living beings only cry when their bodies are in
pain. Humans are the only ones who let out tears when their sad. ... Thank
you. Thank you for your tears. But please don't cry. You're living! Stay alive
okay? I'm sure it'll be fun."
Then she disappeared. But Mewtwo couldn't stop crying.
"The tears aren't stopping! What should I do? Answer me
Amber!"
That that was when his brainwaves spiked alerting the scientists.
Because it was too early for him to be awake, they induce deep sleep through a
tranquillizer. And during that sleep his memories of Amber were
"forgotten." But were they? During their first communication
Mewtwo wondered if he were a human or a Pokémon. Amber's comment about him
crying adds fuel to this question of his identity. So by the time he finally woke up
he was already confused about his purpose in life. But as the scientists
treated him as a "final product" of a long R&D session in
fossil genetic cloning, Mewtwo went ballistic and blew up the lab. Seeing the
destruction, Giovanni saw all he needed to see to know if his project was
a success. Very soon after the destruction of the lab he offers Mewtwo the
chance to learn ow to focus his power. He agreed and spent some time in a suit
of armour (as he did when he battled Gary). After a few weeks of this Mewtwo
still questioned his purpose in life, but Giovanni made the mistake of coming
clean and telling him that he was a "tool" made for his selfish
means. Mewtwo went ballistic again and ran away back to New Island and vowed to
take his revenge on humankind for his slavery and the supposed slavery of
all Pokémon. Then the opening titles roll.
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Most of us who saw the first movie when it first came
out, we only saw from the part I
made bold above. In fact, (according to Takeshi Shudō)
the original plan was not to reveal Mewtwo until Ash reaches the island. The
prologue was not planned, but the hiatus of the TV series caused by
the exploding missiles incident forced the animators to make
them, as they originally planned to
hint Mewtwo's existence in these three episodes, which only
finally aired after the film premiered
(ouch). Although the original film was a good "fate of the world in
the balance" story for kids, I feel that the additional ten minutes added
more maturity and not-subtle foreshadowing in the story. Maybe the idea of
a reviving a dead child may have been considered "scary" for kids in
the late-1990s (years before the pandemic of superhero movies forced the
creation of the 12A/PG-12 rating). Despite the fact that (SPOILER
ALERT) in the finale of the film, Ash "dies" in the
crossfire in the battle between Mew and Mewtwo... and then is revived by the
tears of all the Pokémon present (clone and original). Did Mewtwo really
"forget" about Amber's words? There's something to think about. (More
so than the fan-theory that Team Rocket were actually
good guys and was trying to
stop Mewtwo themselves after he escaped, so that they can use him for their
"actual" purpose - defeat Teams Aqua, Magma, Galactic, Plasma, and Flare.)
With its plot featuring a very powerful Pokémon and a fate of the world in the balance premise involving it (with some deep exploration of humanity's relationship with nature and the environment), Mewtwo Strikes Back set the template for all future feature films.
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