Pokémon/Characters/Professor Oak

Professor Samuel Oak^[1] is a human character who appears in the Pokémon video games, anime series, and manga. In Japanese, Professor Oak's name is Yukinari Ōkido-Hakase (オーキド博士, Dr Yukinari Ōkido). He is a Pokémon researcher, and generally considered the best of his kind. As such, his role in the Pokémon games and anime is that of a mentor to young Pokémon Trainers, a source of information and an occasional plot device. Amongst other things, he is credited with inventing the Pokédex. Although he is an expert on all matters relating to Pokémon, Professor Oak specializes in Pokémon behavioural science.

The Pokémon anime series and films are a meta-series of adventures separate from the canon that most of the Pokémon video games follow (with the exception of Pokémon Yellow, a game based on the anime storyline). The anime follows the quest of the main character, Ash Ketchum^[2]—an in-training Pokémon Master—as he and several other companions^[2]) travel around the fictitious world of Pokémon along with their Pokémon partners.

In the anime, when Professor Oak was a young Pokémon Trainer (referred to as "Sammy" in the fourth movie in which played an important role of the pokemon storyline) he owned a Charmeleon (probably his own evolved starter Pokémon) as a youth. He met the legendary Pokémon Celebi while it was being pursued by hunters and through its time traveling powers was transported decades into the future for a short while. During this time he met Ash Ketchum, who gave him the idea for the Pokédex. This adventure more than likely influenced all of his ideas and inventions thereafter. As he is called "Sammy" in the fourth movie as a younger boy, this makes his anime full name to be "Samuel Oak". So far, Tracey, Oak's assistant, is the only one to know about Sammy (seen in the credits). In the first Pokemon Johto opening series episode, Don't Touch That 'Dile, Professor Elm asks if Ash knows Professor Oak because of the Pokemon he had to choose in Pallet Town. He said he must know Professor Samuel Oak, because Ash said he was from Pallet. This shows that the true name of Professor Oak is indeed "Samuel".

At present, Professor Oak is an elderly man. His usual attire is a white lab coat over a brown pair of trousers and a red polo shirt. His personality is that of the stereotypical absent-minded professor: slightly eccentric and not always focused yet nonetheless very intelligent.

Professor Oak lives and conducts his research from a large laboratory complex situated in the Kanto region's Pallet Town, which is based on Yokohama, Japan. His duties include tending to the surplus Pokémon that trainers send him for safekeeping, and getting local rookie trainers started by giving them their first Pokémon (a choice between Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander) along with a Pokédex.

There is no information on Professor Oak's parents or children. His grandson, Gary Oak, is a wandering Pokémon trainer turned researcher and former rival of Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the Pokémon television series. Gary's rivalry with Ash ends when he becomes a researcher, paralleling Oak's old rivalry with Agatha.

Professor Oak has caught a Charmeleon, Pidgey, and even a Dragonite. He also mentions he once had a Seaking in the Pokémon Chronicles episode "Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl".

His hobby is reciting senryū based on Pokémon species.

Professor Oak's appears in Pokémon Red and Blue (and their remakes, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen) where he introduces himself and gives a brief lecture on what Pokémon are. At some point, he asks the player for his or her name. Here, the player can either create his or her own, or choose a pre-made one. He also allows the player to pick one of three Starter Pokémon, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle. The player keeps the Pokémon of their choice but may not catch any of the others in the wild. In Pokémon Yellow, which is loosely based on the anime, he gives the player a Pikachu that he had captured when the player first met him. In the games he has two grandchildren, Blue (or whatever name the player chooses) and Daisy.

Professor Oak also appears in Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal as Professor Elm's colleague. In these games, he stars in a radio show broadcast from Goldenrod City.

He neither appears nor is mentioned in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald.

He also makes a major appearance in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl as Professor Rowan's friend. In these games, he gives the player the National Pokédex. In the Shaymin event, a letter from Professor Oak is sent to the player (via a man in green in the Pokémart) requesting that he/she must go to Route 224, where Professor Oak is standing in front of a white rock.

Oak appears in several Pokémon manga series. In Pokémon: The Electrical Adventures of Pikachu, a manga which does not follow strict anime continuity, it is revealed he has a granddaughter named May who Ash has a crush on. He has caught a Charmander (which he nicknamed "Char" and which evolved into its full evolution, Charizard) a Pidgey and a Sandshrew.

In Pokémon Adventures, Professor Oak once battled against Pokémon trainer Agatha for supremacy as a young trainer, but his trainer days came to an end when he decided to study Pokémon rather than train them. This greatly annoyed Agatha, who went on to become an Elite Four member, even though it meant her rival was now out of the picture. This incident was later referenced in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.