Children from the ages of 6 to 14 who complain about memorizing their multiplication tables can rattle off the names of all 150 Pokémon. Serious players can also recite the characteristics of each Pokémon, and how it will fare in a fight against any other Pokémon.

Pokémon (PO-kay-mon) began with a video game in Japan in 1995. Pokémon, or "pocket monsters," refers to both the game and the fantasy characters who populate it. These mimi-monsters range from smiling, rounded blobs to fire-breathing dragons and facelass objects, and sport such odd names as Warttortle, Kakuna, Pikachu, Charizard and Blastoise.

Taking the role of 11-year-old Ash Ketchum, the player moves through a series of mazes, catching "wild" Pokémon, training them and using them to fight duels with other characters. As the Pokémon gain experience points, they grow stronger, and some of them "evolve": Bulbasaur can turn into Ivysaur and, ultimately, Venusaur. The object of the game is to become a Pokémon master by collecting at least one of each of the 150 monsters: "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" is the omnipresent motto.

The televisioin series, which like the game debuted last year in the U.S., follows the adventures of Ash Ketchum and his friends--the guiet, more mature Brock and the feisty, outspoken Misty--and his favorite Pokémon, Pikachu. Ash aspires to be a champion Pokémon trainer--which means he needs to collect all 150, and work with them to defeat other trainers. Ash may not be the brightest cartoon kid on the tube, but he's dedicated and kind hearted, if a bit hot tempered.

The quartet travels from city to city, collecting, training and fighting Pokémon, and thwarting the schemes of the villainous but inept Jessie and James and their pet Pokémon, Meowth, who make up Team Rocket. Many of the episode include moral lessons: In an episode titled "Bye Bye Butterfree," for example, Ash sacrificed his own feelings and allowed the first Pokémon he raised and trained to leave and find a mate.

The series has proven to be gold for Kids WB!, with the network more than doubling the number of times "Pokémon" airs this season--twice a day, six days a week--with the 52 new episodes ordered by the network sprinkled randomly through the week.

"I think Pokémon is a magical world for kids," says Norman Grossfield, president of 4Kids Productions, which Americanizes and distributes the English-language version of the Japanese "Pokémon" TV series. "They can become experts in the way this particular world works and the creatures that inhabit it."

According to Greenfield, "Pokémon," the series, requires considerable reworking before it airs on the network here: "When we receive an episode in Japanese, the first thing we do is a literal translation . . . [then] rewrite the script until the flow of the story works and the humor is more appropriate for our market.

"We replace all the music, as the music in the Japanese version is very sparse, and Western audiences are used to cartoon series with music all the way through," he continues. "We also do some minor editing for things that might be offensive to a U.S. audience. It's usually not a big problem, but sometimes the human characters slap or smack one another, so we figure out a way to tone it down. Finally, we digitally remove the Hapanese characters on street signs, storefronts, business cards, etc. We try to replace them with graphic symbols, but occasionally we have to go with an English word."

"Kids like it because it's a whole separate world that is their world, that they can become fully invested in," says Kerrin Kaplan, director of marketing, Nintendo of America. "It has a social aspect, it has a deeply challenging aspect, and I think it has some personallity, because each of these characters is . . . unique."

Dr. David Feinberg, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at UCLA, sees other aspects to its popularity: "There's a wide range of resons why certain things catch on with kids. One, which I don't think we should underestimate, is that other kids like it, so normal peer relationships cause kids to become interested in it. Many of the Pokémon evolve and develop into different things: That's something kids can relate to, and in some ways, it mirrors what they might be going through in certain developmental stages."

At a time when debates rage over the allegedly violent content of many video games, Pokémon has little in common with, say, "Duke Nukem" or "Mortal Kombat." Although traners have to pit their Pokémon against each other to capture "wild Pokémon" and beat their rivals, none of the Pokémon is ever killed or injured. The losing Pokémon in a match faints and is removed from the game until it's been rejuvenated.

"You fight a lot, but it's not violent, it's fantasy," says 11-year-old Neil Cline of Santa Monica. "If your Pokémon are asleep or paralyzed or poisoned, you take them to the Pokémon Center--it's like a hospital for Pokémon. You have to take care of them."

The Pokémon craze show no signs of peaking, and Nintendo, 4Kids and more than 50 licensees will introduce a variety of products in the coming months. Warner Bros. will also release the English version of the animated feature "Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back," on Nov. 12, retitled "Kids WB! Presents Pokémon: The First Movie." (It was the fourth-highest-grossing movie in Japan last year.)

There are new versions of the game in the works, and there will be Pokémon clothes, backpacks, watches, sleepwear, zipper pulls, baseball hats, athletic shoes and toys. Sears is setting up Pokémon boutiques, and General Mills will sell Pokémon snacks.

But will Pokémon be able to defeat the biggest foe of all--kids' boredom? That will determine whether the "little, cute" creatures fade into memory like Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers, or become mainstays of childhood fro generations to come like Winnie-the-Pooh and Batman.

As UCLA's Feinberg puts it: "If it's bringing kids together, if it's safe and if it helps people enjoy time together, whether it's parent-child or child-child, it's good stuff."

~ "Pokémon" airs weekdays at 2 and 3:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:30 and 9 a.m. on KTLA-TV.