I watched the first season and orange islands parts of the anime, part of the Johto one and a few episodes here and there. My impression of the old show was that the first season actually aged fairly well for what it is (though I could just be being nostalgic), but the show just started recycling plot points and I aged past being the target audience for the show so I stopped watching it.

I probably won't watch the new show, so I can't say much on it, but I noticed in my quick search about it a Captain Pikachu. It seems the show can't go on without the electric mouse :P