Affiliates
Pokémon Episode Guide
Johto League Champions
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A Goldenrod Opportunity Synopsis: Ash challenges Goldenrod City Gym Leader, Whitney, but loses. The title of this episode is a pun on the phrase, "a golden opportunity". |
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A Dairy Tale Ending Synopsis: Ash battles Whitney again and wins the Plain Badge. The title of this episode is a pun on the phrase, "a fairy tale ending". |
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Great storyline, though a bit more wit would have been called for. Nice to see Charizard again, even if it's only for a play within a play. My favourite quote: |
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The Bug Stops Here The title of this episode is a pun on the phrase, "the buck stops here". The bug-catching competition is based on the Gold/Silver/Crystal game. |
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Type Casting! |
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Fossil Fools A very shallow episode, it did not tie in with the game much at all. There is no apparent relationship between the events at the Ruins of Alph portrayed here and what takes place in the game, such as the Unown, the sliding puzzles and the weird radio transmissions. I would have preferred they do a tie-in with the movie, The Spell of the Unown, like they did with Mewtwo. |
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Carrying On |
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Hassle in the Castle |
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Two Hits and a Miss |
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A Hot Water Battle The title of this episode is a pun on "hot water bottle". |
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Hook, Line and Stinker The title of this episode is a pun on the phrase, "hook, line and sinker". |
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Beauty and the Breeder Synopsis: Brock returns Suzie's Vulpix and together they enter the Pokémon Breeder Competition |
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A Better Pill to Swallow A loose tie-in with Pokémon Gold/Silver in this episode with plenty of humour and non-stop surprises. Shuckle are supposed to be able to churn berries into berry juice, which doubles their healing power. |
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Power Play! What an great battle scene to start off this episode. Gary's Evee has evolved into an Umbreon, indicating that not only have they been putting in plenty of training during both day and night, but their relationship is a happy one. Gary's and Ash's ways of dealing with their Pokémon is compared by means of an exaggerated contrast: unruly Ash whose Pokémon follow their feelings first, versus no-nonsense Gary, whose conceit has given way to discipline. Gary's and Ash's relationship apeears to have taken a step closer after Gary sees Ash's team in action, pulling and working together. Gary concedes that perhaps his rival will be a worthwhile opponent after all. My favourite scene: Alakazam versus Umbreon. |
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Mountain Time My favourite scene: Togepi ending up with the chocolate. (Cute and clever.) |
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Wobbu-palooza |
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Imitation Confrontation Our friends meet up with Duplica, who this time has a new Pokémon, a midget Ditto. A midget idea from the producers, I guess. |
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The Trouble with Snubbull Our favourite Snubbull evolves in this one. Good riddance to it, I say, but, oh no, the Granbull looks even uglier! (Well, that's my opinion, although it may not be yours.) |
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Ariados, Amigos The title of this episode is a pun on the phrase, "adios amigos" (Spanish for "goodbye friends"). |
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Wings'n'Things |
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The Grass Root The climax was unexpected and effective, but spoilt by the explanation that, yes, the attack which draws in light energy and releases it in a concentrated burst is indeed solar beam. My favourite scene: The climactic solar beam attack. My favourite quote: "You and I grow a little day by day, just like the flowers do." (Man, that sounded sweet.) |
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The Apple Corp! The Pichu are cute. Their characters are nicely animated and portrayed. As far as I know, their tendency to hurt themselves with their own electric attacks was created for the anime, and is not a reflection of the original game. The formation of a ladder of Pichu reaching up diagonally is of course beyond physical plausibility. Why we have to be told the obvious, that Pikachu was recharged, is beyond plausible understanding. |
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A pleasant and heart-warming episode. Not as much dialogue in this one. That offers the viewer a chance to sit back and enjoy the beautiful background art and music. Watch out for a glimpse of the legendary dog (my kid tells me it's Raikou). |
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Ghost of a Chance For Game Boy fans, the divining rods sound just like the Itemfinder. (I thought this was a nice touch.) |
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From Ghost to Ghost Synopsis: Ash challenges Ecruteak City Gym Leader, Morty, and wins a Fog Badge. Ash's battle with Morty was disappointing. Gastly's and Noctowl's Confusion attacks looked totally different. Cindaquil attacked Haunter with Swift prior to Noctowl's Foresight. Gengar should have been the hardest to knock out, but proved the easiest. |
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Trouble's Brewing |
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All That Glitters! |
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The Light Fantastic |
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UnBEARable |
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Moving Pictures! Ash and company meet up with Todd again in search of Articuno. I must say Sofia and Marcello had me had, both times. I really liked their stories, with yet another bridge scene. Blooper: |
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Spring Fever |
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Freeze Frame |
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The Stolen Stones! My favourite quote: |
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The Dunsparce Deception |
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A comical episode, with a great chase scene. |
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Sick Daze |
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Ring Masters My favourite quote: |
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The question in the viewers mind after watching this episode is, does the character really have the ability to understand Pokémon? The answer is by no means clear, and I believe that this is intentional. Much of the evidence can be interpreted either way. The childhood incident could have been a hallucination of a frightened child. Other instances of communication with Pokémon could be explained in terms of reading body language and understanding the context and situation. Pikachu perked up and the Magnemite and Magneton desisted at the Poké Spokesman's attempts at communication, but that could again be explained in similar terms, though of course with spokesman and Pokémon's roles reversed. On the other hand, all the above could be more easily explained if he really did have the ability to communicate with Pokémon. So what is your answer? As I remember my favourite cat and the years I spent with her, learning the nuances of each type of vocalization she could make and teaching her different signs and sounds that I would make, how do you think I would answer the question? My favourite quote: |
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Control Freak! |
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The Art of Pokémon |
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The Heartbreak of Brock My favourite quote: |
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Current Events Synopsis: Ash's Chikorita evolves to Bayleef. |
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Turning Over A New Bayleef The title of this episode is a pun on the phrase, "turning over a new leaf". |
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Doin' What Comes Natu-rally |
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The Big Balloon Blow-Up Once again we see something of Meowth's inner self coming through. He wants to achieve something for himself, and have some pride that he can do it. |
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The Screen Actor's Guilt There's quite a nice set of puns said by Jessie in an early scene when she captures Pikachu. |
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Right On, Rhydon! |
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The Kecleon Caper This episode features a Pokémon from the next version of the game, Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire. |
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The Joy of Water Pokemon Until now, most of the Nurse Joys have been very similar in character. Certainly all can be relied upon to be knowledgeable and helpful about Pokémon health, to care about all Pokémon, and even to like them all. While a few Nurse Joys have had differences, they have all been in the area of specialization, in which all the above characteristics are present in addition something else. Here, though, we have a Joy with something less than all the others. |
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Got Miltank? |
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Fight For The Light! There is a parallel here with Pokémon Gold/Silver. The player can't battle the Olivine City Gym Leader until he or she goes to Cianwood Pharmacy and get some medicine for the sick Pokémon that lights the lighthouse. |
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Machoke, Machoke Man! Synopsis: Ash challenges Cianwood City Gym Leader, Chuck, and wins a Storm badge. The title of this episode may be a reference to the Village People song, "Macho, Macho man". |
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