Episode Guide #025 - #032

Pokémon Scent-sation!
Hypno’s Naptime
Pokémon Fashion Flash
The Punchy Pokémon
Sparks Fly for Magnemite
Dig Those Diglett!
The Ninja Poké-Showdown
The Flame Pokémon-athon

Pokémon Scent-sation!

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Meowth, Gloom, Koffing, Exeggcute, Bellsprout, Oddish, Weepinbell, 
Vileplume, Tangela, Victreebel, Grimer, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, 
Staryu, Starmie, Geodude

Story:  

The group arrive in Celadon City, and Brock is lured towards a perfume store, 
Ash insults the staff by going on about the uselessness of perfume, and is 
kicked out by the manager.  
He heads for the Gym, but is refused entry, because the perfume he insulted is 
manufactured there.  
Meanwhile, Team Rocket sneaks into the Gym, but encounters a Gloom, which 
defeats Team Rocket with its stink.  
Team Rocket helps Ash with a disguise to get back in, while they use the 
distraction in an attempt to steal the perfume formula again.  
Ash meets the Gym Leader, Erika, who is the manager of the perfume store, and 
Brock, Misty and Pikachu are there too.  
Misty inquires about Gloom’s smell, and Erika explains that it’s the way it 
defends itself, it smells just fine when it feels safe.  
Pikachu uncovers Ash, but he’s able to challenge Erika, and fights an even 
match with Bulbasaur against Tangela and Charmander against Weepinbell until 
Gloom is brought out, Pikachu opts to battle for Ash, but Team Rocket appears, 
blow up the Gym, and escape with their prize.  
A huge fire starts, and the Gym is evacuated, but Ash goes back for Gloom, who 
can’t help but cause a stink.  
Ash realises that Gloom trusts him when it stops smelling, and he is able to 
get it out.  
Erika gives Ash the Rainbow Badge for his bravery, and Team Rocket wind up 
with the essence of Gloom.  

My favourite Quote:  

Meowth (in the middle of a Gloom stink attack):  “My nose feels like it’s on 
fire!”  
Jessie:  “Meowth, you don’t have a nose...”  
Meowth:  “My nose, what happened?! This stink dissolved it off my face!...  Oh 
yeah, I almost forgot, the cartoonist never gave me a nose!”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

How did Jessie know that Ash was kicked out of the Gym, he’d washed off the X 
stamp on his face and could have won a Gym Badge for all she knew.  

I think Ash should have had Charmander use Flamethrower right away on Gloom, 
before it unleashed its stink, and I’m pretty sure Pidgeotto could have used 
Whirlwind on Gloom, and then used Flying attacks to get the type advantage.  

Though Erika is traditionally faced forth in the games, she's close to using 
the same Pokemon, the only difference there is that her Pokemon are fully 
evolved so she instead has a Victreebel and Vileplume.  

How could Erika leave Gloom behind? It’s her Pokémon, and surely you’d think 
to withdraw the Pokémon you were currently using in the situation (well, Ash 
made the same mistake once with his Metapod in “Challenge of the Samurai”).  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Gloom

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

Quite a few:  Erika appears in Chapter 24, and helps to solve Tetsubo’s 
conflict with his Pokémon and himself; she also battles against Chad, Abby and 
Rick.  
A selection of the girls laugh at Chad’s accidental criticisms of the Gym 
Leader, the blonde/bronze-haired girl (Selina) escorts Rick through the Gym, 
the purple-haired girl (Sandra) helps Abby, and the green-haired pig-tailed 
girl (Stacey) sort of flirts with Tetsubo during his downed period in Chapter 
24 (the latter three I named since they had none in the episode).  

Hypno’s Naptime

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Charmander, Psyduck, Magikarp, Oddish, Cubone, Meowth, Hypno, Drowzee

Story:  

In Hop Hop Hop Town, Ash and Co hear of missing children, they join Officer 
Jenny to investigate, and also discover that some Pokémon are becoming very 
tired, and it started the same day that the kids went missing.  
The group finds the source, a mansion on a skyscraper, and they find a group 
of posh-looking people, with a Hypno and Drowzee.  
The Hypno evolved three days ago, and the group used their powers to help them 
with their insomnia, but this caused the missing kids to think they’re 
Pokémon, and all of them went to the city park.  
The effects on Misty are reversed, and Drowzee must do the same on the others, 
but Team Rocket aim to take the Hypno and Drowzee, in order to conduct a 
ridiculous scheme to put the Boss to sleep so they can take a break.  
Team Rocket are defeated once more, and the Drowzee reverses the effects on 
the kids and Pokémon.  
A Psyduck remains in a bad-looking way, and unfortunately for Misty, she 
accidentally catches it in one of her Pokéballs, making it Her problem.  

My favourite Quote:  

Brock:  “You two had better answer all these questions truthfully.”  
First Child:  “Okay...”  
Brock:  “Now tell this beautiful young lady Everything you know.”  
Second Child:  “Errrr...”  
Brock:  “You do think she’s beautiful don’tcha? Come on, what do you say?”  
Jenny:  “Now you’re getting in the way!”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

When Ash reminisces about his mom, you can see Oak and her from a clip of the 
missing episode “Beauty and the Beach” in which Ash’s mother wins a swimsuit 
competition, read the paragraph in the Things I’d like to point out column in 
the “Tentacool & Tentacruel” episode guide for more info.  

Why did Hypno go through with the Hypnosis on the mirror trick, it was obvious 
that Team Rocket feared its powers, so it should have known better.  

With Jessie’s comment on how they had to fill a half hour, it’s sometimes 
funny to bring some of the truths of writing and drawing cartoons into the 
storyline, but that doesn’t mean it made a whole lot of sense to any of the 
characters.  

Speaking of out of place jokes, Misty actually interacts with the narrator 
when she yells not to be congratulated for catching Psyduck right after he 
does so.  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Psyduck

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

None, although in Chapter 26, a similar use of a Hypno happens when a villain 
known as the Juggler uses his Hypno to put people to sleep so that he can rob 
them.  

Pokémon Fashion Flash

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Squirtle, Charmander, Bulbasaur, Caterpie, Bellsprout, Staryu, 
Koffing, Ekans, Dodrio, Raichu, Meowth, Sandshrew, Chansey, Vulpix, Psyduck, 
Venonat, Pidgey, Oddish, Weepinbell, Nidoran Male, Butterfree, Slowpoke, 
Rattata, Geodude, Paras, Cubone, Pidgeotto

Story:  

The good guys are in Scissor Street, and Brock is anxious to find a certain 
place, while Team Rocket shows off their creative side, giving Pokémon 
makeovers for cash.  
Brock finds a breeder called Suzie, who owns a Vulpix, and asks her to teach 
him.  
Ever since ‘Salon Rockét’ opened, Suzie has been in doubt of her methods, but 
Brock arranges a demonstration of her ways to many people.  Salon Rockét loses 
customers, and Misty is caught by them, Psyduck alerts Pikachu, and Meowth 
blurts out their whole plan to everyone, before battling.  
Vulpix makes a last minute save with its Fire Spin, and Suzie then gives it to 
Brock so she can leave and learn more.  

My favourite Quote:  

Meowth:  “Only one customer?”  
Jessie:  “One or one million, it doesn’t matter as long as we have customers 
who appreciate true beauty.”  
James:  “We only wanna offer our services to the most refined customers.”  
Meowth:  “We’re not gonna make any money that way!”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

Why did the series give the Chansey Trainer a male voice, he/she is wearing a 
dress, so either it’s supposed to be funny, or the trainer is worse than 
James.  

When Meowth shreds Team Rocket’s costumes, Jessie’s small shoes change into 
her usual black boots in an instant.  
Also, she isn’t wearing her black gloves, yet a moment later she has hers on, 
while it can’t be seen with James because he’s restraining Misty.  
With the boots, it’s a mistake, but Jessie may have had the time to put her 
gloves on immediately, but if that’s the case, was it really worth letting 
Psyduck slip by her to do so?  

There’s a definite error that may have been overlooked; when James restrains 
Misty and threatens her with the makeover, part of the arm holding Misty 
disappears for just over 2 seconds.  
As a practising animator, my guess is that James’s arm was set on a different 
layer/level than that of his body, that’s why only it disappeared, still, that 
kind of error in animation is sloppy.  

Mix-up or James’s idea? Jessie dresses in a posh suit while he wears a blonde 
wig and red dress.  
It’s not like it was a disguise or anything since their identity had already 
been discovered.  
Also, Team Rocket are quick dressers, they had about 10 seconds while the 
smoke covered them to get into their flashy outfits.  

This is the first time that Team Rocket rewrites the motto completely, making 
a nice change, but making you wonder who comes up with this stuff.  

Ekans and Koffing perform remarkably well in this episode, cos they fend off 
Pikachu’s electricity and avoid a Seismic Toss from Geodude, you’d think 
they’re learning, but it doesn’t last, maybe it was the costumes that gave 
them confidence and inspiration?  
Speaking of which, Koffing shouldn’t have fallen to the floor just because 
Ekans pulled on its dress, maybe float a little out of control but not trip 
up.  

In “Tentacool & Tentacruel”, Brock said that he’d try Ash’s pose the next time 
he got a Pokémon, but he tries an original one, I guess it took too long to 
get a new Pokémon to remember to try out Ash’s pose.  
He didn’t even have to hit Vulpix with the Pokéball, he only had to open it to 
zap Vulpix inside, that’s a pretty decent Pokéball as no one else does it that 
way, and the Pokéball wasn’t Suzie’s as the green capture confirming button 
was seen activating.  

At the end, where Ash and Misty gaze at each other happily, and then Ash 
bursts into laughter because of her appearance:  Hands off to the writers and 
voice actors, it was done almost perfectly and realistically, and it’s a real 
laugh.  
This would go up in the “My favourite Quote” section, except the main part of 
the joke isn’t really made up of words.  

Team Rocket shouldn’t be in as much trouble as the angry mob make out, Meowth 
may have said it was an overpriced scam but Jessie and James did what the 
customers asked for and didn’t steal any rare Pokémon, so what’s the problem? 
Does Suzy’s speech about inside beauty suddenly entitle the daft customers to 
get their money back when they were previously happy with what Salon Rockét 
did for their Pokémon?  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Vulpix

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

None, but Emily receives her Chansey in this place’s Pokémon Centre, as 
briefly mentioned in “Diary of Woe”, when Lucky overworks herself, and so is 
asked to travel around with Emily.  

The Punchy Pokémon

Pokémon seen:  

Hitmonchan, Pikachu, Meowth, Hitmonlee, Machop, Primeape, Geodude, Machoke, 
Poliwrath, Machamp

Story:  

Ash spots a Hitmonchan on the road, and has Pikachu battle it, but a trainer 
called Anthony owns it.  
His daughter, Rebecca pleads for Ash and his friends to beat her dad in the 
P-1 Championship Tournament at the Fighting Spirit Gym, so that he’ll quit 
training and come home.  
Ash and Brock enter, along with Team Rocket, who steal a Hitmonlee and go by 
the name Giant.  
Primeape is saved by Ash, and it immediately changes and listens to Ash’s 
advice, winning the first match against Machop.  
Brock’s Geodude must quit, as the Hitmonlee doesn’t show any mercy.  
During a match against Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee, Team Rocket cheats, and 
Rebecca recklessly intervenes, but Anthony saves her, and throws in the 
towel.  
Their problems are solved, but Ash must battle against Team Rocket, Pikachu 
puts a stop to their trickery, and Primeape takes the victory.  
Anthony asks Ash if he can train Primeape, and turn it into a true P-1 
Champion, Ash agrees, and says goodbye to Primeape.  

My favourite Quote:  

Ash:  “That’s it Pikachu, now jab, jab! Now give it the big uppercut!”  
Pikachu (punching away but being held back by one of the Hitmonchan’s 
hands):  “Pika Pika Pika, Pikachuuu, Chaaauuu!...”  
(Ash groans)  
Pikachu (now being held back by the Hitmonchan’s foot):  “Chuuu...”  
Misty:  “Make Pikachu stop, Ash, this isn’t even a fight!”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

The narrator says how Misty got Psyduck and Brock got Vulpix recently and Ash 
had got nothing, but it was only 1 and 2 episodes ago, while Ash got Primeape 
4 episodes ago, so he shouldn’t feel he had to catch Hitmonchan because of his 
friends, especially since Ash did more work than they had to in catching his 
Pokémon.  

Where did Pikachu get those boxing gloves? Probably the same place that Brock 
and Misty got the bell.  

The guys in Jessie’s fantasy look a lot like the sort of people Nastina would 
hire to attend to her every whim, they all only wear underpants and all of 
them have female hairstyles.  
Not really what I’d describe as ‘a nice quiet dinner at home with some close 
friends’.  

If only Fighting Pokémon are allowed to participate, then why was Geodude 
accepted into the tournament, and why doesn’t Brock realise that Rock-types 
are weak against Fighting attacks?  
A Gym Leader that specializes in Rock-types should know that.  

Didn’t Ash perform an illegal move, by interfering in the match and giving 
Primeape a soft landing? It shouldn’t matter that it happened outside the 
ring.  
Rebecca did worse by trying to protect Hitmonchan with her own body but her 
father threw in the towel soon after.  

Why did Hitmonlee obey Team Rocket? They tied up its trainer, and it battled 
on their behalf, it must pledge its loyalty to the fights rather than the 
trainer.  

A Poliwrath is briefly seen being beaten by a Machoke, could this be the same 
Poliwrath that Tad uses in “Charizard Chills”, seeing as he has won the P-1 
Championship by the time he appears in the television series, maybe he lost 
this year, and won the next tournament.  

Team Rocket might have gotten away with gluing Hitmonchan’s feet to the ring 
floor, but the electric shock explosion would have been noticed and they’d 
have been disqualified had Pikachu not deactivated it temporarily.  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Hitmonchan

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

None, but Tetsubo, Chad and Claus enter a similar tournament in Saffron City 
during Chapter 27, where any Pokémon can enter, but only physical attacks can 
be used.  
Elite Rocket reuse the glue trick, along with some new ones, and Chad wins a 
Hitmonlee.  

Sparks Fly for Magnemite

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Magnemite, Meowth, Grimer, Growlithe, Spearow, Sandshrew, Muk, 
Nidoran Female, Magneton, Pidgey, Raticate, Bellsprout, Oddish, Rattata, Fearow

Story:  

The group arrive in Gringy City, a polluted place full of factories, and 
Pikachu falls ill, while Team Rocket go into the sewers to sneak up on 
Pikachu.  
The power source of the city is blocked up by a swarm of Grimer, and Ash and 
his friends head for the power plant before the Pokémon in the Pokémon Centre 
pass away.  
While there, they find a Magnemite that is attracted to Pikachu because its 
body is magnetized.  
Grimers and Muk attack, and trap the three, plus two workers in the control 
room, Pikachu gives it its best, but needs help from the Magnemite and 
Magneton help to defeat the Poison-types, Ash manages to catch the Muk, and 
power is restored to Gringy City.  
Team Rocket forges a new plan, but it’s doomed to fail from the start.  
Unfortunately for Oak, Ash sends the smelly Muk to him.  

My favourite Quote:  

Brock (referring to the Grimer):  “Ash, don’t say anything that might insult 
their Pokémon pride, or make them mad.”  
Ash:  “I’m sorry, you have such a unique scent, I should have known it was the 
aroma of sludge.”  
Misty (covering her nose):  “You can call it whatever you want but it still 
stinks!!!”  
Ash and Brock:  “Shut up Misty!”  
Muk (rising from behind the Grimer angrily and menacingly):  “MUUUUKKK!!!”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

It’s the return of the rubber gloves from the first episode (“Pokémon I choose 
you!”), since Pikachu’s electricity is uncontrollable in its sickened state.  

Pikachu wasn’t Ash’s only hope of beating the Grimer, the episode only did 
that for dramatic effect, I can think of four other Pokémon in Ash’s arsenal 
that could have saved the day instead, and even more had Brock and Misty 
thought to help out.  

Ash clearly sent Muk to Oak by choice, not because he had too many Pokémon 
(after releasing Primeape); he sure is selfish to leave Oak with not only a 
smelly Pokémon, but a dangerous one too.  
It’s hard to believe that this Muk could have turned into such a lovable 
Pokémon, Oak even managed to stop it smelling so bad somehow.  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Magnemite

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

None, but Emily mentions Gringy City in “Diary of Woe”, since she saved her 
Magnemite here from an evil Grimer, and then kept it.  

Dig Those Diglett!

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Meowth, Pidgey, Diglett, Rattata, Koffing, Ekans, Caterpie, Spearow, 
Psyduck, Pidgeotto, Chansey, Beedrill, Onix, Dugtrio, Oddish, Arbok, Weezing, 
Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur

Story:  

On the way to the next Gym, Ash and his friends check out an accident on the 
road, with many trucks toppling over, this is because of the Diglett 
tunnelling under the road, and stopping the construction of Guyver Dam, 
because supplies can’t be delivered.  
The chief invites many trainers to get rid of the Diglett, including Gary Oak, 
who lowers Ash’s spirit through his comments.  
Team Rocket consider getting involved, and even more so towards stealing the 
trainers’ Pokémon, but they realise they’d stand no chance unless their 
Pokémon evolved.  
The trainers throw out their Pokémon, but they refuse to leave their 
Pokéballs.  
The trainers leave, and Ash and the others discover that the Diglett and 
Dugtrio plant trees in the forest, and if the dam were to be completed, the 
trees would be destroyed, and the Pokémon living there would be washed away.  
The chief decides to cancel the construction of the dam, right before Team 
Rocket attacks with their evolved Pokémon, Arbok and Weezing.  
The Diglett and Dugtrio intervene and finish off the two before causing a 
tsunami of earth to dash Team Rocket into the dam, destroying it, and the good 
guys head onwards to Fuchsia Gym.  

My favourite Quote:  

Jessie:  “Don’t forget James, we’re a team.”  
James:  “You’re right, I almost forgot that.”  
Jessie and James:  “And our team is... Team Rocket!”  
Meowth (on the phone):  “Hello, er, I wonder if it’s possible to get traded to 
a less embarrassing team.”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

What is with Gary’s cheerleaders? Don’t those girls have anything better to do 
with their time? Gary isn’t the best trainer, you can see that when he loses 
in “The Forth Round Rumble”.  
The only way I can justify this is to remember the million dollar bet he won 
from his grandfather (“Pokémon Emergency!”), Oak, maybe the cheerleaders only 
hang out with Gary because he pays them an obscene amount of money.  

It’s just a hunch, but I think Ash’s comment of asking if Gary’s cheering 
girls were Pokémon was covering up for some dodgy or rude joke in the Japanese 
version, why else would he ask something so stupid, and why else would Brock 
hit him so hard?  

If you look closely, Gary threw 6 Pokéballs to stop the Diglett, but another 
of his Pokéballs was lying on the ground at the time, so unless Gary did a 
sixth throwing motion but without a Pokéball, he was breaking the 6 Pokémon 
rule.  

How did the Diglett know which Pokéball belonged to which trainer? The pile 
must have had one or two hundred Pokéballs.  
Are the Diglett that calculating that they can remember every Pokéball that 
was thrown?  

The arcade game that Gary compares the Chief and the Diglett to is “Whack-a-
Mole”.  

During the night, the Diglett briefly sound different, the Japanese name for 
Diglett is Digda, and this is what they are saying, instead of “Dig g’ lett’ 
Dig.”  
The way I see it, because Pikachu’s voice is taken straight from the Japanese 
series, and sometimes people and Pokémon are talking at once, the voice 
actress behind Misty and Jessie (and Jigglypuff) fills in for Pikachu once in 
a while (check “Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village” and “The School of Hard 
Knocks” episodes as it’s very obvious of the change).  
Usually Pokémon translation problems would only apply if the Japanese voice 
had remained on the Diglett, but it’s the other way around, we’re briefly 
getting the Japanese voice instead of the English.  

It’s strange that Ekans and Koffing evolve right when Jessie and James are 
crying about how much they don’t want to evolve them, because they’d have 
different appearances and personalities.  

Brock explains that the Pokémon live and work together and that Diglett 
ploughs the earth, and Dugtrio plants the trees.  
But it’s the other way around, the Dugtrio are ploughing around while the 
Diglett are the only ones with the plants.  

Surely the chief would have realised that the dam would endanger the Pokémon 
and nature before he started building it? How much money did he lose just for 
the moral lesson?  
And during the thought of the flooded Pokémon, the Pidgey sound more like 
Pidgeotto.  

When riding the Rock Slide wave, Meowth yells “Cata-bunga!”, probably 
referring to the Ninja Turtles’ catch phrase only with ‘Cat’ added.  

Straight after the chief decides not to build the dam, Team Rocket attacks, 
and soon after, they are defeated and are hurled into the dam, but when the 
cancellation sign falls down, it suggests that it was damaged in the crash.  
So how was the construction of the dam cancelled so fast, unless the chief ran 
all the way back during the fight, and then ran back while Team Rocket got 
flung into the dam (it’s very unlikely he could be that fast though), or maybe 
he left his mobile phone on when he announced the cancellation of the dam to 
Ash and the others?  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Diglett

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

The chief construction worker sends Tetsubo to Guyver Dam when the Rocket 
Executives attempt to reopen it in Chapter 36; it’s there that Tetsubo’s 
Diglett evolves.  

The Ninja Poké-Showdown

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Psyduck, Vulpix, Venonat, Voltorb, Bulbasaur, Meowth, Pidgeotto, 
Venomoth, Charmander, Arbok, Weezing, Golbat

Story:  

It’s time to enter Fuchsia Gym, Misty offers her Psyduck for Brock’s Vulpix, 
but he of course refuses.  
The three enter a large mansion, and run into many strange tricks and traps, 
before meeting Aiya, a ninja Pokémon Trainer that owns a Venonat.  
Ash beats her with Bulbasaur, but must face off against Koga, the Fuchsia Gym 
Leader, but he and Pidgeotto don’t fare so well against Venomoth.  
The battle between Charmander and Venomoth is interrupted, and Team Rocket 
nullify the threats of Ash’s and the ninja Pokémon, Psyduck joins in, but 
isn’t helpful, and the group retreats.  
Team Rocket catch up, and Psyduck is rejected by Team Rocket, but something 
strange happens when Psyduck gets a headache, and powerful Psychic attacks are 
initiated that defeat Team Rocket.  
Misty gets some offers for her Psyduck but she refuses to trade for it now.  
The Gym Battle resumes with Charmander facing off against Koga’s Golbat and 
Ash manages to win a Soul Badge.  

My favourite Quote:  

(Misty turns away from Psyduck to face Brock, who is brushing his Vulpix)  
Misty:  “Hey Brock, how about a trade, your Vulpix for my Psyduck?”  
Brock:  “No way.”  
Misty:  “It wouldn’t take much time to brush, cos Psyduck only has... three 
hairs...”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

When Ash crashes into the glass screen, he appears to turn 180 degrees to walk 
back, and slams into a second screen, where did this come from as the group 
just walked past where the new screen is.  

Funny how Misty’s fear of bugs is completely forgotten about this episode, 
Venonat and Venomoth are Bug-types as well as Poison.  

A Grass-type versus a Bug and Poison-type? It takes forever for Ash to learn 
that Bug-types have the advantage over Grass-types, especially when they know 
Leech Life.  
It’s not like Ash used any Poison moves to get an advantage.  

Bulbasaur using Whirlwind:  It doesn’t happen in the games but the series has 
got away with it twice (also done in “Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village”), 
Whirlwind is a Flying-type attack, and Bulbasaur cannot use it, I’m sure it 
could have been named as an attack that Bulbasaurs can use (if the writers 
cared about people like me pointing out these mistakes).  

This episode has a noticeable change in the voice of Meowth, the new voice 
actor has done characters in the past (Seymour the Scientist in “Clefairy And 
The Moon Stone”, Bill the Lighthouse Keeper in “Mystery At The Lighthouse” and 
Damian in “Charmander - The Stray Pokémon” for example), but most people 
probably didn’t like the new voice compared to the old one, but don’t worry, 
as the series goes on, the voice actor makes subtle changes to the voice (as 
did Ash’s, Misty’s, Brock’s and Jessie’s voice actors), until it becomes the 
high pitched lovable voice we’ve all come to love.  
This change now makes Jessie the only member of the familiar bad guys who 
hasn’t had a change of voice actor.  

Why did Koga’s Venonat evolve? There was no battle beforehand, nor a desperate 
need to evolve, how did Koga know it would just evolve like it did?  

Ash’s Pidgeotto usually has no problem at blowing away dust attacks, so why 
does it fail now?  
Even Bulbasaur, who shouldn’t learn Whirlwind at all, does better by simply 
blowing the dust away, but Pidgeotto’s flapping fails.  
It’s also hard to believe that where Pidgeotto failed, Charmander manages to 
beat the Stun Spore with one small flame.  

On the same subject, if Pidgeotto was affected by the Stun Spore, it would 
have been paralysed, and if it were then it shouldn’t have fallen asleep since 
Pokémon under one kind of status ailment can’t also be affected by another 
(with the exception of confusion and leech based moves among others).  

The sticky string that Team Rocket uses in this episode is highly effective, 
so why don’t they use it after this episode? It nullifies Ash’s Pokémon’s 
attacks, including Pikachu’s electricity.  

This episode gives the impression that Voltorb die once they explode, as they 
disappear after blowing themselves up, like they were mere bombs and nothing 
else.  
The one that Meowth bowls in the slanted room is odd, at first it rolls 
forward but in the next shot, though it’s travelling towards the group, the 
direction its facial features are turning are the opposite as if it’s rolling 
away from them.  

Although I can forgive the order switch from five to six since the games offer 
free choices in that regard, Koga and Iya combined don’t use the same Pokémon 
from the games as they are missing two Koffing, a Weezing and Muk (and in 
Pokémon Yellow there is a Venomoth but three Venonat).  

Halfway through the Golbat/Charmander fight, the Golbat looks different, it 
goes from oval-shaped to round, as if one cartoonist started it off, and 
another finished up.  

Ash is lucky that Team Rocket attacked, he was performing dismally in the 
first battle against Koga.  
This is the first interrupted Gym Battle that Ash has actually earned a badge 
from through victory afterwards, and not as a reward, gift or through pity.  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Venonat

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

Aiya battles Tetsubo in the Fuchsia Gym in Chapter 38, before he faces off 
against Sansuke, and although she’s not in the episode, Koga’s daughter Janine 
should be mentioned, as she becomes the new Fuchsia Gym Leader after Koga is 
promoted to be a Johto League Gym Leader like in the games.  

The Flame Pokémon-athon

Pokémon seen:  

Pikachu, Tauros, Charmander, Growlithe, Ponyta, Rhyhorn, Sandslash, Nidorina, 
Nidorino, Squirtle, Raticate, Dodrio, Meowth, Electrode, Starmie, Onix, Arbok, 
Weezing, Rapidash

Story:  

The group arrive in the Big-P Pokémon Ranch, and are ambushed by Lara when Ash 
tries to capture Pokémon.  
They stick around to watch an annual race, but Team Rocket scares Lara’s 
Ponyta, and causes Lara to break her arm, so Ash ends up taking her place.  
Team Rocket continues to cheat, and takes out many of the racers, until they 
finally confront Ash and reveal themselves to be working for Lara’s deceitful 
rival Dario.  
The race comes down to him and Ash, and Ponyta evolves into Rapidash at the 
last moment and takes the victory.  

My favourite Quote:  

James (after shooting a Tauros with a slingshot):  “I got a bull’s-eye!”  
Jessie:  “Or close to it.”  

Things I’d like to point out:  

The narrator tells a big lie, this is not the Safari Zone, as Lara points out 
and gives directions to it, it would be okay if it was Ash and his friends 
that made the mistake, that’s how stories usually work, with you following the 
characters and believing (or going against) what they say, but the narrator 
should tell the truth, especially if he’s going to be found out so easily.  

Why did Pikachu choose Squirtle to ride on? Surely Bulbasaur would make a 
better runner, Squirtle has the swimming abilities and the tricky shell to 
slide downhill, but it never would have done well on the final run.  

Oh dear.  
In the first half just before the race, a person in orange is riding a 
Nidorino (the male one), but in the second half during the race, it’s somehow 
changed into a (female) Nidorina.  
Surely the animators for the two scenes must have been different to get the 
wires crossed between these similarly named but different Pokémon, that or 
they really aren’t too familiar or bothered about Pokémon.  

Once again, it looks like a Japanese voice was left in the English version, 
when Pikachu shocks Ash, you can hear Squirtle talking differently (the 
Japanese name for Squirtle is Zenigame by the way), but it’s not like it’s a 
factor of two Pokémon talking at the same time since the voice of Pikachu has 
clearly been dubbed again.  
Weezing also seems to sound like its Japanese counterpart in this episode.  

It’s really not fair for the rocks in the lake run to be so light, when 
Rhyhorn takes a step on one and sinks to the bottom, you realise that the 
range of Pokémon to use in this race are limited.  

Once again Ash fails to grasp the concept of ‘leaving while your friends 
distract the bad guys’, he stands idly by while Dario gets an early lead, and 
then he takes care of Team Rocket himself.  
It’s a surprise he managed to catch up, seeing as he’d been on the receiving 
end of an Electrode Explosion earlier on.  

While Misty tells Ash to finish the race, Pikachu and Squirtle are badly drawn 
stills with little detail and weird line eyes like Brock.  

How did Dodrio manage to peck Ponyta when it had that big aura of fire around 
it?  

As the camera pans away from Ash and Rapidash, either his and Misty’s shoes 
haven’t been detailed at all, or they have suddenly lost them and are wearing 
just their socks.  

As the camera pans out at the end of the episode, Meowth screams “James! Stop 
this crazy thing!”, because James was just as tied up as Meowth and it’s 
Dario’s Dodrio that’s pecking him, it’s pretty safe to say the line was just 
added as a reference to “The Jetsons”, with ‘James’ said instead of ‘Jane’.  
Also, James is missing the ‘R’ on his shirt in this scene.  

Who’s That Pokémon?:  

Ponyta

Cameos in Pokémon Journey:  

Lara, Rapidash, Dario and Dodrio appear in Chapter 37, when the group visits 
and competes in the race, in order to stop the ranch from falling into the 
wrong hands.  

Episodes #017 - #024
Episodes #033 - #040
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