The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon
The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon (Japanese: 戦慄のミラージュポケモン The Terrifying Mirage Pokémon) is a special episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in the United States on April 29, 2006, and was broadcast as streaming video from the TV Tokyo Anitele website from October 13 to October 31, 2006.
Many fans believe the special to be testing ground for new voice actors, but The Pokémon Company International's response is the company wanted to give a special to American fans.
In the special, Ash, Misty and Professor Oak are invited to the mansion of Dr. Yung, a Pokémon scientist who has developed a machine to create Pokémon. However, he is kidnapped by a mysterious stranger who wishes to use the system to produce Pokémon with absolutely no weaknesses, and is enraged by the sudden presence of Mew.
Synopsis
Ash is rereading his letter, inviting him to Dr. Yung's lab, to Brock, May, and Max. When he gets there, he is shocked to see Misty and Professor Oak. Dr. Yung appears, and shows them a few mirage Pokémon. He invites Misty to battle one. Misty sends out her Staryu against a mirage Aggron. She is shocked that Staryu's most powerful attacks don't even make it blink. Staryu goes out quickly. Ash begins to battle when an Armaldo suddenly locks up. Yung's Mirage Pokémon System has mysteriously locked up! The controller explodes in his hands, and a handful of legendary Pokémon appear. A stranger, calling himself Mirage Master, uses the system he has just hijacked to his advantage, kidnapping Professor Oak and Dr. Yung. Ash and his friends cannot get back inside because a bunch of mirage Pokémon stand just inside.
Oak, in the custody of Mirage Master, demands to know where Dr. Yung is. Mirage Master ignores his query, and demands the password to Professor Oak's research lab. Oak refuses while a Mew flies in. Professor Oak is greeting it when Mew is attacked. The Professor demands to know why Mirage Master did that. The Mirage Master says that Mew was a failed creation, and he tells Mew to leave.
Ash, Misty, Brock, May, and Max formulate a plan. Ash and Misty will sneak in through the moat, Brock will alert Officer Jenny (with the intention of receiving a candlelight dinner for two), and May and Max will wait in case Ash and Misty get in trouble. They split up. Ash and Misty use Corphish and Staryu to get in.
Team Rocket, after the Mirage System Plans, are looking around. They attempt to burst through a door, only to have it hit them in the noses! Ash and Misty walk through, Team Rocket does the motto, thereby wasting enough time for Mirage Master to check the camera and send in mirage Pokémon. Team Rocket escapes, Ash, Misty, and Pikachu are held by two mirage Machamp and a mirage Ursaring. As the three are being carried, Ash sees Mew appear again, and Pikachu uses Thunder. Some various things are blown up, including a wall, signaling to May and Max. May goes in, and tells Max to wait. Pikachu frees all of them, Misty falls over the edge of the bridge, and Pikachu is recaptured, leaving Ash and Mew. Mew is suddenly trapped by a force field, and Ash manages to get Mew free. Ash discovers that Mew is a mirage Pokémon.
Pikachu is in a fearsome-looking device. Professor Oak asks what the Mirage Master is doing. Mirage Master says he will extract Pokémon data from Pikachu's memory, and that this would not be needed if Oak was cooperative. Pikachu contorts with pain. He looks at the picture displaying Pikachu's memory. Lugia... Entei... Celebi... Latios... Latias... These are all rare Pokémon Pikachu has seen. Oak cannot stand the look of Pikachu, and enters in the password: REDGREEN. Suddenly, Mirage Master has the ability to download information from places around the world. Tracey and Professors Elm and Birch stare at computers in their labs, while Nurse Joy deals with problems at the Pokémon Center.
"You have to believe me, Officer!" Brock pleads to Officer Jenny. "We need to go to Professor Yung's lab for a candlelight dinner... I mean-" Nurse Joy flickers onto the officer's computer. She tells the officer that someone is downloading massive amounts of Pokémon data. Brock tells her about Mirage Master, and they leave.
Misty is hanging onto the edge of a bridge. She suddenly loses her grip, and May appears in the nick of time to save her. They go upstairs. Ash and Mew are there already, and the process of creating the Pokémon finishes in a flash of light. A mirage Mewtwo emerges. He attacks them, and they run. Outside of the boundaries of the Mirage System, the heroes think they are safe. Then, missiles are launched from the towers, and they expand the system! Mewtwo and Mirage Master emerge. Mirage Entei, Articuno, and Zapdos suddenly appear. Oak correctly guesses the identity of the Mirage Master. Mirage Master removes his mask, revealing Dr. Yung! Oak reveals that when Mirage Master first appeared, he was a hologram, and that Yung was expelled from the Pokémon Institute for his research, deemed disrespectful to Pokémon. Yung's Mewtwo and Ash and company battle. Yung is about to obliterate Pikachu when Mew takes the blow. Mew then is absorbed into the Mirage System. Yung says "good riddance," and Mewtwo absorbs the entire Mirage System database. Ash is enraged that Mew is called a failed creation, and the attack begins anew.
Team Rocket is blown away in this fight. Pikachu is about to be killed when Mew holds Mewtwo back! Ash orders Pikachu to perform Volt Tackle, and Mewtwo is destroyed, as are Mew and the System. The fortress is now aflame, and Yung retreats inside. The police are searching, as are firefighters, but they cannot find him yet. The gang discusses what happened, and agree that Mew was far more than just data and certainly not a 'flawed specimen' as Yung believed.
Major events
- Misty's Staryu is revealed to know BubbleBeam.
- Professor Oak is revealed to own a Dragonite.
Characters
Humans
- Ash
- Misty
- May
- Brock
- Max
- Professor Oak
- Jessie
- James
- Dr. Yung
- Nurse Joy
- Officer Jenny
- Tracey (cameo)
- Professor Elm (cameo)
- Professor Birch (cameo)
- Police
- Firefighters
Pokémon
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Corphish (Ash's)
- Staryu (Misty's)
- Gyarados (Misty's)
- Combusken (May's)
- Squirtle (May's)
- Dragonite (Professor Oak's)
- Lugia (stock footage)
- Entei (stock footage)
- Celebi (stock footage)
- Latias (stock footage)
- Latios (stock footage)
Mirage Pokémon
- Machoke
- Machamp
- Magnemite
- Omastar
- Kabutops
- Articuno
- Zapdos
- Mewtwo
- Mew
- Ursaring
- Houndoom
- Entei
- Mightyena
- Aggron
- Armaldo
- Absol
- Aerodactyl (×2)
- Lileep (flashback)
- Cradily (flashback)
- Anorith (flashback)
- Unown (G; flashback)
- Kabuto (flashback)
- Omanyte (flashback)
- Arcanine (Mewtwo's hand)
- Rayquaza (Mewtwo's hand)
- Tropius (Mewtwo's hand, ×2)
- Arbok (Mewtwo's body)
- Walrein (Mewtwo's body)
- Tyranitar (Mewtwo's body)
Cast
Staff
| Created by 原案 |
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| Production supervisor スーパーバイザー |
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| Animation supervisor アニメーション監修 |
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| Executive producers エグゼクティブプロデューサー |
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| Executive producer 総監督 |
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| Director 監督 |
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| Animation producer アニメーションプロデューサー |
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| Music 音楽 |
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| Sound recording director 音響監督 |
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| Producer プロデューサー |
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| Screenplay 脚本 |
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| Storyboard 絵コンテ |
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| Assistant directors 演出 |
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| Character design / executive animation directors キャラクターデザイン／総作画監督 |
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| Character design / assistant executive animation directors キャラクターデザイン／総作画監督補 |
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| Character design キャラクターデザイン |
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| Animation directors 作画監督 |
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| Color keys 色彩設計 |
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| Colorist / ink & paint checker 色彩定／仕上検査 |
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| Art director 美術監督 |
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| Director of photography 撮影監督 |
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| CGI producer CGIプロデューサー |
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| CGI director CGI監督 |
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| 3D CGI |
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| Editor 編集 |
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| Original score (partial) 一部原曲・作曲 |
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| Audio production 音響制作 |
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| Production 制作 |
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| Animation production アニメーション制作 |
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| USA production | ||
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| Adaptation consultant |
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Trivia
- All the music used in the special was originally used in the Japanese movies and series. 4Kids mostly used its own, American-composed music for the series.
- The scenes of Pikachu's memories of Lugia, Entei, Celebi, Latias, and Latios came from their respective movie appearances.
- Lugia: The Power of One
- Entei: Spell of the Unown
- Celebi: Celebi: Voice of the Forest
- Latios and Latias: Pokémon Heroes
- The copyright notice on the Japanese version reads © 2006 Pokémon USA, Inc./ShoPro. © 2006 Pokémon. © 1995 - 2006 Nintendo / Creatures Inc. / GAME FREAK inc. A number of the US production credits were also included.
- The password for Oak's lab, REDGREEN, is a reference to the original pair of Pokémon games, Pokémon Red and Green.
- This was the first Pokémon anime feature to air in the United States earlier than Japan.
- The second time this happened was later that same year when Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate premiered in the United States six months before the Japanese version aired.
- Pikachu knows Volt Tackle in this special, indicating it takes place after May's Egg-Cellent Adventure, yet James's Mime Jr. is absent, despite having been introduced three episodes earlier. However, the reason for James's Mime Jr. being absent may be due to the special having aired in the United States prior to the earlier episode, with the writers knowing to avoid a major spoiler from an at-the-time future episode. As James's Chimecho did not appear in this special, it is presumable that Mime Jr. remained in its Poké Ball.
- This is, so far, the only time Michele Knotz has played Misty.
Errors
- Max states that Aggron is unable to use Thunder Wave; however, Aggron is able to legitimately learn Thunder Wave through tutoring in Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, as well as XD. Aggron is also able to learn Thunder Wave via TM73 in later generations.
- When the Mirage Houndoom sends Team Rocket blasting off, Wobbuffet's voice is heard, but only Jessie, James, and Meowth are seen.
- In the scene where the missiles are launching out of Dr. Yung's castle, the Mirage Master can be seen standing outside the gate with Mewtwo before they have actually exited the building, which occurs a few scenes later.
Dub edits
- A redubbed version, with the newer voices and the others improved, is included on the Bonus DVD of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. A new intro song replaced the original TV intro song. There are a few dialog changes and they are listed below.
Dub dialog changes
| Character | Time index | English TV version | English DVD version |
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| Misty | 2:04 | I guess that means the doctor might be suffering from a little writer's cramp. | The doctor might be suffering from a little writer's cramp. |
| Brock | 12:12 | If so, that's that. Bye! Yahoo! | So that's that! Bye! Yahoo! |
| Ash | 29:15 | Mirage Master is Dr. Yung? | Mr. Mirage is Dr. Yung? |
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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 Finnish
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Mirage-Pokémonien herra | |
 European French
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Le maitre des mirages | |
 Brazilian Portuguese
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O Mentor do Pokémon Miragem | |
 Latin American Spanish
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Pokémon: Mente Maestra | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
