EP013
Mystery at the Lighthouse
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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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Mystery at the Lighthouse (Japanese: マサキのとうだい Masaki's Lighthouse) is the 13th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 24, 1997 and in the United States on September 24, 1998.
When the Krabby Ash catches disappears, he goes to a nearby lighthouse to see if it reached Professor Oak's lab. The keeper of the lighthouse is Bill, a Pokémon Watcher who is searching for a mysterious Pokémon.
Synopsis
While Ash and co. are wandering through the forest, he begins bragging about his accomplishments, only to be shot down by Misty claiming all his Pokémon followed him, therefore he didn't really catch any of them. This angers Ash, who then runs off through the forest vowing to catch a seventh Pokémon, but legitimately this time. As he breaks free of the forest, he finds himself on a beach, too wrapped up in his own Pokémon thoughts to enjoy the beautiful sunset. While he is moping, he notices a small Krabby scurrying between his feet. Upon insulting Krabby about its small size, Krabby challenges Ash to a battle. Not even bothering to call upon one of his Pokémon, Ash assaults Krabby with a stick and then throws a Poké Ball and captures it. When the Poké Ball is transferred to Oak's lab, Ash begins to panic about the whereabouts of his new Pokémon. Misty then informs him that trainers can carry a maximum of six Pokémon with them at one time. Suddenly, Pikachu begins jumping and looking at a distant object, and as our heroes looked over they could make out the shape of a lighthouse on a cliff. Excited, they all run off towards it.
By the time they arrive there, night has fallen and the long walk has made them exhausted. Ash rings the bell only to be greeted by an eerie ringing, and a "who's there?".
After our heroes explain their situation and Brock offers to cook the lighthouse keeper a bacon-double cheeseburger, they are granted entrance. But as the door swings open they find there is no one there to greet them. Ash asks out loud permission to use the lighthouse's phone, to which we hear a reply "yes, there's a phone right near you" (although we still haven't seen who the voice is coming from yet). Ash calls Prof. Oak to ask about his newly caught Krabby as he picks up, we see he is cooking dinner. This worries Ash, because he thinks the Professor is cooking his Krabby. Professor Oak assures him that his Krabby is safe, and adds that Ash's Krabby would be "too small to make a hearty meal". Ash is enraged upon hearing that Gary has also caught a Krabby and is even more so when he sees how huge it is. Ash goes berserk when he finds out that Gary already caught 45 Pokémon, dwarfing Ash's mere 7. Oak tells them that they are calling from Bill's lighthouse, and that he knows more than Oak himself, so listening to him would be good.
Suddenly, a giant Kabuto appears, claiming to be the keeper of the lighthouse. We find out that it is in fact Bill who got stuck in a Pokémon suit during research, and Ash helps him out. After getting a life lesson from Bill and learning that there are more than 150 known Pokémon species, Bill reveals that there is only one Pokémon he is searching for what he claims is the biggest Pokémon ever. He says it is unique and that no one had ever laid eyes on it. One night he says, he heard a strange noise coming across the ocean from the Pokémon, but that was the last time he heard it.
As bill is reminiscing, we hear the same sound we heard from his memory and a large figure rising from the ocean. As it comes closer, we see the outline of a Dragonite. As it walks closer to the lighthouse, we see Team Rocket scaling the cliff, and upon seeing the giant Dragonite, they began launching a barrage of missiles at it. This angers Dragonite, and it smashes the top of the lighthouse and begins to walk away. Bill calls out at it to stay, but to no avail.
In the morning, Bill seems to be at peace with the fact that he didn't get to learn more about the Pokémon and was simply grateful he got to see it at all. With another life lesson from Bill, our heroes say goodbye and continue on their journey.
Major events
- Ash captures a Krabby.
- Ash meets Bill and sees a Dragonite.
Debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Butterfree (Ash's)
- Pidgeotto (Ash's)
- Bulbasaur (Ash's)
- Charmander (Ash's)
- Squirtle (Ash's)
- Krabby (Ash's; new, sent to Oak's lab, debut)
- Krabby (Gary's; at Oak's lab, debut)
- Dragonite (debut; giant)
Trivia
- An image of Mewtwo was on the door to the lighthouse, yet at this point in the series, Mewtwo's existence was known only by Team Rocket scientists.
- This episode confirms that, just like the games, a Pokémon Trainer can only carry six Pokémon at a time (which is at odds with the fact that Damian was seen with at least a dozen Poké Balls all supposedly containing Pokémon in Charmander – The Stray Pokémon).
- The Pokémon that Bill tries to befriend and that Team Rocket blasts at is actually a giant Dragonite.
- At the end of the episode when Ash asks Bill if he thinks every species of Pokémon will ever be discovered, a Dragonite-shaped cloud can be seen.
- Dragonite walking in the water is a reference to Godzilla.
- The episode has several running gags, including characters whose cooks are on vacation and they are reduced to eating tofu.
- Ironically, even though The Legend of Dratini was banned due to gun use, this episode was allowed to air despite Team Rocket firing bazooka shells at the giant Dragonite. This may be due to the fact that bazookas aren't as likely to be accessible to children. Also in The Legend of Dratini guns are pointed at the heads of several humans while in this episode the bazooka is only pointed at Pokémon.
- Brock mentions in this episode that trainers can switch the Pokémon in their party by pressing a button inside their Pokédex (suggesting that additional Pokémon are kept in computer storage similar to the games). However, this rule is immediately dropped and in future episodes Ash would have to call Professor Oak in order to switch the Pokémon in his party.
Errors
- When Team Rocket is discussing how they will break into the lighthouse, Meowth's ears turn blue.
- In the dubbed version, when Misty tells Ash that all his Pokémon followed him, she is actually incorrect. Pikachu was given to him by Professor Oak, Bulbasaur, Butterfree and Pidgeotto were captured in a legitimate battle, whilst Squirtle and Charmander were the only ones that followed him.
- When Bill starts saying the planet was created 4.6 billion years ago, Ash turns to look at Bill but the visor of his hat is white instead of the usual red.
- Bill says that the mystery Pokémon is the only one of its species, he is incorrect, as other characters such as Lance have not only one but three (at least in Pokémon Gold and Silver) Dragonite, and none of those is the same one from this episode.
Dub edits
- The way Misty retorted to Ash's bragging about how Ash "caught" all six of his Pokémon was different between the versions: In the original version, she questions how he got those Pokémon should be counted as "caught" or not, with Ash stating that it's close enough. The Dubbed version, on the other hand, had her erroneously state that all of his Pokémon just followed him.
- The Speaker conversation between Brock and Bill is different between the two versions: in the original version, Brock asks if he can use his kitchen so he can make delicious tamago chaahan and nabe. Bill asks if he can also make yakisoba as well, which Brock responds that he can make that as well as katayaki, chow mein, sauce yakisoba, or anything else Bill might like, to which Bill responds he'd like katayaki, and lets them in. In the dubbed version, Brock asks him if he can use his kitchen to make cheeseburgers for his group, Bill asks if he can make anything without tofu, to which Brock responds he can do just that, and he mentions that that's great since he doesn't eat anything but tofu since his cook left for vacation, which was never the case in the Japanese version.
- In the original version, Misty identifies the phone as resembling a Bellsprout, in the dubbed version, she doesn't. Also, Ash called Oak directly by his phone number (though he hints that he had trouble remembering it) in the Japanese version, whileas he calls him via collect.
- In the original version, Professor Oak says that Ash caught him in the middle of cooking Nabe, whileas in the dubbed version, he mentions that he is making tofu to make the time while his cook is on vacation.
- Also, the dubbed version implies that Bill and Oak dislike eating tofu, whileas the original version, they imply that they enjoy eating tofu.
- The original version had Bill introducing himself after he was released from the costume, whileas the Dub stated he was stuck in the Kabuto suit for hours.
In other languages
- Brazilian Portuguese: O mistério do farol
- Dutch Mysterie in de vuurtoren
- Finnish: Majakan arvoitus
- French: Le mystère du phare
- Italian: Il mistero del faro
- Latin American Spanish: ¡El misterio del faro!
- Spanish: Misterio en el faro
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