EP002

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Revision as of 09:49, 8 February 2015 by Force Fire (talk | contribs) (→‎Pokémon: didn't get completely caught until the next episode. So it's technically not his, just yet)
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EP001 : Pokémon - I Choose You!
Original series
EP003 : Ash Catches a Pokémon
Pokémon Emergency!
EP002.png
  EP002  
たいけつ!ポケモンセンター!
Showdown! Pokémon Center!
First broadcast
Japan April 8, 1997
United States September 9, 1998
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ひゃくごじゅういち
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 首藤剛志 Takeshi Shudō
Storyboard 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
Assistant director 井上修 Osamu Inoue
Animation director 藤田宗克 Munekatsu Fujita
Additional credits

Pokémon Emergency! (Japanese: たいけつ!ポケモンセンター! Showdown! Pokémon Center!) is the second episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 8, 1997 and in the United States on September 9, 1998.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
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Blurb

Ash rushes into Viridian City with his gravely wounded Pikachu. The city's on high alert for Pokémon thieves-thieves like Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket, a group of bad guys dedicated to stealing valuable Pokémon.

While Ash waits at the Pokémon Center for news on Pikachu's condition, Misty arrives, angry about the bike Ash wrecked-but she softens when she sees Pikachu wheeled out on a stretcher.

Team Rocket crashes through the roof of the Pokémon Center. While Nurse Joy transports Poké Balls to Pewter City for safety, Ash tries to fight off Team Rocket's Pokémon, Koffing and Ekans. Ash is having no luck battling, so his Pikachu, still recovering, teams up with a bunch of other Pikachu at the Pokémon Center to blast Team Rocket out of the building!

Having discovered that Ash's Pikachu is not your ordinary Pikachu, Jessie, James, and Meowth make it their mission to capture it.

With the bad guys expelled, Misty joins Ash and Pikachu on their journey to Pewter City. While strolling through Viridian Forest, a Caterpie makes an appearance. Ash sees an opportunity for his first Pokémon capture. Will he be successful?

Plot

As Ash arrives in Viridian City, he is stopped by an Officer Jenny, who gives him a ride to the Pokémon Center after his Pokédex confirms his identity. While Nurse Joy is attending to Pikachu’s injuries, Ash calls his mother and Professor Oak, the latter of whom is surprised to discover that Ash is already in Viridian City. When Ash mentions the strange golden Pokémon he had recently seen, Professor Oak is skeptical that Ash had actually seen an unidentified Pokémon.

Afterwards, the girl whose bicycle was “borrowed” by Ash storms into the Pokémon Center and rages at Ash for what his Pikachu did to it. When Ash explains what happened, the girl’s concern shifts to Pikachu’s well-being.

At that moment, an alarm in the Pokémon Center sounds and Team Rocket invades the building, recites their motto, and tries to steal all of the Pokémon in the center. Nurse Joy begins transporting as many Pokémon as she can to the Pokémon Center in Pewter City while Ash tries and fails to fend off Ekans and Koffing with a Rattata and Pidgey contained inside Poké Balls that have been knocked to the floor. The girl, named Misty, tries to help with her Goldeen, but it is unable to do more than flail helplessly due to the lack of water.

Ash tries to flee with Pikachu’s stretcher, but Pikachu suddenly wakes up from running into Misty’s bicycle. The other Pikachu at the Pokémon Center surround Ash’s Pikachu, healing it as well as delivering a powerful electric shock to Team Rocket. Using power from Ash pedaling the burned bicycle, Ash’s Pikachu hits Team Rocket with a powerful Thunder Shock attack, resulting in a colossal explosion that destroys much of the Pokémon Center.

Following these events, Team Rocket decides that Ash’s Pikachu is no ordinary Pikachu and make it their mission to capture it for their boss. They are sent blasting off when a piece of debris punctures their Meowth-shaped balloon while Ash, Pikachu, and Misty continue to the Viridian Forest, with Misty having decided to follow Ash until he replaces her destroyed bicycle.

Major events

For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.

Debuts

Humans

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Koffing

Trivia

A differently-colored Pidgey.
File:Legendary Pokemon engravings EP002.png
The engraving of legendary Pokémon
  • This is currently the only episode in which any of Ash's male relatives are mentioned. Delia mentions that it took his father four days to reach Viridian City from Pallet Town and that Ash is the 'apple' of his eye. She also mentions Ash's grandfather in the Japanese version.
  • On the wall at the Pokémon Center, the engravings are of Arcanine, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. Ash misidentifies the Ho-Oh he saw in the previous episode as Articuno.
  • The Pidgey in the clock is green, instead of its normal color. Though some may consider this to be alternate coloration, this is not how the "Shiny" Pidgey appears in the games. This could just be a coloring error, considering this, after all, was only the second episode of the series just like how there was a green Poké Ball in the very first episode.
    • This is the second appearance of a clock with a Pidgey Cuckoo. The first was inside a Voltorb clock Ash had in the previous episode. Both are also destroyed in some way (Ash's Voltorb clock is smashed when thrown in Ash's sleep, the Pokémon Center's clock is destroyed when the Center blows up). Another Pidgey cuckoo clock would also appear 18 episodes later.
  • The events of this episode are referenced in Two Degrees of Separation! by Team Rocket, who tell Dawn that they have been chasing Pikachu for as long as she'd been alive.
  • The book I Choose You! is based on this episode.
  • This episode was modified after the EP038 seizure incident. Originally, the scene where Pikachu uses Thunder Shock on Team Rocket was a sequence of rapidly flashing images of each Team Rocket member. This was changed to a four-square grid to reduce the flashing effect. This change affected all home releases and re-broadcasts in Japan, and all international versions of the episode.
  • Several scenes from the episode, including Misty's attempt at distracting Team Rocket was shown on the VHS A Sneak Peek at Pokémon.

Errors

  • Just before Team Rocket throw their Poké Balls at the Center from their balloon, Jessie has no lipstick for a split second. Jessie also has no lipstick when their wanted poster is first shown.
  • The first two times James is shown in the doorway of the Poké Ball room he isn't wearing a left glove.
  • Arcanine is not a legendary Pokémon; however, it was shown on the wall with the legendary birds. This is likely due to Arcanine's species, which classifies it as a "Legendary Pokémon" (like Pikachu is a "Mouse Pokémon").
  • On the wanted poster, James is shown holding a lilac rose, although normally he holds a red rose.
  • When Ash is laying Pikachu down on the bed in the Pokémon Center, Pikachu's tail is shown purely yellow, without the brown start.
  • When Misty is looking at the Pikachu, one of her bags is missing.
  • When Ash sends out the Pidgey from its Poké Ball, its eyes are yellow.
  • Officer Jenny said that he was a Pokémons trainer instead of Pokémon trainer

Dub edits

  • While the recap uses the same dialog in the Japanese version, for some reason the dub changes Ash's introductory line:
    • Original: "And I hereby declare to the Pokémon of the world...I will be a Pokémon master...Pokémon Master! That is what I'll..."
    • Flashback: "That's right. I declare to the Pokémon of the world...I will be the greatest Pokémon Trainer...the greatest Pokémon master...of all time."
  • In the Japanese version, Delia says that Ash's grandfather would be proud of him as well as his father.
  • Professor Oak abruptly ending his telephone conversation with Ash is different in both versions: in the English version, Oak says that his pizza just arrived, while in the Japanese version, Oak realizes that he is in the middle of cooking ramen.
    • On that same note, the English version included a doorbell sound-effect that wasn't present in the original version.
  • Misty introduces herself to Ash, Team Rocket, and the audience during the Pokémon Center battle in the Japanese version, while Nurse Joy reveals Misty's name to the audience at the end of the English version.
  • In the Japanese version, Ash's mom says that a brown hen lays white eggs and a Spearow lays Pidgey eggs. In the games, it would later become possible for a Spearow to produce a Pidgey Egg, as both species are in the Flying Egg Group.
  • When Cartoon Network would rerun the first dub season, most episodes would cut the "TO BE CONTINUED" screen. This was one of the few episodes in which Cartoon Network would leave the "TO BE CONTINUED" screen intact, most likely due to the narrator talking over it.

In other languages



EP001 : Pokémon - I Choose You!
Original series
EP003 : Ash Catches a Pokémon
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.