S09: Difference between revisions

Pokémon: Battle Frontier Season 9
Logo for the season
Opening	Battle Frontier
Episodes	47
Region	Kanto
Series	Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
Preceded by	Pokémon: Advanced Battle
Followed by	Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl

Pokémon: Battle Frontier is the ninth season of the dubbed version of the Pokémon anime. It is the fourth and final season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. It follows Ash as he continues to collect Symbols from the Kanto Battle Frontier while May participates in Pokémon Contests.

It began on September 8, 2006 with the dub premiere of Fear Factor Phony, and concluded on March 3, 2007 with Home is Where the Start Is!. It originally aired in the United States as part of the 2006-2007 Cartoon Network Saturday morning lineup. It also began broadcasting on CITV/Action Stations! on October 30, 2008 in the United Kingdom, this is the first time this series has been shown on Freeview.

The English dub underwent many changes at the start of the season. 4Kids Entertainment's licensing rights to the dub expired and in an agreement with Pokémon USA they decided not to renew. Meanwhile, Kids' WB! (a broadcast network) dropped all anime from its lineup, leading to Cartoon Network, a cable network, picking up the series, where it remained until season 19.

It is preceded by Pokémon: Advanced Battle and succeeded by Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the first season of the dub of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, which is based on the Generation IV games.

Blurb

The territory might be familiar, but even Ash and Brock can find more than a few surprises in their home region of Kanto, like a Pokémon Ranger hot on the cases of two Legendary Pokémon! May’s back on the Contest path, blazing a trail to the Kanto Grand Festival, while Ash seeks out the hidden facilities of the Battle Frontier. If finding them wasn’t hard enough, he’s still got battles with the Frontier Brains to deal with—much tougher than any Gym Leader he’s ever faced.

Important events

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

• Ash and his friends meet Ranger Solana, who is searching for an injured Celebi. (AG155)
• Brock enters his first Pokémon Contest at Gardenia Town. (AG167)
• Ash and company runs into Solana again, as they encounter a wild Deoxys. (AG171 - AG172)
• The Kanto Grand Festival takes place at Indigo Plateau. (AG180-AG182)
  • May, Drew, Harley, and Solidad get past the preliminary Appeals Round. (AG180)
  • May defeats Harley in the Contest Battles, putting her in the Top 8. Drew and Solidad also make it to the Top 8. (AG181)
  • May defeats Drew in the quarterfinals but loses to Solidad in the semifinals, finishing in the Top 4. (AG182)
  • Solidad wins the Grand Festival, receiving the Ribbon Cup and becoming a Top Coordinator. (AG182)
• Ash and his friends learn from Professor Oak about Sinnoh, a region located north of Kanto. (AG187)
• May learns that Drew, Harley, and Solidad plan to enter Pokémon Contests in the Johto region. (AG187)
• Ash calls for his Charizard, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur for his match against Brandon. (AG189)
• Ash is offered a position as a Frontier Brain, but he declines. (AG190)
• Ash enters his first Pokémon Contest at Terracotta Town. (AG191)
• Ash and his friends go their separate ways. Brock and Max go back home in Pewter City and Petalburg City, respectively. May plans to compete in Johto Pokémon Contests. Ash returns to Pallet Town. (AG192)
• Ash meets up with Gary, who came from Sinnoh. The two have a battle, with Ash's Pikachu losing to Gary's Electivire. (AG192)
• Ash decides to travel to Sinnoh, and leaves all his Pokémon, except Pikachu, at Professor Oak's Laboratory. However, Aipom quickly follows Ash and rejoins him. (AG192)
• Team Rocket continues to follow Ash into Sinnoh. (AG192)

Party changes

Additions

The following Pokémon are obtained:

• James's Mime Jr. (AG147)
• Brock's Bonsly (AG156)
• May's Eevee (AG157)
• Ash's Aipom (AG182)

Evolutions

The following Pokémon evolve:

• Brock's Mudkip → Marshtomp (AG148)
• Ash's Phanpy → Donphan (AG154)
• Ash's Grovyle → Sceptile (AG161)
• Brock's Onix → Steelix (while under Forrest's care; between AG133 and AG177)
• May's Combusken → Blaziken (AG191)

Other

• James's Chimecho (left with the caretakers of James's summer home; AG147)
• Ash's Sceptile (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
• Ash's Corphish (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
• Ash's Swellow (left at Oak's lab; AG192)
• Ash's Donphan (left at Oak's lab; AG192)

Pokémon Contests

May wins Pokémon Contests in these locations:

• Silver Town (AG151)
• Chrysanthemum Island (AG162)
• Gardenia Town (AG167)
• Mulberry City (AG175)
• Terracotta Town (AG192) (tied with Ash)

Battle Frontier

Ash defeats the following Frontier Brains:

• Greta (AG149)
• Tucker (AG153)
• Lucy (AG158)
• Spenser (AG164)
• Anabel, after one failed attempt. (AG170)
• Brandon, after two failed attempts. (AG190)

Episodes

Home video releases

North American DVD releases

Main article: List of English language Battle Frontier home video releases (Region 1)

Australian DVD releases

Main article: List of English language Battle Frontier home video releases (Region 4)

Trivia

• Battle Frontier is the only English season to have its own ending theme, instead of just a shortened or instrumental version of the opening theme.
• Battle Frontier is the only English season of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire not to contain the word "Advanced" in its title.
• This is the first season not to be dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment.
• Battle Frontier is the first English season to consist of less than 52 episodes.
• In Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), this season was initially skipped, and the broadcast of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl started immediately after AG145 with the Dutch dub. However, in the Netherlands, Battle Frontier was not skipped.
• This is the first season to premiere on Cartoon Network in the United States, with the final season being Pokémon the Series: XYZ.
• In the Hindi Hungama TV/MarvelHQ dub, the narrator parodies Indian actor Dharmendra in each episode. This practice continues in the Sinnoh arc.

In other languages

Language		Title
Czech		Pokémon: Park zápasů*
Danish		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Dutch		Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Strijd der Grenzen) Pokémon: Battle Frontier *
Finnish		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
French		Pokémon - Battle Frontier
German		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Italian		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Norwegian		Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Portuguese	Brazil	Pokémon: Batalha da Fronteira Pokémon: Battle Frontier *
	Portugal	Pokémon: Fronteira de Batalha
Russian		Покемон: Боевой рубеж Pokémon: Battle Frontier *
Spanish	Latin America	Pokémon: Batalla de la Frontera
	Spain	Pokémon: Battle Frontier
Swedish		Pokémon: Battle Frontier

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.