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[Pokémon] Pokemon Anime Marathon Club

Let's see how many episodes of Pokémon I can catch up on!

Episode 21

This episode probably would have been more impactful if Butterfree had been used a little more. But it didn't even get any development after it caused everyone to sink with the St. Anne. I think it was only seen once, and not even in any solo battles. It was just used as a flying Pokémon against the Tentacruel.

There were also some weird parts of the script. Like all those trainers really only trained one Butterfree each, and they were all okay with Team Rocket stealing their Pokémon? It also seemed inconsistent that Misty insisted that Butterfree rescue everyone else from Team Rocket on its own, only to use Starmie against Team Rocket in the warehouse. And then for Pikachu to be the one to destroy Team Rocket's helicopter. (Which was a great scene, because Meowth's default expression as Pikachu flew towards it was "=D")

Also, Team Rocket's banner and the Twerps saying the beginning of the Rocket motto were the high points of the episode.

So good-bye, Butterfree. If only we kept Raticate around.

Episode 22

Way back in the R/B/Y days, Psychic Pokémon were scary. And this episode showcased just how undefeatable that type was back in those days.

Sabrina's downright creepy herself. I'm another one confused as to how her Gym is still open if this happens to all trainers that challenge her. Someone would have reported it by now, unless for some reason, Sabrina only wanted to do this to the Twerps. (Which could be why she was watching them in particular? Sabrina does not seem like the sort to care about random people lost in the woods, so why did she help the Twerps?) It's also a little funny that Ash claims he can't get in to the League without the Marsh Badge, when much later we find out that there's at least two other Gyms with official badges.

I dunno. It just seemed like this episode was written with a little too much focus on Ash being the main character. Like not only did Sabrina pay special attention to him, but the bearded man said that Ash might be the one to rescue Sabrina. Like, why Ash in particular? Unless the bearded man could also predict the future and could see the specific set of circumstances that Ash would follow.

Probably would have been too creepy if there were other trainers trapped in Sabrina's doll house.

PoryKid575 said:
You may be thinking of scenes from Princess vs. Princess
Click to expand...
I checked to see what episode that was, and as I was scrolling through the list... There are a lot of episodes that I have completely forgotten about.
 
Season 1 Episode 24 - "Haunter versus Kadabra"

Rematch time! I thought this one was about the same quality as Abra and the Psychic Showdown; I didn't really like how Sabrina's dad intervened to save him again after previously saying he wouldn't do so as it pretty much removed all tension and sense of danger, but imo it was cancelled out by TR mostly staying out of the way and the hilarious gag of Ash thinking he's a photographer instead of his dad. In any case, they definitely amped up the creepiness compared to the last 2 EPs, with Sabrina threatening Ash far more directly compared to their last match and Haunter being very unreliable in general; I like how the gym leaders have been getting progressively more powerful and intimidating as the series progresses, even if I'm still baffled Sabrina hasn't had her accreditation revoked / been reported to Officer Jenny. Overall, I had a good time with this episode, I've been quite busy recently, which is why some of these reviews have been a bit shorter than usual, but I'm hoping to write a bunch in advance over the coming days and get them back to the previous length / detail. I'd give this episode an 8/10.
 
Season 1 Episode 25 - "Primeape Goes Bananas"

Better known as the "jelly-filled donut" episode; I found this one a refreshing return to a more light-hearted tone after all the recent creepy / emotional EPs. Mankey / Primeape is a good antagonist with a pretty funny personality, essentially being a mirror of Ash in Pokemon form, and it's nice to learn the lore behind Ash's hat; though it's a bit odd how he knew so little about Pokemon at the start of his journey despite apparently being enough of a Pokemon League fan to send in "dozens of postcards" to win exclusive merch; which kinda goes to show how a lot of this series really doesn't stand up to critical analysis or thought looking back tbh. In any case, the comedy was pretty on-point, especially with TR and some of the banter between the gang. Overall, it's a solid time that's a nice return to form after a fairly lengthy series of EPs with darker tones, and it makes me wish Primeape stuck around as a more permanent team member. I'd give it an 8/10.
 
Episode 23

The whole plot of "Ash's soul gets removed from his body" did not take up the bulk of the episode's plot like I had originally thought. It would have been nice if it had, only to help build up a reason why Haunter would decide to leave its two friends behind. Especially to follow someone who told the three Ghost Pokémon that he didn't want to stay and play with them. This would have been a storyline that could have used some more time and development, but it's already the second act of a three-part story. And maybe the writers didn't want to get too creepy with Lavender Town in the anime, what with the shift from the Tower being a cemetery to...someone's house?

It was a quick little detail, but I found it amusing that when Meowth ran over to the hole after James fell through, he ran on all four paws. Like in his worry for his teammate, Meowth reverted back to running like a regular member of his species. Kind of adorable.

What was up with the Brock abuse this episode? He gets electrocuted, burned, and then had Misty drop on him.

Episode 24

Kind of feels like we missed part of the story, since now Misty is okay with Haunter and Brock doesn't want to go anywhere near it. Ash considers Haunter his friend, which I get that's how he sees every Pokémon, but I still don't see why Haunter will go along with this. It's like Ash just expects Haunter to fight for him when Haunter has no idea why he's going off to fight Sabrina. I don't even think that Haunter counts as one of Ash's official Pokémon, so how does that play in the League's rules?

It's still weird that Sabrina can turn people into dolls and face no repercussions for it. Not just for turning Brock and Misty into dolls as collateral for Ash's battle, but you would think that someone would have noticed that her mother was missing. Unless Sabrina's father has more of a pull in Saffron's government than expected. Some other trainer must have rolled through the Gym and got turned into a doll.

Pidgeotto did not meet the marketability standards and does not get to join in the fight. Who would have been really useful in this fight if following the FR/LG type chart? Raticate with a Bite attack.

These three episodes were just weird and I'm glad to leave them behind.

Episode 25

Three times I had to hear "Those aren't donuts."

This episode made Mankey really adorable. I've always kind of liked it, but seeing it again made it adorable. Kind of felt sorry for it getting kicked around. But it was fun to see it beat up everyone once it evolved to Primeape. Especially Brock's attempt to just cheer it up.

The writers are already really pushing Charmander. It was used in the Tower episode, in the second Sabrina episode, and now gets the special finishing move to help capture Primeape. Would be nice to see Pidgeotto every once in a while, but again...marketability. Especially since Flying is strong against Fighting, but that would also mean that Ash would have to know what he's doing. And since he started this whole mess by trying to capture Mankey without fighting it, it's not a good showing.
 
Season 1 Episode 26 - "Pokemon Scent-sation"

This EP was definitely a mixed bag. While I thought it was honestly pretty fair for Erica to not want to challenge Ash since he was quite rude and aggressive towards them for no real reason, the Pokemon world must have widespread hearing issues with the amount of times Ash spoke in his normal voice at full volume, right next to people who'd met him without being discovered. And that's not to mention Ash's Harry Potter birthmarks remaining visible, critiques on the realism of a 25yo anime aside; I also really disliked how obviously they're avoiding having Ash use his non starter / Pikachu Pokemon. Pidgeotto would've been perfect for the battle with Erica, having a type advantage and not having had any screentime for a good while; and Primeape would've also been a good choice considering how it was shown to love fighting. But instead we get more Bulbasaur / Squirtle / Pikachu / Charmander. I do like all of them as characters, but they're bordering on overused by now imo. In any case, I did like the gym battle before the interruption by TR, and it's nice to see Ash at least not sending out disadvantaged typed Pokemon like in previous battles. I also found Ash's badge pretty well-earned, people rag on Indigo League Ash for getting badges as freebies instead of winning them, but running into a burning building to save Gloom isn't exactly the same as just being handed the badge for walking in the door, especially when they were roughly evenly matched before TR's shenanigans. Speaking of TR, they were really good this EP! The banter between them was top-notch, and I like how they manipulated Ash into helping them, kinda working as a team for a bit without falling into the "TR becomes good guys" trope, Ash's sass was also pretty funny at times. Overall, I'd say this EP is slightly below average for gym episodes, with it being above Misty's battle and below Brock's and Lt. Surge's. I'd give it an 8/10
 
Season 1 Episode 27 - "Hypno's Naptime"

Looks like we're sticking around in Celadon for a bit longer, which is just fine by me. I wasn't a huge fan of how Saffron was kinda glossed over apart from Sabrina's gym, so I like that Celadon's getting some extra characterization. Outside that though, I found the plot a bit underwhelming; the premise of a bunch of kids being lost and the gang having to find them is fine enough. But it feels like they hardly spend any time trying to find them before they're tracked down with the sleep waves. I would've preferred if the kids disappearing was scrapped altogether and replaced with people's Pokemon disappearing, with the waves being a side-effect of TR trying to hypnotize Pokemon with Hypno in their hideout to forget about their original trainers. It would've incorporated the Game Corner / Hideout from the original games while giving extra characterization to Giovanni / TR as an organization by showing that they're serious and aren't messing around. The actual cause being a sleep society comes off as a bit anti-climatic; and TR's intervention feels contrived and only included to fill time (which they outright say in the EP as well). At least Misty catches Psyduck at the end, which is a bright spot in this otherwise very plain EP. I'll also give it points for finally using Pidgeotto after it being absent for so long. Overall I'd give it a 5/10.
 
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Episode 26

Apparently there are no League regulations in Kanto if the Celadon Gym can just refuse challengers because they don't like perfume.

Aside from that, this went back to the old standard of Gym battles, with Ash winning his badge not through skill. Though it seems like he actually would have won, or had a close match, if Team Rocket didn't interrupt things with their bomb. Er, "blaster ball." And it was rather cute to see Ash work with Team Rocket to get into the Gym. Ash's first cross-dressing occasion. I'm actually rather proud of him.

It was also cute when Gloom attacked Team Rocket early in the episode, and Meowth wasn't affected because he just doesn't have a nose. No wonder he walks around with his mouth open. Can't breathe otherwise. :(

I will admit that it was impressive that Ash did run in to a burning building to rescue a Pokémon, and it did show empathy that he was able to connect with Gloom to rescue it. Kind of funny that no one stopped him from running in though. Misty probably figured there was no stopping him from doing that. (I also liked the little bit of pride Misty had when she heard the others talking about how good Ash is battling.)

Am I becoming a PokéShipper when I used to be an AdvanceShipper? Guess we'll find out whenever we reach Hoenn!

Episode 27

I randomly remembered about this episode's existence the other day, but got it confused with part of a parody video. Misty did not roll on the ground going "Misty! Misty!" in this episode.

Everyone seemed rather...calm? about the missing children. Even the mother of Arnold seemed just to be quietly sad instead of panicking over the fact her son disappeared for three days. And where was this park that no one stumbled upon a group of children acting like Pokémon for three days? The entire police force must just be Officer Jenny acting alone, and she spends most of her time hanging up posters and hoping for the best. And how did Misty get down to the park? (I originally thought it was on the roof with the mansion.) Did she just clap her hands on the ride down the elevator? Run down the stairs even though she was dreaming of being a Seel?

But Misty caught Psyduck! That's always a plus when the team grows. It also gives Misty another Pokémon to use on land instead of just Staryu and Starmie. And Psyduck has marketability!
 
Season 1 Episode 28 - "Pokemon Fashion Flash"

I quite enjoyed this one! It's nice that we're spending more time in Celadon, it's one of my favorite cities in Kanto; and the urban landscape's been a nice change of pace. Brock saying how Suzie's "mega-popular" website gets "over 10,000 hits per day" definitely dates it to the 90s, but the idea of grooming Pokemon to increase their performance / happiness heavily reminded me of Pokemon Amie from Gen 6. I found Suzie somewhat bland, and Brock falling for every woman he meets is starting to get old; but the dialouge between the gang was A-tier with how much they roasted each other, and TR was absolutely fantastic / the highlight of this EP. This is iirc the first example of their entrepreneurship, and them using the salon as a scheme to kidnap valuable Pokemon was honestly fairly clever. The final battle on the stage was also one of the better performances from Koffing / Ekans, with them taking out Pikachu / Geodude and only being defeated with a surprisingly intense Fire Spin from Vulpix. Overall this was a pretty solid EP, the pacing was very good and although Suzie was a bit bland for my taste, Brock finally has a Pokemon that hopefully won't have the personality of a rock! I'd give it an 8.5/10.
 
Episode 28

Thought a lot about how Pokémon breeding can be compared to dog breeding and dog sports. How you have people that breed dogs just for aesthetics, and you have people that breed for the health of the species. With dog sports, it doesn't matter how close the dog follows a set of standards. It only matters how skilled the dog is at the sport. (Which is why mixed-breed dogs can enter the sports, but not the shows.)

So that was all in the back of my mind as I watched this. It's probably difficult to get that point across in a twenty-minute episode of a children's anime, but I think it still did a good job. I'm a little hesitant to give it some points, since Misty was the one that liked fashion, which came off a little "girl does stereotypical girl things." But it's not like there was another option. Ash certainly wasn't going to do that.

Misty's makeover was a definite reference to Harajuku. Maybe that was what the writers were thinking of as they wrote this. Reading up on the history of Harajuku, it seems a little likely that that was thought about.

Brock got a Vulpix though! I don't know why Suzie thought he handled Geodude well in the battle, since all that Geodude did was Seismic Toss Ekans before getting Sludged in the face, but... Oh well. Brock cooks good food and needed to join Misty in getting a new teammate.
 
Season 1 Episode 29 - "The Punchy Pokemon"

Pretty average EP imo that's heavily overrated due to nostalgia. Its nice that Primeape is finally getting its time in the sun after being kinda ignored post-capture, but I found the actual plot fairly bland. The action being split up over 3-4 battles instead of the usual 1-2 made them each much faster and less interesting, including the final bout between Primeape and Hitmonlee which I felt wrapped up too quickly. It's also fairly odd how easily TR was able to obtain Hitmonlee considering how incompetent they usually are, and how OK Hitmonlee itself was just leaving its old trainer tied up; James wanting to spend his cash on a buffet was pretty funny, as well as him struggling to recite the TR motto. But everything else just feels like typical filler. I also wish Ash held on to Primeape since it has a very distinctive personality that added variety to the team while it was around. I'd give it a 5.5/10.
 
Episode 29

"The P1 Tournament is for Fighting Pokémon!"

Brock: I'll enter Geodude!

And then he is surprised when Geodude is hurt in a battle against Hitmonlee. How did he make it as a Gym Leader if he doesn't know type matchups and his Pokémon getting hurt gets him that upset? I guess the only reason why he entered the tournament is to set up the "know when to be a MAN" speech.

Speaking of Pokémon getting hurt and people not being used to that concept, that was really forced drama for Rebecca to dive into the ring to protect HItmonchan. I get that it wasn't a fair fight once Hitmonchan stepped in the glue, but maybe if Anthony really had been training Hitmonchan all that time, they would have had some strategy to defeat any opponent. Or at least to get out of the situation other than some weird family drama.

Also wasn't a fan of Primeape just learning to trust Ash (by Ash getting hurt catching Primeape) only to end up being left behind. Ash didn't even look back at Primeape as he walked down the road. Their separation did not come off emotional at all. I kind of feel like the episode would have been better if Primeape didn't win the P1 but Hitmonchan did, and Ash left Primeape with Anthony because Primeape respected Anthony or something. And Anthony would have returned back to his family because he won the tournament and maybe his daughter could help him with Primeape or anything other than what actually happened.

Team Rocket was one of the positives for this episode. Poor James! Him being unable to complete the motto is a classic. They also were part of my other positive for this episode: Pikachu. Something about the animation made Pikachu really adorable. I loved the moment where he goes up to Team Rocket with their electric device and he just waves over his shoulder like they're all friends.
 
Season 1 Episode 30 - "Sparks Fly for Magnemite"

Definitely a step up from last EP, I found Gringey City a pretty odd setting considering the Pokemon world's been depicted as a quasi-utopia up to this point; but at least they're shaking things up. I really liked the dark, industrial atmosphere; and Magnemite and Grimer / Muk were portrayed very well. Though I thought it was a bit contrived how the Grimer were blocking the intake valve for no discerable reason. TR were OK this time around, their scheme was nothing special but the dialouge between them was pretty entertaining. And Ash catches a Muk to replace Primeape! I don't mind it not being a part of the main team as much as Primeape, since it would probably be too OP and has a valid excuse with it smelling awful (I can't imagine it would be particularly marketable either); but it's still a nice addition that pays off for Ash down the road. Overall, I found this EP a pretty solid time, I'd give it an 8/10
 
Season 1 Episode 31 - "Dig Those Diglett!"

I never thought of Diglett as a particularly threatening Pokemon; but according to this EP they can apparently destroy roads with ease. It's really uncanny seeing trucks in the Pokemon world in general tbh considering how rarely the party's encountered them. Even the urban centers like Celadon were practically car-free, in any case, we finally get to see Gary again! I feel like he's been very underutilized to this point, but he's a good check on Ash's ego after his recent successes, and it's nice to see him show up. Ekans and Koffing also finally get around to evolving! It definitely feels earned after this many episodes, and I liked how TR struggled with the possibility of them changing post-evolution like Ash did while trying to beat Lt. Surge. It's evident they care about Ekans / Koffing, and it does a lot to humanize their character; I wasn't a huge fan of how they basically stayed exactly the same post-evolution both power and personality wise (to the extent they had a personality in the first place) though. It makes TR's worry about them becoming completely different after evolving into a pointless anticlimax, and Arbok / Wheezing get trounced about as easily as Ekans / Koffing were. I get that their fundamental role in the story is to always lose and get blasted off again; but they still could've made them marginally more capable / threatening instead of being glorified reskins. The actual plot with the Diglett was also meh, Diglett is one of my least favorite Pokemon and although it gets off to an intriguing start with the Pokemon refusing to leave their balls, it quickly lost steam and my main takeaway is that Kanto's government is wildly incompetent considering they approved a dam that would've caused water to just spill over into a nearby forest as well as likely nearby communities. Overall, it wasn't a terrible EP and it's nice to see TR grow a bit; but it wasn't anything special either. I'd give it a 6.5/10.
 
Season 1 Episode 32 - "The Ninja Poke-Showdown"

We've reached our next gym battle surprisingly quickly; this season's got ~80 EPs and we're already on the 6th badge less than halfway through, concerning pacing implications aside; this was a solid gym EP! I liked how Koga's gym was a Japanese mansion instead of the unassuming building in RBY; and 4Kids seemed to throw in the censorship towel and just left in the Japanese cultural stuff. I especially liked the kabuki rendition of the TR motto. It was also nice seeing Psyduck get some recognition for helping out; I found the actual battle fairly underwhelming compared to Erica's, but props to Koga for making Ash finish it out instead of giving him a freebie for Misty's work. Overall, I'd give it an 8/10.
 
Episode 30

The whole plot of the episode could have been avoided if the Center had a backup generator. A hospital should have one, but I guess the government of Gringey City isn't the best.

This is also another one of those environmental episodes again. With the heavy-handed moral of cleaning up pollution because otherwise your favorite animals will die. Unless three children come along to save the day. Which strikes me as strange as yet another Officer Jenny is useless in the face of a crisis. Instead, she leaves it up to three children that stroll in to town and can get into the power plant without any problems. I mean, I get having the main characters do things for the sake of the story, but it's just weird that they can get into the power plant and walk around until the two lonely employees finally find them.

But hey! Muk joined the team! The shenanigans it'll get up to with Professor Oak are amusing.

Also, is no one else concerned that Pikachu was afraid it was going to be abandoned? There's some history there.

Episode 31

I will be so glad when the environmental morals are finished. They don't make for good episode storylines. Especially since it's been done before. There's been so many other pieces of media where some human construct will damage the environment, and all the "evil" person in charge needs to do is see the joy of nature to change their ways. And yeah, it's weird that no one saw the problem of this dam being built and causing a flood to a massive part of a mountain range.

The main point of this episode was to have Koffing and Ekans evolve. It's well-deserved. And it gets across the point that these two Pokémon just love their trainers. That shows that Jessie and James aren't bad people at heart. They're good, if misguided. I'm thinking the little part of Jessie being worried that evolution will change the personalities is a hint for another evolution in the future. Now that I think about it, I don't think any other Pokémon drastically change their personality after evolution other than that one that I'm thinking about.

it gets off to an intriguing start with the Pokemon refusing to leave their balls
Click to expand...
That kind of felt like a cheap excuse to have Gary in the episode without revealing what his team is. Especially since it took so long for Ash to ask Pikachu for an explanation as to what that's all about.

Episode 32

Don't have much to say for this episode! I do like that it feels like Ash actually earned this badge. His skills as a trainer are improving. Though it's a shame that Pidgeotto can never seem to get a good showing whenever it's on screen. It lost way too quickly against Venomoth when Bulbasaur's "Whirlwind" worked against the powder attacks.

Psyduck was great though! Felt kind of bad for it when everyone was picking on it. But all that negativity brought out Psyduck's powers, and that helped to save the day. At least Misty has some appreciation for her newest Pokémon.

Also, Brock's little "ouch" when Charmander burned him? Perfection.
 
Season 1 Episode 33 - "The Flame Pokemon-athon!"

This was surprisingly good for a filler EP! The idea of Pokemon reservations where catching is banned is pretty realistic since similar areas exist for animals IRL. I thought Tauros was completely excluded from the dub though, so I was surprised to see them. In any case, Lara's pretty compelling for a COTD (mainly because she isn't completely useless for once); and there's a nice arc with Ponyta learning to trust Ash and evolving into Rapidash by the end. I also liked how the main villain is someone other than TR for once, they've been pretty dull for the past while. So it's nice to get a break from them. I found it pretty contrived how Dario getting into the Lamarie Clan (it's also kinda odd how they call it a "clan"; I know they were going for the wild-west Texan vibe but it feels unnecessary) is treated as a silver bullet that'll make him rich; couldn't they just kick him out if he starts stealing the family's money? The race was really good at the start with the emotional scene the night before, and Ponyta trusting Ash to ride it; and at the end when it evolved into Rapidash and won. But it dragged in the middle with irritating TR shenanigans (I wish they only appeared to sabotage the Tauros and got knocked out early in the race) and baffling decisions like Brock trying to try and run a race with Onix. Having a race at all instead of just battling was a great change of pace though. Overall, it's a really entertaining episode that serves as a nice break from the nearly 10 episode streak of battle-focused stories following The Tower of Tower. I'd give it a 9/10.
 
Season 1 Episode 34 - "The Kangaskhan Kid"

Pokemon Tarzan over 20 years before they made a movie out of the concept. This whole episode just felt extremely bizarre, it doesn't get off to a good start with the Pokemon Reserve thing from the previous EP being repeated; and it only gets weirder once Tommy's parents come into the picture. Apparently his father thought it was a good idea to hold his son outside a moving helicopter so he could get a better look of the jungle. He is treated like an idiot for doing so, but still. Also Tommy must've been one resilient kid to survive the fall. Outside that, TR was about average, not too annoying but not exceptionally good either; unfortunately the EP is completely ruined by the nonsensical ending where instead of reuniting with his parents and taking Kangaskhan with them (which they could presumably easily afford considering they already have a private helicopter), they decide to just stay in the wild with it. Overall, this EP felt like pointless filler only there to give Kangaskhan screen-time. I'd give it a 3/10.
 
Season 1 Episode 36 - "The Bridge Bike Gang"

Episode 35, "The Legend of Miniryu" is the first episode I'm skipping, due to it being the first to have no English dub. I'll still be counting "The Bridge Bike Gang" as EP36 to keep continuity with anyone watching the sub instead though. Moving on to the actual subject of this review, this was a great episode! Sunnytown being a coastal area is a nice change of pace from the forests and built-up urban landscape of the last while; and the plot is very solid as well. It dragged a bit in the center when the gang was bogged down in battles (why didn't they mention they were carrying medicine from the outset?); but it's made up for by the lore we get about Jesse / James, with them having been members of the same biker gang that harasses the main trio. We haven't heard much about their backstory, so it's nice to learn more about their lives pre-Team Rocket; it's was also weird hearing the gang members admire / respect TR in general, since everyone to this point has universally condemned them as pathetic and worthless. The climax with Ash using TR as a ramp to get over the bridge felt contrived and unrealistic; but the atmosphere was still top notch. The rendition of the bike theme was also fantastic. Overall, it was a really fun filler episode that gave us some much-needed backstory on TR. I'd give it a 9.5/10
 
Episode 33

This was the episode I was thinking of with the festival scene! When Ash was eating the Magikarp-shaped taiyaki.

Other than that, the race that was the bulk of this episode was weird. If the goal of it was to find the best-raised Pokémon, then some would automatically be at a disadvantage. Like there's no way that a Raticate could every be faster than a Dodrio. Or it wasn't fair for there to be a challenge where the Pokémon had to cross the water, since that automatically disqualified the Rock-types like we saw. And it felt a little like cheating for the Water Pokémon to just be able to surf across when the others had to use the rocks.

The guy riding the Electrode should have just won the whole thing on principle.

At the end, Ash saying "Much obliged!" always sounded strange.

Episode 34

It took five years for Tommy's parents to find him? They knew right where he landed. He was only three-years-old. What were they doing for that length of time that they couldn't find their only child for five years.

That just made me hate the episode all the more. Ranger Jenny was the worst, with her "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas!" approach to preventing poaching while also employing the help of three random children. The script couldn't agree on if they were in the Safari Zone or not. If the first area that the characters were in was a protected zone, why are there never any signs up? Or a fence? Or something so that random trainers don't just stumble across the very thin border of "catch Pokémon in this area" and "catch a Pokémon here and you're in jail" areas. The designs of the characters-of-the-day were also pretty bad.

Not even a soundtrack by Phil Collins could save this episode.

Episode 36

It seems backwards in priorities for the construction crew to finish the bike path before the road for cars. Especially because of emergency situations like this, where it would have been far faster for the medicine to be delivered by a car than three random children on bicycles. Or, if they wanted to insist on keeping the road closed and having only bicycles around, couldn't any one of the other police officers take the motorcycle on the bike path and just go "emergency situation!" I mean, five police cars and Jenny on a motorcycle showed up for a random Pokémon battle. At least one of those officers could have done something.

But then there wouldn't have been the drama of the storm and the bike gang growing to respect Ash and Misty. (Brock gets no respect, I'm tellin' ya!) It was also cute to see Team Rocket's backstory. James needing training wheels was great. Now he's riding unicycles. Good for him!

And we wouldn't have gotten that brief rendition of the bike theme from R/B/Y. That was a treat to hear.
 
Season 1 Episode 37 - "Ditto's Mysterious Mansion"

This episode did not live up to how unique a Ditto-focused story could've been, it's just so by-the-numbers. Duplica is... fine, but I couldn't get invested in her plight of Ditto not being able to transform its eyes properly. It feels like a very minor problem and the audience getting in such a twist over it felt contrived. Ditto can near-perfectly transform into any Pokemon while Duplica's pretty talented herself, and the tiniest defect half the audience probably wouldn't even be able to see is a complete dealbreaker for everyone? Seriously? I also took major issue with how TR's mistreatment is what allows Ditto to transform properly in the climax, it's a terrible message to give the audience "mistreat and threaten people to push them to perfection". Overall, it's just mediocre without that bit, but with it; I'd give it a 2/10
 
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