"Pokémon" Week Two: 6/21-6/24 Talkback (Spoilers)

[Duke]

http://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/talkback.gifhttp://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/pokemon.gif



Pokémon: Week Two


June 21st - June 24th, 2004


Gotta catch 'em all! Pokémon is back on CN, this time with all new adventures of Ash and the gang in the Orange Islands and in Johto!


Time: 8:00pm

(All times in Eastern)


4

Your Week of Episodes!


Monday, 6/21/04

The Stun Spore Detour


On their way to the Orange League Championships, Ash & Tracey get caught in a Vileplume's Stun Spore! Misty goes to find a specific weed to cure them, but runs into James & Meowth, who need the weed to cure Jessie of the same ailment! They find the weed stuck on the tail of a wandering Poliwag, and promptly battle for their teammates' lives!

Comments: A decent episode, while Misty catches her first battle-ready Pokémon since Starmie left. (I guess the creative team was sick of Staryu and couldn't find Goldeen anything to do.)


4


Tuesday, 6/22/04

Hello, Pummelo!


Ash arrives on Pummelo Island, home to the Orange League Champion, Drake, and his uber-powerful Dragonite. Ash does a quick shuffle to his lineup, and battles the super-strong trainer! Pikachu, Squirtle, and Lapras have their hands full as Ditto, Onix, and Gengar prove to be more than they let on! Can Ash stave off Drake's Pokémon and still be strong enough to battle Dragonite?

Comments: Bored of the "Giovanni is Ash's father" rumor, Internet buzz spread like wildfire after this episode aired in Japan, saying Drake was Ash's father. Obviously, that's not true. This is Dragonite's first TV show, non-shadowed appearence.


4


Wednesday, 6/23/04

Enter the Dragonite!


Drake proves how tough a trainer he really is, though Ash somehow hangs in there. With 4 Pokémon left on Ash's side, his last obstacle to becoming the Orange League Champion is Dragonite! Since Ash has four Pokémon, which include Charizard and Pikachu, this match should be a breeze, right?

Comments: This is Ash's first 6-on-6 battle, and these two episodes are considered to be the best in the Orange Islands saga. The additon of Drake makes it seem like the producers wanted to tempt fans with Lance until the Red Gyarados Saga, which occurs in Master Quest. This episode also shows us that the Orange League has been downgraded in the 300 years since "A Shipful of Shivers."


4


Thursday, 6/24/04

Viva Las Lapras


With the Orange Island Championship over with, it's time to head back to Pallet Town and give Professor Oak the G/S Ball. However, along the way, Ash & the gang find Lapras' mother, who, along with the rest of the Lapras school, is afraid of humans. Things don't get better when pirates arrive to capture the gentle Pokémon! It's up to Ash & Lapras to save the day!

Comments: As you can probably tell, this is Lapras' last episode. It does come back for one episode in Master Quest, though.


4


NOTES

This season is the 4th American season and covers the end of the Orange Islands and the first 1/3 of Johto.
This week's episodes feature the arrival of a new team member, as well as a departure of another team member, with the Orange League Championships sandwiched in between. No filler episodes this week!
Ash battles some Pokémon he's never battled before, including a Gengar, a Venusaur, and, obviously, a Dragonite!
Snorlax stays at home with Professor Oak until the Sumo Contest episode in Johto League Champions.
This is the first time Ash uses Tauros in a battle, causing dub-only fans confusion. For those who don't know, Ash captures a herd of Tauros in the Safari Zone in a skipped episode in Season 1.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

yay another full week of great episodes which is always the case when it comes to the orange league series! :)

todays episode wasn't the first time they were stun spored but it was a good excuse to give Misty a spotlight even though Tracey really could have used one instead. Misty got Poliwag which is pretty cute and James & Meowth were nice :)

[DSRGirl]

You know, this episode made me realize how much I like Meowth and James over Jessie in Team Rocket. She's okay I guess, but she can get very annoying and a lot meanier then the other two. Yeah, I know she's a villian, but I really think it wasn't a good idea to have the same villian/villians exists alongside the hero for over 300 episodes. I also have to say Misty worked well going at it along. I like seeing her more "sensitive side" in this episode, and Poliwag ended up being very effective. You know, in later episodes as well.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

great!!!! Ash really ruled the first half of this battle except for the Tauros mistake and even gained some fans in the crowd it sounded like :) this cliffhanger ending is a classic and one of Lapras's best moments!

[PC!]

I don't see why they make Dragonite out to be such a mysterious Pokemon. Well, at least I can't picture a Dragonite as mysterious...

I've heard that tomorrow's episodes features one of the best battles in the anime. Of course, I might've heard wrong, it's been a while.

[DSRGirl]

The battle with Drake always was always one of my favorite Pokemon Battles. It's handled a lot better in the anime then it is in the manga (the Manga version skips over a LOT of the fight, only leaving in Pikachu vrs Ditto, and the fight with Dragonite). Tauros gets a better battle tommorow night, so look out for that.

[Duke]

I know Ash doesn't battle with Ghost-types very often, but still. You figure even a newbie would know not pit a Normal-type against a Ghost-type, unless it has the Foresight attack (Which Tauros doesn't).

Also, Pikachu used two techniques that it learned in Epsiode 14 "Electric Shock Showdown" (a.k.a. the Lt. Surge Gym Battle): Using its tail as a ground for electricity, and it's "Thunder Tail" anime-only attack. Neither technique is really ever used again...

[Duke]

Well, that was an enjoyable battle. I do wish Squirtle did more than shoot bubbles at Dragonite though. The final attack by Pikachu was friggin awesome though. And ya gotta love the Brock mention. It did kinda suck that Bulbasaur didn't beat anybody, but I guess that shows just how much training Ash hasn't given it in the Orange Islands.

And now that I think about it, except for Charizard vs. Blaziken, this 6-on-6 is much better than the two 6-on-6's we get at the end of Johto.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

that battle was great all the way through! Ash only slipped up once or twice which is a cool change of pace and he dominated most of the battle which means even if Drake could have switched out he really didn't have anything to switch to by the end! :)

[Peter Paltridge]

I remember "Stun Spore Detour" for one scene. It was the last time Misty was ever mean to Ash(if memory serves right), but it was a mean act all right. After Ash got better he thanked Misty for being so nice to him while he was so sick. Misty yanks around and yells, "DON'T GET USED TO IT!!!" I think that was right before movie #2, where she mellowed out for good, but man, that was mean.

[PaQ]

Wow, that was a pretty fun episode yesterday. I had no idea that Ash actually won a championship, that's pretty cool. He pretty much controlled the whole match, only being thrown off a bit by Dragonite's appearance.. I like seeing Ash and Charizard working together well, I always thought the whole not listening to Ash got very old fairly quickly. I think everyone knew it would be Pikachu to beat Dragonite, it was nice to see Misty compliment Ash, and then Ash mention Brock at the end. Nice picture at the end with Ash and his pokemon.

I give "Enter the Dragonite!" a B.

[Rabi~en~Rose]

Pikachu finished Dragonite but it was Tauros and Squirtle and Charizard that helped alot to and did most of the damage to the dragon :)


why are they using a shortened intro :confused: ash's line after team rockets miracle recovery is great! "I hope they just keep going" lol and after just winning the orange league Ash forgot electric is bad in water! bye bye Lapras :( :( :(

[Zach]

Thank god that this week didn't have filler episodes...

[Duke]

I noticed an error in Thursday's episode: Misty threw out four PokéBalls, but Psyduck didn't come out, or was that scene cut for some reason, since there seemed to be a spot for the goofy duck. It's been so long since I've seen this episode that I forget.

Trivia bit: The music played at the end during the Lapras montage is the Instrumental version of "Pikachu's Good-bye."