DR. BELCH
09-08-2001, 01:01 PM
POK#403: Air Time
During lunch in a restaurant Team Twerp is approached by a rather heavyset, flamboyantly-dressed effeminate man who reminds me of an odd cross between Paul Lynde and Cleavon Schpeilbunk from a couple of seasons ago. He wants to interview Ash on the radio, station POKE, after hearing of his latest Johto gym victory in Goldenrod City.
Though the kid's about as wooden as they come, he agrees, and gets booked on a show hosted by a red-headed woman in large glasses. I'm sure that host has to be a caricature of some famous radio/TV personality in America or Japan, but I can't place her. She walks Ash through his interview by telling him to pretend it's a Pokemon battle...one of the more interesting relaxation techniques I've seen. Thankfully he didn't get mixed up and whip out a Pokeball, possibly unwittingly frying or drowning the host during the show.
Meanwhile Team Rocket wanders across the radio station, mistaking it for a shopping mall (couldn't they see the dish tower on the roof even at a distance?), and scheme their way inside pretending to be actors. They wander into the tape vault and make a buggardly mess of it--whereupon they're apprehended by guards who think they're...ventriloquists?
Before you can say "Willie Tyler and Lester", Jessy and James are booked on the redhead's show with dummy Meowth as "The Dugtrio Trio" (although it begs the question if they call themselves that, why use a Meowth puppet?). Jessy shows she has a knack for performing, which leads me to think if she ever gave up crime (and her ego) she could make it big in the biz. The three do a bicker act--which is really just them being themselves-- to rival McCarthy and Fields that's a big hit. James' line about wanting to give Meowth something (a bop to the head) made me laugh--taken out of context, it's rather dodgy. ;)
Team Twerp meets up with "The Dugtrio Trio" but fails to recognize them (though you'd think Jessy's unmistakable locks would stick out like a sore middle finger at rush hour). To make matters worse, the tapes the "Trio" ruined earlier were that day's broadcast, and the Teams are forced to read the copy live.
The high point is the story-in-the-story because (a) Charizard appears in it (voiced by James in an oddly asthmatic growl) (b) Misty looks very nice in her Arabian Nights costume and (c) in some weird pseudo-quasi-Oedipal twist, Jessy is playing a villian playing Ash's mother. ..with James as his "father". :eek:
Jessy again does well, but can't resist ad-libbing or literally trying to steal the show. When she and "Team Socket" steal the Pikachu in the story, the lines between script and reality blur and all hell breaks loose. Ash chases them to the roof while the mike guy and narrator follow, and between them they manage to salvage the story and write a bitter ending for Team Rocket.
Though I pity the real Dugtrio Trio, who the Trio con brio meet up with several miles down the road, when they arrive at POKE.
This has to be one of the most unusual episodes, what with all the metahumor buried in it. Basically it's a bunch of TV voice actors pretending to be TV characters pretending to be radio voice actors. Hurts the head just thinking about it. :confused:
JCA#239: Through the Rabbit Hole
This one must have been an ep left over from last season because Chandu is still in statue form, Valmont's goons are still chasing after the talismans, and Tohru hasn't yet become an ally of the Chans.
From the title I was thinking of Alice in Wonderland, but it's another variation of the time travel theme involving Jade and the rabbit talisman. When it's accidentally exposed to quantum radiation, the hyperspeed properties whisk Jade back to the disco era, 1978.
Jade meets up with a young Jackie, breaking his fall when some bigger kids dare him to hop a fence (altering the present, as Jackie loses a scar on his arm he got from that foolish stunt), and with a younger Uncle (who looks rather similar to the present Uncle but for his John Travolta duds and dark hair). Although it's mentioned he hasn't then trained under his Zen master, his fighting skills are pretty good--there's a great scene where present Jackie gets to fight with Uncle in his prime.
Scary thing is that the red-headed goon looks a little too confortable in the '70s.
DYN that Jade has the same teacher Jackie had 25 years ago? Another rather scary thought. I wonder what stories she'd have to tell about young Mr. Chan's shenanigans as a boy?
DYN that Valmont has worn the same style suit for 25 years, albeit it was smaller then? Again, scary.
DYN the reference to the song "Kung-Fu Fighting"?
Valmont's goons take the wrong turn in the space-time continuum and get trapped in the 1920s. They get back to the hideout eventually...the long way....
During lunch in a restaurant Team Twerp is approached by a rather heavyset, flamboyantly-dressed effeminate man who reminds me of an odd cross between Paul Lynde and Cleavon Schpeilbunk from a couple of seasons ago. He wants to interview Ash on the radio, station POKE, after hearing of his latest Johto gym victory in Goldenrod City.
Though the kid's about as wooden as they come, he agrees, and gets booked on a show hosted by a red-headed woman in large glasses. I'm sure that host has to be a caricature of some famous radio/TV personality in America or Japan, but I can't place her. She walks Ash through his interview by telling him to pretend it's a Pokemon battle...one of the more interesting relaxation techniques I've seen. Thankfully he didn't get mixed up and whip out a Pokeball, possibly unwittingly frying or drowning the host during the show.
Meanwhile Team Rocket wanders across the radio station, mistaking it for a shopping mall (couldn't they see the dish tower on the roof even at a distance?), and scheme their way inside pretending to be actors. They wander into the tape vault and make a buggardly mess of it--whereupon they're apprehended by guards who think they're...ventriloquists?
Before you can say "Willie Tyler and Lester", Jessy and James are booked on the redhead's show with dummy Meowth as "The Dugtrio Trio" (although it begs the question if they call themselves that, why use a Meowth puppet?). Jessy shows she has a knack for performing, which leads me to think if she ever gave up crime (and her ego) she could make it big in the biz. The three do a bicker act--which is really just them being themselves-- to rival McCarthy and Fields that's a big hit. James' line about wanting to give Meowth something (a bop to the head) made me laugh--taken out of context, it's rather dodgy. ;)
Team Twerp meets up with "The Dugtrio Trio" but fails to recognize them (though you'd think Jessy's unmistakable locks would stick out like a sore middle finger at rush hour). To make matters worse, the tapes the "Trio" ruined earlier were that day's broadcast, and the Teams are forced to read the copy live.
The high point is the story-in-the-story because (a) Charizard appears in it (voiced by James in an oddly asthmatic growl) (b) Misty looks very nice in her Arabian Nights costume and (c) in some weird pseudo-quasi-Oedipal twist, Jessy is playing a villian playing Ash's mother. ..with James as his "father". :eek:
Jessy again does well, but can't resist ad-libbing or literally trying to steal the show. When she and "Team Socket" steal the Pikachu in the story, the lines between script and reality blur and all hell breaks loose. Ash chases them to the roof while the mike guy and narrator follow, and between them they manage to salvage the story and write a bitter ending for Team Rocket.
Though I pity the real Dugtrio Trio, who the Trio con brio meet up with several miles down the road, when they arrive at POKE.
This has to be one of the most unusual episodes, what with all the metahumor buried in it. Basically it's a bunch of TV voice actors pretending to be TV characters pretending to be radio voice actors. Hurts the head just thinking about it. :confused:
JCA#239: Through the Rabbit Hole
This one must have been an ep left over from last season because Chandu is still in statue form, Valmont's goons are still chasing after the talismans, and Tohru hasn't yet become an ally of the Chans.
From the title I was thinking of Alice in Wonderland, but it's another variation of the time travel theme involving Jade and the rabbit talisman. When it's accidentally exposed to quantum radiation, the hyperspeed properties whisk Jade back to the disco era, 1978.
Jade meets up with a young Jackie, breaking his fall when some bigger kids dare him to hop a fence (altering the present, as Jackie loses a scar on his arm he got from that foolish stunt), and with a younger Uncle (who looks rather similar to the present Uncle but for his John Travolta duds and dark hair). Although it's mentioned he hasn't then trained under his Zen master, his fighting skills are pretty good--there's a great scene where present Jackie gets to fight with Uncle in his prime.
Scary thing is that the red-headed goon looks a little too confortable in the '70s.
DYN that Jade has the same teacher Jackie had 25 years ago? Another rather scary thought. I wonder what stories she'd have to tell about young Mr. Chan's shenanigans as a boy?
DYN that Valmont has worn the same style suit for 25 years, albeit it was smaller then? Again, scary.
DYN the reference to the song "Kung-Fu Fighting"?
Valmont's goons take the wrong turn in the space-time continuum and get trapped in the 1920s. They get back to the hideout eventually...the long way....