Review S07 EP34: Hokey Poké Balls!

[Dogasu]

Japanese Episode AG 74: "Bulbasaur and Bulbasaur! Regaining the Pokeballs"
American Episode 346: "Hokey Pokéballs!"

Kids' WB!, 10:00am ET
Encore airing on Kids' WB! Friday at 3:30pm ET
Ash and the gang arrive in a city, where Ash reminisces about his Bulbasaur. He decides to have Professor Oak send him his pokemon to show to May's Bulbasaur, and the two seem to hit it off nicely. When Team Rocket steals the pokemon from all the trainers who have visited that town's Pokemon Center, it's up to the two Bulbasaur to work together to retrieve the stolen pokemon. Can the PokeBalls be retrieved?

Post your thoughts about the episodes here. Please mark any spoilers for episodes not that have yet to air in America in spoiler tags.

 

[Misty]

Average filler ep - except for the inclusion of RBY Last Battle making it all worth it. >.> I'm such a music whore.

Also, did anyone else laugh when Ash and Brock suddenly started running extra fast? It was such a "WTF?" moment XD

Still, 7/10. Kind of slow at the beginning, and it abused some old cliches(Pikachu thunderbolted the ground and it exploded! lolz!)

 

[Kthleen]

Average filler ep - except for the inclusion of RBY Last Battle making it all worth it. >.> I'm such a music whore.

Also, did anyone else laugh when Ash and Brock suddenly started running extra fast? It was such a "WTF?" moment XD

Still, 7/10. Kind of slow at the beginning, and it abused some old cliches(Pikachu thunderbolted the ground and it exploded! lolz!)

Kimi wa hitoribocchi ja nai. ^_^;

Yeah. That was silly and funny.

I'd go with 8.5/10. There were some clichéd moments, but it was fun and cute (Bulbasaur bonding!

). No Friend-of-the-Day unless you count Joy or even those kids for some reason. I liked the vine-Meowth balloon. However, what the hell was up with the Trainer's Choice? Some people got Heracross as the answer, and others (like BjG and me) got Combusken, yet I remember seeing Beautifly (so I chose Beautifly before it came back and became weird). I thought something was off when I didn't see Beautifly again and when they said that the answer was Combusken. Then I saw this:

-The trainer's choice was bad, as always. We had to pick between Nuzleaf/Beautifly (the caption said Nuzleaf but the picture was Beautifly), Combusken, and Heracross as the best choice against Meditite. Nuzleaf/Beautifly should've been the best choice(well, if it was intended to be Nuzleaf then it would've been in the same boat as Heracross...), Heracross is weak to Meditite's Psychic side and Meditite's Fighting type cancels out the SE effect of Bug agaisnt Psychic, and Combusken is the same situation but more pronounced. The "correct" answer was...Heracross. Wha?

Wha indeed. The airing I got it was Combusken. Do they do multiple versions of these?

And did James sound strange to anyone else, or am I just hearing things?

Did anyone notice that those three kids were the same kids from Hypno's Naptime?! I can't remember who was who exactly, but:

C'est von Serebii desu. XP

Caterpie(or Weedle)/Bulbasaur/I don't know (Gloom? Pidgey? I think she was flapping around while hopping, but I don't really remember), respectively? Either that, or it might have been Bulbasaur/Caterpie(or Weedle)/Gloom?Pidgey? Or perhaps the kid in green was the newly lost one.... (Oh, why doesn't Serebii have the pictures when I need them?)

 

[Hales]

You know, I'm glad Australia doesn't have this Trainer's Choice, it beats all the confusion, we just get to watch the episodes and not bother with it all.

So what was the reaction when Ash saw his Bulbasaur for the first time in AGES?!

 

[Misty]

Kimi wa hitoribocchi ja nai. ^_^;

Wha? <:O

 

[pikapal]

I noticed James' voice was different too. Did anyone notice that Nurse Joy's voice sounds exactly like Bridget's from Mew Mew Power. Is Bella the new Nurse Joy voice? The 2 bulbas were so cute. I like the scene when May's bulbasaur was in the truck bed sniffing the flowers.

 

[Kthleen]

Kimi wa hitoribocchi ja nai. ^_^;

Wha? <:O

It means "you're not alone," as far as I know. (Although I wonder if it's more of a physical sense or if it can be used the same way "you're not alone" is in English. I need to stop using random other-language phrases....) I pay a bunch of attention to the music, too. (Though my memory of it tends to last only the duration of the show....

) I didn't notice the RBY Last Battle music, but I did notice the tiny bit from the 1st move at the end.

It's interesting that you don't have TC in Australia. Do they still do Who's That Pokémon?, either at the beginning or middle of the show?

pikapal, who's Bella?

 

[Dogasu]

Did anyone notice that those three kids were the same kids from Hypno's Naptime?! I can't remember who was who exactly, but:

C'est von Serebii desu. XP

I KNEW I had seen that pigtailed girl before! Does anyone have a picture of the "Hypno's Naptime" kids for comparison?

 

[Hales]

It's interesting that you don't have TC in Australia. Do they still do Who's That Pokémon?, either at the beginning or middle of the show?

Well they might if the have it on Cartoon Network, but that'll be later in the year, free-to-air (Channel 10) is what Pokemon is on now, but they don't bother with things like that.

CN will mostly likely have the TC but I couldn't tell you for sure just yet.

Who's That Pokemon is definitely on CN but not on the Channel 10... man this sounds complicated, let me know if your still confused

So was there any cool comments from Ash in this episode? was Professor Oak happy to hear from Ash in this episode? (I love Prof. Oak)

 

[Kthleen]

So what was the reaction when Ash saw his Bulbasaur for the first time in AGES?!

Well they might if the have it on Cartoon Network, but that'll be later in the year, free-to-air (Channel 10) is what Pokemon is on now, but they don't bother with things like that.

CN will mostly likely have the TC but I couldn't tell you for sure just yet.

Who's That Pokemon is definitely on CN but not on the Channel 10... man this sounds complicated, let me know if your still confused

So was there any cool comments from Ash in this episode? was Professor Oak happy to hear from Ash in this episode? (I love Prof. Oak)

There was a delay in the meeting between Ash and Bulbasaur: When Ash got the Pokéball, it was empty. TR flew off with all of the recently transported Pokéballs, but managed to drop one single Pokéball in the process, which was Bulbasaur's. Ash was quite happy to see his friend (hug!), and the two Bulbasaur started bonding immediately as well (bond!). "hug!" pic from Filb, "bond!" pic from Serebii.

How far has Pokémon shown on ch. 10? (I was asking if they do WTP in Advanced/Challenge: in the States, they have WTP right after the opening, then TC in the middle of the show. It wasn't always that way [it used to be TC only], but maybe there was enough complaining or something that they brought WTP back.) If I'm understanding correctly, the rest of Pokémon has WTP, but A/C doesn't (so far) bother with such things as WTP and TC.

When Ash suggested bringing his Bulbasaur over to have it meet May's, everyone else thought that it was a great idea. Other than that, I can't remember if Ash had any cool comments. I think Prof. Oak was pleasantly surprised, but he was far more interested in May's Bulbasaur. He commented on how fine a speciment it was.

 

[Hales]

There was a delay in the meeting between Ash and Bulbasaur: When Ash got the Pokéball, it was empty. TR flew off with all of the recently transported Pokéballs, but managed to drop one single Pokéball in the process, which was Bulbasaur's. Ash was quite happy to see his friend (hug!), and the two Bulbasaur started bonding immediately as well (bond!). "hug!" pic from Filb, "bond!" pic from Serebii.

How far has Pokémon shown on ch. 10? (I was asking if they do WTP in Advanced/Challenge: in the States, they have WTP right after the opening, then TC in the middle of the show. It wasn't always that way (it used to be TC only), but maybe there was enough complaining or something that they brought WTP back.) If I'm understanding correctly, the rest of Pokémon has WTP, but A/C doesn't (so far) bother with such things as WTP and TC.

When Ash suggested bringing his Bulbasaur over to have it meet May's, everyone else thought that it was a great idea. Other than that, I can't remember if Ash had any cool comments. I think Prof. Oak was pleasantly surprised, but he was far more interested in May's Bulbasaur. He commented on how fine a speciment it was.

Just watched the second Misty episode, which had me sniffling at the end it was so cute... and I was happy that Togepi evolved, it took it long enough.

You know I always wonder how much Professor Oak cares for Ash, there's times when he shows he cares for Ash, other times he couldn't careless, and it saddens me.

I know he was more interested in May's Bulbasaur and I can understand that, but Ash has always wanted to please his mentor but sometimes he doesn't even notice (Professor Oak, I mean)

*pensive*

But thanks for the answers!

 

[pikapal]

pikapal, who's Bella?

Bella is Bella Hudson she does the voice of Bridget on Mew Mew Power and the new Mai Valentine voice on Yu-Gi-Oh! http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-335659

Here's her profile on tv tome.

 

[Geodude]

Is it just me, or did "Hokey Pokeballs" have some of the better dialogue in recent memory? :-D

Meowth: "Ha! Unless it involves pain, we don't know da meanin' o' givin' up!" XD

 

[Kthleen]

But thanks for the answers!

You're welcome.

Bella is Bella Hudson she does the voice of Bridget on Mew Mew Power and the new Mai Valentine voice on Yu-Gi-Oh! http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-335659

Here's her profile on tv tome.

Thanks.

Is it just me, or did "Hokey Pokeballs" have some of the better dialogue in recent memory? :-D

Meowth: "Ha! Unless it involves pain, we don't know da meanin' o' givin' up!" XD

Perhaps, but that line creeped me out. I swear, I've been becoming more sensitive to violence and the mentioning/implication thereof....

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Oh yeah, Dogasu, I meant to ask you something about your comparasion...what did you find 'confusing' about James' line about being a scout? It doesn't mess up his timeline or anything, because with him, we have years and years where he was just a 'rich kid', so it fits in easily with that.

 

[Zeta]

I can't picture James as a boyscout.

Now, a GIRL scout . . .

 

[Masato]

Well, this episode wasn't really as good as some of the other AG episodes. The plot was a bit too uniteresting for me. It wasn't totally boring though, just wasn't like the other AG episodes. Plus, I did kind of enjoy it. The fact that Ash's Bulbasour came back was kind of nice even though it was for only one episode. Sigh, I just wished they showed Ash's Bulbasour use Solarbeam on Team Rocket instead of Pikachu using Thunderbolt on Team Rocket. Still it wasn't totally bad.

Rating: 6/10

 

[Dogasu]

Sorry I didn't get to this earlier:

Oh yeah, Dogasu, I meant to ask you something about your comparasion...what did you find 'confusing' about James' line about being a scout? It doesn't mess up his timeline or anything, because with him, we have years and years where he was just a 'rich kid', so it fits in easily with that.

True enough. And I do realize that, as a change (since he doesn't mention being a boyscout in the original) that it's extremely minor and insignificant, and it probably won't have any negative effect on anything. The only reason I really included it was because I could see people trying to bring that line up in a character bio for Kojirou or something, so I wanted to show that it was a dub-only line.

I mean, the Rocket-Dan's past is already hard enough to figure out as it is, since it's obvious that the writers are just making it up as they go along, contradict themselves (

Spoiler

I've heard their Housou special pretty much craps on facts given to us in "The School of Hard Knocks" and "The Bridge Bike Gang," among other episodes

and will arbitrarily add new pokemon in whenever it's convenient

Spoiler

like how Kojirou all of a sudden had *always* wanted a Chiriin

.

Unless 4Kids actually manages to *fix* some continuity error, I'd rather they just leave it alone.

 

[Zeta]

Spoiler

Well, they couldn't very well show him having always wanted one before they existed!

 

[Pokemon Fan]

(

Spoiler

I've heard their Housou special pretty much craps on facts given to us in "The School of Hard Knocks" and "The Bridge Bike Gang," among other episodes

Well, if I recall correctly Murgatroyd has said that the special

Spoiler

doesn't contradict or support those two episodes. That is, it is left up in the air when Jessie and James meet in the episode as to whether or not they knew each other before hand. A lot fo continuity is paid attention to though, since Cassidy and Butch have a Raticate (just like in their first episode) and when Meowth enters the scene he is carrying I think the same travel bag that we see him leaving with for Team Rocket in "Go West Young Meowth."

Anyway, as for the episode, it was extra cute and extra fun at parts, I only wish they had spent more time on the two Bulbas interacting, and maybe showed Ash's Bulbasaur meeting his new pokes. I loved the scene where Ash and Brock kick it into high gear, they have traveled a long time and are in good shape by now after all.