Review S07 EP28: A Double Dilemma

[Dogasu]

Japanese Episode AG 67: "Papa is Idol?!? False Gym Leader!"
American Episode 339: "A Double Dilemma"

Kids' WB!, 10:00am ET
Encore airing on Kids' WB! at 3:00pm ET
Ash and the gang arrive in Petalberg, where they find that Norman is a huge celebrity! Team Rocket notices this and decides to take advantage of it in one of the most hilarious disguises the grouop has come up with yet.

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

 

[Dogasu]

Isn't Dan Dunstan (the reporter for North Petalberg News) the name of a 4Kids employee?

 

[Misty]

It was a good ep, I just hated how everyone was so mean to Ash, even after he totally rocked the lot of them ;_; He's better than all of you combined, losers! >:O

 

[Mikeachu]

That episode was a riot! Chibi May rocks!

& Wobbuffet looks good in glasses.

 

[Rocketshipper]

This episode totally rocked!!! It was hilarious from beginning to end, and had a ton of really great lines.

Meowth: We're in the valley of the Norman

That was my favorite! Chibi-Haruka was really cute. I wish that they could have given Ash a little more respect, and it's not fair that they declared May the winner becaue her attack hit Ash and not his Pokemon. I think it would be funny if this whole crowd followed Ash and watched his gym battle later on, then he would show them ^_^. overall, 5 stars!!!

 

[Juputoru]

-Zany episode! Whee!
-Man, there was a LOT of chibi-May in this episode.
-Ash was more worn out than his Pokemon? Uh, how does that work? All he had to do was shout out orders. How does that make him more worn out than the things that are actually fighting?
-And the theory of "as long as they're wearing SOMETHING different, nobody can tell who they are, even if it's blatently obvious to the viewer" continues to hold true, as TR proved.
-The bit at the end where everyone was being a fan(boy/girl) of Pikachu, but still disrepecting Ash, seems...interesting. The writers' way of expressing how they feel about Pikachu's popularity? Or just me reading into it too much?

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Isn't Dan Dunstan (the reporter for North Petalberg News) the name of a 4Kids employee?

Close. The reporter's name was Dee Dunstan, and he was clearly voiced by Darren Dunstan, the voice director (and Pegasus from YGO)

This episode revealed something interesting about GLs--they seem to be able to control how famous they are. None of the other towns had people going nuts for their GLs--most probably wouldn't know who their GL was! At least not by face, probably by name.

BTW--messup in the captions, one of James' offscreen lines was captioned as being said by Jesse.

Joy's cross was purple in this, and her VA still isn't back. Come back, Megan!

 

[cold_katanagirl]

So that's why Nurse Joy's voice sounded... funky. 0_o

Anyway. Um, this episode was pretty cool. GO CHIBI MAY!

But, why does everyone take Ash and May's battle so seriously? I thought the entire point of it was just to make you laugh. Not actually count the battle. =/

 

[PokemonStarlight]

But, why does everyone take Ash and May's battle so seriously? I thought the entire point of it was just to make you laugh. Not actually count the battle. =/

I agree. I thought it was funny when May started getting really excited and started going "Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember!" And I think I noticed a change. When everyone noticed that "Max"/Wobbuffet was blue, didn't someone say something in the Japanese version about how he reads too much and that's what turned him blue? That's what I read anyways. Long live Chibi May!

5/5

 

[The Big Al]

This is a first. This is the first Pokemon episode EVER I turned off. (I turned it off when Meowth claimed grueling travel on the road makes you shrink and the "expert" said that was reasonable.)

 

[Misty]

This is a first. This is the first Pokemon episode EVER I turned off. (I turned it off when Meowth claimed grueling travel on the road makes you shrink and the "expert" said that was reasonable.)

Pokemon has done stuff like that since time immemorial - I honestly saw it coming a mile away. It's one of TR's running gags; even Ash and friends are always fooled by TR's disguises, no matter how obvious it may seem.

 

[Jo-Jo]

I haven't seen the episode, but surely the line about May supposedly shrinking on the road was a joke? I certainly laughed just now when I read it.

 

[Misty]

It was a desperation lie by Meowth

 

[YumeHeart]

Isn't Dan Dunstan (the reporter for North Petalberg News) the name of a 4Kids employee?

Something also seemed kinda strange about all these lines like, "I need posters for my Norman memorial room!" When you think about the fact that the President of 4Kids is named Norman...XD

I loved this episode. It made me laugh so much. Yay for chibi May!

 

[The Big Al]

It was a desperation lie by Meowth

Real desperate. But it worked.

 

[Rocketshipper]

isn't Pegasus' dub voice done by Eric Stuart???

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

A common mistake, but no.

 

[birdboy2000]

That episode was teh funny.

 

[Nekusagi]

Close. The reporter's name was Dee Dunstan, and he was clearly voiced by Darren Dunstan, the voice director (and Pegasus from YGO)

And don't forget Giovanni in Live!

Holy crap, I LOVED this ep! I was laughing my head off from the sheer weirdness of it all..... Where in God's name did Jess and Jim keep their hair the whole time?

 

[Pokemon Fan]

It was a great episode but the townspeople got on my last nerve. I'm quite impressed with how mature Ash was in handling it.

Honestly, why did they have to hate Ash so much? If you ask me they never let up on the insults because they were upset over how bad Ash made their town look by beating the pants off every trainer they sent at him, even when they broke the rules and sent out multiple Pokemon at the same time, in succession!

Sheesh I cringed when they called him a novice at the end. Shows they know nothing about training if they think Pikachu can be that good with a novice trainer, Pokemon become as strong as their trainers after all. If Ash is a novice what does that make the scores of trainers he mutilated that day?

But I now understand why some were so furiously angry with the towns people in this episode, and to an extent May (who I wish they had shown May at least apologizing for getting caught up in the moment of the mob mentality and acting like she had actually beaten Ash).

I do echo Max's question though, how much does Norman know about this insane idol worship? It seems pretty serious if the townpeople actually break the rules by stopping a challenger from battling until he/she beats all of them (as Brock noted a trainer has a right to challenge any gym leader). Max and May seemed to have no idea that people in North Petalburg were like this so perhaps things are different where they actually live. Norman seems to be the kind of guy who wouldn't tolerate the townspeople's behavior in his presence at least.

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I throw this episode in the face of anyone who claims Ash gets too much glory! He really doesn't get half the respect he deserves quite often!