Review S07 EP40: That's Just Swellow

[Dogasu]

Japanese Episode AG 80: "A New Challenge! The Sky Contest, Pokeringer"
American Episode 352: "That's Just Swellow"

Kids' WB!, 10:00am ET
No known encore airing this week
These forums weren't working when the actual episode was airing, but I guess it's better late than never, huh?

Anyway, Ash's Taillow evolves into Swellow, and we get to see James show off his skills as a trainer.

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

 

[Myss Hydra]

-I was so glad that the trainer of the day didn't end up battling Ash like most "trainer's of the day" end up doing. It was a refreshing change, plus that kid annoyed me.

-We see taillow again, and also for the last time. I'm going to miss its granny voice.

-James's master DOES "look more like a potato farmer than a pokeringer"...(Or at least to me)

-It's been a while since the Ash crew spoke about our rocketeers as actual PEOPLE rather than an organization.

-The Volbeat trainer was pretty cool. Wish he stood around a little longer, but the battle between him and Ash was pretty cool.

-James surprisingly crushes the competition with an iron boot. Good for him
(May's reaction to losing, along with beautiflies, in the block battle was priceless)

-Meowth makes an ugly Wingull.

-Cacnea/Pikachu air ballons XD!!!

-Flag fight fun

-Ash is the master of dumb-luck and untimely wins( Nice use of wing attack, though).

-Meowth takes the roll of James in the motto this time.

A pretty exciting episode. Swellows voice I hope to get used to. Have a good day, people.

 

[randy23]

I would of liked Swellow to evolve one more time. I really liked Ash's Pidgeot, and how Ash was able to ride him, and the same goes for Charizard. Does anybody know if Swellow can evolve any further? I really don't collect cards or play the games, I just watch the show.

 

[Dogasu]

Nope. Swellow is as far as that evolutionary line goes, unless the new games decide otherwise.

 

[Togemon]

Pretty good episode. Though I missed the beginning, unfortunately.

Parts I liked -

- Taillow is focused on! Good to see the bird to be used in battle.

- Dustox also appears!

- That Pokeringer competition was interesting, though I doubt it'll be ever seen again, I for sure wouldn't mind.

- We got to see TR, actually James and Dustox, kick some butt. He did pretty good in the battles.

- Meowth saying James part in the motto.

Parts I really did not like

- Ash won. I usually do not like it in any show when the main star wins. Would have been an interesting twist if James won, and it would have been well deserved.

- I missed the last few episodes, so I don't know if Taillow was used in battles, but it seems like its evolution came out of no where.

It was a great episode though, 9/10.

 

[Luna Tiger]

Who would have guessed James was so talented? Certainly not the twerps. X3

And it wasn't just the usage of his training as a pokeringer (where did he squeeze /that/ into his life?); he was able to not only use a pokemon that doesn't get enough screentime as is, but one that completely didn't belong to him. Go Dustox!

Swellow evolving was cheap. It has sexy wings, sure, but it was cheap! But I suppose Ash needs /something/ to relate him to Hoenn's Flying-type leader. Hear me grumble.

 

[Geodude]

At least this ep proves that the writers haven't forgotten about how well Taillow handles Electric attacks.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

Here's my review of this episode:

I really liked this episode! And I thought it was really cool how Ash got to compete in the Pokeringer competition, considering the fact that he entered it on the day of the competition. Anyway, it was also cool that May entered it too, and I thought it was interesting to find out that James had been a Pokeringer in the past. And I liked getting to see him compete in it, cause I got to see that James is actually a pretty decent trainer. It was really funny when he defeated May like that. Of course, what I really loved about this episode, was the battle between Ash and James in the last round of the competition. And I think Ash did really great in the other rounds, but that final round really showed how amazing his skills are as a trainer. My favorite part of this episode was definitely when Ash told Taillow to fly through that tornado (I think that's what it was). At first, I thought Taillow wasn't gonna be able to make it through that, but as soon as Ash gave it some more confidence, it evolved, and it got through it. And I loved that part! I also thought it was great that Ash beat James, and won the Pokeringer competition too. Oh, and I think that boy with the Swablu (sorry, I forgot his name) summed it up best at the end when he said that Ash and Swellow made a great team, and that no one could deny that the best Pokeringer won today. And overall, I really loved this episode, it was very cool and exciting, and it's now one of my favorites.

Rating: 10 of 10


And by the way, I'm not sure if anyone else here noticed this, but I found a little dubbing mistake in this episode.

I don't remember if it was when Ash was battling James or someone else. But, anyway, during one scene, Ash told Taillow to, "Use Wing".

So, I guess they must've ran out of lip flap or something.

 

[Habunake]

Did anybody noticed that Advanced Adventure did not play as long as it did in the Original?

 

[Dogasu]

They've replaced it / shortened it several other times throughout the season.

 

[randy23]

Why doesn't Satoshi teach his Pokemon more special attacks like his seen from other trainers: Zigzagoon and Meowth using electric attacks, the Swellow using Hyperbeam in the Fortree gym. Satoshi has only taught some of his Pokemon new attacks like Aerial Ace to Swellow, Pikachu's iron-tail, but why doesn't he continue, and teach them attacks like hidden power or Hyperbeam--or does he wait for his Pokemon to figure out like Grovyle finally using 'over-grow' in a battle?

One more thing, why hasn't Satoshi taught his Pokemon how to use combined attacks like Haruka? Has he learned nothing from her Pokemon contests? He could tell Pikachu to use Thunder attack coupled with Iron-tail to make the attack even more powerful.

 

[Alfonso]

Simple: Multi-tasking. Some, if not all Pokemon would be like humans, not being able to use two attacks at the same time, especially ones that are as different as Iron Tail and Thunder.

Not only that, but it may not even be ABLE to use Electricity when hardening his Iron Tail.

 

[Luna Tiger]

And by the way, I'm not sure if anyone else here noticed this, but I found a little dubbing mistake in this episode.

I don't remember if it was when Ash was battling James or someone else. But, anyway, during one scene, Ash told Taillow to, "Use Wing".

So, I guess they must've ran out of lip flap or something.

I caught that too, but I don't think it was a dubbing mistake so much as it was a mixing mistake. The way it sounded made me think that the sound file simply got cut short while they were piecing the epsiode together. Besides, a lack of a lipflap wouldn't have mattered, since Ash shouting the attack ran directly into a shot of Taillow; the line could have easily carried over into a scene like that.

Unless 4Kids prefers all lines of that manner to be giving precidence of a grand show. Though recalling back to YGO, I can vaguely recall moments where someone was telling their monster to attack, and the scene shifted with them still spewing forth the name of the attack or direction it should go toward. But I supose those moments have breaks in the lines in question, and, 'Use Wing Attack!' doesn't have such a break.

I'm opting it simply got cut off.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Or that they thought that the attack actually was called Wing. And using it was an order to use 'Wing' Attack.

Wouldn't surprise me, it IS 4kids afterall.

 

[Trainer Lisa]

I caught that too, but I don't think it was a dubbing mistake so much as it was a mixing mistake. The way it sounded made me think that the sound file simply got cut short while they were piecing the epsiode together. Besides, a lack of a lipflap wouldn't have mattered, since Ash shouting the attack ran directly into a shot of Taillow; the line could have easily carried over into a scene like that.

Oh yeah, I didn't think of that......

You could be right, Toraph Bishop.

Or, knowing 4Kids, it could just be what Doctor Oak said.

 

[Rocketshipper]

All I have to say was...this episode ROCKED!!! It's one of the coolest AG episodes ever! James kicked so much butt, and the concept of the competition was really cool. It was also nice to see Taillow evolve. The ONLY thing bad about this episode was that James didn't win. It's not fair; Team rocket needs to win a competition sometime!! But i'm still going to give thi episode a perfect score. 5 stars!!

 

[cold_katanagirl]

I liked this episode. I knew about Taillow evolving a looong time ago, but it was still pretty good.

I was kind of pissed that James lost. I knew he was going to, but he should have won that.

Once again, Ash wins a tournament that he enters at the last minute. How does he do it?

But May's face when she lost was priceless.

 

[Pokemon Fan]

Why doesn't Satoshi teach his Pokemon more special attacks like his seen from other trainers: Zigzagoon and Meowth using electric attacks, the Swellow using Hyperbeam in the Fortree gym. Satoshi has only taught some of his Pokemon new attacks like Aerial Ace to Swellow, Pikachu's iron-tail, but why doesn't he continue, and teach them attacks like hidden power or Hyperbeam--or does he wait for his Pokemon to figure out like Grovyle finally using 'over-grow' in a battle?

One can suppose because he figures they don't need them for the style they battle in. Ash was even described in the Johto episode "Wired for battle" as a trainer type whose Pokemon use mostly basic attacks.

However, the real answer probably has to do with the writers keeping track of lots of different attacks. Perhaps limiting how often they learn a new move keeps things simpler for them.

Interestingly, Ash does tend to have his Pokemon use their basic moves in many ways. Aside from combinations he'll have them execute them in different ways depending on circumstances, the substrate around them etc. like Corphish's spinning Crabhammer in the Flannery gym episode, or how he had Pikachu use a physical Thunder attack on Clair's Gyarados (charging forward then releasing the attack on physical contact with the enemy) among other times, Clair even noted she hadn't seen Thunder used that way before.

One more thing, why hasn't Satoshi taught his Pokemon how to use combined attacks like Haruka? Has he learned nothing from her Pokemon contests? He could tell Pikachu to use Thunder attack coupled with Iron-tail to make the attack even more powerful.

Ash was using combined attacks long before May even entered the show, and continues to do so. Who can forget Charizard's Aerial Submission and Flaming Seismic Toss? There are others I can't remember at the moment.

And given what was learned about Iron Tail with Pikachu (it can't use the move more than once in a row because it takes up a lot of energy) using Thunder and Iron Tail at the same time might be a tall order for it. However, in a future episode we will see a form of combining these two attacks (with a substantial time lag between them) used by Ash in an amazing way.

Once again, Ash wins a tournament that he enters at the last minute. How does he do it?

Reality: Because he's the star.
Show's reality: Because he is the destined trainer Ho-oh appeared to (twice!), with abilities that often far outrank his experience level.