Review S14 EP22: A Venipede Stampede!

[Iteru]

BW22 - "A Venipede Stampede!"

Admiring the scenery of Castelia City, Ash and his friends meet Burgh, the Castelia Gym Leader. Burgh tells them that Ash's gym battle will have to wait as Bug type Pokémon in the city have been restless and that it is a sign of danger to come! Travelling down into the sewers, they find a Venipede that has been injured in its rush to the city. Why was Venipede in such a rush, and what does this mean for Castelia City and the other Bug type Pokémon in the area?

 

[Mucrush]

What a nice ending

 

[Musashi]

I had to wake up early just to see what they'd do with the ending. They certainly took the quick easy approach with that footage cut. XD

 

[Hassel]

Hah, they cut off the part where Ash&Co were rising to the helicopter, and the narrator said "Ash and friends helped the Venipede today." Those were the only edits to this episode.

 

[Melaugh]

As I was watching this episode I was thinking, "Wow, did they even edit this episode at all? Or did they just not care about the ending??" Well when the ending came around, it was obviously edited. Thank goodness, it is wonderful not having to worry about how they will handle things.

Although I would love to see the fishing episode in its proper place ...

 

[Jukain]

What? They're still showing this part? How did this not get wiped from canon? Trip sees things in BLACK AND WHITE. Why do I want Burgh to play something from Ocarina of Time? Was Ash's Tranquill a bit higher pitched than Trip's Tranquill before? So all they did was cut out Ash and co. getting on the plane. BS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This ep is good, but it would be even better if we actually got to see what happens next. As it is, it will look like stuff got resolved offscreen, which is anticlimactic and lame. I know this is necessary, but they could've done it another way.

 

[Trainer-Touko]

They cut off the ending footage, but honestly I think it was a good thing in this case, since if Ash and co. did decide to ride the helicopter, next week the American audience would probably be wondering why they are at the gym, overall this episode was pretty and Tranquill's voice is very good in my opinion ^^

 

[Mijumaru]

I like what they did with the ending. Smart move there.

Anyway, I loved the episode. Lots of action went on in the episode and I just found some of the Venipede hilarious. Although Team Rocket did virtually nothing in the episode, once again, it was still good.

Wow, Burgh's personality really changed from the Pinwheel Forest episode. Then again, this was a serious situation.

Was this just me, or was the opening animation a bit off-sync with the lyrics?

Alright, I rarely give any episode this rating. Last time I gave this rating was in Scraggy-Hatched to be Wild!:

10 points out of 10

 

[SuperTrainStationH]

My only complaint is that I find it odd that the leader of the Venipede would be another Venipede rather than its evolved forms.

A good, plot progressing episode in which the seeds planted since the last episode of the previous series are clearly about to blossom, with Giovanni now in Unova playing an active, direct role in the story for the first time since possibly Season 1.

Unfortunately, I have to watch this with the full knowledge that the actual payoff of the entire story up to this point involving Team Rocket is now MANY MONTHS away from being aired if it even ever is, with the reasonable possibility that it never will, or be presented in a neutered, abridged format.

Team Rocket's added importance to the plot and the story developing with their impending clash with Team Plasma (even with their greatly diminished screentime) was really the one and only reason I was interested in this series, and I have to say, I'll give the coming episodes a chance, but its going to take a lot to keep my interest knowing Rocket vs. Plasma is many months away from airing, if it ever airs at all.

 

[matt0044]

While I don't mind the omission of ending scene, how are they going to explain the TRio's future activities? Why would Pierce and Seger along with them stop investigating the Meteonite? How are the writers going to rewrite themselves out of this one?

This is either going to be very interesting, very confusing or very much of both.

 

[Musashi]

I like what they did with the ending. Smart move there, TCPi.

They had absolutely nothing to do with this. They just dub what they're given.

 

[Mucrush]

I like what they did with the ending. Smart move there, TCPi.[/B]

I am pretty sure it wasn't TCPi who did the cut ;b

 

[GreatLiver]

First time I've watched an episode on an actual TV in ages. The quality looks beautiful and Ash looks real real dark. Glad that it was this episode that was the one I woke up so early to see since I was wondering how they'd make out the ending.

 

[Ampharos King]

The footage cut in the ending was understandable. The episode airing next week will involve Ash and co. going to challenge the Castelia Gym, because all of that Desert Resort and Meteonite stuff has been skipped. This will keep the younger viewers who may not be wise enough to put the pieces together at bay.

I really dislike anti-climaxes, but even so I am curious as to how the dub will innovate with the many inconsistencies to the plotline. This seems to be the rough schematic of how the dub will circumvent by the skipped episodes: Professor Juniper will go to the Desert Resort alone, she will "do something" to reverse the massive energy flow that the meteonite in the desert is giving off, and this will get all of the Venipede to go back home. What a shame that all of this tension was built up only to be solved off-screen. That is the disappointing part when it comes to watching this episode.

I am glad that Trip was brought back to be a part of this episode. Trip would have been the type of person who would have done anything to prevent the Venipede from attacking the humans. When Ash told Trip to stop attacking out of his concern for the Venipede, Trip misinterpreted Ash's request as "something someone from the Kanto boonies would do." This infuriated Ash even more, adding a bit to their tension. After listening to Burgh's plea, Trip reluctantly assisted Ash and co. in getting the Venipede into Central Plaza. Trip left after that, making a harsh remark that Ash cannot possibly beat him in a million years because the latter is from the "Kanto boonies."

It was an alright episode. I really cannot be suckered into an episode that resolves its conflict off the screen.

 

[Piplup]

LOL at the cut... it's really a very sad coincidence that the whole TR/TP stuff happened just at the same time as the recent events in Japan... it messed up so much stuff... I wonder though why they didn't cut it for the Japanese airings too... but I assume that when they rerun this ep in Japan from now on, it'll be the cut version too...
Oh well, I just hope TR/TP eps will somehow air eventually, even if are heavily edited to somehow fit in the current continuity... and hopefully after they do that, they'll be able to just continue the TR and TP plots as they planned to do them... it'd be a shame if they'll change their original plans just because of all this...

 

[Cybersai]

Perhaps they're retconning things so it takes place in Nimbasa city instead. Its quite possible since it would be another city and after the tournament/Gym battle.

 

[Adamant]

So what exactly DID they cut, or rewrite, or otherwise alter? Were the Rocket scenes at the beginning kept intact? Was the plot itself, including the reason for the invasion, kept as-is?

 

[matt0044]

You know, I would've prefered a hiatus in Japan over this retconning nonsense.

 

[Musashi]

So what exactly DID they cut, or rewrite, or otherwise alter? Were the Rocket scenes at the beginning kept intact? Was the plot itself, including the reason for the invasion, kept as-is?

Everything was intact up until the very end. We had Juniper saying she was going to go check it out, then Burgh waving goodbye to helicopter as it flies off into the sunset. Then the narrator talked about how Ash and friends saved the day.

So all it was, was a few seconds of cut footage and some line changes by the narrator.

 

[Rex Kamex]

You know, I would've prefered a hiatus in Japan over this retconning nonsense.

... A hiatus of just those episodes, or the entire series?

In any case, I don't think anyone's really preferring to see these episodes retconned (including this Venipede one), but what happened's happened. It bites, but what can you do?

EDIT: I've still got to watch this episode, not just to see what was cut out from the episode (which actually doesn't make sense 'cause if it's cut out you can't see it), but to see how different this big city is from other big cities of the past. In the games this city's supposed to be a big one. (Then again, previous games have had big cities too...)

Looking at some episode screenshots, the night scenes at the end look cool. (In terms of setting.)