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Ash Catches a Pokémon! (003)

pacman000

On a quest to be the best...
Re-watching this episode, I realized that it's little more than Ash and Misty arguing in a forest, with Ash making funny faces so the whole thing comes off as comical instead of annoying. Still, it's one of my favorite episodes; there are two good battles; and those faces really are funny.
 
This was boring. Definitely an overrated episode. Just Misty and Ash arguing in a forest. The good parts of this episode were Ash's two captures and one evolution, but those are pointless now considering both pokemon were released. 2/10
 
I don't know if it was every explained why Misty doesn't like Bug Pokemon. I've always wondered, she's my favorite character, but I most likely forgot why. Well, the episode was good. I love when Ash told Caterpie to use Counter.

Ash: Caterpie, Counter!

Caterpie: *Strikes a pose*

Team Rocket was awesome in here as well. This is when they were a problem. I also think this is the episode where I really started liking Pokemon. After Koffing used Sludge and blinded Pikachu, I was suddenly hooked on it. Weird? I know.
 

Lucille

Well-Known Member
Team Rocket was awesome in here as well. This is when they were a problem. I also think this is the episode where I really started liking Pokemon. After Koffing used Sludge and blinded Pikachu, I was suddenly hooked on it. Weird? I know.

This is also when the series had me hooked
 

Canada

Banned
Unlike the above posters, this was actually when I first saw pokemon and hated it. Later on I started to like pokemon and this episode.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
While still a memorable episode, I didn't remember much of this until I watched it for the first in a long time last night. The only reason I probably still remember it is because of Caterpie, but I do like the episode. The iconic method of the Pokémon series is shown here with Pokémon being captured, and the battles with the newly-captured Pokémon, no matter how brief. Ash, being a beginning trainer, doesn't have his type match-ups down here, which is fine, trainers have to grow and learn. After nearly losing Caterpie to Pidgeotto, Misty had every right to be mad at him for being careless (I heard the sound-effect of a slap, so I figured 4KIDS cut something out in this episode), though because she's one to care for Pokémon, it was to be expected. I guess she was supposed to be the mentor to Ash before Brock came around, but she's a harsh teacher xD.

Caterpie is very adorable, he is the perfect addition to Ash's team at this point. It's possible it's also a bit of a metaphor for Ash's own growth throughout the series, though Caterpie grows pretty quickly, so maybe it's more towards the metamorphosis symbolism than anything. Or I'm just looking into it too hard. Either way, he and Ash become close very fast, yet Caterpie's more attracted to Misty for some apparent reason. It was never explained why he came to like her as fast as he did, but it was for some good laughs of her freaking out. For someone who would slap Ash at the drop of a hat for being reckless, to watch her drop her hot-tempered personality for a more "girly" side is a nice balance to her character. Also makes way for a running gag, which is always a plus. In the meantime, Caterpie's evolution is probably the most realistic evolution is in the series, in my opinion. (It's also reminiscent of the Mothra larava enveloping itself in a cocoon, but eh, it probably was.) It was just amazing to watch Caterpie spray silk up into the air and let it fall on it.

Pikachu really only does one big thing in this episode, and that is paralyzing Pidgeotto for Ash. (Speaking of the bird, when he slapped the PokéBall away, that made me snicker. Even as a wild Pokémon, he had a personality of sorts.) Sure, Pikachu interacts with Caterpie, but that scene was really odd. The body language was repetitive, and it wasn't easily made clear what they were talking about until Caterpie's close up of his eye and the Butterfree flying against the moon. So whatever they were talking about we had to use our imaginations when they could've easily used subtitles like in "Island of the Giant Pokémon", but it might not've crossed their minds. Unless the scene was shorter in the original Japanese, I don't know. Still, that's all Pikachu does until he gets put out of commission by a Sludge attack to the eyes (which is another good example of how Pokémon battles are rather logical in the anime, at least at first).

Team Rocket are the same as they were in the previous episode, except now they really want Pikachu, and are willing to go to any measures to do it. (They're also bad at keeping secrets and beating each other up for it.) For now, we got a "double battle" that was "unheard of" at the time, and Pidgeotto is slaughtered by Koffing and Ekans. The battle was cool to begin with, and then he gets ganged up on. Then Ash runs to Team Rocket head-on to try and beat them up (and this was before he ran to punch Mewtwo). After reluctantly sending out Caterpie, the way String Shot is used is great, even if it ended up with silly moments. Too bad we can't get that creative with String Shot in the actual games, but in the anime anything goes. It's a type of strategy that shows off a bit of Ash's occasional cleverness with battles. Even Misty herself is impressed by it, which is when she starts to warm up to him. Not by much, but it's something.

So Team Rocket flee, Misty can't bring herself to become friends with Caterpie as soon as it evolves, and cue foreshadowing with a Beedrill flying across the screen and Ash running after it.

Better than last episode for sure, if only because we're back into the journey, and we do see Ash doing things that Pokémon trainers do. Ash hasn't exactly grown as a character in this episode, but he's very slowly learning, and that's rather realistic in my opinion. I really do love it when shows take their time with pacing and characters, and since Ash is likeable in these episodes, when he does something right, it feels really good.

The journey continues.
 
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Caterpie's evolution is probably the most realistic evolution is in the series, in my opinion.

we got a "double battle" that was "unheard of" at the time

Now that it's mentioned, I agree that Caterpie's evolution in to Metapod in this episode was the most realistic evolution the show has ever shown (unless I am forgetting/missing a couple other instances this happened). It kind of makes me wish other evolution could look like this in the show.

Maybe this "double battle" we saw in the episode could count as foreshadowing now that we know it becomes a real type of battle in a future generation?

- I always think Ash catches a Pidgey first and then it evolves later into a Pidgeotto later.
- I ad no idea what Caterpie and Pikachu were talking about until it showed the Butterfree. Then it all made a lot more sense.
- I felt this was the first episode to, in a major way, show Team Rockets goofy side along with there villainous side.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I loved Ash's Caterpie so much; it was humble and cute and I wish it hadn't evolved so soon after being caught. I especially liked that scene with Caterpie and Pikachu at night. It was adorable and really moving. Caterpie single-handedly incapacitating Team Rocket's Ekans and Koffing and Meowth with String Shot was also really impressive.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
Caterpie and Pikachu were probably talking about how Caterpie wants to become Butterfree and be free.

I'm pretty sure that was heavily implied, especially when we saw Caterpie imagine itself flying as a Butterfree during that interaction scene with Pikachu.
 
This episode was basically just a big argument in a forest and little more. Admittedly the argument was comical but watching this episode could make one bored easily. Pidgeotto and Caterpie were caught in this episode which was good. They weren't terribly interesting members of Ash's team, but it was good to see him slowly improving his catching skills.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
Before this episode, I didn't really expect Ash to catch a Pidgeotto in that episode but did expect him to catch a Caterpie.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
I loved how Ash caught Caterpie here and that Misty was scared of it ha ha. Caterpie's scene at night with Pikachu was so cute plus I liked that Caterpie fought Team rocket on his own and won while Pikachu was incapacitated. ^^
 

keepitsimple

site of lies
I wonder why there aren't more examples of the Pokemon food chain outside of OS. We know it exists, because Pidgeotto tried to eat Caterpie here.
 

Bananarama

The light is coming
This was a cute episode with Ash catching two new Pokémon and evolving one. I really like how Ash is maturing and seeing what being a Pokémon trainer is really about.

Also, I love how Misty blatantly makes up the bike excuse just to travel with Ash. I found that pretty funny.
 

JudySpell

Banned
It kind of sucked that Pidgeotto was the fall guy for Caterpie here. I wish he had defeated the TRio instead of a weak little insect doing that.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
It kind of sucked that Pidgeotto was the fall guy for Caterpie here. I wish he had defeated the TRio instead of a weak little insect doing that.

Well Pidgeotto was weak from his match with Pikachu so that's prolly why he didn't do so well. And looking back Ekans and Koffing were kind of impressive and competent here. ^^;
 

Bananarama

The light is coming
And looking back Ekans and Koffing were kind of impressive and competent here. ^^;

Yeah, it was pretty awesome to see Team Rocket's Pokémon battling so well. I also think it was impressive how Caterpie was able to hold its own like that. :)
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
Yeah, it was pretty awesome to see Team Rocket's Pokémon battling so well. I also think it was impressive how Caterpie was able to hold its own like that. :)

Yes, I was happy too and I totally didn't expect Caterpie to be that sturdy against Team Rocket's Pokémon.
 
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