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Dig Those Diglett! (031)

Shayminslicker

Comes out of Nowhere
Loved it. Espcially the Team Rocket part.
 

NPT

Just a member
Aside from Team Rocket's Ekans and Koffing evolvlng and Misty fanservice, This was an OK episode. The "dig-dig-diglett" song was nice.

I hated Gary-stu's Gary's appearance in this episode. He's just a 10 old boy, yet he has a car and girls? Who gave him a driving license? Why all of the girls were fangirling over a 10 year old boy anyway? They're much older than him, so it dosen't make any freaking sense. Geez, that Gary-stu Gary really annoyed the heck out of me in the early Kanto episodes. It was even more annoying when Brock punched on Ash's head and started to flirt with those girls.

Appaerntly, this is first Pokémon dub episode where ALL of the original japanese music was kept.
 
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Professor Stan Oak

Not Samuel, Stan.
I liked this episode! :( So sad that this is Nathan Price's final episode where he voices Meowth, even though he was in the dubbing studio after this episode. My favorite episode in the series, it peaked here.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
Diglett Dig, Diglett Dig, Diglett Dig! You're welcome for the earworm!

I shouldn't be surprised anymore that there's a lot I've forgotten about these episodes as much as I remember them. Of course I would remember the Diglett and Dugtrio and evolution of Team Rocket's Pokémon like I would forget the environmental message and how the one-shot construction worker (which Bulbapedia lists him as “the foreman”, but I'll call him the superintendent) was having a mental breakdown. No amount of digging (ha) into my memory archives would've pulled that up from my childhood.

So several months has gone by since the first episode. That's good to know if the show was ever consistent with its own timeline. I typically think back to Kanto as being the region where Ash and gang got lost often despite being natives to the region. The region is big, of course, but you would think Brock would have a good, up-to-date atlas to prevent them from getting lost. That's not a map, that's a plant cell under a 2000x lens microscope.

[IMG139]https://i.imgur.com/5Up14rQ.png[/IMG139]
The hills have eyes. And green eggs without the ham.

Enough nitpicking about detailed maps, how about nitpicking about James' English ambiguity? What, the whole “tea and crumpets” doesn't drive it home? Don't worry, he'll be saying “bloody” in D/P, because campy people are secretly British, or British-wannabes. Though I'm honestly surprised 4KIDS never went that extra mile to give him a (fake) British accent. Really, if they had constantly hidden Japanese culture in the dub, then they could have made James British complete with the accent. I'm just saying.

Worth noting is this episode is Nathan Price's last role as Meowth before Maddie Blaustein replaced him—why he was replaced, I don't know. There's probably a reason for it, but I found no explanation, not that it matters in the end. For someone who played a character for about thirty episodes, he didn't do a bad job. It took a bit for him to get into the character, but when he did, he was undeniably Meowth. Meowth at the time was a rather slimy, manipulative but cunning character in the beginning, and he pulled it off. Maddie would give her own spin to him (especially when it came to his big mouth), and thus became the more recognizable, and beloved, voice Meowth has ever had, pushing aside Nathan Price's performance into near-obscurity. For what we got, Mr. Price, you did good. If you hadn't left the series, you might've stuck around and took up voicing him again because dear God Carter Cathcart can't do it justice.

Since we're still (kind of) on the subject of Team Rocket, they had a decent amount of screentime this episode, and they weren't being villainous. In all fairness, they looked and acted like they were wanting to take a break from villainy and just be themselves—or at least Jessie and James were. There was talk to go swipe the Pokémon from the crowd, but they never did it. Instead, they resorted to evolving their Pokémon. How, exactly? With this “Principle of Induced Evolution” tactic that was “Plan B”. And how does this work? Who knows. Apparently they had a guidebook of some sorts, or they came up with it on their own. When they did come up with it? Probably on the spot, knowing them.

[IMG139]https://i.imgur.com/1fFHZr2.png[/IMG139]
Luckily for them, James' boot was “Plan Z”.

Ekans and Koffing's evolutions honestly has to be the highlight of the episode for me because of how simultaneously they evolved, and the circumstance involved. It's not known on which birthday and Christmas the two got them, but they've had their Pokémon for a while now. They may not have succeeded in gaining “experience points” often, so it's presumed that it was the power of love that got them to evolve in the end. They may be the bad guys, but Jessie and James love their Pokémon. It's just sad that after they set up the introductions to their newly-evolved Arbok and Weezing that they still lost... to Diglett and Dugtrio. Ash barely lifted a finger and they were defeated. Had to have been a first this point in the series.

But this episode was not about Team Rocket. This was about the Diglett and how they drove the superintendent to madness. That is the episode in a nutshell. Sure, I suppose there's the whole issue of Ash putting himself down because Gary-mother-freaking-Oak had shown up to taunt him about how much of a loser he is, and then he tried to stroke his ego by unsuccessfully showing off his skills because all of the Pokémon sided with the Diglett, but he shrugged it off and he and his cheerleading harem leave with a last-minute “Buckle up!” and a snap of the fingers like a boss. But it was all about the Diglett hilariously driving a man to the brink of an aneurysm because the construction was going to make a dam that would've flooded much of the forest that the Diglett and Dugtrio have built up over the years. Because though they're the moles of the Pokémon world (and just as adorable), they can rebuild a forest overnight through teamwork. And since Pokémon can't speak the language and tell humans to knock it off, they had to resort to using rock slides, potholes, and the like to slow down construction to teach a lesson about the environment even though they could've killed or injured someone in the process.

Conservationism: because nature will be a bitch to you, otherwise.

So overall, it's a decent, but cute episode, almost fillerish despite not being a filler. I honestly don't think Gary was really needed at all since all he contributed to the episode was him putting down Ash that went nowhere in the end because I guess Ash forgot about it or he moped it out of his system or something, and it doesn't come up again until probably the next time Gary comes back onscreen. That damned Diglett chant stays with you forever, however, even though over time the rhythm of it gets botched the more it loops. Unless that's just me.

And wait, Diglett can pull their heads underground at the speed of light? Now you're just messing with us, anime.
 
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I always thought Koffing and Ekans didn't evolve until much later.
Are Team Rocket the only one's who can induce evolution on their Pokemon totally by themselves?
 
For what we got, Mr. Price, you did good. If you hadn't left the series, you might've stuck around and took up voicing him again because dear God Carter Cathcart can't do it justice.

I couldn't agree more with this: Nathan did a good job- I wish he'd be Meowth again...Cathcart (Zoppi?) is terrible and does not fit Meowth at all.
 
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Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I was really glad when Gary showed up here at first because I thought we'd see him battle, but alas, all he really did was trash talk Ash and then leave. The Diglett were pretty adorable though and seeing Team Rocket's Ekans and Koffing evolve into Arbok and Weezing was the highlight of this episode for me.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
The Digletts had such cute voices hee hee. Seeing Gary and his cheerleaders was fun but too bad Gary didn't get to do much. I was glad that Team rocket's Ekans and Koffing evolved in Arbok and Weezing however. :D
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I liked those Digletts but I was happy that Ekans and Koffing evolved. And I also remember a Trainer trying to send out a Porygon but it never appeared.
 

JudySpell

Banned
I liked this episode! :( So sad that this is Nathan Price's final episode where he voices Meowth, even though he was in the dubbing studio after this episode. My favorite episode in the series, it peaked here.

His rendition of Meowth wasn't as good as Maddie's so I'm glad this was his last episode as Meowth's voice.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
His rendition of Meowth wasn't as good as Maddie's so I'm glad this was his last episode as Meowth's voice.

I didn't even realise this was his last time as Meowth's va since I was too busy focusing on the Digletts hee hee. I must admit I liked his Meowth voice however, so I kind of wish he could've stayed as Meowth's va longer.
 

Gillachu

Banned
What a boring episode with a preachy "don't hurt the environment" message. The only good part was seeing Koffing and Ekans evolve...
 
My favorite moment here was when Gary appeared with his fangirls + when Team Rocket caused their Koffing and Ekans to evolve. This was a good episode.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Shigeru coming to the dam construction site with his cheerleaders and buses full of trainers made me chuckle, especially when his plan backfired when the multitude of Digda intervened. The Rocket-dan's newly evolved Matadogas and Arbok deserved a much better introductory battle, however.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
It was nice to see Gary make another appearance and Team Rocket was actually worthwhile in this episode. It's such a shame that both Ekans and Koffing evolved only 31 episodes in, but they were good evolutions. Too bad their inaugural battle in their evolved state was a loss...
 

ZilverLox

Banned
I was so happy that Jessie's and James's Pokemon finally evolved and went from the lame Ekans and Koffing to the slightly cooler Arbok and Weezing. I liked this episode because Diglett are so cute. It was definitely great to see Gary again, too. That guy who built the dam was hysterical when he tried hitting the Diglett with a hammer. :)
 

KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
A pretty boring and forgettable episode. The only thing that stood out was the evolution of Ekans and Koffing. Too bad they got pummeled so quickly.
4/10
 

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
It was great to see Ekans and Koffing evolve here. Oh and Gary was here as well, which was nice. I still don't really get why the Pokemon wouldn't come out of there ball though.
 

p96822

Evolve me please
Trival fact Gary call Ash the last one to leave Pallet Town which if you know Ash's Japaneses name Satoshi which shi means four and Shi also mean death.
 
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