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Island of Giant Pokémon! (017)

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
[sub](How did I not realize I had previously posted in this thread before? Not that it matters, might as well do a "reboot" of my previous post.)[/sub]

It's the final episode in the St. Anne trilogy before we move on to episodes that don't necessarily have the same “oomph” as these three—in my personal opinion and remembrance. I could be wrong, and I really shouldn't compare them to these past episodes as that would be a bit unfair. But I've had fun with these episodes, so I expect to have fun in future episodes.

Anyway, this episode is another one of my more well-remembered ones, and that is because I actually had the book to this. Remember those books written by Tracey West? Most of you probably do; those who don't aren't missing anything (they weren't bad books, but it's a bit awkward reading them years later because the writing style's a bit simple—which does make it easy for kids to read, so yeah). Well, Island of the Giant Pokémon was one of the books I've had growing up, and it was one of my favorites (next to Team Rocket Blasts Off!, but that's something else entirely). If I remember correctly, the contents of the book were close to the actual episode (nearly word-for-word), though perhaps with a bit more detail. So while I didn't memorize it, I was able to remember the key details of the episode.

Also, this episode is hard to forget about. This must've been a favorite amongst fans for a long while for obvious reasons.

So after the Gyarados attack, we find Ash, Brock and Misty unconscious on a beach, only to find that Ash lost Pikachu and three of his Pokémon. On the other side or elsewhere further down the shore, Jessie and James were woken up by a Krabby grabbing their thighs. (Ouch...) They also learn their Pokémon are missing (and it's here we learn a bit about how they got their Pokémon, which is a bit sweet, to be honest—it's also vastly different in the Japanese version, but I'm not going to bother looking further into it right now, I'm sure it was mentioned earlier in this thread). It's probably just me, but this episode has to be an homage to Lost World or something similar, I don't know. Bulbapedia doesn't seem to mention any homages on its page, so... whatever.

What truly makes this episode hard to forget (outside of the giant Pokémon) is this is the first episode where we see Pokémon really interacting with each other—complete with subtitles (though it's the only time this has happened). One word: awesome. I love this episode already, even though I fell in love with it when I first saw it as a kid. Their personalities really shine in this episode, where even though we got hints of it earlier, we see them more, and thus they get the freedom of having a character. Pikachu defends Ash a lot alongside Charmander who is rather mature (sort of), but he's soft-spoken. I wouldn't say he's the voice of reason (that's probably Pikachu again), but he keeps a cool head about it all. Squirtle in the meantime is so childish, wow XD. He's just cracking jokes all over the place and is such a clown. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur is about as level-headed as Charmander, he's just more cynical about it. He doesn't hesitate to say Ash abandoned them.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end, we got Meowth, Koffing and Ekans. We already know of Meowth's personality, but not so much Ekans and Koffing. Ekans to me comes off as a down-to-earth character who expresses loyalty while also saying some wise choice of words. “Master is Master” is one of them, as well as the instance of Pokémon being inspired by their trainers. According to Ekans, Pokémon aren't bad, but if their trainer is bad, then the Pokémon acts bad because of it. (Meowth seems to straddle that line, according to what he says. Not sure how true it is, though, especially when we watch later episodes.) Koffing doesn't speak much, in the meantime, and when he does, it's kinda... primitive. More-or-less, he just repeats what Ekans says.

The Pokémon finding Blastoise and Venasaur in the morning was great. Squirtle trying to talk to Blastoise by calling him “brother” xD, and then talking about the weather was full of awkward moments, it just added so much to his character. Heh. Meanwhile, Bulbasaur has his reasons for not talking to Venasaur (a bit of an excuse, but it's something) that comes into play later on. “Coward” XD. I actually believe one of my brothers came to really like Squirtle right after this episode, and I can definitely see why.

Now the subtitles aren't always on. According to Bulbapedia, Krabby and Slowpoke get subtitles, but the English dub doesn't do this (far as I know). I personally kinda wish there were subtitles from while they're eating at the booth, but I guess it's for the best. It was a bit of a somber moment where they were probably crying over how they'll never find their masters. They were also getting drunk, so...

Anyway, enough about the Pokémon talking. Other things happened that deserve mentions.

Ash and the gang don't really do much this episode until the climax, sorta. They encounter a mechanical Zapdos, but that's about it. Team Rocket had more to do in this episode such as calling Giovanni, which was great. “But first we must do the introduction.” Woooooow. Why Giovanni didn't yell at them earlier is beyond me, I just know he has to put up with them. Pfft. Though their idea to follow the cable cord was a but weird, it worked, sort of. Them finding giant Pikachu (or Bigachu) was nice, and sometime off-screen, they run into a Kabutops and find the railcar just to end up breaking it xD.

The climax with the railcar is the (next) most memorable part to me. I don't know why, but I love it very much. Though I have to question why it is the railcar has a loop-de-loop, but that made for a great moment where Jessie freaks out. I'm actually also amazed that the railcar could handle that much weight dragging behind it, the physics don't make sense. (Meanwhile, Team Rocket talk about what would happen nonchalantly, almost like a lampshade. Nice.) I do have to laugh a bit because somehow everyone got these animatronics to go berserk. And considering that it was revealed to be Pokémon Land and that it looked like the railcar was part of that tour, if the animatronics are going after the slightest movement... But despite that, Giovanni being revealed to have built Pokémon Land was nice, though what it was for, we'll never know, I guess. (And the brick joke at the end with Slowpoke evolving into Slowbro off-screen. Yup. Just throwing it out there.)

So overall, it was a nice little adventure for the characters and thrills for the audience. I guess they're considered filler, but I doubt it since it introduced Giovanni and a bit more of Team Rocket in general and the cliffhangers were written in a way to make sure the episodes all fit together. But the next episode should be a filler—maybe. It's going to be interesting as it will be a nearly-blind watch for obvious reasons, though I know what I'm getting into.

Maybe.
 
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Koffing doesn't speak much, in the meantime, and when he does, it's kinda... primitive. More-or-less, he just repeats what Ekans says.

I was trying tot think of the right word to sue myself to describe the way Koffing (more so than Ekans) was talking. Primitive. That makes a whole lot of sense. :)

This has to be my favorite episode of the Inidigo League saga for two reasons.
1.) We actually get to see, with subtitles to boot, what the Pokemon are thinking. This was a really (really, really rare thing to see happen in this show. Why the writers didin't do this in "Cheers On Castaways Isle!" I'll never know...

2.) As a kid, when I, not sure about anybody else, first saw this episode, it was quite a thrill seeing the final evolution of the three Kanto starters. At the time, I thought they were real and actually that big. It was awesome to see large versions of all the Pokemon in this episode, so it doesn't sound like I'm singling out the three Kanto starters.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
While I appreciated seeing the perspective of the group's Pokemon, I found their interactions with each other to be overrated. I mean I barely learned anything about them and this felt like a wasted opportunity to flesh out Bulbasaur, Charmander and others. Anyway, I thought Jessie and James were hilarious and really shone here.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
The island of giant pokemon was cool especially watching the 3 groups run into the mechanical pokemon ha ha. Having subtitles for what the pokemon said was neat and I liked the part with everyone in the runaway cart. ^^
 

Gillachu

Banned
Lol I wish the mechanical Zapdos had been a real one. I liked the bar scene with the Slowpoke and lost Pokemon in the forest.
 

Pikachu Fan Number Nine

Don't Mess wit Texas
Lol I wish the mechanical Zapdos had been a real one. I liked the bar scene with the Slowpoke and lost Pokemon in the forest.

Of course they couldn't show the Pokemon actually drinking...that stuff.
 

JudySpell

Banned
I liked seeing subtitles for when the Pokemon on the island talked and the scenes on the roller coaster car were pretty entertaining. 8/10
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I liked watching Pikachu, Fushigidane, Hitokage, Zenigame, and the Rocket-dan's Pokemon getting into all sorts of adventures on the island, and the bar scene itself was surreal. The island's mechanical Pokemon were frightening, and I liked how Musashi and Kojirou tried calling Sakaki to ask for assistance.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
I loved that the cast's Pokemon themselves got an episode all to themselves: I liked to see what they really thought of Ash and their trainers. Loved the end, with the whole train chase and the mechanical Pokemon crashing into each other.
 

ZilverLox

Banned
Wow I liked the whole giant Pokemon and the Pokemon getting separated from their trainers, it's good that Pikachu and the others got subtitles when they were talking it really gave them character to bad we never get subtitles again in the series for the Pokemon we have to rely on Meowth to translate. Watching TR was funny. I laughed when they decided to do their motto over the telephone to Giovanni. :)
 

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
Weird and somewhat creepy episode. I liked seeing all the Pokemon interact with each other, including Team Rocket's Pokemon. unfortunately it seems like they overuse the general plot of this episode alot throughout the rest of the anime which makes this episode feel less unique now
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
Weird and somewhat creepy episode. I liked seeing all the Pokemon interact with each other, including Team Rocket's Pokemon. unfortunately it seems like they overuse the general plot of this episode alot throughout the rest of the anime which makes this episode feel less unique now

I liked the idea that Pokémon themselves aren't truly evil, and they only do evil things because their Trainers tell them to. Unfortunately, that idea appears to have been scrapped by later seasons. A real shame, too.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Weird and somewhat creepy episode. I liked seeing all the Pokemon interact with each other, including Team Rocket's Pokemon. unfortunately it seems like they overuse the general plot of this episode alot throughout the rest of the anime which makes this episode feel less unique now

While separation episodes like this one have now been done to death, at least this one had subtitles for the Pokemon scenes.
 

TheWanderingMist

Paladin of the Snow Queen
I liked the idea that Pokémon themselves aren't truly evil, and they only do evil things because their Trainers tell them to. Unfortunately, that idea appears to have been scrapped by later seasons. A real shame, too.

Eh, I like the fact that Pokemon can be evil without needing their Trainers to be evil. I've always taken Ekans statement as its own naive belief rather than a statement of fact. There do seem to be differing levels of sentience between Pokemon.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Eh, I like the fact that Pokemon can be evil without needing their Trainers to be evil. I've always taken Ekans statement as its own naive belief rather than a statement of fact. There do seem to be differing levels of sentience between Pokemon.

Arbo's statement in this episode about there supposedly being no evil Pokemon always seemed ridiculous to me, because it would eventually give misbehaving Pokemon too much leeway and lack of accountability for their harmful behavior. I'll just assume that Arbo was making up an excuse for his own questionable actions up to this point in the series.
 

Alloutℯ

Banned
I didn't get why Slowpoke was shown so much like at the random bar. Then he evolved and even that didn't affect the episode's storyline.
 
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