The Tower of Terror! (023)

[Wednesdayz]

I wasn't happy with how most of Lavender Town wasn't shown, except in the background as a skyline.

I guess we were meant to just see the Pokemon Tower since it was integral to Ash's Saffron Gym match. :x

 

[Leonhart]

In hindsight, I found it somewhat bizarre that it was Ghost who followed Satoshi in the end. Satoshi interacted with all three of the Ghost-types, but even so, I figured that he would've taken Gangar since it was the strongest by default.

 

[gentwoer]

In hindsight, I found it somewhat bizarre that it was Ghost who followed Satoshi in the end. Satoshi interacted with all three of the Ghost-types, but even so, I figured that he would've taken Gangar since it was the strongest by default.

Not that bizarre. Since Sabrina's Pokemon was the mid evolution of the Abra line so they wanted to give Ash the mid evolution of the Ghastly line.


It's more bizarre that the anime didn't have Sabrina use Alakazam instead.

 

[Leonhart]

Not that bizarre. Since Sabrina's Pokemon was the mid evolution of the Abra line so they wanted to give Ash the mid evolution of the Ghastly line.

That's a good point. Then again, it's not as if we even got to see Satoshi and Natsume have a proper rematch, anyway. So the Ghost-type that joined Satoshi here didn't matter much.

 

[Manchee]

I enjoyed this! It was really fun to see Gastly and its evolution line being playful and a bit tormenting to the cast. It felt very in-character for Ash to be playful along with them and join in messing with Misty and Brock. It's not fun to see captures that feel forced, and even though Ash didn't catch Haunter I liked that it felt very natural for it to join up with the gang.

 

[ᎠᎬȺᎢḤ]

Lavender Town didn't have the same oppressive feel as in Red and Blue since Team Rocket didn't do the dead Marowak thing. I thought that Haunter and his friends living alone meant that they were abandoned.

 

[Leonhart]

It's not fun to see captures that feel forced, and even though Ash didn't catch Haunter I liked that it felt very natural for it to join up with the gang.

Ghost didn't bond much with Satoshi here though, at least not any more than Ghos and Gangar did. That's why to me Ghost's decision to leave the tower and travel with Satoshi seemed somewhat contrived.

 

[gentwoer]

I think this episode is notable for two debates?

Did Ash and Pikachu die and Did Ash actually catch Haunter? Rewatching this episode the answer to the first question appears to be yes although that means ghost pokemon have the power to bring the dead back to life or at least the recently deceased. As for whether Ash caught Haunter? Well it never went in a Pokeball like Charmander and Squirtle did when they agreed to follow Ash and it pretty much came and went as it pleased in the followng episode. Regardless I wish Haunter had stuck around longer it had a lot of personality and it would have been nice to see Ash keep it a bit longer before he inevitably released it.

 

[Leonhart]

As for whether Ash caught Haunter? Well it never went in a Pokeball like Charmander and Squirtle did when they agreed to follow Ash and it pretty much came and went as it pleased in the followng episode.

The whole debate seems silly now since the lack of a Monster Ball was enough to show us that Ghost wasn't captured by Satoshi.

 

[FullmetalJackie]

I kind of hated this episode because it made us think that Ash hunting down a Ghost Pokemon was going to be a big deal later on even though it didn't turn out that way. Ash playing with the lonely Ghost Pokemon was nice and all although I couldn't help but notice that in the end Gastly and Gengar ended up having one less friend to play with, so it felt like Haunter should've stayed.

 

[Leonhart]

although I couldn't help but notice that in the end Gastly and Gengar ended up having one less friend to play with, so it felt like Haunter should've stayed.

Given that they didn't seem too inconvenienced by Ghost's decision to join Satoshi, I think that they would've still had fun together and who knows, maybe they eventually found a replacement for Ghost.

 

[BTS_fan]

I think this episode is notable for two debates?

Did Ash and Pikachu die and Did Ash actually catch Haunter? Rewatching this episode the answer to the first question appears to be yes although that means ghost pokemon have the power to bring the dead back to life or at least the recently deceased. As for whether Ash caught Haunter? Well it never went in a Pokeball like Charmander and Squirtle did when they agreed to follow Ash and it pretty much came and went as it pleased in the followng episode. Regardless I wish Haunter had stuck around longer it had a lot of personality and it would have been nice to see Ash keep it a bit longer before he inevitably released it.

I think that them becoming ghosts was more because of the power of the Ghost types in this episode than because they both perished. And I'll never get why people thought that Ash caught Haunter when we never saw him use a Poke Ball on it.

 

[Firefo×Fennekin]

Ash scaring Misty with that scary mask at the beginning really came back to bit him later on since it made Misty think that Ash was trying to scare her again later in the episode even though he was in real trouble when he got turned into a ghost. I thought he really died when we saw him playing with the ghost Pokemon, but now that I'm older I think it's more like ghost Pokemon can separate people and even other Pokemon from their bodies at will. 7/10

 

[World Turtle]

I think this episode is notable for two debates?

Did Ash and Pikachu die and Did Ash actually catch Haunter? Rewatching this episode the answer to the first question appears to be yes although that means ghost pokemon have the power to bring the dead back to life or at least the recently deceased. As for whether Ash caught Haunter? Well it never went in a Pokeball like Charmander and Squirtle did when they agreed to follow Ash and it pretty much came and went as it pleased in the followng episode. Regardless I wish Haunter had stuck around longer it had a lot of personality and it would have been nice to see Ash keep it a bit longer before he inevitably released it.

I recall it being only Squirtle we never saw go into a ball, but otherwise yeah. Haunter could have been caught off-screen.

Has anyone ever look at the Japanese Title for this episode? Because I did recently and now I'm not sure what to think about Haunter.

Pokemon Tawā de Getto da ze!

Translation: Got It at the Pokémon Tower! or Capture at the Pokémon Tower!

So that does indicate a capture took place to me.

Why didn't we see the ball? Well maybe like Pikachu Haunter didn't want to stay in the ball or maybe Ash let him out once they got to Saffron to discuss what they were going to do. And Haunter just kept floating off before Ash could even think to get him back in his ball.

It's actually kind of sad to me Haunter did get Ash his Marsh Badge (unusual though his methods were) and yet Larvitar (who Ash never actually caught) gets cameos. Plus that New Years Heisei special that showed Ash's Pokemon included Mr. Mime (not even Ash's Pokemon), Raticate (traded back for Butterfree), Seaking (he wasn't even going to keep that one, he had to return it after the fishing competition), and Beedrill (he gave to Casey). The latter 3 being Pokemon he never even spoke too or lasted one episode.

I actually found a video of the special on Youtube. And I kind of want to know who made it because on that 5x10 (or 10x5? I forget) table/graph Ash's Pokemon were shown on?

Lapras was on it twice.

Also Noctowl, Poipole, and of all Pokemon Charizard was missing.

Granted, Charizard does appear as one of those still images that fly across the screen afterwards, but still! Noctowl and Poipole were also absent there as well. And yet they included the other 29 Tauros at the end before going on to something else.

 

[Leonhart]

I thought he really died when we saw him playing with the ghost Pokemon, but now that I'm older I think it's more like ghost Pokemon can separate people and even other Pokemon from their bodies at will. 7/10

Well these particular Ghost-types could do that, but it seems like if it was meant to be a shared ability that all Ghost-type Pokemon could do, it was retconned at some point after Kanto since we don't usually see this kind of thing anymore where Ghost-types are given control over people's souls.

 

[Jnmisty]

It is one of my favorite episodes as well. The one thing I really didn’t like is when dexter was not super helpful about a pokemon. Later on when Ash’s pokedex gets upgraded, it has more information about a Pokémon and being more helpful. Plus I couldn’t blame Ash for not laughing at the ghost Pokémon’s jokes. His sense of humor is not the same as their sense of humor.

 

[Leonhart]

I do recall Satoshi's Zukan calling the three Ghost-types here "gas Pokemon" and not revealing anything more about them, which in hindsight was strange since it implied that the programmer of the Zukan had never met the only three Ghost Pokemon native to Kanto.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Ash should have kept Haunter (having Gengar later isnt the same)
Misty and Brock were being asses in the beginning trying to force Ash into the tower by himself.

 

[RafaSceptile]

Reviewing the Pokémon anime in 10 words or less:
"Ash confirming how he is inmortal by the first time"

Episode: 6/10