CN Talkback: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl: Battle Dimension [April] (spoilers)

[Lazerboy5000]

http://fridays.toonzone.net/talkbacks/premiere.gifhttp://library.toonzone.net/talkbacks/pokemondpbd.jpg

April 2008

Ash, Brock and Dawn continue there adventures through the land of Sinnoh, meeting some brand new Pokémon, rivals, and challenges along the way!

Normal Time: 9:30am Saturday (Eastern)

4

Last Season
Ash and Brock meet up with a brand new coordinator Dawn.
Ash currently has a 5 pokémon team: Pikachu, Aipom, Staravia, Turtwig, and Chimchar.
Ash has earned himself 2 gym badges while Dawn has just 1 ribbon.
Ash’s newest rival Paul had proved that he is, by far, the best rival Ash has ever had.
Dawn also has made a fair number of friends and rivals including Zoey, Nando, and Kenny.
The gang has had a chance to see Elite Four Lucian and Champion Cynthia in action.
Last time, everyone competed in the tag team battle, with Ash and Paul claiming victory.
Ash and co. is now headed toward Vilestone city, Paul’s hometown.

4

This Time

April 12th
Tears for Fears!
Now that Chimchar is with Ash, Chimchar will have to get used to the difference between its new trainer vs. its old one.

April 19th
Once There Were Greenfields!
Surprise! Gardenia shows up again. And you'll never guess who she wants to have a tag battle with.

April 26th
Throwing the Track Switch!
Ash and the gang meet up with Zoey again, and she has a suggustion for the gang.
4

Notes:
The newest season of Diamond and Pearl is here: Battle Dimension.
There will be no rap opening this time around.
Other than that, there’s not much else to say, so enjoy.

[Light Ichigo]

Did I miss an episode when did Ash get Chimchar?:confused:

[bigddan11]

Lazerboy5000, you aren't supposed to start a talkback until the first day it airs unless you are a moderator. Should Duke choose to resume talkback responsibilities for the series, his will take place over this one. Keep that in mind next month.

91 Boy, Paul discarded Chimchar during the three part tag battle tournament, where Ash was his tag partner. Ash invited him to join him, and he did.

[Rolling Cloud]

I kinda wish there was a sorta sneak peek at the opening, in case I sleep through it but.. eh. :sweat:

Whee~, new episodes.

[CyberCubed]

The most important thing about tomorrow's ep is the opening, nothing else matters. :p

Although to be fair the episode is fairly good as well, lots of development for Ash and Chimchar.

But again, let's hope PUSA is more fan-friendly than 4kids is and actually listened to all our complaints about how bad the D/P opening was, and hopefully this opening won't make our ears bleed.

[RonDrakenfan17]

I can't wait for the new theme song, I really do hope they did a good job on this. Also YAY a new episode. I have it DVR'd.

[yoshirider13]

I hope the new theme is good and more then 30 seconds! (lol watch the new op be 31 seconds haha) I wonder if they really did order new scenes for the op. Whats left in the japanese first DP opening that hasnt been used? Theres a shot of Ash and friends walking across a river and the rest is a bunch of smiling pokemon dancing... Yeah....

I wonder if PUSA will keep more japanese bgm too. It seemed more and more was kept in the last few episodes especially in "Dawns early night"

[Daxdiv]

I hope the new theme is good and more then 30 seconds! (lol watch the new op be 31 seconds haha) I wonder if they really did order new scenes for the op. Whats left in the japanese first DP opening that hasnt been used? Theres a shot of Ash and friends walking across a river and the rest is a bunch of smiling pokemon dancing... Yeah....

I wonder if PUSA will keep more japanese bgm too. It seemed more and more was kept in the last few episodes especially in "Dawns early night"

Don't forget about how they change the roster for all the teams, even in the epic staredown between Paul and Ash. They should try to incorperate that.

[zoombie]

I can't wait till they air Once They Were Greenfields! I have been waiting to see that one for a long time.

[Sketch]

Well that was an interesting opening. Seeing the credits in it caught me off guard. How very... Japanese.

[ShadowGUN]

An opening with english credits :eek: ? That sure was weird.
Anyway the song was okay.

[PC!]

What's with PUSA and all of their themes sounding REALLY corny?

Give me a 4Kids opening any day.

[LordTerminal]

What's with PUSA and all of their themes sounding REALLY corny?

Give me a 4Kids opening any day.

In my opinion, we haven't had a really awesome opening since the Orange Islands.

[yoshirider13]

I totally called That opening being used for the new season back when Rise of Darkrai premiered. I liked it way more then last season's. And I liked how they used some awesome scenes that showcase the action. But like everyone else. I thought it was interesting to see english in a DUB OPENING! That was weird. I liked it though. I also like how we finally had a female singer. A lot of the japanese openings have a female singer. so it was nice.

The episode was nice too. I heard a lot of Season 1 battle music being used. And I liked how Chimchar finally made it to the real team instead of being a crybaby haha. Although that shot with Ash rubbing Chimchar could be taken the wrong way lol.

PS. In the scene where Meowth talks to Chimchar it plays an instrumental of the Meowth song that he sang back in Kanto. Was it the vocal version in the japanese version?

[D Dubbs]

Yeah...corny opening. But at least it's better than the rap.

The episode itself was okay. They usually throw in a "new Pokemon gets used to being part of the gang" episode after someone gets a new Pokemon, so pretty typical stuff today.

And as expected, PUSA still mixes a fair amount of dub BGM with original BGM.

[Shift]

My thoughts:

*New opening song is the same as movie 10's, but it's now sung by, le GASP!, a girl! Doesn't sound too bad, but not too great, either. Plus, they now have some credits in the opening, which is new (I'm not really digging the font, though).

*Grr, Piplup still sounds lame, and likely will forever... But unlike the tag battles, they finally kept Zangoose's original voice. And if I'm not mistaken, Mime Jr. sounds remarkably like Kayzie Rogers again, so maybe...

*Interesting, they kept Meowth's theme in that scene.

*OK, credits time! The instrumentals of the theme are quite good, but I thought the same of season 10's as well. In voices, we've got the main cast, and in additional voices, we have Julian Reboledo (Paul), as well as Kayzie Rogers (they actually used that name, no more pseudonyms for her, and no more stock Wobbufett/Michele Knotz-Mime Jr.!) and Emily Williams (but there were no other humans today; maybe, Staravia...?)

*Bill Rogers is on script timing now as well; good for him! And we still have James Carter Cathcart on script adaptation (though, as he/Billy Beach/Jimmy Zoppi are all the same guy, it shouldn't be surprising). Plus there's Tom Wayland in direction, and other peeps.

[yoshirider13]

I don't think the opening sounds corny. I think it doesn't have any less quality then any of the other pokemon openings. IMO out of the PUSA openings its almost 1st but gets slightly beating by Battle Frontier. I think we all know which op deserves last...


If people missed it, heres the opening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ky0wCGmmn4

[warnerbroman]

I don't think the opening sounds corny. I think it doesn't have any less quality then any of the other pokemon openings. IMO out of the PUSA openings its almost 1st but gets slightly beating by Battle Frontier. I think we all know which op deserves last...


If people missed it, heres the opening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ky0wCGmmn4 wow thats fast!

[Daxdiv]

I liked the new opening, I think it fits, the only problem for me was since this is the song from the Darkrai Movie, I kept saying "Darkrai" at the appropriate moments. I agree that this theme is second in my book for PUSA produced opening, first being Battle Frontier.

As for episode in question, I liked it when I first saw it, and I still like it.Glad to see Chimchar adapted to being in Ash's crew in under one episode. His comparision to how Paul treated him to the situation in which Ash treats him states it all, Paul is a major jerk. I liked Meowth pep talk, after all inside that pokemon that trying to steal the others, he actually has a heart for the pokemon he actually tries to steal. Also Chimchar using it strength under Ash's control while not using Blaze show that Paul wasn't really using Chimchar's full potential.

Next two weeks happens to continue my other favorite episodes in which things will never be the same for both TR and the group.

Other than that, anyone notice any changes in the VA acting? Reason I'm asking is cause I have a problem detecting things like that.

[D Dubbs]

I don't think the opening sounds corny. I think it doesn't have any less quality then any of the other pokemon openings. IMO out of the PUSA openings its almost 1st but gets slightly beating by Battle Frontier. I think we all know which op deserves last...

Well, let's look at the lyrics:

On the road, far from home.
But you don't have to feel alone.
Brave and strong, together we will be
It's our destiny!
We will be heroes!
We can change the world if we try!
I go where you go!
Forever friends, you and I!
We will be heroes!

Battle Dimension,
Pokemon!

Yep, that's definitely corny.

I think 4Kids' Advanced theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5R2_jGpIJ4) did a much better job with the hero theme. At least it sounds more kickass.

[yoshirider13]

Well, let's look at the lyrics:

On the road, far from home.
But you don't have to feel alone.
Brave and strong, together we will be
It's our destiny!
We will be heroes!
We can change the world if we try!
I go where you go!
Forever friends, you and I!
We will be heroes!

Battle Dimension,
Pokemon!

Yep, that's definitely corny.

I think 4Kids' Advanced theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5R2_jGpIJ4) did a much better job with the hero theme. At least it sounds more kickass.Well I guess I can't have my own opinion then...

[zoombie]

I liked the new theme song better than the last one. As for today's episode, it was a good transition episode welcoming Chimcharm to the group.

But after the three part episode which was focused on him, I need a Chimcharm break, though it is a breath of fresh air from the Pikachu focus.

[Rolling Cloud]

Well I guess I can't have my own opinion then...

You can have your own opinion. Don't feel like you can't. /nods

Anyways, I liked the episode. It was interesting to see how Chimchar reacted to being in Ash's group. And, did I see a quick shot of blood (when Ash got scratched) or were my eyes playing tricks on me? O_o

[CyberCubed]

Other than that, anyone notice any changes in the VA acting? Reason I'm asking is cause I have a problem detecting things like that.

Not that I notice, the voices sound mostly the same as last season. It does seem to me that Jessie's voice is going down a different path now, whereas back in Battle Frontier her voice sounded more like Rachael Lilis' Jessie.

In general the voices of the main cast sound fine to me. James and Ash sound the most different from their 4kids voices, but I've gotten pretty used to them.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Bill Rogers also adds more manliness into his Brock, if I might add.

[Shift]

And they've brought back Kayzie Rogers again! No more outdated stock Wobbuffet! No more Michelle Knotz as Mime Jr.!

And for some reason, Emily Williams (Zoey/Jenny) was in the credits when no other humans appeared.

[Yash]

And for some reason, Emily Williams (Zoey/Jenny) was in the credits when no other humans appeared.
They probably use the same credits for each episode.

The dub only kept six pieces of music, but other than that, it was pretty good. I'm surprised that Meowth's theme was kept - it gives me hope that the orchestrated Make a Wish will be kept in the next episode.

The new theme song is kind of corny, but it is a nice change of pace, with the female singer, the credits, not chanting "POKEMON!" after every verse, etc.

As Shift pointed out earlier, PUSA keeps Zangoose's original voice, which is weird since literally every episode before this replaced it. Well, I can't complain.

Regarding the actual episode, it was pretty good, and fairly emotional. Like the scene where Chimchar begins to cry =(

April is a decent month for Pokemon, unfortunately next month is going to be filler, filler, and more filler.

[Shift]

They probably use the same credits for each episode.Yeah, for the main cast. The additional voices list changes to reflect the VAs in the episode, and outside a few rogue eps at season 9's start, it's pretty accurate. COuld be a glitch, but who knows? Could be she's voicing one of the group's Pokemon (Staravia?) and is justs starting to be credited now that DuArt seems to have done away with the "only main cast members voice Pokemon" thing, if Kayzie's return is any indication.

[Yash]

Could be she's voicing one of the group's Pokemon (Staravia?)
Actually, Emily Jenness voices Staravia, according to Bulbapedia.

[Lazerboy5000]

First thing to note: The theme song was going so well... until it ended abruptly after 31 seconds. :sweat: I wish they'd be a little bit longer. but, regardless, it's still much better than the rap, even if it was a little corney. Oh, and I was dissapointed that they left Paul out of the opening. :(

As for the actual episode itself, they actually made Team rocket have some importance. And digging a little deeper into chimchar's past was interesting as well. I never thought that Chimchar actually beat Eliked once.

And Meowth blasting off in a different direction, that was new.

Oh and after looking at the credits, there are no mentions of any TAG Productions.

I decent start to the new season. 7.5/10

[Light Lucario]

Well, let's look at the lyrics:

On the road, far from home.
But you don't have to feel alone.
Brave and strong, together we will be
It's our destiny!
We will be heroes!
We can change the world if we try!
I go where you go!
Forever friends, you and I!
We will be heroes!

Battle Dimension,
Pokemon!

Yep, that's definitely corny.

I think 4Kids' Advanced theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5R2_jGpIJ4) did a much better job with the hero theme. At least it sounds more kickass.

I second this. While I do think that the new opening was a much needed improvement over the horrible opening from last season, the 4Kids' Advance theme does handle the hero theme with a lot more energy than this theme does.

Anyway, this was a great episode. I love how people were putting a lot of focus on the theme song and knowing how bad the last one was, I don't blame you. Honestly, it feels kind of weird to have a opening from the previous movie on the new season. I wonder if they'll use this same song in the next movie, if the movie opens with its Japanese theme when it is released this summer. As I said before, it is a much needed improvement over the D/P song from last season, but the English credits were kind of weird. I don't hate how they're there, but I thought that it just looked so weird since none of the other openings have that. Being sung by a female singer was a nice change though. I think that I prefer the version that was in the Darkari movie, but this will due.

Onto the episode. It was so emotionally touching and I loved it. It makes sense that Chimchar would have a difficult time with seeing the differences between his new trainer in Ash and in his former trainer Paul. I'm sure that Chimchar felt surprised when it saw all of the other Pokemon working together instead of fighting with each other. I felt so bad for it when it started having those flashbacks of Paul just making it eat quickly so that they could go back to training. At least Ash gives Chimchar the care that it desperately needs.

Seeing Team Rocket in the forest like that was kind of interesting. It was pretty cool seeing all of those Zangoose attacking Sepiver like that. It would even pop out of the ball just to fight them off. Talk about a deep fight of hatred. It was a bit of a surprise to see Mewoth blasting off in a different direction. That rarely happens.

That practice match between Pikachu and Buziel was pretty good. Pikachu just used Iron Tail to beat it, but that block with Sonic Boom was pretty good too. Man, that flashback with Chimchar defeating Elekid made me dislike Paul even more. All he cared about was having Chimchar using that same amazing power level the day that he captured it. Thinking that it was worthless until it captured that same power was just cruel and heartless. Then again, this is Paul that we're talking about. The match between Chimchar and Piplup was pretty good too. It was cool to see the constant fires of Scratch and Peck attack being used like that. Despite having a disadvantage to Piplup, Chimchar did a great job, especially with holding back that Bubblebeam attack for so long with its Flamethrower.

You could just feel Chimchar's worry with that next flashback. After being abandoned from that lost in the Tag Battle arc, I'm sure that Chimchar was worried that Ash would do the same thing after losing. I felt so bad for it when it started crying like that, even after everyone was telling how great it was. That poor little thing went through such an emotionally difficult time with Paul. I'm so glad that Ash was able to give it a good hug since I wanted to do that throughout most of the episode. I started to cry a bit here too. I'm so emotional like that.

Even after that, the dream still showed how Chimchar was so damaged from being with Paul. He wouldn't let Chimchar forget the strength it showed against those Zangoose, even if it meant that Chimchar would be hurt in the process. I really did like Mewoth's pep talk to Chimchar after it went out for a walk. There are times where Mewoth does show his gold heart and this was one of those cases. Chimchar needed to know that his new friends were there for it and that they would help it out.

Team Rocket showing up to take the Pokemon was expected and it was interesting to see how the Zangoose interfered this time. Poor Chimchar looked completely taken over by fear when it saw them. I wanted to give it another hug. At least Ash acknowledged Chimchar's fear with understanding and compassion and then went in to support it. I just loved seeing Chimchar on Ash's shoulder like that. It just looks so cute. I loved how Ash said that they didn't need to use Blaze since Chimchar already has some strong moves. Paul obviously couldn't see that at all when he was training Chimchar.

Despite its fears, Chimchar did a great job in the battle. I was actually surprised with how Ash went in there and took a Crush Claw attack for Chimchar like that. It didn't look like blood to me, but it was glowing or something like that. After that, it looked like Chimchar's attacks, especially its Flamethrower were much stronger than usual. It probably wanted to help to protect its new trainer and friends. I was so glad that all of the Pokemon were saved. Seeing Chimchar dance in happiness like that was wonderful and adorable. It can finally show off its happiness without being in any emotional damage. I cried here at the ending too.

Overall, a great episode and a great way to start off the season. Given how horrible Paul treated Chimchar in the past, I feel that an episode like this to where it gets used to its new trainer, who is much nicer and deserves the power that Chimchar has, especially since he acknowledges it, is needed. Hopefully now, all of the emotional pain that Chimchar has will start to heal and fad away. Man, I'm still hoping for six-on-six match between Ash and Paul in the Sinnoh League and Chimchar, or one of its evolutions if it chooses to evolve, takes out either his last Pokemon or a good couple of them. That would just be so awesome to see. I'm definitely looking foreword to the next episode next week.

[StellaMagic]

I know. It is like Paul wants to win the league so badly, he doesn't care who he hurts. If I was a pokemon and had a trainer like that, I would runaway in the middle of the night. Brock is right about one thing. Chimchar wasn't allowed to show Paul any emotion. Maybe that is how Paul is treated. It may have something to do with that guy who tried to buy the Shieldon from Hunter J. It seems strange that Paul had caught a pokemon like Magmar.

[Shift]

Actually, Emily Jenness voices Staravia, according to Bulbapedia.
Funny enough, it was I who put that there. It's a long story, but to put it quick, it wasn't Rogers, Knotz, or Natochenny, so she was the lasy one left. But it wasn't her either (she said so through MySpace). Anyway, it's still a mystery.

[yoshirider13]

Wow didn't even catch this till I rewatched it.

Did you guys noticed the screw up that the narrator made at the beginning of the episode.

Last time I checked the contest and tag battle were in Hearthome City, Not ETERNA CITY.

[Dogasu]

I've only seen the opening. And...I'm not impressed. They took a few unused scenes from Together (Team Rocket finally makes it into a PUSA opening) and By Your Side -Hikari's Theme-, but the rest was tackily-edited-together episode clips.

Oh, and the singer sounds pretty awful. It almost sounds like a woman trying to put on a stock anime young boy voice.

At least the opening credits made the whole thing seem less amateur AMV-ish.

Also, LOL at how quickly this opening is going to be out-of-date:

Kojirou gets rid of his Sabonea in the very next episode and Musashi gets rid of her Dokucale about a dozen episodes later, so that Rocket-Dan shot is going to be horribly out-of-date before long.

There will be no rap opening this time around.

There was no rap the first time around, either.

[Daxdiv]

Also, LOL at how quickly this opening is going to be out-of-date:

Kojirou gets rid of his Sabonea in the very next episode and Musashi gets rid of her Dokucale about a dozen episodes later, so that Rocket-Dan shot is going to be horribly out-of-date before long.

Maybe PUSA should take a cue from the Japanese team and update their opening despite the fact that the Japanese were quite lazy after a certain additions with updating the opening to the point where I thought the song was going to be replaced any episode. Seriously, I thought it was after not updating for a few months. Nah that going to end up costing PUSA money which they don't have.

There was no rap the first time around, either.


Then what was genre of music did the theme for Diamond and Pearl theme use? I confused now!

[bigddan11]

Then what was genre of music did the theme for Diamond and Pearl theme use? I confused now!
The reference is to the first season PUSA did, which was Battle Frontier. You should specify you were referring to the first season of D&P.

[Daxdiv]

The reference is to the first season PUSA did, which was Battle Frontier. You should specify you were referring to the first season of D&P.

Since DP is consider a new series in Japan, I thought he was refering to DP first opening.

[Lightning Tiger]

i cant beleave Bubble beam overpowerd Flamethrower.

Pauls ridiculous "Chimchar, if you survibe the falling rocks youl be stronger!!", hahaha:p

i have to wonder, does saying Max Power after flamethrower realy make it more powerful?:shrug:

[Dogasu]

Seriously, I thought it was after not updating for a few months. Nah that going to end up costing PUSA money which they don't have.

Yeah, but they finally did. So I guess Together is going to be with us for quite a while yet.

Then what was genre of music did the theme for Diamond and Pearl theme use? I confused now!

It's more rock than rap, really. It has rap-ish elements to it (like many Linkin Park songs, for example), but most of the song -including the chorus- is distinctively rock.

[Lutochris]

Kojirou gets rid of his Sabonea in the very next episode and Musashi gets rid of her Dokucale about a dozen episodes later, so that Rocket-Dan shot is going to be horribly out-of-date before long.

Please use English names, I don't know any of those characters/Pokemon you refer to.

It's more rock than rap, really. It has rap-ish elements to it (like many Linkin Park songs, for example), but most of the song -including the chorus- is distinctively rock.

True, the last DP theme was about as much rap as a Limp Bizkit or Kid Rock song (i.e. not rap at all).

[yoshirider13]

Yeah, but they finally did. So I guess Together is going to be with us for quite a while yet.



It's more rock than rap, really. It has rap-ish elements to it (like many Linkin Park songs, for example), but most of the song -including the chorus- is distinctively rock.
But PUSA considers it a rap, or Pokemon.com atleast. Someone asked in the mailbag section if the new intro was gonna be a rap and pokemon.com said it wont be a rap this time.

[CyberCubed]

It is nice to see Paul more connected to the story than Gary was. They're really making an effort to have Paul appear more often and have a deeper contrast to Ash's training methods.

I also don't think Gary was handled all that well as the series went on. He was absent in Orange and barely appeared in Johto at all. Its like we never saw Gary and wondered where the hell he was. He only had one battle with Ash prior to their final match in the league, (Pikachu Vs. Eevee at the end of Orange), and that was about it.

Seems to me that Paul has the intense rivalry with Ash that Gary was meant to have, but that fizzled out so the writers are trying it again with a brand new, and more engaging rival character.

[Rolling Cloud]

Please use English names, I don't know any of those characters/Pokemon you refer to.

That hides the spoiler even better. :p

and can somebody clarify something for me please? I'm still confused on whether or not that was blood shown during the part when Satoshi....I mean...Ash got slashed.

[RonDrakenfan17]

The Chimchar episode was adorable. I really love the relationship between Ash and it soo cute. Theme song is ok I don't mind it.

[Tash]

Please use English names, I don't know any of those characters/Pokemon you refer to.
Dogasu doesn't like the dub names, apparently. I'll translate:
James gets rid of his Cacnea in the very next episode and Jesse gets rid of her Dustox about a dozen episodes later, so that Team Rocket shot is going to be horribly out-of-date before long.

[Lutochris]

Dogasu doesn't like the dub names, apparently. I'll translate:
James gets rid of his Cacnea in the very next episode and Jesse gets rid of her Dustox about a dozen episodes later, so that Team Rocket shot is going to be horribly out-of-date before long.

So then what does he get to fill the requisite (and not at all overdone) "Pokemon that bites James' head" position?

[Daxdiv]

So then what does he get to fill the requisite (and not at all overdone) "Pokemon that bites James' head" position?

James hasn't caught a pokemon to replace it yet so he just has his Mime Jr., and Carnivine for now, Carnivine still fits the role of attacking James though. Some think that he just gave it to Gardenia to just train it to learn Drain Punch, since he just gave her the pokemon inside the ball. But we'll see what happens

[CyberCubed]

Carnivine already IS the "grass Pokemon that bites or attacks James" this generation. Its just that he had it and Cacnea at the same time.

Victreebel ----> Cacnea ----> Carnivine.

Why would he get yet another grass Pokemon to attack him when that's what Carnivine is here for?

[D Dubbs]

He only had one battle with Ash prior to their final match in the league, (Pikachu Vs. Eevee at the end of Orange), and that was about it.

He also battled Ash in the Johto episode "Power Play"...and Gary whooped him pretty good.

[CyberCubed]

He also battled Ash in the Johto episode "Power Play"...and Gary whooped him pretty good.

You might be mistaken on that, Gary battled a kid with Alakazam in that episode with Umbreon and beat him. Ash wanted to battle Gary, but Gary turned him down.

They didn't battle again till their Johto league match.

[D Dubbs]

You might be mistaken on that, Gary battled a kid with Alakazam in that episode with Umbreon and beat him. Ash wanted to battle Gary, but Gary turned him down.

They didn't battle again till their Johto league match.

Oh, that's right. I remember Ash calling out his Pokemon, but I guess they didn't actually battle.

[Light Lucario]

That hides the spoiler even better. :p

and can somebody clarify something for me please? I'm still confused on whether or not that was blood shown during the part when Satoshi....I mean...Ash got slashed.

I remember seeing that scene and I'm pretty sure that wasn't blood. It looked more like the slash mark was glowing bright purple than blood to me.

[D Dubbs]

I remember seeing that scene and I'm pretty sure that wasn't blood. It looked more like the slash mark was glowing bright purple than blood to me.

Yeah...it's like those slash marks that Meowth would use on Jessie and James in the first couple of seasons. I guess it could be blood, but it wasn't flowing blood or anything.

[yoshirider13]

I've only seen the opening. And...I'm not impressed. They took a few unused scenes from Together (Team Rocket finally makes it into a PUSA opening) and By Your Side -Hikari's Theme-, but the rest was tackily-edited-together episode clips.

Oh, and the singer sounds pretty awful. It almost sounds like a woman trying to put on a stock anime young boy voice.

At least the opening credits made the whole thing seem less amateur AMV-ish.

Also, LOL at how quickly this opening is going to be out-of-date:

Kojirou gets rid of his Sabonea in the very next episode and Musashi gets rid of her Dokucale about a dozen episodes later, so that Rocket-Dan shot is going to be horribly out-of-date before long.



There was no rap the first time around, either.

It sounds more like Macy Gray to me. But oh well. Its not the worst opening on DAS (shudders at Bakugan opening)

[Dogasu]

But PUSA considers it a rap, or Pokemon.com atleast.

No they don't. They said that the Season 11 opening wasn't going to be rap. They didn't say anything about the Season 10 opening being a rap song.

Dogasu doesn't like the dub names, apparently.

I'm just much, much more familiar with the Japanese version than I am with the dub. When I'm not in the middle of doing an edit list for my website, words like "Cacnea" and "Dustox" don't make any sense to me.

Plus, it doesn't make sense for me to use English names when talking about the Japanese version of a Japanese show :P

I would've translated the names myself (especially since Lutochris asked nicely instead of the "use the effing English names you effing elitist snob!" I always get), but you guys beat me to it :sweat:

[Daxdiv]

I'm just much, much more familiar with the Japanese version than I am with the dub. When I'm not in the middle of doing an edit list for my website, words like "Cacnea" and "Dustox" don't make any sense to me.

Plus, it doesn't make sense for me to use English names when talking about the Japanese version of a Japanese show :P

I would've translated the names myself (especially since Lutochris asked nicely instead of the "use the effing English names you effing elitist snob!" I always get), but you guys beat me to it :sweat:

Well I kind of figured you using the original namest had something to do with your edit list project, and the fact that you watch and understand what going on, I know it not like Pokemon is a hard anime to understand, but it does help me if I understand what they are saying.

Beside I kind of agree with Cloud55 as it makes it more mysterious to people who try not to spoil themselves with upcoming plot points, but can't help but click on it to just see, it kind of makes them try to look up the names of the characters instead. Since I try to keep current with the Japanese version, I only bother to learn the Japanese names of key characters and the Pokemon, anyone else I just disregard since they're just characters of the day and it is most likely that I won't be seeing them again.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

No they don't. They said that the Season 11 opening wasn't going to be rap. They didn't say anything about the Season 10 opening being a rap song.



I'm just much, much more familiar with the Japanese version than I am with the dub. When I'm not in the middle of doing an edit list for my website, words like "Cacnea" and "Dustox" don't make any sense to me.

Plus, it doesn't make sense for me to use English names when talking about the Japanese version of a Japanese show :P

I would've translated the names myself (especially since Lutochris asked nicely instead of the "use the effing English names you effing elitist snob!" I always get), but you guys beat me to it :sweat:

Well, that's not manly of them! :mad:

I even favorited a list just encase I came across a post that needs it. If I'm going to complain about people using Joey Wheeler or Jaden Yuki over Katsuya Jonouchi or Jûdai Yûki then I had better allow those that use the Japanese terms and what not to be...although God knows I just don't have the energy and time to memorize five hundred names for the Pokémon themselves I figure I need to begin moving over to using the original names for the humans. :)

[Lazerboy5000]

and can somebody clarify something for me please? I'm still confused on whether or not that was blood shown during the part when Satoshi....I mean...Ash got slashed.
I don’t think it was blood. It was more like a black mark that was caused just for an instant. But what really bothered me was that after Ash got hit by slash, his shirt wasn’t even torn up after the hit! LAME!!! But if his shirt got ruined, they he would have to call home to his mom and tell her to send a new one. :sweat:


Actually, I have a feeling that Ash will get a chance to witness Chimchar’s blaze. Let’s just hope he doesn’t go power crazy and has Chimchar trained to death after seeing it. :evil:

[CyberCubed]

Yeah, I really hope Chimchar evolves as time goes on. A problem with Ash's fire types is the writers don't want any of them to become as strong as Charizard.

That's the reason why Cyndaquil never evolved and Torkoal (who can't evolve), only had a few good wins. Hopefully though Chimchar has the backstory to give it a good reason to evolve and make it to its final form.

Hopefully Ash's team does evolve as much this season as it did in the previous one, that way they won't be forgotten about like Ash's Johto lineup was, which never reached the strength or popularity of Ash's Kanto or Hoenn teams. Its almost like they've become the black sheep of Ash's lineup.

[Daxdiv]

Yeah, I really hope Chimchar evolves as time goes on. A problem with Ash's fire types is the writers don't want any of them to become as strong as Charizard.

That's the reason why Cyndaquil never evolved and Torkoal (who can't evolve), only had a few good wins. Hopefully though Chimchar has the backstory to give it a good reason to evolve and make it to its final form.

Hopefully Ash's team does evolve as much this season as it did in the previous one, that way they won't be forgotten about like Ash's Johto lineup was, which never reached the strength or popularity of Ash's Kanto or Hoenn teams. Its almost like they've become the black sheep of Ash's lineup.

I want Chimchar to win to fufill it destiny... to be the everloving hell out of Paul.:evil:

Who was his Johto Team?:confused: Just kidding. I know it's hard to remember them since he mostly rely on his Kanto pokemon in the finals.

I think in order to make Ash's team better, not only does he need to have his pokemon evolve, I think he should have some Sinnoh Pokemon on his standby team, not only because he trying to stick with Pokemon he caught in the new region to fight in that region, it's just incase one of his pokemon can't fight when he reaches the Pokemon Leauge, therefore he atleast has someone on standby so that way he doesn't feel guilty for calling Oak to send him a new Poemon, also it would show Dawn what happens when one exceeds six Pokemon on a team.

[Light Lucario]

It is nice to see Paul more connected to the story than Gary was. They're really making an effort to have Paul appear more often and have a deeper contrast to Ash's training methods.

I also don't think Gary was handled all that well as the series went on. He was absent in Orange and barely appeared in Johto at all. Its like we never saw Gary and wondered where the hell he was. He only had one battle with Ash prior to their final match in the league, (Pikachu Vs. Eevee at the end of Orange), and that was about it.

Seems to me that Paul has the intense rivalry with Ash that Gary was meant to have, but that fizzled out so the writers are trying it again with a brand new, and more engaging rival character.

That's one of the things that I actually like Paul for, despite him being a complete jerk, but he's one of those characters that you just love to hate. He has much more involvement with the story than Gary ever did. Not only was he gone for the Orange Islands and hardly appeared in Johto, but when he did show up during Kanto, he would basically insult Ash by saying how he's not as good of a trainer he is. In retrospect, Gary never really felt like a rival. He was more of a stuck-up, annoying trainer who thought that he was so much better than Ash. Maybe if we actually saw his skills as a trainer, which we really didn't see until the Battle of the Badge episode, then it wouldn't have seem so stuck-up.

Yeah, I really hope Chimchar evolves as time goes on. A problem with Ash's fire types is the writers don't want any of them to become as strong as Charizard.

That's the reason why Cyndaquil never evolved and Torkoal (who can't evolve), only had a few good wins. Hopefully though Chimchar has the backstory to give it a good reason to evolve and make it to its final form.

Hopefully Ash's team does evolve as much this season as it did in the previous one, that way they won't be forgotten about like Ash's Johto lineup was, which never reached the strength or popularity of Ash's Kanto or Hoenn teams. Its almost like they've become the black sheep of Ash's lineup.

Other than the fact that Ash's Johto team was overshadowed, thus preventing Cyndaquil from evolving and Torkoal not able to evolve at all, the writers not wanting any of Ash's other fire Pokemon to be as strong as Charizard does explain why none of them have evolved. It's still is disappointing that Cyndaquil didn't evolve at least into Quilava since it did the most battling between Ash's Johto starters.

In a sense, I would like to see Chimchar evolve but at the same time, I wouldn't mind too much if it did. Personally, it would be awesome for Ash to have another evolved fire type Pokemon and Chimchar's evolve forms can learn good fighting type moves. If Chimchar doesn't evolve, I would be kind of disappointed, but at least it seems really strong right now. Besides that, whether or not Chimchar does evolve, as long as it can beat the heck out of Paul in a match between him and Ash, then I'll be completely satisfied with the sense of poetic justice over an evolution or two.

[Lazerboy5000]

Yeah, I really hope Chimchar evolves as time goes on. A problem with Ash's fire types is the writers don't want any of them to become as strong as Charizard.

That's the reason why Cyndaquil never evolved and Torkoal (who can't evolve), only had a few good wins. Hopefully though Chimchar has the backstory to give it a good reason to evolve and make it to its final form.
Agreed. Charizard will always be Ash’s strongest fire type. But who knows, maybe Chimchar will at least evolve once.

Hopefully Ash's team does evolve as much this season as it did in the previous one, that way they won't be forgotten about like Ash's Johto lineup was, which never reached the strength or popularity of Ash's Kanto or Hoenn teams. Its almost like they've become the black sheep of Ash's lineup.
Well, Ash has always had a second stage flying type, and they got that out of the way right away by evolving Starly into Staravair early in the 10th season. But it seems that none of his other pokemon are even close to evolving. Chimchar and Turtwig and strong, but I can’t really see them evolving right now. Maybe Turtwig later down the road, but not now. And most of us know what’s going to happen to Aipom later this month.

[Lutochris]

I'm just much, much more familiar with the Japanese version than I am with the dub. When I'm not in the middle of doing an edit list for my website, words like "Cacnea" and "Dustox" don't make any sense to me.

Plus, it doesn't make sense for me to use English names when talking about the Japanese version of a Japanese show :P

I would've translated the names myself (especially since Lutochris asked nicely instead of the "use the effing English names you effing elitist snob!" I always get), but you guys beat me to it :sweat:

Well, we are talking about upcoming dub episodes though. While I can deduce most of the Japanese human names from context, when it comes to Japanese Pokemon names I'm totally lost.

Carnivine already IS the "grass Pokemon that bites or attacks James" this generation. Its just that he had it and Cacnea at the same time.

Victreebel ----> Cacnea ----> Carnivine.

Why would he get yet another grass Pokemon to attack him when that's what Carnivine is here for?

Whoops, totally forgot about Carnivine. I kind of doze off during most of Team Rocket's scenes.

[Rolling Cloud]

I remember seeing that scene and I'm pretty sure that wasn't blood. It looked more like the slash mark was glowing bright purple than blood to me.

Yeah...it's like those slash marks that Meowth would use on Jessie and James in the first couple of seasons. I guess it could be blood, but it wasn't flowing blood or anything.

I don’t think it was blood. It was more like a black mark that was caused just for an instant. But what really bothered me was that after Ash got hit by slash, his shirt wasn’t even torn up after the hit! LAME!!! But if his shirt got ruined, they he would have to call home to his mom and tell her to send a new one. :sweat:

Oh, I thought I saw some flying stuff coming from it but I guess I could've just been still half-asleep. :sweat:

"use the effing English names you effing elitist snob!" I always get), but you guys beat me to it :sweat:

People are mean.

=[

Whoops, totally forgot about Carnivine. I kind of doze off during most of Team Rocket's scenes.

Not gonna spoil anything, but you don't want to sleep through one of the upcoming scenes.

[Dogasu]

Well, we are talking about upcoming dub episodes though.

Eh...you may see them as "future dub episodes," but I see them as "Japanese episodes." Though I suppose both are correct.

[Lazerboy5000]

Whoops, totally forgot about Carnivine. I kind of doze off during most of Team Rocket's scenes.
Oh, I thought I saw some flying stuff coming from it but I guess I could've just been still half-asleep. :sweat:
Sometimes I just fast-forward through some of the Team Rocket scenes, because they get very repetitive.

[sdp]

Well I fell asleep after the first commercial break but as far as the theme song, I didn't like it. I've only heard it once so it might grow on me but yeah D/P theme was way better. And its the same one from the darkrai movie? thats lame are we going to get the song for the upcoming season? The only reason I enjoyed when they did that is it was cool to hear a different version of the theme song but if I don't recognize the song its kind of pointless...

[CyberCubed]

Today's episode was great. They kept the Jirachi Wishmaker music while James gave Cacnea to Gardenia.

Its almost hard to imagine that Cacnea was around for almost as long as Arbok/Weezing were. You don't tend to notice in the newer seasons, but Cacnea got almost 250 episodes on the main cast.

Pretty nice episode overall.

[yoshirider13]

Was that dub BGM during that last battle? It sounded like they just remixed a random dub battle bgm...

[zoombie]

I loved this episode, James is one of my favorites characters. After last season in which Jessie got the attention, it was time for James to get the spotlight.

The ending was really sad, you can tell James really loved Cacnea, he really loves his Pokemon, he is not that much different from Ash and company.

[StellaMagic]

Well pokemon have been there for James during the amount of pressure in his rich lifestyle. You can't blame him for loving pokemon. At least you got to see today's episode. I however overslept.:sad:

[bigddan11]

Since all we usually see if James getting beat up, we tend to fail at realizing how much his Poke'Mon love him. Cacnea got a spotlight worthy of him, his first real spotlight since he decided to join James and company. Ash and company are lucky though that they won't have to worry about his drain tackle being used against them. It was an episode worthy of 5/5. You shall be missed Cacnea.

I wonder where Mime Jr. was during that Team Rocket motto tough. I believe that's only the third or fourth time since he joined James that he hasn't been in the motto.

[Light Lucario]

This was a really good and sad episode at the same time. It was really nice to see James getting some well-deserved attention. He is my favorite Team Rocket member, even though Mewoth comes as a serious close second. It was really cool to see him in a tag battle with Gardenia. I thought that it was kind of funny how she paid so much attention on Cacnea during the battle that she in match made her Turtwig lose. That Drain Punch attack was pretty affective. Too bad that they still lost the match. I couldn't believe that those kids were blaming James for the lost, not to mentioning calling him an old man when he doesn't look that old at all. When she mentioned that she would like to take Cacnea on herself and raise it, I thought that she was just saying that so James would give it to her since Gardenia did practically drool all over it when James first showed up.

Anyway, it was also really cool to see James giving Cacnea special training. It was kind of like how Ash trained most of his Advance team when they were learning different attacks. While I understood that Dawn didn't want to help them with learning an attack that would be used against them, it is important to help people when they seem basically honest. In all things considered, I thought that Cacnea was doing fairly decent for the first day or so of practice. It isn't like it would master Drain Punch in one day. It took Pikachu like three or four episodes before it could fully use Iron Tail and it still has much more experience than Cacnea.

I think James was more concerned about Cacnea learning Drain Punch and becoming stronger than his own happiness with Cacnea. While it was really sweet of him, I thought that it would be possible for Cacnea to learn the move under his training. Sure, his timing was off, but that's not new for trainers when they're training their Pokemon. It really takes time for Pokemon and trainer to get the right timing, especially when the trainer in question hasn't done too much training like this before. Besides that, I thought that it would have been cool to see James train Cacnea for a few episodes to learn Drain Punch like Ash did with most of his Pokemon during AG. I was still impressed with Cacnea forcing itself to battle when it obviously had no strength left.

I so cried when James told Cacnea to go with Gardenia. You can really tell that he loved Cacnea. He definitely isn't much different from Ash and his friends in that regard. He does have a heart and he cares for all of his Pokemon dearly. You can also just tell how hard it was for James to make this decision and I cried even more when he had those flashbacks and ran off after he gave Cacnea to Gardenia. It was also really touching with the last scene of the episode that had James looking down at Cacnea, wishing it good luck. Man, I just lost it there.

Overall, a wonderful new episode. It was so touching. I think this is one of the few times were I've cried during two new Pokemon episodes. While I did love watching this episode, I hope that the one next week doesn't have as many sad and tearful moments.

[zoombie]

I wouldn't have minded if they mentioned the events of "The Electrike Company" episode in which James and Mewoth helped Ash and company in doing something, not to mention they sabotage Jessie devise in that episode, as one reason why Ash agreed to help him, because James helped them out before, they owe him one.

Not saying that should be the only reason Ash agrees to help him, no matter what he would still help them, but mention it would show a good code of honor. But if you go by that, than they also owe Mewoth a favor.

[D Dubbs]

Don't think I'll really miss Cacnea that much. I was never really fond of it, as it just seemed like the Victreebel replacement for the Hoenn era. However, I must admit I was pretty touched in that goodbye scene. The determination Cacnea had to keep on battling, the flashback to Cacnea's first appearance, and James running away. The music was very powerful, as well.

But man, I passionately dislike Gardenia's voice actor. She pretty much ruined every scene she spoke in.

[sdp]

i wonder if sevyper will leave as well. I fell asleep during the first commercial but woke up in time for the ending... From what I saw it was a fairly good episode.

Its almost hard to imagine that Cacnea was around for almost as long as Arbok/Weezing were. You don't tend to notice in the newer seasons, but Cacnea got almost 250 episodes on the main cast.



Funny, I would have never thought so. Its indeed hard to imagine stuff like how May also almost surpassed(or surpassed) misty. And other stuff like that as the show keeps going on. Its also odd how Wobbafett will be in more episodes than Arbok/Weezing(or has he already?).

[Jacob T. Paschal]

};2844363']i wonder if sevyper will leave as well. I fell asleep during the first commercial but woke up in time for the ending... From what I saw it was a fairly good episode.


Funny, I would have never thought so. Its indeed hard to imagine stuff like how May also almost surpassed(or surpassed) misty. And other stuff like that as the show keeps going on. Its also odd how Wobbafett will be in more episodes than Arbok/Weezing(or has he already?).

Surpassed Kasumi? She destroyed Kasumi.

[D Dubbs]

Misty was a main cast member much longer than May was (193 episodes compared to Misty's 276 episodes).

And yes, Wobuffet has been Team Rocket's "oldest" Pokémon ever since Battle Frontier.

[CyberCubed]

Misty was actually only in the show one more season than May was. Misty had 5 seasons in the show and May got 4 seasons. Hence why Misty was also in 5 movies and May was in 4 movies.

The only reason she got one more year on the show is because Johto dragged on with its endless fillers. The problem is Misty barely does anything in most of those Johto episodes, so even though she's there for a whole extra year its not like the writers really do anything with her.

You can honestly chop off about 70 Johto episodes and you wouldn't even miss anything remotely important. That saga had the most amount of insane filler to sit through than any other region.

[Light Lucario]

Surpassed Kasumi? She destroyed Kasumi.

I agree. While I don't dislike Misty, May proved to have a much better and more active role in the main cast than Misty ever did, even during the first season. Before the end of Advance Challenge, I had already like May over Misty. I also found her first team of Pokemon to be much stronger than Misty's team by the time of her first Grand Festival.

[Freedom Fighter]

New Pokémon again! PUSA really keeps rolling these episodes out.

Season 11 Theme, "We Will Be Heroes" - Not bad. An improvement from the S10 theme, about even with S9/Battle Frontier one. Still, though, good-sounding/memorable OPs the one thing PUSA is still worse at than 4Kids. The English credits of Japanese crew members was a surprise, though.

"Tears for Fears!" (4 out of 5) - Sweet episode, seeing Chimchar getting a complete 180-degree change in routine now that he's part of Ash's crew rather than thought of 'lowest common denominator thing' by Paul. It's also a great chance to revisit Chimchar's fear of Zangoose AND the inherent species rivalry between Zangoose and Seviper. This was a much needed 'closure' episode after the three-part tag tournament mini-arc... Chimchar's in good hands.

"Once There Were Greenfields" (3.5 out of 5) - "She's never met a grass-type she didn't fall in love with!" While we see Gardenia again and this is Cacnea's swan song, I got irked by this episode somewhat. While it's great that Gardenia sees the potential in Cacnea that's being untapped by James being a poor trainer (sorry Jimmy... it's the truth, even if they show you a lot of affection), the way this episode comes across (and this may be partially 'thanks' to whomever voiced Gardenia), it's like she's insinuating that because she's a gym leader and James is an average trainer at best, that automatically makes her qualified to have his Cacnea.

Okay, so maybe she's right, but Gardenia feels so standoff-ish. Yes, her realizing Cacnea's potential gets James to do some hard work (for once) and try to be a better trainer for Cacnea. And as she watches some of the training, only to see James realize he's not good enough to bring out the best in Cacnea, her being there immediately makes the decision for James painfully easy.

I think the only thing that doesn't make me get into a full-blown rage at Gardenia is the fact that she gracefully accepts Cacnea instead of going into her typical 'OMG, grass Pokémon are 10000000x better than any other type' love-fest.

James isn't a good trainer, yet always cares for his Pokémon - even if they are more likely to show it than he is. Cacnea would be a much better all-around Pokémon under Gardenia's guidance. But Gardenia's seemingly holier-than-thou self was really a turn-off for this episode.

Meh...

To end on a more upbeat note... I kinda snickered on how Dawn twice would say they would regret helping Cacnea learn Drain Punch. And then it, in non-typical TR fashion, didn't happen.

[Lazerboy5000]

Well, this episode definitely started out on a good note, the cold opening wasn’t a spoiler cold opening. And Team Rocket actually playing an important role, that would probably be worthy of a 5/5 and day.

Now, I noticed that James is by far the least evil member of Team Rocket. He cares for his Pokemon just as much as everyone else. Seriously, I think that if he left Team Rocket to go off and train by himself, he could become quite strong. He needs to training time anyways. When was to last time you actually saw Team Rocket training instead of trying to catch Pikachu?

But when Ash was helping James train, James seemed to kick it up a notch. Usually one hit by Pikachu is enough to beat any Team Rocket pokemon, but Cacnea and James were hanging tough. But Patachrisu beating Turtwig. :eek: LOL, I wasn’t expecting that to happen.

It’s interesting to see how Gardenia will train Cacnea. Maybe Cacnea will become one of her strongest pokemon in the future.

[Lutochris]

You can honestly chop off about 70 Johto episodes and you wouldn't even miss anything remotely important. That saga had the most amount of insane filler to sit through than any other region.

There's only slightly less filler in Hoenn (because of the 4 contests and Grand Festival), and I could be wrong, but it seems like DP is going at a slower pace than both Johto and Hoenn. We're 54 episodes in and Ash has how many badges?

[D Dubbs]

There's only slightly less filler in Hoenn (because of the 4 contests and Grand Festival), and I could be wrong, but it seems like DP is going at a slower pace than both Johto and Hoenn. We're 54 episodes in and Ash has how many badges?

Two. And yes, Diamond & Pearl will most likely be the longest saga yet.

[ChibiGoku]

Diamond and Pearl will probably also have the longest lasting opening, as well. It might actually beat out the first japanese opening in length...

[CyberCubed]

This is Ash's second trade he made in the series, besides that brief Butterfree/Raticate one he made back on the St. Anne in Season 1.

Its a bit disappointing Aipom's crush on Ash isn't as strong. Back in late Battle Frontier and early D/P Aipom loved Ash and wanted to be around him all the time, but this episode barely showed any of that.

So Ash has his regional water type again now, and Ash now has his standard team of grass/fire/water/flying which he has every generation.

Ash's Squirtle is still my favorite of his water types, but I think I like Buizel more than Corphish, even though Corphish was rather comedic and actually funny. Totodile is dead last, I put Kingler ahead of it too.

[Lightning Tiger]

i thought Laprass also counted as a wate type, which id put in second after squirtle.

[StellaMagic]

So what did Jesse and Meowth say to james when he showed up?

[sdp]

Well yes only caught the first 5 minutes and fell asleep again....anyone know when Battle Dimension re-runs start?

And what an awful name, this isn't YuGiOh, only way the name would make sense is if Palkia/Dialga show up this season which I doubt will happen.

Ash's Squirtle is still my favorite of his water types, but I think I like Buizel more than Corphish, even though Corphish was rather comedic and actually funny. Totodile is dead last, I put Kingler ahead of it too.
Really? I haven't seen most of Johto but I really liked Totodile and is probably my favorite. Squirtle got boring for me fast for some reason. I liked Corphish somewhat but he wasn't that great to be a favorite either same with Buizel so I actually think I would choose Squirtle as my least likeable. I'm sure most will disagree with me.

[CyberCubed]

Eh, its probably due to the nostalgia but Ash's Squirtle had a great backstory, a number of funny episodes, and a good number of well done battles. The Squirtle Squad sunglasses were awesome and it has great chemistry with Bulbasaur. I always love it when Squirtle returns with Bulbasaur and Charizard, its always a treat to see them reunited every 100 or so episodes.

Totodile was fine with its dancing at first but it essentially got old quick. The fact that it wasn't used in any of the Johto Gyms aside from one which it lost in didn't help matters. Compared to the others, Totodile was also in the least amount of battles overall. Its only memorable wins were in the Whirl Cup and aside from that I can't think of much else besides taking out Harrison's Sneasel in the league.

Corphish was a better attempt at being a "funny" water Pokemon, it used to get jealous over Treecko and it would use its pincers to hit everyone in the back. It was also a great battler, if you watch any of the Gyms, Hoenn league or Frontier Brain battles it was in it essentially did great and has a number of good KO's.

I like Buizel's attitude so even though we haven't seen it do that much yet I'm hoping for good stuff in the future.

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this was a pretty good episode too. I felt bad for James when he still looked so depressed about losing Cacnea. He didn't even get this sad for Victrebell. It was nice to know that Kenny had his second contest ribbon from that broadcast. I actually forgot about him for awhile. I'm sure that looking at her only ribbon made Dawn feel a bit down there. And then enters Zoey, who still doesn't interest me so much as a rival. In fact, none of Dawn's rivals do. Oh well. At least we know that Dawn is going for another contest, which is oddly close to Veilstone City.

Anyway, it was cool to see Ash and Dawn training in their different ways. I also loved seeing Aipom and Chimchar coming out to battle like that. Dawn really struggled with making Buizel look more graceful when performing attacks. Ash could always make Apiom do well in battling, except when it was doing more of an appeal move. Zoey was able to at least make a good observation of how Apiom loved to perform and Buizel was being forced into doing more appeal battling. I felt sad for Ash when he took Aipom off his head, which still looked cute, and held it after she suggested trading their Pokemon.

I could understand this decision being more hard on Ash than it was for Dawn. Ash has had Aipom since somewhere around Battle Frontier and it obviously wanted to be with Ash. They've spent a lot of time training and battling together too, or at least more than Dawn and Buizel. We've barely seen Dawn do any training with Buizel and I think most of it was off-screen. I know that she cared about it, but I just didn't feel the same connection between her and Buizel like that of Ash and Aipom. I'm glad that Ash did suggest testing out there skills with Buizel and Aipom in order to make sure that they were happier or not.

I have to say that it was really nice of Jesse and Mewoth to steal those Pokemon to make James happier, or at least that part of it was. I know that they were still stealing, but it was to see them care about each others' happiness like that. Too bad that it messed up and they ended up blasting off again with Buizel and Apiom's moves. They did look like they were more comfortable with their new trainers. Even though Ash does love Aipom, I think that he was more focused on Aipom's happiness with finally doing more contest battles than his own happiness.

At least Buizel is finally in the hands of a more experienced trainer. I don't think that Dawn ever won a battle with Buizel. I honestly think that it was too strong for a still rookie trainer, not to mention that its battling completely clashed with her style. Still, it would have been nice to see Buizel perform in a contest just to see how it would work out. Unlike Ash's brief previous trade, he does know the trainer who he's training with and it isn't like he can't see Aipom again. I do miss how Aipom has pretty much lost its crush on Ash since that was kind of cute. It seems that it was more focused on getting into contest battling more than Ash.

I also think that Ash should have gotten Buizel in the first place. I still remember the episode where they're trying to catch Buizel and Pikachu is in the water with Buizel and they're saying how Pikachu is at a disadvantage there. Please, just one Thunder attack and Ash would have caught Buizel. Of course, that would have changed a lot of things here, but it still would have probably worked out.

Overall, it was a pretty good episode. It was surprising how something Zoey suggested way back in the early episodes of Diamond and Pearl finally came true. Hopefully, this trade will lead into Dawn doing better in her contests and Ash winning more battles to enter the Sinnoh League.

[Rolling Cloud]

I'm kinda ticked that this trade happened, only because of a certain future event in which *covers mouth* >_>

Anyways, this episode was pretty fun. Not much else to say.

[D Dubbs]

Ash: "Thanks, Brock-o!"

Sometimes I want to punch PUSA's writers in the face. :shrug:

Oh, and Totodile > Corphish > Squirtle > Buizel.

Totodile was cute, playful, and innocent - though also ignorant - and was good for a chuckle any day. Plus, his dub voice was hilariously fitting of his personality.

[bigddan11]

I actually thought Buziel would have been caught by Ash, so having them swap Poke'Mon made since to me. It was hilarious seeing James foil Team Rocket's plans, but at least Jesse and Meowth showed they truly care for their teammate.

I'm surprised no one mentioned it, but Cacneia was replaced by Carnavine on the opening song, so it looks like they will make the needed swaps when various Poke'Mon leave this season.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

If you cannot type the 'é' hold down ALT and press 130 on your key pad to the right, Dan!

So let's see, Japan is about twenty-four episodes ahead of us, right?

[CyberCubed]

Ash: "Thanks, Brock-o!"

Sometimes I want to punch PUSA's writers in the face. :shrug:

Ash called him "Brock-o" in the 4kids dub too at points, the most notable being in the original Cerulean Gym episode (episode 7 of the series), after Ash wins the Cascade Badge he calls him "Brock-o."

I don't think its fair to blame PUSA for things that were used when 4kids dubbed the show too. If anything, 4kids took more liberties with the cast, remember how they tried to play up James as gay for the longest time? That kind of stopped once Harley entered the picture, but 4kids always added those things that were never in the Japanese version.

[Lightning Tiger]

I don't think its fair to blame PUSA for things that were used when 4kids dubbed the show too. If anything, 4kids took more liberties with the cast, remember how they tried to play up James as gay for the longest time? That kind of stopped once Harley entered the picture, but 4kids always added those things that were never in the Japanese version.

wow, let me go on the record and say that i thought James was gay for the longest time. It was the only way i could explain why he refused to marry his fine ass fiance besides the fact that Jessei is hotter (biger boobs too), eventualy i realized Jemes and Jessei had no chemistry. He always acted so effeminite, and the way he talked...... is realy gay.

[Light Lucario]

Ash called him "Brock-o" in the 4kids dub too at points, the most notable being in the original Cerulean Gym episode (episode 7 of the series), after Ash wins the Cascade Badge he calls him "Brock-o."

I don't think its fair to blame PUSA for things that were used when 4kids dubbed the show too. If anything, 4kids took more liberties with the cast, remember how they tried to play up James as gay for the longest time? That kind of stopped once Harley entered the picture, but 4kids always added those things that were never in the Japanese version.

I'm confused on something here. How did 4Kids tried to play James as being gay? Aside from some of his lines and that almost British like accent he has, at least it sounds like that to me, he doesn't appear that much different from how he was in the 4Kids dub. And how can someone sound gay in the first place, let alone how their voice indicates their sexual idenity? Unless that all refers to the stereotypes of homosexuals within our society that I personally dislike. Sorry if that sounded harsh, but I always get angry when people label something as gay when they're perhaps not referring to the sexuality idenification.

[Yash]

I think he means they were playing up the homosexual stereotype. His 4Kids voice reminds me vaguely of Snagglepuss, now that I think about it.

In any case, there's canon evidence in Hosou that James is hetero/bisexual, and nothing really suggesting that he's gay, except for his and Jessie's cross-dressing routines, which have been used since Looney Tunes.

[Tash]

I'm confused on something here. How did 4Kids tried to play James as being gay? Aside from some of his lines and that almost British like accent he has, at least it sounds like that to me, he doesn't appear that much different from how he was in the 4Kids dub. And how can someone sound gay in the first place, let alone how their voice indicates their sexual idenity? Unless that all refers to the stereotypes of homosexuals within our society that I personally dislike. Sorry if that sounded harsh, but I always get angry when people label something as gay when they're perhaps not referring to the sexuality idenification.
It's more that the writers like to see how much innuendo they can get away with, and most of it's at James' expense due to his crossdressing habit. (this has carried over to the PUSA dub, along with 4kids' immature habit of making all of the characters constantly emphasis the word "fruit" whenever it's in the script >_>)

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Ever since Zoppi took over he's made Kojirô more snobbish/rich-sounding, which works considering where he comes from.

You know what, he and Musashi need more romance, that'd spice up the show!!!

[Lazerboy5000]

Not a bad episode… until Team Rocket showed up. I really just wanted to see Ash vs. Brock and Dawn vs. Zoey. But you could easily see that Buizel is a pure fighter and Aipom just likes showing off. Despite all the spoilers over the past few months, I could see this coming a mile away. Plus, with Dawn having two water types, that may have also contributed to the possible trade between the two.

I have to give this month a 5/5. The last three episodes have giving the 11 season of pokemon a great start.


So we were talking about Water types (Ash’s water types to be specific). I like Buizel. I think Buizel may be one of the more… ummm… hardcore water types Ash has had. I also think Squritle is one of Ash’s strongest. Squritle was tough. Totodile was fun. Lapras was young (sorry about the rhyme). And I don’t remember too much about Corphish.

[MasterofRoku]

It's more that the writers like to see how much innuendo they can get away with, and most of it's at James' expense due to his crossdressing habit. (this has carried over to the PUSA dub, along with 4kids' immature habit of making all of the characters constantly emphasis the word "fruit" whenever it's in the script >_>)


Actually the reasons why people think James is Gay is because his voice in the 4kids episodes was overly-flamboyant.

[Lazerboy5000]

The next new episode will be titled “The Keystone Pops!”

Edit: 5/10 - "Bibarel Gnaws Best!"


Edit Note: I will make my best effort to try to get the May Talkback up at midnight tonight… but seeing as that my computer privileges at home are limited, I might have to put the Talkback up a pinch early. But it will be no earlier than 10pm tonight, that’s a promise.

[Freedom Fighter]

"Never a dull moment, as usual..."

Ah, so here's the infamous Aipom-Buizel trade episode...

This episode actually does a good job of making it obvious that Ash and Dawn should trade Pokémon, for all their benefit. The writing was on the wall... I was just surprised the writers actually decided to do it.

I liked the continuity at the beginning, too, having James still sorrowful through the first half plus about having given Cacnea away.

"Throwing the Track Switch": 3.5/5.

[PC!]

And they're going back to reruns for one week why, exactly?

[Lazerboy5000]

And they're going back to reruns for one week why, exactly?
Reruns for a week? I wasn't aware of this. TVGuide.com is ovbiously wrong, and serebii.net says that there will be a new episode tomorrow morning.

[D Dubbs]

A promo airing on Cartoon Network this week said it would be a Diamond & Pearl rerun tomorrow.

[PC!]

Yes, my guide says they're airing "Following A Maiden's Voyage" in the morning.

[bigddan11]

Yes, my guide says they're airing "Following A Maiden's Voyage" in the morning.
If you checked CN's schedule or the schedule list here, you would realize that they changed the schedule Wednesday and a new episode will air Saturday morning.

[D Dubbs]

If you checked CN's schedule or the schedule list here, you would realize that they changed the schedule Wednesday and a new episode will air Saturday morning.

Actually...CN's online schedule has been outdated for two weeks now, and I didn't change the schedule here, simply because I'm lazy. :sweat:

I guess we'll find out soon enough, though.