It may be hard to believe, but 2023 will mark 25 years since the Pokemon anime first premiered in the west. That’s a quarter century of battles, exploration, and boneheaded decisions by Ash Ketchum.
To commemorate this momentous landmark, we’re taking a look back by rewatching the earliest days of Pallet Town and beyond. Join us on this most marvellous trip down memory lane, and remember to stock up on Super Potions for the journey ahead!
PREVIOUS EPISODE: Episode 4: Challenge of the Samurai
Pokemon Episode 5: Showdown in Pewter City
First Aired: April 29, 1997 (Japan), September 14, 1998 (US)
Hello, friends! Did you catch that hot, hot Pokemon Worlds action over the weekend? News-writing Tony was very diplomatic in his observations on the prevalance of Amoonguss Spore spamming, but feature-writing Tony is here to tell you that it is a trash tactic and Game Freak should have axed the technique during Dexit.
In any event, now that we have witnessed the finest trainers the world has to offer, we must return to Ash goddamn Ketchum and his goddamn team of goddamn losers. Goddamn.
So episode 5 opens with the nefarious Team Rocket digging a hole. This is clearly of utmost importance, as it is literally the only thing Netflix talks about in its episode description.
“Jessie, James and Meowth dig a trap for our heroes,” it reads. “But they end up falling into it themselves.”
Forgive the tangent, but whoever’s job it was to summarize the episode where Ash arrives in Pewter City and battles his first Gym Leader really mailed it in that day. It’s like they watched each episode for five seconds and decided that whatever was immediately happening was going to be the basis of the entire plot.
Anyway, in Episode 5: Team Rocket Dug a Hole, the ne’er-do-wells are setting a cunning pitfall for their oncoming targets. Apparently, they are artisan craftsmen, as they disguise their trap so well they are unable to discern where it actually is and unintentionally tumble in. Ugh, I hate it when Netflix spoils the surprise ending.
Unimpeded, Ash and Misty reach a clearing where Pewter City lies in sight. This blue-collar burgh is famously gray and drab — think Detroit with less crime — but they kinda like it that way. A nearby stoner who calls himself Flint offers to sell some of Pewter’s famous rocks for a low, low price. In 1998, this sounded like a stupid idea. In 2023, people pay millions of dollars for imaginary drawings of hideous monkeys, so I guess our standards shifted at some point?
Flint directs the team toward the Pokemon Center, where Ash meets Nurse Joy. Not the same Joy from Viridian City, mind you, but her older sister, who is also named Joy. By my estimate, this indicates that there are approximately twelve sisters spread across Kanto with the same name and same appearance. They’re either clones or duodecaplets, so take your pick.
A nearby poster riles Ash up to amass all of the Gym Badges to compete in the regional Pokemon League Championships; a ludicrous notion that makes Flint scoff in amusement. Misty offers to help Ash challenge Brock, but he brushes her off, reasoning that his Electric mouse and myriad of Flying-Types surely stand a better chance against the Rock/Ground-Types than her Water Pokemon.
Once his Pokemon are fully healed, he heads for the Gym on his own, where Brock is waiting for him in the dark. Totally normal thing to do. After talking a bit of smack, he lays down the rules of this Gym Battle: 2v2, no items, Fox only, Final Destination.
Through a snap of the fingers, he assembles the arena floor — keeping in line with the central theme, it is covered in rocks. A tactical advantage to befriend his sentient rocks, perhaps.
Ash starts things off with Pikachu, and in response, Brock summons the garish stone snake, Onix. There’s a sizable disparity in weight class here, with Pikachu at a disadvantage of over 270 feet in height and about 450 pounds. It goes without saying, it’s not a good look for our protagonist.
“Pikaaaaa,” Pikachu gasps in horror. A rough translation might be, “lol oh shit gg” because it unsuccessfully attempts to tag out after just one glance at its opponent. Onix coils around its prey, crushing it with more force than an average millennial’s midlife crisis, and shrugs off its electric attack without so much as a static shock.
Ash desperately tries to recall Pikachu to the Poke Ball, but is unable to counteract the horror that is gen 1 Bind. As such, he is forced to throw in the towel, losing the match in spectacular fashion. In-game, this would be an opportunity to return to Route 2, snag a Nidoran and train it to level 12 to learn Double Kick. Or perhaps recall that his Butterfree has Confusion, which would make short work of Brock’s specially frail Pokemon. Just lots of ideas that are better than using Thunder Shock on a Ground-Type.
In front of the Gym, Ash is met by Flint, who takes him back to his place for some much-needed TLC. Ash muses that, with Brock’s considerable talent, it seems odd that he has never competed in a Regional Championship himself. Instead of explaining the reason why, Flint elects to escort Ash to the bushes outside of Brock’s house to spy on a teenage boy and his younger siblings.
There, we discover that Brock is the eldest of eleven, and his dutiful care prevents him from ever venturing out into the great big world. His deadbeat dad took off years ago with dreams of becoming a renowned Pokemon Trainer, breaking his mother’s heart to the point where she passed away.
Ash has no time for sads though, as he has a rematch to consider. Maybe he can exploit this information for his own benefit? Give me a Badge or the kid gets it, Brock.
Flint leads Ash to the hydroelectric plant where he claims Pikachu can get supercharged. The river is presently dried up because, you know, global warming and all, but if they can get the water wheel up to a good enough speed on-foot, it might just do the trick.
With all the elegance of a large hamster, Ash begins to turn the water wheel and the electricity flows directly into Pikachu’s face. It looks about as agonizing as it sounds, and if Officer Jenny caught wind of this, Ash would be behind bars in six seconds flat.
“If I can take this, you can take it, Pikachu,” Ash snarls, suggesting that walking with some effort is nearly as gruelling as literal electrocution. The reckless act appears to do significant structural damage to the plant and its equipment, no doubt jeopardizing the city’s power grid, but hurrah! The night of torture has made Pikachu’s electric attacks stronger than ever.
A quick reminder that the damage of Electric attacks on Ground-Type Pokemon is 0. But dang man, now we’re going to get up to twenty times as powerful a 0!
Ash returns to Brock’s Gym the very next morning for round 2, pitting his Pidgeotto against Geodude. He tries a Gust attack, but once again, his feeble understanding of type matchups proves the bane of his existence.
It could just be me, but watching Geodude try to clobber Pidgeotto like a drunken bear swatting at bees is probably my favorite part of this whole episode.
With Pidgeotto turning out to be a bust, Pikachu is next on the scene. With a single bolt of electricity, Geodude is fried and any semblance of realism is completely shot to high hell. Yes, I am complaining about accuracy in this anime where a yellow mouse has just electrocuted an angry, floating rock. It’s an immune Ground-Type, I do not care how much Ash walked on a big wheel to make Pikachu stronger — my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.
While Brock’s siblings gather to witness the slaughter, Brock returns to the tried-and-true method of Onix smushing rodents. The electricity boost seems to have had an effect at least, but ultimately Pikachu can’t control its wild jolts, and after a squash match Brock releases it from his grasp out of sheer pity.
But what’s this? Ash is not just a shitty trainer but a shitty houseguest as well, because the errant sparks have set the ceiling ablaze. The water sprinklers are triggered, weakening Onix enough for Pikachu’s thunder strikes to bring it crashing to the ground. Our hero has almost won, through a combination of his opponent’s mercy and outside interference. Absolutely inspiring.
Brock’s brothers and sisters pounce on Ash in an attempt to cease this cruelty, and his conscience finally kicks in, abandoning the match and walking away with his head held high. Brock’s nine siblings watch on as the bully departs the Gym… Hang on, nine siblings? What happened to the tenth one? Did Ash take one of them out prior to leaving?!
As it turns out, this must have been a translation error, as a cursory fact check confirms that Brock was only ever supposed to have been the oldest of ten. I’d like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to the lost Brock family member. I have named her, umm, Pepper. She so enjoyed calligraphy and pantomime. Her dream was to someday become a pharmacist, and they murdered her before my very eyes. I am really quite upset.
Before Ash gets too far, Brock flags him down and offers him a Gym Badge for his ill-gotten victory. He reveals that he’s not really that fond of battling Pokemon, and his true ambition lies in becoming the world’s best breeder (as we would later learn, he means that in more ways than one).
In a shock less effective than the one Pikachu gave Onix in their first fight, Flint arrives to reveal that he is in fact Brock’s deadbeat dad. Brock is a little annoyed to see him, though considering he hasn’t heard from him in years and his departure caused his mother to die, he’s perhaps underplaying his reaction just a smidgen.
Flint says that he’ll look after the young’uns, and Brock is all too happy to bail out. I guess he really took after his father after all.
With a badge in hand and a new friend in tow, Ash treks on toward his next destination. To close out the proceedings, the fifth and final verse of the Poke Rap is revealed, and at long last, you can successfully name all 150 Pokemon to impress your friends and relatives.
Go ahead, pull it out at the next talent contest. I’m sure everyone will think it’s super cool!
There you have it! In just five episodes, Ash has successfully obtained his first badge and increased his troupe to three. I guess this means we’re on track for a tidy 40 episode package where he gets all eight badges without issue?
…Think again. Not only is that untrue, but he doesn’t keep up his pace at friend finding, either. It would have been pretty amusing if he ended up travelling with 24 people like your standard K-Pop group.
If you want to know more, please leave a comment below! Otherwise I’ll probably get bored and start talking about my favorite Nickelodeon cartoon instead. It’s either Rocko’s Modern Life or Doug, and I can’t bear to choose. Smell ya later!
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