PokeRecap – Pokemon Emergency!

To celebrate the Pokemon anime’s 20th anniversary, we’re recapping an episode of the series every Saturday!

Episode Title: Pokemon Emergency!

Original Air Date: April 8, 1997 (Japan); September 9, 1998 (US)

Episode Synopsis: Ash rushes to Viridian City to find treatment for his Pikachu, which was gravely injured the previous episode by a flock of Spearow. He’s stopped by Officer Jenny, who briefly mistakes him for a Pokemon thief plaguing the city before Ash’s PokeDex confirms his identity. Jenny escorts Ash and Pikachu to the city’s Pokemon Center, where Pikachu is rushed into a critical care center by Nurse Joy. After Ash gets a brief pep talk from his mother and Professor Oak, Misty finds Ash and confronts him about her destroyed bike. Before Ash can “make things right”, he’s interrupted by Nurse Joy announcing that Pikachu has stabilized. Team Rocket suddenly attacks the Pokemon Center in an attempt to steal the injured Pokemon in their care, but Ash, Misty, and Pikachu fight them off with the help of a pack of Pikachu that served as the center’s backup generator. The following morning, Ash and Misty (who is tagging along with Ash until he repays her for her damaged bike) head off towards Pewter City and encounter a Caterpie within the Viridian Forest. Ash announces his intention to capture the Caterpie and prepares to throw a PokeBall.

Characters Introduced: Team Rocket, Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, Caterpie, Misty’s Goldeen

Locations: Viridian City, Viridian Forest

Pokemon Emergency acts as an introduction to both the show’s primary villains and the important support system that exists to help trainers. We meet Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy for the first time, who act as a recurring source for emergency medical care and (mostly toothless) law enforcement.

More importantly, Team Rocket makes their first appearance, callously attacking Viridian’s Pokemon Center using their Ekans and Koffing. Team Rocket is presented as a legitimate threat in this episode, although this is quickly corrected in later episodes. I thought it was interesting that the show didn’t address why Meowth could talk to humans, but I suppose they wanted to give Team Rocket an air of mystery during their first appearance.

Ash doesn’t do a whole lot this episode, outside of stupidly trying to save the Pokemon in Nurse Joy’s care from Team Rocket by….ordering them to fight Team Rocket. He also assists Pikachu by charging the lamp on Misty’s bicycle, giving Pikachu the extra juice he needs to blast Team Rocket away with a supercharged Thundershock. Mind you, Team Rocket only became interested in Pikachu after he zapped them with that Thundershock, so maybe that was a mistake on Ash’s part too.

Misty formally joins Ash on his journey in Pokemon Emergency, although she only does so to ensure that Ash pays her back for destroying her bike (twice). We should also point out that Misty leaves her bike at the Viridian City Pokemon Center, a plot point that becomes relevant a few hundred episodes later. We also get a glimpse of one of Misty’s Pokemon – a Goldeen she brings out to slow down Team Rocket. Goldeen doesn’t do much (it never does) and it hints that Misty’s not as knowledgeable about Pokemon battling as she lets on.

One of the things that everyone takes away from this episode is that the city’s Pokemon Center has over a dozen Pikachu to use as an emergency generator. The Pikachu doing the conga line on the generator is an enduring gif, but it also shows how Pikachu tend to travel in packs. Perhaps that’s why Pikachu was so upset with getting left behind?

On a side note, I’m a bit surprised that Ash was even able to leave Viridian City, as he and Pikachu absolutely destroyed the Pokemon Center during their confrontation with Team Rocket. The Pokemon world seems to be one with very loose laws when it comes to property damage.

The episode ends with Ash stumbling across a Caterpie and preparing to catch it. Ash failed to catch several Pokemon in the first episode, so I’m a bit surprised that he decided to do the whole “immediately throw a PokeBall” strategy again. We’ll have to wait until next week to see if it works!

Random Trivia: This is the only episode where Ash’s father is mentioned. Ash’s mother tells Ash that he made it to Viridian City several days quicker than his father did on his Pokemon journey. Presumably, Ash’s father is still on a Pokemon journey, which is why we never see or hear about him ever again.

Ash tells Professor Oak about his encounter with Ho-Oh, although he mistakes the Legendary Bird with a carving of an Articuno hanging in the Pokemon Center. Oak doesn’t mention Ho-Oh (or Articuno) by name, but he mentions that the Pokemon is extremely rare.