Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode 114:  "Marumine's Big Blast!?"
American Episode 309:  "The Underground Round-Up"
Pokémon Dare Da?  Biriridama (Japanese), Kingler (English)
Dr. Ookido's Pokémon Course:  Zenigame
Japanese Air Date:  September 23rd, 1999
American Air Date:  September 30th, 2000
Important Characters:  Django (Poncho)
Important Places:  Dekopon Island (Hamlin Island)

Satoshi and his friends have gone to Dekopon Island to board a ferry that’ll take them back to the Kanto Region When they arrive at the city on the small islet that houses the port, however, they find it to be completely deserted! Our heroes soon learn that the city’s recently experienced a sudden increase in its Marumine population, causing an extremely volatile environment that put the townspeople at risk. The city has therefore called in a Digda Trainer named Django to come to town and get rid of the explosive Pokémon for them. Django’s plan is to use his Pokémon to dig a series of tunnels leading from the evacuated city over to an open field on Dekopon Island, but as he’s making his preparations the city decides it’d be faster to just go ahead and hire the Rocket trio to do the job instead. The trio’s plan to wear the Pokémon out by forcing them to explode is decidedly much less humane than what Django’s doing and so Satoshi and his friends step in to stop them. Django ends up defeating the Rocket-Dan when his Dugtrio causes the ground under their giant robot to cave in, destroying their mecha in the process. He then gets back to work guiding the Marumine from the city back to Dekopon Island, finally ridding the town of its explosive problem. Now that everyone’s able to return to the city Satoshi and his friends hop aboard the ferry back to the Kanto Region.

---

Thoughts
Legendary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has said that one of the secrets to designing really good movie monsters is to make sure you remember to work on not only the monster itself, but also the environment in which it lives. "An important distinction is tonal" he once Tweeted. "The monster design must be of a piece with all other elements of the picture - both visual and aural. Imagine designing a fish and not providing it w(ith) a proper acquarium (sic). Such is the delicate task of designing a monster and its environment." Now I don't know if the people in charge of designing the (pocket) monsters for the Red & Green video games had a similar design philosophy back in the early days, but looking at the stars of this episode -- Biriridama and Marumine -- I'm guessing they probably didn't.

When it comes down to it, I simply cannot imagine the Marumine in this episode existing out in the wild. The one Pokémon Bestiary entry that would have been available at the time mentions how easy it is to set off, but it isn't until Generation Three -- over half a decade later -- that a detail about it devouring electricity near power plants was added to its lore. But that's really about it.! The TV show really didn't have much to go off on when it comes to this particular Pokémon species, and so when it came to creating an episode centered around it the writers opted to go with an overpopulation story that could have honestly been done with just about any other Pokémon species. It's...fine, I guess. I mean, the episode does raise questions about how these Pokémon actually mate with one another (do they just sort of roll on top of each other...?), and I do wish the show had given the Marumine did more than just sit there and explode, but I guess there really is only so much you can do with anthropomorphic balls like like Biriridama and Marumine.

Something I do really enjoy about this episode -- and this series as a whole, really -- is how eager it is to throw away the episode-to-episode continuity as long as doing so helps them tell the story they actually want to tell. The Rocket trio was just arrested at the end of last week's episode, tied up and (presumably) carted off to the slammer, and yet this week they've not only managed to escape police custody, they've also found a way to get themselves hired for a major extermination job, and then given what appears to be a fairly generous stipend to boot! How did any of that happen? We simply do not know. If this was a show that took itself too seriously (or, Best Wishes!) we'd have probably gotten an episode of the trio breaking out of jail, and then one of them tricking city officials into giving them such a lucrative contract, and then one of them ordering the parts for the mecha, and then one of them actually building the mecha, and then one of them leaving for Dekopon Island. But since the show doesn't care about any of that, and since it still has a sense of joy and whimsy about it, it just goes "to hell with it, the Rocket trio works for the city now." And I kind of love it for that.

The English dub of this episode has a whopping nineteen shots with digital paint in them, more than every other episode of the season so far. And at this point these edits have just got to be 4Kids meeting some kind of yearly quota, right? Like, 4Kids Productions doesn't want the show's budget slashed for next year, so they have to make sure to spend X amount of money on Season Three, regardless of whether or not what they're spending it on makes any sense, to prevent that from happening. That's the only explanation that makes any sense at this point, right? Whatever the reason, this episode here is also a nice reminder of why I do these Episode Comparisons in the first place because I have literally not seen anywhere else on the Internet talk about any of the Paint Edits in this episode. I looked, and it seems like Dogasu's Backpack might be the first...?  It kind of makes me wonder what other changes there are in the show that just haven't been uncovered yet!

Dialogue Edit
As usual, the narrator gets things started:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ナレーション　「ラプラスに別れを告げデコポン島にたどり着いたサトシたち。出 島からマサラタウンの近くの港に定期船が出ていることを聞いた」	Narrator:  "Now that they've bid farewell to Laplace, Satoshi and his friends have made it Dekopon Island. There, they hear about a ferry that leaves from the islet connected to the island that'll take them to a port near Masara Town."	Narrator:  "After saying good-bye to Lapras, our heroes arrive at Hamlin Island. As luck would have it, just across the bridge there's a ferry line that runs to Ash's hometown of Pallet."

This is actually really close, but the ferry is going to a port near Masara Town (so I dunno, Kuchiba City?), not directly to Masara Town the way the dub tells us it does.

Ash talks about his mom's cooking:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「さあ マサラタウンに帰れるぞ。久しぶりにママの手料理が食べられるなあ」	Satoshi:  "Now we can go back to Masara Town. It's been way too long since I've had any of my mom's home cooking."	Ash:  "I don't know about you guys but I can't wait to get back for one of my mom's special deep dish chili dog and pizza potpies."
ピカチュウ　「ピカチュウ」	Pikachu:  "Pikachu."	Pikachu:  "Pikachu."

The food substitution dialogue edit is, of course, really really dumb. But I also wanna point out how wild it is that the people who made this dub -- most of whom were born and raised in New York City -- would do something as sacrilegious as having one of their main characters gleefully talk about eating deep dish pizza!

Our heroes think about crossing the bridge:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
カスミ　「出島に渡れなきゃあたしたち定期船に乗れないわよ」	Kasumi:  "But if we can't make it to that little island we won't be able to take the ferry."	Misty:  "If we don't get to that little island we'll never get to the Pallet Town ferry."
サトシ　「とにかく行ってみようぜ」	Satoshi:  "Well, we'll just have to find a way to get there then."	Ash:  "It looks safe to me."
ケンジ　「でもこの橋しか出島には渡れないぞ」	Kenji:  "But this bridge is the only road that leads to the islet."	Tracey:  "Maybe we should just take a chance and cross it anyway."

The English dub has Misty repeat the idea that the ferry they're trying to catch is headed directly to the Pokémon World equivalent of Machida, Tokyo (an area of the city that's completely landlocked, by the way), and then also has Tracey be the one to suggest they try crossing the bridge when it was Satoshi who suggests it in the original.

Paint Edit
In one of the first establishing shots of the city, the round awning on one of the buildings on the right side of the screen gets its scribbles removed for the English dub. Now you might be wondering "Why was that one sign singled out when literally every other one in this shot gets to be left as-is?" And that's a good question! Unfortunately, there's no clear answer, and this whole thing of "we'll edit this sign over here, but not that one over there" will be a recurring theme throughout this entire episode.


A few shots later, some more "text" gets removed from the three signs in this shot when Tracey starts shouting "Hello up there! Hello?"


The cream colored sign also gets "cleaned" as Ash and his friends try to sneak past.


Finally (for now), the sign with the word "Books" on it gets covered up.


So for those of you keeping track at home, we are now officially at the point in the English dub of Pokémon where 4Kids is erasing the English word "Books" from its version of the show.

Dialogue Edit
Our heroes are saved by a mysterious stranger:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「いけ ディグダ！アミーゴ！」	Django:  "Go Digda, my amigos!"	Poncho:  "OK, go!"

In the Japanese version the character-of-the-day calls out the Spanish word "amigo" whenever he throws the Monster Balls that have his Digda in them, both in this part of the episode and again in the second half. This little character quirk is removed from the English dub.

Paint Edit
The pink sign on the left gets its scribbles removed as Tracey identifies their savior's Pokémon.


A different pink sign on the left gets its "text" erased as the Pokémon are ordered to use Dig.


Four signs get edited here:


And this pink sign gets edited again.


I've seen people try to claim that companies like 4Kids actually needed to make these types of edits because of network mandates about not having on-screen text in children's shows, but that theory falls apart very very quickly when you remember how literally every other show that was airing on Kids' WB! at the time appeared to have absolutely no problem with it. At this point in the network's lineup it's literally just Pokémon that seems to be following this so-called "rule."

Dialogue Edit
Our heroes learn about the history of the town:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「もともと この町にはマルマインも ビリリダマもいなかったんだ。島の発明家がビリリダマでの発電実験のためずっと前から飼ってたらしい」	Django:  "There didn't use to be any Marumine or Biriridama in this town. But it seems like an inventor on the island had actually been keeping a Biriridama for a long time as an experiment to try to get it to generate electric power."	Poncho:  "This island used to be filled...with visitors and tourists from all over the world. But a few years ago, an inventor started raising Voltorb as part of an experiment to get Pokémon to generate electric power."

The English version's claim about the little islet across the bridge from Hamlin Island being a big tourist destination back in the day is completely made up by the dub. I mean, what would even attract tourists to this city anyway? A book shop without the word "Books" on it?

The timelines here are a bit different as well. The English dub claims the events leading up to this episode all happened "a few years ago," implying that the Pokémon overcrowding problem and subsequent evacuation of the islanders all happened in the years leading up to Ash and his friends arriving in the area. But that doesn't really track, does it? The guy we see in the very first shot of the episode points Satoshi and his friends toward the island, something that would be a really messed up thing to do if the islet had already been abandoned for years at this point. "Yeah, the ferry's that way. Also, I've been in a coma since the '92, but I assume everything's still the same as from before I went under." And then you have the ferry, which has apparently been sitting there for years, unused? Would it still be fit to make the journey up north to Kanto? Wouldn't that make it a big ol' rust bucket? The Japanese version purposefully keeps the timelines vague, and I think that's genuinely the right way to deal with this.

Paint Edit
The word "Thiy" gets removed from the two signs seen during the flashback:


"Thiy" doesn't seem to be anything as far as I can tell, but it got erased regardless.

Dialogue Edit
The character-of-the-day introduces himself:

.

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「紹介が遅れたな。オレはジャンゴー。島の人たちから雇われたディ グダ使いさ」	Django:  "Sorry for the late introductions. The name's Django. I'm a Digda trainer hired by the people of this island."	Poncho:  "I'm no thief, son. Poncho's my name. The mayor here hired me. I'm a Diglett rancher."

In the previous episode 4Kids had a character who was a captain, and also a crook, and so they gave him the name "Captain Crook." The guy in this week's episode is a man, and he's wearing a poncho, and so 4Kids gives him the name "Poncho."


Originally, the character-of-the-day's name is Django (ジャンゴー), most likely after Franco Nero's character in the 1966 spaghetti Western film Django (which was later paid homage to via 2012's Django Unchained). I've seen a lot of English speaking fans claim the character's supposed to be based on Clint Eastwood, probably because he's the only Wild West movie actor most of us are able to name off the tops of our heads, but when you take a closer look at it the Franco Nero connection does make the more sense of the two.

The young Trainers discuss Poncho's relocation plan:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「この方法なら爆発でマルマインたちを意味なく傷つけることもな い」	Django:  "This way, we can avoid needlessly hurting all the Marumine with explosions."	Poncho:  "Some folks think the only way to deal with Electrode is to explode 'em, but I like my way better."
サトシ　「さっきはそのやり方で助けてくれたんだ」	Satoshi:  "I see, and you used those tunnels you dug to help us earlier."	Ash:  "I bet the Electrode like your way better, too."
ジャンゴー　「ああ。誘爆を防いだのさ」	Django:  "While also preventing setting off a chain reaction."	Poncho:  "Well, son, so far they like it fine."
ケンジ　「今 考えられる最高の方法じゃないですか」	Kenji:  "Seems like your way's the best solution anyone could think of."	Tracey:  "And once they're out on the prairie all the islanders can come back home."
カスミ　「だったら安心だわ」	Kasumi:  "It sure does make me feel better."	Misty:  "They must be glad you're here."
ジャンゴー　「まあな。だから仕事料の高いオレがわざわざ呼ばれたのさ」	Django:  "I guess. That's probably why they called for me, despite my high price tag."	Poncho:  "Truth is, a lot of the islanders are complaining my way takes too long and costs too much."

So much of this episode has been fairly faithful so far, which is why it's a bit jarring to get to this exchange where everything except Poncho's first line is a complete and total rewrite!

Poncho gets a phone call:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
カスミ　「もしもし？あっジャンゴーさん、お電話です。この町の人みたいよ」	Kasumi:  "Hello? Ah, Mr. Django, it's for you. Seems like it's one of the townspeople."	Misty:  "Hello? Mr. Poncho, it's for you. Somebody from the mayor's office needs you."
ジャンゴー　「ああ、ありがとう」	Django:  "OK, thank you."	Poncho:  "Oh, here we go again."

The dub presents the idea that Poncho was hired by the mayor of the town when the original simply has his clients be "the townspeople."

"Mr. Poncho" (LOL)  talks to the "mayor":

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「ああ、そろそろ仕事を始めるところだ。大船に乗ったつもりで…な に？ あ？おっ… 何だと？ おい。分かった」	Django:  "Yes, I'm just about ready to get started. Should be smooth sailing from here...what? Huh? What do you...? Hey! I see."	Poncho:  "I just brought the second bunch of Electrode over. I should have the third bunch over...What!? But I just...! That's your choice. Goodbye."
ケンジ　「どうかしたんですか？」	Kenji:  "What's wrong?"	Tracey:  "Some kind of problem?"
ジャンゴー　「クビだよ。オレの準備が手間取ったのを理由に仕事をキャンセルさ れちまった」	Django:  "I've been fired. They're using how long it's taking me to get ready as the reason for canceling the job."	Poncho:  "A big one. They said they want the Electrode gone today, and I'm officially off the job."
サトシ・ケンジ　「ええっ？」	Satoshi and Kenji:  "What!?"	Ash and Tracey:  "Huh?"
ジャンゴー　「せっかくデコポン島への地下の穴が完成したっていうのに」	Django:  "And after I had just finished digging all the tunnels out to Dekopon Island!"	Poncho:  "All I needed was a few more days and the Electrode would have been safe and sound."

The dub pulls a whole lot of nonsense out of thin air here, but the biggest change in my opinion is having it so that the "mayor's office" is in so much of a hurry to get rid of the Electrode that they hired a team to get rid of them in a single day. Despite the fact the city has, according to the English dub's retelling of the episode, already been abandoned for a few years at this point. So why are they in a hurry now?

The conversation continues:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「じゃあ マルマインたちは？」	Satoshi:  "So what'll happen to the Marumine?"	Ash:  "Maybe we can help you Poncho!"
ジャンゴー　「別のやつを雇ったそうだ」	Django:  "Apparently they hired someone else."	Poncho:  "They've already hired someone else."
カスミ　「いったい どんな人を雇ったのかしら」	Kasumi:  "I wonder why kind of people they hired..."	Misty:  "But who? Who could get rid of the Electrode in a day?"

Again, the "you have only one day to get rid of the Pokémon" is an invention of the English dub.

Eyecatch
This week we get Togepy's friend vs. a random crab!


I guess that's one more to add to the "absolutely adorable Japanese eyecatch art that gets scrapped for the English dub" pile!

Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio appears:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ケンジ　「何だこれ？」	Kenji:  "What's that?"	Tracey:  "What's this thing?"
ムサシ　「開けて」	Musashi:  "Go on, open it."	Jessie:  "How's my hair?"
ニャース　「ンニャ」	Nyarth:  "Urgg-nya."	James:  "Good. How's mine?"
コジロウ　「オーライ オーライ」	Kojirou:  "We all ready?"	Meowth:  "Good. How's mine?"
		Jessie and James:  "Smelly!"
ムサシ　「“何だこれ？”と聞かれたら」	Musashi:  "If we're asked "What's that?""	Jessie:  "Time again to prepare for trouble."
コジロウ　「答えてあげるが世の情け」	Kojirou:  "It's up to the world whether or not we answer."	James:  "And just like always, better make it double.

On top of the usual "the English dub absolutely refuses to bring over Musashi mocking the good guys by impersonating them at the start of the motto thing, for some reason," we also get this weird bit where Jessie and James talk about how terrible their teammate smells!

The trio reveals what its doing in town:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ニャース　「このメカはマルマイン処理用秘密兵器ニャ」	Nyarth:  "This robot's our secret weapon in dealing with all those Marumine Nya."	Meowth:  "Make way for the environmentally un-friendly Electrode Eliminator."
ムサシ　「今回はジャリボーイたちに文句を言われる筋合いじゃないざんす」	Musashi:  "And this time you twerps don't have any right to complain."	Jessie:  "We convinced the mayor that it's the quickest way to take out the Electrode trash."
コジロウ　「そういうこと。オレたちはこの町の人たちに頼まれてやってるんだか らな」	Kojirou:  "That's right. Because today we're acting at the request of the people of this town."	James:  "It seems...the citizens are tired of waiting while pokey old Poncho coddles all the crackly little critters."
ニャース　「おかげで今回の秘密兵器は予算が潤沢だったニャー」	Nyarth:  "And it's thanks to all of them we were given such a generous budget for this robot here Nya."	Meowth:  "Now we got the contract to corral 'em so it's time for Mr. Molasses to hit the trail."

The English dub invents this whole story about the Rocket trio going up to the mayor and pitching her the idea for their giant robot, something that's simply not in the Japanese original at all.

Our heroes question the Rocket trio's story:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「そんなはずないだろ！お前たちの勝手にはさせないぞ」	Satoshi:  "There's no way any of that's true! We won't let you just do whatever you want!"	Ash:  "I don't trust a thing you say. This must be some kind of trick."
ピカチュウ　「ピカチュウ！」	Pikachu:  "Pikachu!"	Pikachu:  "Pikachu!"
ジャンゴー　「待ちな。確かにあれは町の作業依頼書だ」	Django:  "Now hold on a minute. That work order they're holding there really is an official one from this town."	Poncho:  "It's no trick. That word order they're waving's got the mayor's seal on it."

Once again, all this mayor stuff is dub only.

Paint Edit
The text on the green sign behind Kasumi gets erased.


It's really odd because the English dub leaves in the scribbles on the "contract" Meowth holds up in the shot literally before this one and yet decides to edit this sign?

Dialogue Edit
So why's Team Rocket doing all this, anyway?

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
カスミ　「町の人たちよりによってロケット団に依頼するなんて」	Kasumi:  "I can't believe out of everyone the townspeople had to choose from they went with the Rocket-Dan of all people."	Misty:  "I can't believe it. Why would Team Rocket want to help out and move the Electrode?"
ムサシ　「話 理解できたあ？」	Musashi:  "Any other questions?"	Jessie:  "For purely selfish reasons, of course."
コジロウ　「そういうことで、久しぶりの公益事業さっさとやらせてもらおうか」	Kojirou:  "Guess not. Now if you'll excuse us we've got our first honest day's work in a while ahead of us."	James:  "Not only do we get paid handsomely for our efforts but we're going to keep all the Electrode we clear out."
ニャース　「ニャー。秘密兵器出撃だニャー！」	Nyarth:  "Nya! Let's roll out this secret weapon Nya."	Meowth:  "Yeah! And they used to say crime doesn't pay."

I've read/listened to enough interviews with the folks at 4Kids over the years to get this sense that the people working at that company had this insatiable desire to have every single tiny plot detail spelled out for them, no matter how little it matters in the grand scheme of things. Like, they would unironically love the hell out of Surf Dracula. 4Kids genuinely thought the original version of Pokémon wasn't fleshed out enough, that it was too vague, and so when it came time for them to make their version of the show they added in all these extra details in an attempt to "fix" the failings they saw with the show's narrative. Adding in a bunch of superfluous details about the trio's motivations for taking this job -- details that actually do not matter one bit -- is yet another example of this.

Paint Edit
We're going to be going back and forth between Paint Edits and Dialogue Edits for a while here.


Anyway, the "text" that gets erased here can be seen in multiple other shots throughout this episode and yet this one here is what gets edited.

Dialogue Edit
Our heroes continue to watch:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
カスミ　「なんとかしてあげられないの？」	Kasumi:  "Isn't there anything we can do?"	Misty:  "I wish we could do something to help."
ジャンゴー　「オレだってあんなやり方は嫌いだが、やつらが町の作業依頼書を 持ってるんじゃな」	Django:  "Not really. I may not like the way they do things but they do have that work order from the town, so our hands are tied."	Poncho:  "So do I, Misty, just as much as you do. But Team Rocket are the ones the mayor has hired to do the job."
カスミ　「そんな」	Kasumi:  "I was afraid of that..."	Misty:  "Guess so."
サトシ　「あいつら…調子に乗りやがって！」	Satoshi:  "Those three...they're actually enjoying this!"	Ash:  "All they care about is getting those Electrode."
ケンジ　「このまま手をこまねいて見てるしかないのか？」	Kenji:  "So we're really just going to sit here and watch?"	Tracey:  "But with that official order there's nothing we can do to stop 'em."

Again, the mayor being the one to hire the Rocket trio is an invention of the English dub.

Paint Edit
The red sign the Electric-Types we can see for all of two seconds before the Marumine jump in front of it gets its "text" removed.


The sign gets edited in a similar shot a few seconds later:


This sign on the left gets its lettering erased as well.


Only a few more of these left to go!

Dialogue Edit
Poncho worries about all the Electric-Types gathered:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「マズいな。こんな所であんな大量のマルマインたちがいっぺんに大 爆発したら町が吹っ飛んでしまう」	Django:  "This is bad. If all these Marumine were to blow up all at once they'd probably destroy the whole town."	Poncho:  "This is bad. Those Electrode are hotter than a Charizard's breath in July, and it looks to me like they're ready to blow up real good this time."
ケンジ　「ええ。早く なんとかしないと大変だ」	Kenji:  "You're right. We'd better hurry up or it'll be all over."	Tracey:  "You're right. And if they do the whole island will be destroyed."

Poncho's attempt at a "folksy" bit of dialogue here doesn't really exist in the Japanese original.

Paint Edit
The blue sign in the background as Biriridama jumps forward gets its scribbles erased from the dub.


If you freeze frame the English dub you can actually see the unedited text for a few brief frames before suddenly disappearing.

Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio set its eyes on Voltorb:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ニャース　「ニャンだ あいつ？」	Nyarth:  "What's with that one?"	Meowth:  "Hey, look at the little shrimp."
ムサシ　「かまわないわ。あいつも爆発させちゃいましょ」	Musashi:  "Who cares? Let's blow that one up too."	Jessie:  "Get it out of our way. We have much bigger fish to fry."
コジロウ　「させちゃおうか」	Kojirou:  "Shall we?"	James:  "Oh, let's catch it."
ニャース　「作業再開ニャー」	Nyarth:  "Let's get back to work Nya!"	Meowth:  "Yeah, I just love seafood."
コジロウ　「ゴッツン ゴー！」	Kojirou:  "Let's go!"	James:  "Arms away."

As you can see, all that seafood banter's a 4Kids original.

Paint Edit
The same blue sign from before gets its scribbles erased.


Well, at least they're being consistent for a change!

Dialogue Edit
During the shot above:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
サトシ　「なんで跳ねてるんだ？トゲピーは？」	Satoshi:  "Why's your Togepy flopping around like that?"	Ash:  "Togepi's acting a little jumpy, huh?"
カスミ　「もしかしてコイキングがよく使うあの技“はねる”を使ってるん じゃ？」	Kasumi:  "Maybe it's using that "Flop" move Koiking uses so much?"	Misty:  "Maybe so, but from the way it's moving it could be that...Togepi's trying an attack."
ケンジ　「トゲピーはまだ技は使えないって」	Kenji:  "But I thought Togepy couldn't use any moves yet."	Tracey:  "Togepi might be a little young for that, Misty."

Nob Ogasawara, the man who provided the English translations of the first few generations of Pokémon video games, once stated that when he looks back on some of the work he did for the Red & Green video games he found that he doesn't really like the "Splash" localization he came up with for the attack known in the Japanese version as Haneru and that, if he could go back in time, he would have probably opted to go with "Flop" instead. But since "Splash" is the official localization, the English dub's writers had to rework Satoshi's first line a bit to make this exchange work. After all, having him say "Why's your Togepi Splash-ing around like that?" when the egg Pokémon's clearly jumping up and down on a concrete street would've sounded ridiculous, right?

Anyway, in the original Kasumi seems to actually realize her Togepy's using "Splash" (or "Flop," or whatever you want to call it) while Misty does not.

After Jessie tells James that "This isn't a video game" (claw machines are considered "arcade games," but whatever) we get this gem:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
コジロウ　「あーっ もう何だよ こいつ。ちょこまかと！」	Kojirou:  "Ah~ what's with this guy? Sit still!"	James:  "This thing is slipperier than a greased Gengar."

I don't...I mean...um...a greased Gengar? As in, someone took one of those ghosts, and then slathered a bunch of grease all over its body, for reasons? Is that what he's referring to? I don't wanna kink shame or anything, but is James revealing a secret fetish to us here we just never knew about before?

Pikachu tries to take the trio down with its Thunderbolt attack:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ニャース　「ニャハハハッ！今回は潤沢に予算があるって言ったニャ。ビリリダマ やマルマインはでんき技が得意だから電撃には強いボディーにしてあったのニャ」	Nyarth:  "Nya ha ha ha! We told you we were given a really generous budget for this, didn't we Nya? Since Biridama and Marumine are so good at using Electric-Type moves we made sure the body of this robot is strong against those attacks."	Meowth:  "Heh heh heh. You think after all this time that twerp would know us better. We knew we'd be collecting Electrode with this thing so we made it shockproof. Let 'em attack and explode. They can't hurt us in this baby."
ムサシ　「そういうわけで。どいてちょうだいね」	Musashi:  "That's right. Now be a dear and get out of our way."	Jessie:  "This time we're shockproof, and our plan's foolproof."
コジロウ　「オレたちの仕事を邪魔だてするやつは潰しちまうぞ」	Kojirou:  "If you don't we'll run over anyone and everyone in our path."	James:  "I think we've done enough gabbing, now let's do some Electrode grabbing."
ムサシたち　 「ゴッツン ゴー！」	Musashi and the others:  "Let's go!"	Jessie and James:  (laughs)

Nyarth's reference to a line from earlier in the episode (one that 4Kids rewrote anyway) gets removed, as does Kojirou's implicit death threat.

Ash looks up Poncho's Dugtrio:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ポケモン図鑑　「ダグトリオ、　ディグダの進化系。自由自在に地面の中を進むこ とができる」	Pokémon Bestiary:  "Dugtrio, the evolved form of Digda. It is able to move freely through the ground."	Pokédex:  "Dugtrio, formed when three Diglett combine. This Pokémon is able to tunnel deep beneath the earth's surface."

The English version chooses a different part of the in-game Pokémon Bestiary entry to quote here than the Japanese version did.

Paint Edit
The signs in the background of the shot where the Marumine are being taken away by Django's Digda get their scribbles removed.


And four signs get their markings removed from this shot.


And that's it for this episode's Paint Edits! It's still really strange to think about how actual humans paid real world money to erase all these scribbles from a children's television show like Pokémon. And yet that's exactly what happened!

Dialogue Edit
The Rocket trio pull themselves together:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ムサシ　「もうひどい目に遭ったわ」	Musashi:  "We've really been through it today, huh?"	Jessie:  "Well, we've finally hit bottom."
コジロウ　「いったいどこまで転がされたのやら」	Kojirou:  "I wonder how far we rolled away."	James:  "We've sunk pretty low, but never this far."
ニャース　「まっ助かったニャ。きっと どこかに出口もあるニャ」	Nyarth:  "Well, it could be worse. At least here there's bound to be an exit around here somewhere Nya."	Meowth:  "Yeah, this is different. We usually dig a hole for ourselves."

Putting aside how literally none of the dialogue in the dub matches what was said in the original...isn't the phrase supposed to be "hit rock bottom?" Not just "hit bottom" the way Jessie says? Do we have another "Davy Jones' locker room" type situation on our hands?

After the townspeople come back, Ash and his friends look back on their adventure:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ケンジ　「橋も直って町の人たちも戻ってきて。よかったですね」	Kenji:  "The bridge is fixed and everyone's returned back to town. That's so great."	Tracey:  "Well, the bridge is fixed and the island's back to normal thanks to you, Poncho."
ジャンゴー　「ああ。町の人たちも喜んでくれてな。オレの仕事料も約束どおり出 してくれるってさ。まっ、タダ働きにならずに済んだぜ」	Django:  "Yeah. The townspeople seemed satisfied with the job I did, and they even paid me as promised. I'm glad I didn't end up doing all that work for free."	Poncho:  "Thank you, but the Diglett and Dugtrio sure helped out. And the mayor was so grateful she gave me a bonus and a key to the city. Well, we sure showed that Team Rocket, didn't we?"

So the English dub's imaginary mayor's a woman, huh? And she gave Poncho a key to the city? OK sure, why not?

Finally:

Japanese (original)	Japanese (translated)	English Dub
ジャンゴー　「まっ、お前らも定期船が出るようになって、よかったな」	Django:  "Well, I'm glad your ferry's able to set sail now."	Poncho:  "No, I'm no movie here, Misty, that's for sure."
サトシ　「問題すべて解決」	Satoshi:  "Yup! That should wrap everything up!"	Ash:  "Well you're our hero, Poncho."
ピカチュウ　「ピカ！」	Pikachu:  "Pika!"	Pikachu:  "Pika!"
ジャンゴー　「これでオレの仕事もおしまいだ」	Django:  "And with this my work here is done."	Poncho:  "Thanks Ash. That means a lot to me."
サトシ　「ジャンゴーさんはこれからどこへ？」	Satoshi:  "Where are you gonna go next, Mr. Django?"	Ash:  "Hey, why don't you come to Pallet Town with us?"
ジャンゴー　「島から島への渡り鳥。呼ばれる所、どこへでも行くさ。アディオス アミーゴ！」	Django:  "I'll be like a bird migrating from island to island. Whenever people need me, I'll be there. Adios, amigos!"	Poncho:  "Well, I'm much obliged for the invite, but I got a home where the Electrode roam. It sure was nice meeting you kids though."
カスミ　「気をつけてね ジャンゴーさん」	Kasumi:  "Take care out there, Mr. Django."	Misty:  "Maybe we'll meet again someday."
ジャンゴー　「お前らもな」	Django:  "You too."	Poncho:  "Maybe so."

Literally everything except Pikachu's line is a rewrite here, but I think the biggest change might be Ash inviting this old man he only just met back to his hometown, for some reason. Like, I'm actually kind of surprised the network didn't intervene to stop one of its shows' main characters from inviting a stranger into their home, given the whole "stranger danger" panic going on at the time this episode airing *shrugs*

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This page was last updated on August 31st, 2025