Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode 235: "Wataru and the Red Gyarados!"
English Episode 526:  "Talkn' 'Bout an Evolution"
Pokemon Dare Da?  Red Gyarados (Japanese), Marowack (English)
Orchid-Hakase Pokemon Lecture:  ???
Japanese Air Date:  February 7th, 2002
American Air Date:  February 15th, 2003
Important Characters:  Wataru (Lance), Tatsumi (Tatsumi), Shiranui-Hakase (Professor Sebastian)
Important Places:  Lake of Fury (Lake Rage)

Satoshi-tachi are continuing on the path to Chouji Town when they encounter a Red Gyrados!  They don't have much time to admire the strange pokemon when Tatsumi, a member of the Rocket-Dan, attacks Satoshi's pokemon.  As Satoshi battles, he notices that his pokemon seem to be tired for no apparent reason, and their lack of energy is costing them the battle.  The young trainer is about to lose when Wataru, the dragon-type member of the Four Emperors, intervenes and beats the Rocket-Dan member.  After the battle, Wataru explains to Satoshi-tachi that he's a member of the Pokemon G-Man, an organization investigating what the Rocket-Dan is up to at the Lake of Fury.  He tells the three to forget about Tatsumi and the Red Gyarados and to continue on the path to Chouji Town, but they won't hear of it.  Satoshi-tachi return to the lake only to find the Red Gyarados unconscious and being carried away by one of the Rocket-Dan's boats!  Satoshi-tachi try to save it, but the same tired feeling that the pokemon felt before overcomes them once again.  Tatsumi uses this opportunity to capture the three kids and brings them back to the Rocket-Dan base, where Shiranui-Hakase explains to them the details of Project R.  The project is an experiment to fine-tune a device which will enable the Rocket-Dan to induce evolution in any pokemon at any time.  As the kids are thrown in a jail cell, the Red Gyarados is being transported to another facility.  To be continued!!

---

Thoughts
Boring filler, boring filler, boring filler...oh?  What's this?  We've finally gotten to the Red Gyarados saga!?  Thank God!

Actually, it does sound a little weird to call a two-part episode a "saga," but since everyone else is doing it then I might as well follow along.  In all honesty, the gym battles and these little "sagas" are the only things making the Jouto seasons worth watching, so when an episode like this comes along, you can bet I'll be watching. 

So with this episode, we get several things.  We get more members of the Rocket-Dan (always a plus), an event from the game (the Red Gyarados at the Lake of Fury), the first anime appearance of Wataru, and an all-around good plot. 

As far as the English version of the episode goes...well, it has its ups and downs.  For one thing, Tatsumi keeps his Japanese name.  Tatsumi introduces himself twice in the Japanese version, but his name is never mentioned in the dub.  Though his name is never said in the American version, the closed captions (provided by 4Kids) referred to him as "Tatsumi" at least two times.  So I guess his English name is Tatsumi.  However, 4Kids undoes the good they've done with his name by giving him one AWFUL voice.  Really, he's right up there with Butch as the most annoying voice in Pokémon ever.  Luckily, we only have to put up with him for one more episode, so my ears won't be bleeding for too much longer.

The other Rocket-Dan member we're introduced to is Shiranui-Hakase, renamed Dr. Sebastain in the dub.  Shiranui-Hakase is the second character from the Raikou Special to make an appearance in the regular anime (Minaki <Eusine in the dub> is the first), leaving only one more character from the special to make an apperance.  His voice is actually pretty OK (it's supposedly done by Eric Stuart), so if the Raikou Special ever gets dubbed, we know that at least he'll sound alright.  Lance's voice, on the other hand, isn't quite as good as I hoped.  I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't sound right at all. 

The Red Gyarados, like the regular Gyarados, keeps its Japanese voice.

Dialogue Edit
Wow, 4Kids, we can't even get one line into the episode without a screwup...

Narrator:  "Our heroes find themselves close to Mahogany Town, where Ash is determined to earn his final badge at the Mahogany Gym.  But for now, just dreaming of the Johto League is exciting."

Ash:  "Yes!  I can't wait to get my sixth badge, then it's on to the Johto League!"

Do you see what's wrong?  The badge Ash would get from the Mahogany Town Gym would be his seventh, but both the narrator and Ash seem to have forgotten that.  It isn't his final gym badge (he won't get that for another seventeen episodes), and it isn't his sixth gym badge, which he got eleven episodes ago.  I really think 4Kids needs to lighten their work load so that they won't have to rush through their series like this.  If they could slow down, I doubt such careless errors as this one would appear so often.

Rocket-Dan
When Musashi and Kojirou get caught up in one of the secret bases's traps, they recite the following motto:

Nanoyo de kitaka to kikare tara
Kotaete ageru ga yo no nasake
Onaka hikusu ni fusegu tame
Karada no kenkou o mamoru tame
Ai to shinjitsu no shokuryou motomete ya dekita
RABURII CHAAMII na kataki yaku
Musashi!
Kojirou!
Shokuyrou moratta Roketto-Dan no futari niwa!
HOWAITO HOORU! Donna shirutomo yappuraze
Nya, Nyaante na

(I'm not entirely sure what they're saying in the line that's highlighted in red...if anyone knows, please contact me.

The English version is as follows:

Prepare for trouble and a nice surprise,
Make it double with an order of fries.
To protect our tummies from rumbling too much,
To enjoy our meals with a gourmet touch.
To denounce the evils of excessive hunger and thirst,
To consume so much food you think you might burst.
Jessie!
James!
Team Rocket, blast off in search of wonderful treats!
Surrender now, or prepare to fork over tons of your sweets.
Meowth!  Yeah, let's eat!

Music Edit
In the Japanese version, Maemuki Roketto-Dan is playing in the background during the scene with Musashi-tachi in their scuba gear.  The music is replaced in the American version.

Commercial Cut--5 seconds
Standard commercial break stuff.  A three-second shot of Satoshi looking at the unconscious Gyarados being carried away in the Rocket-Dan's net is snipped before the commercial break, and then footage of everybody looking at the the Red Gyarados is cut after the commercial break.  Altogether, it all adds up to about five seconds that was trimmed away.  All they cut out was footage that was repeated anyway, so 4Kids' audience didn't lose anything worthwhile at all. 

Dialogue Edit
Cheesy dialogue alert!  Cheesy dialogue alert!

Tatsumi:  "I'd love to stay and chat, but...you look...a little tied up!  Hahahahaha!"

Not only does his voice suck, but he's also given sucky dialogue...Actually, I think I'll use that line in real life sometime.  Just imagine--I'd say the line, laugh like it was the most hysterical joke I've ever heard in my life, and then watch the reactions of the people around me.  It'll be great fun!

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