Episode Stats:

Japanese Episode AG 086: "Eiga wa Bakuuda ni Notte!!"

("The Movie Rides on Bakuuda!!")

American Episode 358: "Lights, Camerupt, Action!"
Orchid-Hakase Pokémon Lecture:  Movie AG 02 Information
Japanese Air Date: July 22nd, 2004
American Air Date:  July 16th, 2005
Important Characters:  Takaya (Elijah), Misato (Mariah)
Important Places:  Minamo Ciy (Lilycove City), Tokusane City (Mossdeep City)

After winning the Feather Badge from Nagi, Satoshi decides to travel to Minamo City in order to catch a ferry to Tokusane City, where the next Pokémon Gym is located.  As the gang starts its journey, Satoshi and his friends come across a man named Takuya trying to cross a river with his pokemon, Bakuuda.  After they help him get his pokemon across, they find out that Takuya is a young film maker who is in the middle of delivering a new movie to a nearby town.  Satoshi and his friends decide that they want to see it, so they decide to help Takuya reach his destination.  Along the way, the Rocket-Dan try to kidnap Takuya's pokemon, but they are soon thwarted.  The next day, our heroes arrive in the town, where Takuya's movie, "Plusle and Minun's Big Adventure," begins screening in front of a group of enthusiastic kids.  However, the movie is interrupted by the Rocket-Dan, who steal Takuya's movie!  While Takeshi tries to keep the children entertained, Satoshi and the others battle the Rocket-Dan, eventually sending them blasting off.  With the movie back in Takuya's hands, the movie is able to resume.

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Thoughts
This episode wasn't too outstanding, really.  I really liked the Pocket Monsters cameo, and the movie parodies were pretty amusing (Ultraman, Titanic, Space Battleship Yamato) but everything else about this episode was just bad.  Nothing really sticks out that much, and the fact that everyone is getting excited over a silent movie seems a bit unrealistic to me.

The dub version isn't anything too special, except for Manga-Pippi, who's apparently gotten a sex change.  I like the fact that they left Takeshi's Paradise in it, but I'm much too lazy to check back with "Same Old Song and Dance" to see if 4Kids used the same lyrics. 

The manga Pikachu keeps its Japanese voice. 

Cut--2 seconds
The first two seconds of the episode are cut.

Paint Edit
Of course, Satoshi's badge case got changed for the dub:


Cut--2 seconds
Two seconds are cut after the episode's title screen.

Side Note
Here's a breakdown of the changes made to the various mini-movies.

The voices for Manga-Pippi and Mama Ringuma were absolutely terrible.  Pippi is apparently a girl in the dub, while the Mama Ringuma sounds like a man in the dub (she had a husky woman's voice in the Japanese version).  Seriously, 4Kids, I have pictures from the manga that prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Red's Pippi is male.  Don't make me break out my scanner.

Manga-Pikachu got to keep his Japanese voice, though, and Red was obviously voiced by Veronica Taylor, putting a little variation on her Ash voice.  So for me, half the voices were good while half of them were horrible.

Takeshi's movie was handled well enough.  The music was changed, but the dub music actually fit very well, so I won't complain.

4Kids changed the music during Haruka's movie, which is a shame because the Japanese music really fit the scene.  They used the singing melody that was heard at the end of the fourth movie, when all the Celebi gather to revive the Celebi who had been captured by Vicious.  It's annoying that 4Kids would change this because we know that 4Kids has the rights to that particular piece of music.

Cut--2 seconds
Two seconds are cut right after the Trainer's Choice commercial break.

Paint Edit
When Plusle and Minun's Big Adventure (called "Plusle and Minun and the Princess Rescue" in the dub) is starting, 4Kids adds grey circles around the numbers that count down to the start of the movie.


I guess the paint editors had a lot of extra free time this week?

Cut--2 seconds
Two seconds are cut from the TO BE CONTINUED... screen.

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