Bulbapedia

EP059

← EP058 : Riddle Me This
Original series
EP060 : Beach Blank-Out Blastoise →
Volcanic Panic
EP059.png
  EP059  
けっせん！グレンジム！
Decisive Battle! Guren Gym!
First broadcast
Japan August 20, 1998
United States September 18, 1999
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ポケモン音頭
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami
Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane
Additional credits

Volcanic Panic (Japanese: けっせん！グレンジム！ Decisive Battle! Guren Gym!) is the 59th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on August 20, 1998, and in the United States on September 18, 1999.

201
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
201

Blurb

Ash continues his quest to attain his Volcano Badge once he finally locates the gym that is suspended above a pool of molten lava! Only a strong fire Pokémon could help him in this battle, so Ash must rely on his misbehaving Charizard to help him win this smoldering match.

Plot

Finishing off from the last episode, Ash tells Pikachu to dodge a Fire Blast from Blaine's Magmar at the last second. Pikachu is still hit, but fortunately is not knocked into the lava, having hung on to the edge. Though Pikachu makes it back onto the battlefield, Ash concedes the match, not wanting to risk Pikachu falling into the lava. Blaine allows Ash to stay, as the hot springs will help heal Pikachu from his burns. Though Brock and Misty advise Ash to leave for another Gym, since Blaine was simply too powerful, Ash declares that he will not leave without a Volcano Badge.

The next day, as Ash treats Pikachu's burns, Team Rocket manages to sneak into the battlefield in an attempt to steal Magmar by freezing it. Though it appears that their attempt is successful, Magmar simply melts the ice around it. Team Rocket responds by firing more freezing missiles at it. However, their overzealous nature causes the battlefield walls to fissure and cave in. Ash, his friends, and Blaine arrive as Team Rocket is sent flying. With nowhere to run and the volcano about to erupt, Blaine is forced to use Magmar to dam the volcano.

Ash tries to have Charizard pitch in, but he is unwilling to cooperate. However, after seeing Magmar throw rocks in an attempt to dam the volcano, Charizard decides to help. Brock calls out Onix and Geodude to assist as well. Staryu and Squirtle also pitch in by helping to cool off Onix and Geodude. Pikachu tries to help too, while Ash stops the arriving Jigglypuff from putting everyone to sleep. Eventually, the volcano is fully dammed, leaving Charizard and Magmar with a desire to battle it out against each other.

Ash interjects and asks Blaine if he will give him his Volcano Badge as thanks. Instead, Blaine offers Ash a rematch for the Volcano Badge. With the battlefield destroyed, Ash and Blaine agree to battle one-on-one on the summit of the volcano. Blaine chooses to go with Magmar; as Ash is about to pick Pikachu, Charizard steps in, wanting to test his strength against Magmar, so Ash chooses him instead. As the battle begins, both sides trade Flamethrowers before Magmar counters with a Fire Blast, when Charizard digs in and manages to deflect. Magmar proceeds to hit Charizard with a Skull Bash, pushing him into a pillar. Charizard begins to fall towards the lava, but he recovers and locks up with Magmar.

Magmar then uses Charizard's own momentum against him by flipping him over and pushing the two into the lava. Although Ash calls foul, Blaine reminds him that under the volcano is still part of their agreed-upon battlefield. However, once the two emerge from the lava, Charizard is now the one with the upper hand, using his flight to create an aerial Submission attack to then finish off Magmar with a Seismic Toss. Having won the battle, Ash proceeds to congratulate Charizard and return him, only to be blasted in the face with another Flamethrower. As it turns out, Charizard only obeyed Ash in order to satisfy his competitive streak against Magmar, and nothing more. Still, Ash had earned his Volcano Badge and leaves soon after.

Wondering where to go next, Brock suggests that they head to the Viridian Gym, a leading Gym where the best Trainers prepare for the Pokémon League. Ash is unaware of the fact that there was a Gym in Viridian City and asks Misty why she didn't tell him before. Misty replies that they were too busy arguing for her to remember. However, she cannot recall why they were fighting. Brock attempts to remind Misty when Ash suddenly remembers and decides to keep moving. Misty then remembers that he owes her a new bike and begins to make chase.

Major events

Ash holding the Volcano Badge
For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts


Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Paras (U.S. and international), Magmar (Japan)


Trivia

Errors

  • In the flashback at the beginning of the episode, the narrator says that Ninetales beat Squirtle with an Ember, when it was actually a Fire Spin that defeated Squirtle. This error does not happen in the Japanese version.
    • Also in the flashback, Ash can be heard telling Pikachu "You'll feel 100 percent soon", but this line was never spoken in the previous episode. He actually delivers the line a few minutes later, shortly after the conclusion of the battle.
    • Furthermore, in the flashback, when Blaine calls on Magmar, he said "Come out...Magmar!", but he actually said "I choose...Magmar!". In the same scene, Ash says "What's that?" while watching the magma column emerging, while he actually said "Mag... Mar...?" during this time. He only says "What's that?" when taking out his Pokédex to identify it.
  • The second time the Gyarados statue that opened the volcano's entrance is seen, it is no longer on a rock and is instead on the cement surrounding the hot spring.
  • Jessie and James can be heard perfectly underwater, with no speech hindrances and no air bubbles. Additionally, they were using reeds to breathe, which would make talking even harder. This may be an example of animation physics, though.
  • During the scene where they are stopping the volcano from erupting, Misty calls on Starmie to keep everyone cool. However, it's Staryu that comes out.
    • A similar mistake happened in Princess vs. Princess, where she says she is going to use Starmie, but later in the episode, she tries to send out Staryu (only for Psyduck to come out).
  • When the volcano is erupting, Blaine orders Magmar to block the "lava flow". Technically speaking, it is called magma when it is inside a volcano, and called lava outside of it.
  • When Magmar is about to use Flamethrower, Misty tells Ash "Watch out for Magmar's Flamethrower!", even though they haven't seen Magmar using the move before, and shouldn't be able to know what move it was going to use.
  • During the battle, Magmar can be seen running towards Charizard, even though there are platforms in the volcano.
  • Just after Charizard uses Seismic Toss on Magmar, Magmar blasts out of the volcano. When Magmar lands onto a platform, its mouth is colored orange instead of cream.

Dub edits

  • Pikachu's Jukebox: Together Forever
  • In the original version, Team Rocket was eavesdropping on Ash's conversation with his friends and ended up trying to recite their motto while still underwater, thus forcing them to surface, and was not directly related to their mission to capture Magmar. In the dub, Team Rocket was instead trying to train themselves to venture into the volcanic depths to catch Magmar by submerging themselves, and weren't even aware of Ash and co. being nearby.
  • Meowth's announcement that Magmar won a sweepstakes contest was originally him announcing that Magmar has a challenger.
  • The "riddle" Blaine gave (and Misty's response) differed between versions:
    • In the dub, Blaine's riddle was a pun on "lava" and "bathroom", with Misty sarcastically remarking that she now knew why Blaine liked riddles.
    • In the Japanese version, Blaine simply gives a riddle regarding rumbles before answering his own riddle, with Misty being confused to why he answered his own riddle.
    • In the Finnish and Norwegian dubs, "lavatory" was replaced with "sauna" in this riddle.
  • The second riddle Blaine gave, and Ash's response also varied between the two versions:
    • In the dub, Blaine made a joke regarding freezer burn in a volcano, with Ash telling him off for joking around.
    • In the Japanese version, Blaine asks what an old man was whose hair suddenly turned white, only for Ash to correct him and state the latter just froze.
  • Although the general gist of Blaine and Ash's conversation about what happens to a volcano when ice missiles impact the volcanic magma (and Ash mistaking his question for a riddle), Ash's specific response varied between a snow cone (dub) and tempura ice cream (Japanese version).
  • The time limit of how long it will take before Cinnabar's volcano erupts thanks to Team Rocket's actions was never specified in the original version, while in the dub, Blaine estimated it to be a "matter of minutes."
  • In the dub, Misty mistakenly refers to Staryu as Starmie.
  • In the original version, right after Blaine accepts Ash's request for a rematch, Ash only states his intent to make sure he won this time around. The dub added in his getting closer to entering the league.
  • In the original version, Misty doesn't tell Ash specifically to watch out for Magmar's Flamethrower, but simply says that he should watch out for Magmar's Fire-type attacks.
  • When Charizard pushed the Fire Blast away, its shape changed into the kanji for medium (中), and then small (小), before vanishing. The dub kept it the same shape until it disappeared, but didn't erase the sound effects that came with the pun.
  • Blaine's riddle when presenting Ash with the Volcano Badge varied between the versions.
    • The "riddle" in the Japanese version essentially amounted to a forced riddle about something that can be claimed and abandoned at the same time before giving him the Volcano Badge, hence Ash and his friends' confused reactions.
    • In the dub, it was something that can be read, but had no words.
  • When Misty forgot about Ash needing to pay off her bike before Brock attempted to remind her, the dub worded Brock's reminder in a way that made it sound as though he was actually present at the time, while the Japanese made it more clear that he simply heard what had happened.
  • The ending narration was different:
    • In the Japanese version, the narrator commented on how Charizard seems to be listening to Ash now, and that they are on their way to Viridian City.
    • In the dub, there were several word-plays on the colors red, green, and blue (and orange). Namely, Ash competing for the Earth Badge (which is green), Misty getting angry ("seeing red"), and Brock trying to stop Misty from chasing Ash in a rage ("sure to make [Brock] blue.").

In other languages



← EP058 : Riddle Me This
Original series
EP060 : Beach Blank-Out Blastoise →
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.
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