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"The Battle of the Badge" is the 63rd (61st outside Japan) episode of Pokémon the Series. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 17, 1998 and in the United States on September 25, 1999. In this episode, Ash Ketchum battled Team Rocket for the final gym badge in Kanto, the Earth Badge.
Plot[]
Ash Ketchum goes to the Gym in Viridian City, but Gary Oak gets in there before him and challenges the gym leader for his own satisfaction, as he has already won ten Gym Badges. The Gym Leader, Team Rocket's boss Giovanni, agrees to the fight, eventually using a never-before-seen Pokémon (Mewtwo), which the Pokédex cannot identify, to easily defeat Gary. Team Rocket kidnaps and tries to give Togepi to Giovanni, but Giovanni thinks it is useless. Giovanni leaves the Gym with Mewtwo to sort out an emergency and puts Jessie, James, and Meowth in charge. Ash challenges them and wins the battle, but Team Rocket refuses to give Ash the Earth Badge, his eighth and final badge. Togepi sends them blasting off when it plays with the controls, and Team Rocket drops the Earth Badge for Ash to catch.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Who's That Pokémon?: Arcanine (Japan), Mr. Mime (US)
- Pikachu's Jukebox: 2.B.A. Master (US DVD box set), Double Trouble (Pokémon TV)
- The episode title is derived from the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.
- This is the first of three episodes (the other two being It's Mr. Mime Time and Showdown at the Po-ké Corral) to feature Mewtwo in scenes that are preludes to Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back. This is despite the seizures caused by Electric Soldier Porygon, which caused the show to go on a four-month hiatus, which in turn led to the aforementioned three episodes airing after the movie's premiere on July 18, 1998.
- A few seconds of the battle between Giovanni and Gary Oak (namely, Nidoking and Arcanine running towards Mewtwo and the latter using its Psychic powers to levitate them) are also shown in the movie's prologue, but from a different perspective and with different animation. Examples of this include:
- Mewtwo's appearance is evidently more cartoon-like in this episode as opposed to the elaborate design of its armor in the movie.
- Mewtwo's whole body glows when it uses Psychic against Nidoking and Arcanine, as opposed to the movie, where only its eyes glow.
- In the movie, Mewtwo's "chin" is covered by its armor, as opposed to this episode, where it is exposed. However, it is unknown whether the exposed chin is a deliberate choice made by the animators or if it became that way after the color was added, since what looks like the chin could have been part of the armor if colored differently.
- A small continuity mistake between this episode and the movie is Giovanni's position: in this episode, Giovanni stood up and walked forward before sending out Mewtwo, while in the movie, he is still sitting in his chair.
- A few seconds of the battle between Giovanni and Gary Oak (namely, Nidoking and Arcanine running towards Mewtwo and the latter using its Psychic powers to levitate them) are also shown in the movie's prologue, but from a different perspective and with different animation. Examples of this include:
- This episode was released as part of the "Mewtwo Box" in Japan on December 18, 2013, along with Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back, Mewtwo Returns, Mewtwo — Prologue to Awakening, and Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened.
- This is the first episode to actually show any of Gary's Pokémon in action (unless one counts his Squirtle's flashback cameo in Challenge of the Samurai).
- Meowth is the only known Pokémon to have been a Gym Leader, briefly sharing the title with Jessie and James in this episode after they had to fill in for Giovanni.
- This episode marked the mainline anime debut of Arcanine and Mewtwo.
- This is the first episode where a character other than Ash is seen using a Pokédex or challenging a Gym Leader to a Gym battle.
External links[]
- The Battle of the Badge at Bulbapedia, the Pokémon wiki.
- The Battle of the Badge at the Internet Movie Database