EP043

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← EP042 : Showdown at Dark City
Original series
EP044 : The Problem with Paras →
The March of the Exeggutor Squad
EP043.png
  EP043  
ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！
The Great Nassy Squad March!
First broadcast
Japan May 7, 1998
United States October 30, 1998
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ポケットにファンタジー
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda
Storyboard 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani
Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani
Animation director 山本郷 Gō Yamamoto
Additional credits

The March of the Exeggutor Squad (Japanese: ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！ The Great Nassy Squad March!) is the 43rd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 7, 1998, and in the United States on October 30, 1998. It was initially intended to air in Japan on February 3, 1998, but was rescheduled following the EP038 incident.

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

Our heroes continue their Pokémon training without a break even over spring vacation, when what should appear before them but a carnival. Ash, Brock and Pikachu join in the fun, eventually discovering a rather dull magic show being performed in a small cabin. The magician begs Misty to become his assistant, but because of his poor magic skills, the magician is fired. Feeling sorry for him, Brock, Ash and Misty suggest working together to create a Pokémon magic show.

Plot

Ash and his friends find themselves in a town that is hosting a carnival. Excited, Brock and Ash change into funny outfits and start dancing. Misty and Pikachu, embarrassed, walk away, go on some rides, and eat some ice cream. Soon after, Misty notices a woman scolding a man with an Exeggcute over due fines. The woman knocks him to the ground and walks away. Misty asks the man if everything is alright, and he requests that she be his magic show assistant. He introduces himself as Melvin and conjures some flowers and flags. Misty agrees to help him, but just for the day.

The show begins, with Misty forced to wear a leotard adorned with Goldeen fins. Melvin starts to juggle his Exeggcute, and everyone, including Misty, thinks it is boring. Melvin then pulls out a wand, and a tiny flame comes out; the crowd falls back in disappointment. He tries again, and a huge jet of flame comes out. Misty tells him to be careful, but he is so thrilled that the trick worked that he accidentally sets off the building's fire sprinklers, which drenches the audience. The audience quickly storms out and throws various things at Melvin. The carnival owner fires Melvin because of the stunt, and he wants to give up his dreams. However, Ash and his friends promise to give him some tips.

Ash performs his trick involving a magic box, with fire and water magically shooting out at his command, but it was revealed to contain Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur. The three Pokémon get into a fight inside the box after Charmander's tail flame burns Squirtle, and subsequently ruins Ash's trick. Ash says that Melvin's Exeggcute doesn't do much, so it uses Hypnosis on him. Brock and Misty wonder why Ash is acting so dopey, especially after he follows Melvin's command and spins in circles while acting like a Bulbasaur. After Melvin realizes that he can control Ash, he and Ash sneak away from Brock, Misty, and Pikachu.

Melvin then commands Ash to pull him and his Exeggcute by cart into the Leaf Forest. Team Rocket sees Melvin and Ash and starts to follow them. Brock and Misty are out looking for Melvin and Ash when Misty then realizes that Ash has been hypnotized. The Leaf Forest is full of Exeggutor, which Melvin has Ash weaken with Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle; Melvin then catches the entire mob of Pokémon. With his new horde of Exeggutor, Melvin plans to hypnotize people to attend his shows. Team Rocket makes their entry, performing a magic show-themed version of their motto, which Melvin applauds. He soon finds himself tied up, with Team Rocket planning to use his newly captured Pokémon to hypnotize and capture more Pokémon. His Exeggcute evolves into an Exeggutor without warning, and then uses Hypnosis on Team Rocket. The other Exeggutor copy this and end up hypnotizing each other, causing them to go on a rampage towards the town. Team Rocket is hypnotized into believing that they are Exeggutor and begin following the herd. Brock and Misty show up and wake up Ash and Melvin, who were trampled by the marching Exeggutor. After waking up, Ash's hypnosis fades and he returns to normal.

The four of them head for town, where they see that the carnival has been almost destroyed, and discover that the Exeggutor mob is turning around and coming back their way. The carnival owner tells them he's planted a time bomb to destroy the threat. Ash and his friends are of course opposed to this, so they decide to try to stop the Exeggutor before they can reach the bomb. Ash sends out Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander in an attempt to stop the herd. Squirtle and Bulbasaur's attacks don't have much of an effect, so Ash recalls them and orders Charmander to attack instead. The Fire-type Pokémon's attacks successfully stop some of the Exeggutor, but it quickly becomes exhausted as the Exeggutor continue to charge forward. Misty tries to convince Melvin to use his fire trick to stop the Exeggutor. Although he is positive he will fail, he tries anyway, and the trick ends up working. Together with Charmander's Flamethrower, a blanket of fire stops the Exeggutor in their tracks. Melvin's newly-evolved Exeggutor returns to him, and Melvin runs up to it and hugs the Coconut Pokémon. The time bomb then goes off just a distance away, destroying the carnival and, to everyone's relief, no one gets hurt from the blast. Suddenly, Charmander evolves into Charmeleon and shoots a flame at Ash's face, putting his loyalty to Ash in question. Team Rocket gets carried away by the Exeggutor, and Ash and his friends continue on their journey.

Major events

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?: Exeggcute

Trivia

  • After the hiatus caused by EP038, the show moved from Tuesday to Thursday. The original schedule was as follows:
Code English title Japanese title Planned broadcast Actual broadcast
* Holiday Hi-Jynx ルージュラのクリスマス December 23, 1997 October 5, 1998
* Snow Way Out! イワークでビバーク — October 5, 1998
EP040 The Battling Eevee Brothers イーブイ４きょうだい January 6, 1998 April 16, 1998
EP041 Wake Up, Snorlax! おきろ！カビゴン！ January 13, 1998 April 23, 1998
EP042 Showdown at Dark City たいけつ！ポケモンジム！ January 20, 1998 April 30, 1998
EP043 March of the Exeggutor Squad ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！ January 27, 1998 May 7, 1998
EP044 The Problem with Paras パラスとパラセクト February 3, 1998 May 14, 1998
EP052 Princess vs. Princess げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり March 3, 1998 July 9, 1998
EP053 The Purr-fect Hero こどものひだよ！ぜんいんしゅうごう！ May 5, 1998 July 9, 1998
  • This is the last episode to air in syndication in the United States. Due to this, there was a near four-month gap between this episode and The Problem with Paras as a result of Pokémon being moved to the Kids' WB! lineup.
  • Early in the episode, Ash and Brock are wearing party outfits. Brock's outfit, which has pink frills for the sleeves and the cuffs of the pants, has large similarities to his future Takeshi's Paradise outfit, including the maracas he holds. The outfit from this episode may have served as inspiration for the later outfit.
  • This is the first episode in which there is a reference to a real-life city; Melvin mentions that his dream is to have his own magic show in Las Vegas.
  • This is the first episode in which one of Ash's Pokémon evolves in the same episode as another character's Pokémon.
  • This episode is featured on Volume 9: Charmander from Viz Media's Pokémon All-Stars series.
  • Parts of this episode were reanimated and used for flashback material for The Fires of a Red-Hot Reunion!.
  • Melvin keeps all of his Exeggutor on hand in this episode, even though there are far more than the maximum six allowed to all Trainers.
  • In the English dub, the title card is written in all caps.

Errors

  • When Misty tells Melvin to be careful, her left arm passes through the stage.
  • After the sprinkler goes off, Pikachu's voice can be heard, but his mouth doesn't move. This also occurs with Jessie and James when they enter the box.
    • Inversely, after Melvin shows the trick of the flower bouquet to Ash, Misty, and Brock, Pikachu moves his mouth, but no voice can be heard.
  • When Misty tells Ash to stop looking at the Exeggcute, Ash's left hand is layered over it.
  • Melvin seems to know that Ash wants to become a Pokémon Master despite Ash not telling him.
  • When Melvin is throwing Poké Balls, they appear out of thin air before he throws them.
  • When Jessie is talking to the Exeggcute, her stomach is wider than normal.
  • When Exeggcute evolves into Exeggutor, the upper lip of the head on the far right is not fully colored in.
  • When Team Rocket starts becoming affected by the Exeggutor's Hypnosis, Melvin does not have a cloth tied around his neck, but when he praises the Exeggutor, one appears.
  • In several scenes, the eyes of the right head of an Exeggutor are not colored in.
  • When Ash commands Squirtle to use Water Gun on the Exeggutor, the "z" mark on his right cheek is missing.
  • When Ash and his friends are seen walking at the end of the episode, Ash's shoes are completely white.
  • In the last scene with Team Rocket, Meowth's claws are the same color as his body.
  • In the Polish dub, Razor Leaf is mistakenly called Vine Whip.
  • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Charmander is referred to as the "Dragon Pokémon" instead of the "Flame Pokémon".
  • The layering error

    The layering error

  • The lip error

    The lip error

  • Ash's missing cheek mark

    Ash's missing cheek mark

Dub edits

  • In the Japanese version, the opening narration reveals Trainers don't take breaks at any time, something that is implied but not directly stated in the English dub.
  • Ash's invitation for Misty to party with him was originally a reference to the song "Why Not Dance?" that plays during Awa Odori, Japan's largest dance festival.
  • Ash's remark about Misty's Goldeen outfit was originally an observation rather than flirting.
  • The hecklers originally start harassing Ash, while in the English dub, they only start heckling when the camera pans toward them.
  • Brock's negative critique toward Melvin was originally quieter and directed towards Ash alone.
  • Misty's correction to Melvin dealt with word-swapping idioms in the Japanese version.
  • Misty originally doesn't compare Melvin to Ash about not knowing what he is doing. Instead, Ash merely reacts with surprise when she directly offers career advice to him.
  • Melvin apologizes to Exeggcute in the Japanese version, something he does not do in the English dub. In addition, the English dub implies Melvin was fired by multiple carnivals due to his incompetence, which isn't the case in the Japanese version.
  • Originally, Melvin states that he wanted to make it to Broadway, not Las Vegas.
  • Melvin's initial act regarding the unveiling of flowers did not originally indicate they were dead, unlike in the English dub, with Misty and Brock instead stating the act isn't good.
  • When hypnotized into acting like a Bulbasaur, Ash originally stops acting like one when Melvin ordered him to spin around.
  • In the Japanese version, when Melvin's Exeggcute starts to evolve, James questions how it could be evolving without a Leaf Stone around. This isn't acknowledged in the English dub.
    • On a similar note, the sign posted outside the forest originally warns that taking an Exeggcute into the forest will ensure its evolution. The English dub implies this with a painting of an Exeggcute pointing to an Exeggutor, though it does not directly state this. Contrary to popular belief, however, it was never indicated in the Japanese version that the forest had a large deposit of Leaf Stones buried underneath that caused their evolution.
  • When bidding farewell to Melvin, the group originally wishes him luck instead of telling him to do a good job.

In other languages



← EP042 : Showdown at Dark City
Original series
EP044 : The Problem with Paras →
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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