day 83 jessie+james' ekans+koffing both evolve {ep31}
TR focus eps always give me all of the feels. Gary's 2nd or 1st reappearance, depending on if ep18 is counted, brings up something interesting. Apparently the Pokémon are aware of what goes on outside their balls as they know what the diglett are actually doing in regards to saving the enviornment, and can choose whether or not to let themselves out without any trainer input (see wobbufett for verification) ... meaning that Pokémon really are blood knights that enjoy fighting each other for fun... hooray for guilt-free exploitation plus The Power of Friendship moral! (2013) I really miss Gary, he hasn't even made the slightest cameo in Best Wishes... my thoughts on him aren't really spelled out until the end of Johto for those wondering.
day 88 ash gets sixth badge {ep32}
Brock's eyes are seen in a split second frame when he is hit by Charmander, and Bulbasaur uses whirlwind LOLWAT? That's it really. Also, somebody got ninjas all up in this mess. (2013) Hands down the most forgettable of the gym battles in the entire OG series unless someone wants to argue Bugsy, but at least that had Scyther and Cyndaquil. This was dissapointingly average aside from the aforementioned Bulbasaur using a move he can't... which was apparently a dub-only line so blame 4kids. Seriously though, ninjas... DO SOMETHING WITH THAT!
day 89-94 ash spends awhile near, around, and in the safari zone and catches 30 tauros {ep33—37}
There were three major events that occurred In Real Life that would affect the continuation of the Kanto saga and the longevity of the entire show, the first of these, was the realization that hey this show is getting pretty popular after 8 months, let's extend it but wait we've covered 6 gyms in 30 eps what now?
Solution... safari zone shenanigans. If you thought my plot summary's were bare before... welp I for one don't have much time to give to filler.
33, The horse race filler was fun, good filler a category that will become smaller and rarer as the show drags on. (2013) The following is impossible as a concept considering when the episode was made, but fan theories have no such limitations. "So like when Ponyta evolved mid-race through sheer determination, could Ash's innate Aura powers have had anything to do with it?"
34. kangkaskahn Tarzan not so much, it's boring skip it. Then we get 35, the dratini episode, noteworthy for being THE Banned episode, as even 38 had a dub made although itwas never aired for obvious reasons... but having seen it, it's not that good just fills in a plot hole relating to Ash's tauros collection while adding one, because Brock catches a rhyhorn and we never see it again. (2013) Dragoniar does look really nice in the hand-drawn animation style, and it's not terrible by any means just not worth tracking down a shoddily looking subbed version if one were to revisit the show.
36, The biker gang gives us more J+J backstory but is otherwise pointless, (2013) Trying to lay out TR's backstory all at once in order seems like a futile effort so I'm not even gonna try.
Lastly 37 the ditto ep is just plain great, starring one of the extremely rare 1-off characters that actually get a follow-up later. (spoiler Duplica comes back in Johto) It's also the last "normal episode" for awhile, because right after escaping the zone Team Twerp gets lost on a mountain... of angry letters and government sanctions.
day 97 they all are trapped in a blizzard with Ash getting sealed inside a cave with his Pokémon, his worry for them might've led to... {ep 41,64, special... it's complicated.) days 100-102 Pikachu's goodbye and return {ep39}
Here's that 2nd major event, before the show could foolishly follow in the steps of its shounen brethren by introducing a filler arc in the middle of the plot, (not that this warned them off later) As might be common knowledge to some, the anime was canceled for a year due to ep 38, (which on a story level was actually kinda boring but regardless) giving people seizures from rapidly flashing lights.
The funny thing is, although Porygon, being the focus of the episode, and its evolutions have been blacklisted from the show it wasn't the poor guy's fault at all. See Ash and co. went all TRON and matrixy and went inside a computer, and nurse joy not knowing any of this sent an anti-virus nuke after them which Pikachu had to shoot down, and that's what caused the flashing lights. (The More You Know)
“Snow Way Out” was made before the incident and was going to be 41, (39 being the Christmas special holiday hi-jynx and 40 being a completely lost episode presumably a new year's special) but because of the incident kept having its production pushed back. Anyway its a very heartfelt episode, one of my faves, and the last time you see Charmander, b4 he evolves. The mountain they were trapped on can be seen in the background of “pikachu's goodbye” so there you go.
As for 39 itself, not as effective as “Snow” or “Bye Butterfree” as a tearjerker, but that's only hindsight talking, of course now we know Ash+Pikachu are attached at the shoulder, but speaking only for itself it does its job. Another funny ironic moment, sure everybody blames porygon, but the show actually did try to get rid of who was actually at fault and the audience all wept tears of NO. (2013) Aside: Jessie's childhood would be utterly traumatizing if this wasn't a children's anime.
day 114 pikachu reveals his love for ketchup {ep42}
OK technically, episodes 40-42 are all filler, but they're good filler, the eevee episode (40) reinforces pikachu not wanting to evolve, a call back to (14) (41) foreshadows Ash getting a snorlax later, and even if you don't buy they were planning that far ahead it's still legitemately funny and (42) is a Yojimbo parody (good movie BTW), and the ketchup gag is totally worthy of being noted on the time-line.
(2013) It's also in thrse episodes that Ash exhibits one of the rarer aspects of his dyed in the wool Shonen protagonist roots that of the idealistic leader guy, nice to see that he does (super mega occassionally) have a serious business face bad puns nonwithstanding as noted in Vermillion, Saffron, and back up on that mountain... (He was willing to freeze alone for his Pokémon, even telling Pikachu to get in his ball... 2nd and last time after the 1st episode, and that music is so perfect) <ahem> enough gushing.
Next Time... "Back on the Trail Again, Lost Already" Or "The Best Way to Get Your Woman to Stop Nagging You About Relationships, Is to Hurry Up and Get Her a Baby" Wait, What? Eps 43-50
