"Why I have to be the one to kiss that big lummox?!"
—Meowth
Japanese Title: Wake Up! Kabigon!
Original Airdate: April 23rd, 1998
US Airdate: October 28th, 1998
The one where... Ash and Co. meet a hippie.
The further you journey, the hungrier you get. On empty stomachs, our heroes' search for food brings them to a small village, but find there is no food at the bakery nor at the grocery store; even the town restaurant is out of food. Just as our hungry heroes lose the energy even to move, the town elder arrives and offers to feed them. He explains to them that a drought has made it impossible to gather a harvest in the village, but cannot explain why they suffer from drought even though it rains often. In return for the meal, our heroes follow the dry riverbed upstream, investigating the cause of the drought.
Tropes:
- Brain Bleach: Ash and friends are disturbed by the idea of Team Rocket using Arbok and/or Weezing to kiss Snorlax. We're shown a fantasy sequence of Arbok and Weezing with giant, puckered lips.Misty: Snorlax will have nightmares.
Ash: Those lips would give me nightmares too. - Chekhov's Gunman: The old beggar at the start of the episode is eventually to be the owner of both the Poke Flute and the titular Snorlax.
- Conflict Ball: Ash, his friends, and Team Rocket all want Snorlax to wake up. Yet once it's revealed that the flute player can wake it up, they begin fighting over who gets to take him, to the point where Team Rocket blasts off again.
- Cool Old Guy: The elderly hippie is cool as a cucumber and friendly to boot. He's also the one who saves the day by waking up Snorlax with his Poke Flute.
- Enemy Mine: Between the twerps and Team Rocket, as usual. Noteworthy on two counts: Ash and friends help the Rockets try to steal the Snorlax (unknowingly, as they thought it was a wild Pokemon at the time), and the incident actually had Meowth close to tears.Meowth: I never thought I'd live to see this day, even with nine lives! Team Rocket and Team Twerp working together!
- Extreme Omnivore: Snorlax's ability to eat anything even vaguely edible is on full display here when it starts chowing down on the massive overgrowth of brambles, completely unbothered by the thorns covering the vines. The hippie even comments that thorns happen to be one of his Snorlax's favorite foods.
- Eye Catch: This episode, the Who's that Pokémon is Snorlax.
- Foreshadowing: The fact that a Poké Ball fails on the Snorlax hints that it already has an owner.
- Heavy Sleeper: Snorlax. He doesn't even stir when Ash shouts through a loudspeaker into his ear.
- Lover Tug of War: Except for the "lover" part, this is played straight, for both the twerps and Team Rocket attempt to pull the flute player in their fight over who gets to take him with them, causing pain to the flute player in the process.Flute player: HEY! If you don't let go, you'll each get a half of me!
- New-Age Retro Hippie: The flute player.
- Non-Standard Character Design: The hippie's bushy moustache, bulbous nose, and lack of visible eyes make him look more like a Muppet than a Pokemon character.
- Red Herring: It turns out that the drought was not Snorlax's fault. In fact, when the heroes discover the true cause (the huge tangle of thorns they had to pass by before), Snorlax happens to be the one who (unintentionally; we can't really tell) brings the drought to an end.
- Series Continuity Error: Ash doesn't recognize Snorlax, despite being shown to have a decoration of him in the first episode.
- Squick: Snorlax's In-Universe reaction to being kissed by Meowth.Misty: It looks like it's been poisoned.
Brock: How would you feel if you got kissed by Meowth?
Ash: I'd look for a new mouth. - True Love's Kiss: It's suggested that a kiss from a noble Pokémon might be capable of waking Snorlax. The ensuing attempts fail miserably.
