Trivia / Showdown in Pewter City

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: Pikachu accidentally setting off the sprinklers and causing Onix to be vulnerable to Pikachu’s electric attacks, despite being part ground type and thus immune, just because it got wet, was seen as an Ass Pull and Early-Installment Weirdness by many in the fandom, because it was something that couldn’t happen in the games. Years later, after the episode aired, Pokémon Black and White introduced the move “Soak”, which changes an opponent Pokémon into a pure water type after drenching it with pressurized water.^note The question of whether Soak was introduced/created specifically to justify the event, or was inspired by the event, is a lightly debated topic.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: A lot of people misremember this episode with Ash deliberately setting off the sprinkler system in order to beat Brock's Onix, thereby cheating his first badge. This isn't true; the sprinklers were set off by accident, and Ash actually forfeited because he didn't want to cheat his first badge. He only accepted it because Brock insisted he take it since he would have won otherwise.