Original Title: Iwark as a Bivouac
Original Airdate: October 5th, 1998
US Airdate: December 18th, 1999
The one where... Ash and his Pokémon are trapped in a blizzard. And they refuse to let him freeze alone.
Continuing their journey, Ash and gang find themselves at a fork in the road. They make the fateful decision to climb a steep and dangerous mountain taking them even deeper into the woods. Pikachu gets lost and they must all work together to find him, stay warm and weather the storm.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Anachronic Order: This episode was supposed to air around where "Pikachu's Goodbye" was slotted, but ended up airing much later in the season. As a result, an episode with Charmander aired during the period when it should've been a Charizard.
- Braving the Blizzard: Ash and his friend had to brave through a terrible snowstorm. Team Rocket were also trapped, but their situation was Played for Laughs.
- Catch Your Death of Cold: In the original Japanese, the True Companions scene plays out slightly different, with Ash initially telling his Pokémon that he won't show any sympathy if they catch a cold.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In Japanese, Musashi's mother seen in the flashback clashes with the portrayal of Miyamoto in The Birth of Mewtwo. Since The Birth of Mewtwo never made it outside of Japan, all the dubs avoided this.
- Exposed to the Elements: Ash's arms are exposed to the elements, as are Jessie's legs and belly. Given the cartoony nature of the show, they never fall prey to frostbite.
- Eye Catch: This episode, the Who's that Pokémon is Pidgeotto (Original) and/or Muk (Dub).
- Inconsistent Dub: While camping in an igloo, Team Rocket has matches with them to keep them warm, and one of Meowth's matches is turned into a candle in the English dub, and the next couple of scenes show Meowth lighting matches. Broadcast Standards and Practices might have not wanted to encourage children to play with matches, despite that matches were clearly shown and lit by Team Rocket.
- Narrative Shapeshifting: Pikachu's hair briefly morphs into Brock's when asking Ash about him.
- Never Trust a Title: The title in Japanese suggests the twerps use Onix as a bivouac, which is an open-air shelter for cold weather situations. Although Brock and Misty say they did that in the Japanese version, it is not seen at all. The episode instead focuses on Ash, who dug a snow cave, and Team Rocket, who built an igloo. In the dub, Onix dug in and discovered the hot springs from underground instead.
- That's an Order!: Ash insists that Pikachu go into his Pokéball for his own safety, but he's still not convinced. Ash doesn't have to resort to this with his other Pokémon, but they all come out of their Pokéballs and join Pikachu in trying to keep Ash warm.
- Think Happy Thoughts: Team Rocket tries this to cope with the cold. This causes them to nearly fall asleep, so Jessie has to wake them up so they don't freeze to death.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Team Rocket finding a hot spring after losing their hot air balloon and nearly freezing to death initially seems to be this... until they realize that the water's too hot to stay in, but it's too cold to leave. Oops...
- True Companions: Pikachu and Ash's other Pokémon refuse to stay in their Poké Balls, where they'd be safer, preferring to stay with Ash in the cold.
- Undying Loyalty: All of Ash's Pokémon toward him. They refuse to leave his side when he commands them to return to their Poké Balls for warmth and safety and they insist on helping to keep him warm.
- Of note, this is particularly well illustrated with Charmander and Pidgeotto. Charmander refuses to stop warming the others with his tail despite the fact that he's draining his own energy. And Pidgeotto disobeys Ash for the very first time, simply to keep him safe.
