EP243

← EP242 : As Clear as Crystal

Original series

EP244 : Enlighten Up! →

Same Old Song and Dance

EP243   ふたごのププリンＶＳプリン！うたうポケモンコンサート！ Pupurin Twins VS Purin! Singing Pokémon Concert!

First broadcast Japan April 11, 2002 United States April 19, 2003

English themes Opening Believe in Me Ending

Japanese themes Opening Ready Go! Ending ポケッターリ・モンスターリ

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Same Old Song and Dance (Japanese: ふたごのププリンＶＳプリン！うたうポケモンコンサート！ Pupurin Twins VS Purin! Singing Pokémon Concert!) is the 243rd episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 11, 2002, and in the United States on April 19, 2003.

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

Blurb

In the midst of their travels, Ash and friends meet up with a young girl who, along with her two Igglybuff assistants, stars in her own musical variety television program. Our heroes are content to sit back and enjoy the show, but unfortunately Team Rocket has other plans in mind. Unable to steal the show, Jessie and James content themselves by stealing the young girl's Pokémon instead. As Ash and friends run to her assistance, Jigglypuff shows up, disgruntled at having been left out of the show.

Plot

Ash and his friends are travelling through a forest en route to Blackthorn City. As Ash gets hungry, Brock reads his guidebook and announces there is a town up ahead. This invigorates Ash and he starts running ahead. Unbeknownst to Ash and the others, Jigglypuff appears behind them. When they reach the town, Togepi runs off and meets a young girl named Brittany, who is practicing with her twin Igglybuff. Brittany introduces her two Igglybuff, nicknamed Gigglybiff and Gigglybuff, and explains that they star in her own musical variety television program called "Brittany"; it is her very first concert, which will be recorded live. She plays her CD player to begin a practice performance, with Ash and the others watching on. Meanwhile, Team Rocket spies on them, and Jessie daydreams of having her own show with the Igglybuff.

Jigglypuff suddenly shows up and begins to sing, but Ash snatches its microphone and stashes it in his backpack. Brock offers Jigglypuff some Pokémon food, which it gratefully enjoys. Brittany invites Ash and his friends to lunch. Upon hearing the compliments the two Igglybuff received, Jigglypuff becomes jealous of them, so she bullies them when Ash and the others aren't looking, kicking them and taking their identical headbands off. When Misty stumbles upon this, Jigglypuff claims the wind blew them away. After placing the headbands back, Jigglypuff nudges Misty's leg and is also invited to Brittany's concert.

Later, as Ash, his friends, and Jigglypuff watch Brittany's live performance, Jigglypuff remembers its microphone and retrieves it from Ash's backpack. Just as Jigglypuff begins singing, she is disturbed by Team Rocket's arrival, which causes the stadium to shake. The trio appears in costumes and begins to perform a song-and-dance routine, though the audience hates it. When Ash and his friends make their way on to the stage to confront them, the trio recites their motto. Then, James sends out Victreebel, while Ash calls out Phanpy. Victreebel uses Razor Leaf, but Phanpy dodges the attack and successfully uses Take Down. Meanwhile, Misty calls out Poliwhirl, and Jessie sends out Wobbuffet. Jigglypuff suddenly tries to use Double Slap, but Wobbuffet uses Counter and reflects the attack, sending Jigglypuff flying. Poliwhirl and Phanpy use Water Gun and Tackle, respectively, but this is met with more Counter attacks. Weezing uses Smokescreen to distract Ash and the others while they take Brittany's Igglybuff, though they accidentally take Jigglypuff as well. Vowing to save the Igglybuff, Ash, Misty, and Brittany head off, while Brock remains to be a replacement act.

As Team Rocket discusses what the future could look like with the two Igglybuff now captured, Jessie unties the bag and finds Jigglypuff inside as well. Ash and the others arrive, only to find Jigglypuff tied to a tree and its mouth taped over with no Team Rocket or Igglybuff in sight. As they free Jigglypuff, Noctowl encounters the Team Rocket's Meowth balloon and punctures a hole in it, causing it to crash. Ash and the others find Team Rocket and battle them; Totodile fights Victreebel, while Corsola fights Arbok. Eventually, Arbok is sent flying into Jessie, and she lets go of the bag with the two Igglybuff inside. Meowth corners the two pink Pokémon as they emerge, but Corsola tackles Meowth, allowing the two Igglybuff to run over to Brittany. Brittany calls on her two Pokémon to attack Arbok and Victreebel, first with Charm, then with Sweet Kiss. Jigglypuff enters the battle, using Double Slap on Team Rocket's Pokémon. Ash finally has Pikachu blast Team Rocket off with Thunderbolt.

When Ash, Misty, and Brittany return to the concert theater, Brock happily allows Brittany to take over the show. When the performance is over, Jigglypuff rises from a stage platform to perform its own rendition to the crowd. Not unexpectedly, her singing causes everyone, including Brittany and her two Igglybuff, to fall asleep, and she scribbles on all of their faces.

Major events

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Main series debuts

• Igglybuff

Characters

Humans

Pocket Monster TV

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Brittany
• Audience
• Brittany's fans

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Yanma (US and international), Igglybuff (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Totodile (Ash's)
• Noctowl (Ash's; Shiny)
• Phanpy (Ash's)
• Poliwhirl (Misty's)
• Corsola (Misty's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Victreebel (James's)
• Igglybuff (Brittany's; ×2, Gigglybiff and Gigglybuff)
• Jigglypuff (anime)

Trivia

• The songs featured in this episode are instrumental versions of Aim to Be a Pokémon Master, Summer Vacation Fan Club, Mama's Dear Pokémon, Team Rocket Forever, and Takeshi's Paradise, the latter of which marks its vocal debut in the English dub.
• The episode's English dub title is derived from the song of the same name from Aerosmith.
• This episode marks the first time that the narrator is affected by Jigglypuff's song. This would happen again in a later episode, where he is affected by the song of Lisa Mitchum's Jigglypuff.
• In their performance of Team Rocket Forever, which returns after previous appearances in The Song of Jigglypuff and Go West Young Meowth, Jessie and James sing "We're tired of our motto so we thought we'd try a song!", but the motto ends up being recited anyway.
• Team Rocket breaks the fourth wall by singing that they plan "to be the stars of this cartoon".
• When Jigglypuff goes through Misty's bag, it finds the handkerchief that Misty would give to Ash right before they say their goodbyes.
• Music from The Power of One is used in this episode.
• This episode is featured with the VCD/DVD set of Camp Pikachu.
• In the Japanese version, Jessie saying "Evening Three Musumue" is a reference to the famous Japanese girl group, called "Morning Musume".
  • Furthermore, when Team Rocket first appears at the concert hall, each member is wearing a costume, which the group Morning Musume once wore when performing a song of theirs. James wears a sailor outfit, a reference to their song The Peace, Meowth wears an outfit that is similar to the ones worn in the subgroup of Morning Musume, known as "Minimoni", and Jessie wears an outfit that was common in another subgroup called "Dandelion" during their song Snowy Night with the Prince.
• Soon after Team Rocket is shown spying on Ash and his friends watching Brittany's performance with her Gigglybiff and Gigglybuff, Jessie gets angry at James and does the same "Ain" pose, made famous by the Japanese actor and comedian Ken Shimura.

Errors

• During Brittany's first onstage performance, before Jigglypuff goes to retrieve its microphone, the Igglybuff twins are missing from their pedestals.
• When Misty instructs Poliwhirl to use Water Gun, she pulls out a Poké Ball, as if she were about to send out another Pokémon.
• When Jessie tells Wobbuffet to use Counter to deflect Poliwhirl's Water Gun, the glove on her left hand disappears.
  • Additionally, Counter is effective against Water Gun, despite being a special attack. The correct would be Mirror Coat.
• When James sends out Weezing, its mouth does not move when speaking.
• After Weezing uses Smokescreen and Team Rocket escapes, Jigglypuff is seen behind Brittany. However Jigglypuff was taken by Team Rocket by mistake and is in their bag at the same time. This may have been a confusion from the previous scene, where Jigglypuff hid behind Brittany.
• When Misty throws Corsola's Poké Ball, it is shown as a regular Poké Ball instead of a Lure Ball.

• 

  Jessie's missing glove

• 

  The additional Jigglypuff

• 

  Corsola's Poké Ball

Dub edits

• In the streaming dub version of this episode, after Togepi jumps out of Misty's arms at the beginning, it is shown running through a hedge and emerging on the other side. In the home video dub version, a few seconds of this sequence are cut, resulting in Togepi being seen running toward the hedge and then immediately appearing on the other side in the next shot.

In other languages

Language		Title
Bulgarian		Все същите песен и танц
Mandarin Chinese		雙胞胎的寶寶丁對抗胖丁，唱歌神奇寶貝演唱會
Dutch		Altijd Hetzelfde Liedje
European French		Pokémon Superstar
German		Das alte Lied...
Hebrew		סיפור מוכרsipur mukar
Hindi		नाच गाने के मज़े लो! Naach gaane ke maze lo! *
Italian		Lo spettacolo
Polish		Stare, dobre piosenki
Portuguese	Brazil	Vamos Cantar, Pessoal
	Portugal	Sempre a Mesma Canção
Spanish	Latin America	¡El mismo baile y la vieja canción!
	Spain	La canción y el baile de siempre

← EP242 : As Clear as Crystal

Original series

EP244 : Enlighten Up! →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.