BW128

← BW127 : The Island of Illusions!

Pokémon the Series: Black & White

BW129 : The Pirates of Decolore! →

To Catch a Rotom!

BW128   EP785 ロトムVSオーキド博士！ Rotom VS Dr. Okido!

First broadcast Japan May 30, 2013 United States August 31, 2013

English themes Opening It's Always You and Me Ending

Japanese themes Opening 夏めく坂道 Ending 手をつなごう

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 川田武範 Takenori Kawada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane No additional credits are available at this time.

Screenshots on Filb.de Preview thread on BMGf Closed Original review thread on BMGf Dub review thread on BMGf ロトムVSオーキド博士！ on the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel.

To Catch a Rotom! (Japanese: ロトムVSオーキド博士！ Rotom VS Dr. Okido!) is the 128th episode of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 785th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on May 30, 2013 and in the United States on August 31, 2013.

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

Blurb

As our heroes continue their tour of the Decolore Islands, their next stop is Torom Island, where they meet up with none other than Professor Oak! He’s come to catch a Rotom as part of a research paper he’s writing about the unusual Pokémon’s various form changes, triggered by entering certain kinds of electric devices. As he’s telling Ash, Iris, and Cilan all about Rotom and what it can do, the lights flicker and then go out. Nurse Joy explains that the Rotom are drawn to the tasty electricity from the island’s power grid, so lunchtime blackouts are a common occurrence.

To combat this nuisance, the locals have created an electricity playground for the Rotom, with lots of devices for them to explore! It seems a likely spot to catch a Rotom, so our heroes and Professor Oak head there at once. They spot three Rotom traveling down the power lines, and Pikachu uses Thunderbolt to lure them in closer. The three seem to enjoy the taste of Pikachu’s electricity, but when Cilan’s Stunfisk tries to join in, they react with disgust. Emolga’s electricity is a big hit, though—at least until the three Rotom are distracted by a surge of electricity from somewhere else.

It’s Team Rocket! They’ve diverted the electricity from the power plant and are using it to lure the Rotom, and they even manage to catch one. But our heroes have a plan to combat this electric menace: they all have Ground-type Pokémon, which aren’t affected by electricity. With the help of Krookodile, Excadrill, and Stunfisk, they send Team Rocket blasting off again and free the trapped Rotom!

Professor Oak notices that Rotom is throwing sparks and seems to be injured, so he applies some medicine. This makes Rotom very happy, and when the professor asks if it would be willing to come with him and help with his research, it hops right into his Poké Ball! Mission accomplished!

Plot

Continuing their journey through the Decolore Islands, Ash, Iris, and Cilan arrive at Torom Island. They are all most eager to arrive, as they have plans to meet up with Professor Oak as soon as they arrive on the island. While Professor Oak meets Iris and Cilan in person, Team Rocket is spying on them all from underwater, taking great interest in the professor's reason for being on the island. At the Pokémon Center, Professor Oak reveals to Ash and his friends that he has come in hopes of catching a Rotom. However, while Ash and Professor Oak teach Iris and Cilan about Rotom's unique ability to change its appearance based on the electrical device it inhabits, Team Rocket continue to spy on them and decide to catch their own Rotom.

Suddenly, the lights in the Pokémon Center go out. Although Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Professor Oak are surprised, the other people in the Pokémon Center are completely unsurprised. Nurse Joy explains that the Rotom on the island find the local power plant's electricity delicious, so the lights are always flickering on and off. In addition, the island's Rotom used to play pranks on the people of the island, so the locals created a playground of electrical devices where the Rotom could play without bothering anyone. Professor Oak goes with Ash and his friends to this electrical playground, where they see three Rotom traveling through the power lines. Pikachu drives them out with a Thunderbolt attack. Despite Professor Oak's request that they assist him with his research, the three Rotom proceed to cause as much mischief as possible. They taunt Pikachu, causing the latter to use Thunderbolt again, but they simply eat the electricity and enjoy it very much. Professor Oak then takes advantage of the Rotom's distraction to try and catch one of them, but the attempt fails. Much to everyone's surprise, Rotom shocks the professor, but Oak just laughs.

Rotom keeps sending electrical attacks at Professor Oak, but the professor apologizes for startling Rotom and invites it to shock him as much as it wants, something that surprises Rotom greatly. Per Professor Oak's request, Cilan calls on his Stunfisk to provide electricity that will lure in the Rotom, but the Rotom hate the taste of Stunfisk's electricity. Iris has her Emolga try next, and Emolga's Discharge is very tasty to the Rotom. Emolga tries to use Attract on the three Rotom, but it fails due to Rotom being neither male nor female. The Rotom then enter a washing machine, a microwave, and a lawn mower. They all chase after and attack Iris and Emolga, and Iris recalls her Pokémon. Before the Rotom decide to leave, Ash quickly orders Pikachu to provide more tasty electricity for the Rotom to eat. However, only the Mow Rotom eats Pikachu's electricity, because the Wash and Heat Rotom both prefer Emolga's Discharge.

While Professor Oak and the others try to decide what to do next, all three Rotom turn around and begin eating obviously delicious electricity from an unknown source. They discover Team Rocket providing this electricity to entice the Rotom to come to them, and Team Rocket recite their motto. Team Rocket's devices are hooked up to the power lines, so they are feeding the Rotom fresh electricity straight from the generator, and Pikachu's electricity is insufficient to divert their attention. Team Rocket create a large ball of electricity with their sinister machines, attracting the Mow Rotom to try and eat it. However, the electrical energy is too great, and Rotom is forced out of the lawn mower and then dragged into a special box that effectively confines it. Using the electricity from the Rotom they captured, Team Rocket forces the other two out of their respective appliances. They immediately take possession of a refrigerator and electric fan, and Stunfisk, Excadrill, and Krookodile, being Ground-type Pokémon, intervene to prevent the Rotom from being pulled out of those machines as well. Seizing its chance, the Frost Rotom freezes Team Rocket with Blizzard, and Pikachu and the Fan Rotom use Iron Tail and Air Slash, respectively, to free the captured Rotom. The other two Rotom leave their appliances, and then all three of them send Team Rocket blasting off together.

The Rotom that was temporarily held by Team Rocket approaches Professor Oak, who treats its injury. Rotom confers with its friends and agrees to return with Professor Oak and help him with his research. The professor catches it in a Poké Ball before reciting a poem to commemorate the occasion. That evening, he offers to fly Ash, Iris, and Cilan back to Kanto with him, but they decline, opting to continue their journey by ship instead.

Major events

• Iris and Cilan meet Professor Oak in person for the first time.
• Professor Oak catches a Rotom.
• Ash and his friends decide to keep traveling the Decolore Islands by ship instead of going to Kanto with Professor Oak.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Professor Oak's Rotom

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Iris
• Cilan
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Nurse Joy
• Porter

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Rotom

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Axew (Iris's)
• Krookodile (Ash's)
• Excadrill (Iris's)
• Emolga (Iris's)
• Stunfisk (Cilan's)
• Audino (Nurse Joy's)
• Rotom (Professor Oak's; new)
• Rotom (all forms; ×2)
• Purrloin (flashback)

Trivia

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Rotom (mid-episode) and Gigalith (end of the episode)
  • This is the first time that an episode features two different Live Casters.
  • This is also the first time that Professor Oak's lecture — in this case, Rotom's — has aired in the international version.
• The episode's English dub title may be a reference to the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock film To Catch a Thief.
• This episode marks the first time since the Orange Islands arc that Japanese text can be seen.
  • This is also the first time since Go West Young Meowth that Japanese text is left as-is in the dub.
• The existence of gender-unknown Pokémon is mentioned for the first time in the anime in this episode.
• Though not exactly a boss fantasy, this is the first time in Pokémon the Series: Black & White that Team Rocket fantasizes about the Pokémon they are planning to steal.
• When Professor Oak initially fails to catch Rotom, he says, "Almost had it!" The same message also appears in the games if a Pokémon escapes from a Poké Ball after two/three shakes.
• For the first time since Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.
• The beam emitters that Team Rocket use to capture Rotom are similar in design to the Proton Packs from Ghostbusters.
• At the end of the Japanese version of the episode, the narrator impersonates Professor Oak. Both characters had the same voice actor.
• At one point, Ash reminisces about meeting a Rotom during his journey in Sinnoh, specifically in Get Your Rotom Running!, 214 episodes earlier.
• This is the last time Krookodile has been seen in Ash's active party.

Errors

• When Ash turns around to talk with Porter, the blue portion with a black strip on the back of his hoodie is missing.
• In the scene where Rotom is being pulled into Team Rocket's trap, the "R" on the device is missing.

• 

  Ash's hoodie error

• 

  The missing logo

Dub edits

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster is localized as Professor Oak's Who's That Pokémon.
• Since the narrator and Professor Oak don't share their voice actor in the English dub, Professor Oak interrupts the narrator and recites the "...as the journey continues" line himself; unlike the Japanese version which has the narrator impersonating Oak.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		洛托姆VS大木博士！
Danish		Sådan fanger man en Rotom!
Dutch		Hoe vang je een Rotom!
Finnish		Napatapa Rotom!
European French		Capturer un Motisma !
Greek		Για να πιάσεις ένα Rotom!
Italian		Come catturare un Rotom!
Korean		로토무 대 오박사!
Norwegian		Å fange en Rotom!
Polish		Złapać Rotoma!
Brazilian Portuguese		Pegar um Rotom!
Russian		Поймать Ротома!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Atrapa un Rotom!
	Spain	¡Atrapando a un Rotom!
Swedish		Att fånga en Rotom!
Thai		โรตอม ปะทะ ด็อกเตอร์โอกิโดะ!

← BW127 : The Island of Illusions!

Pokémon the Series: Black & White

BW129 : The Pirates of Decolore! →

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