EP063

← EP062 : Clefairy Tales

Original series

EP064 : It's Mr. Mime Time →

The Battle of the Badge

EP063   トキワジム！さいごのバッジ！ Tokiwa Gym! The Last Badge!

First broadcast Japan September 17, 1998 United States September 25, 1999

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ポケモン音頭

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda Storyboard 横田和 Kazu Yokota Assistant director 大町繁 Shigeru Ōmachi Animation director たけだゆうさく Yūsaku Takeda No additional credits are available at this time.

It was originally broadcast as トキワジム！最後のバッヂ！

The Battle of the Badge (Japanese: トキワジム！さいごのバッジ！ Tokiwa Gym! The Last Badge!) is the 63rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 17, 1998 and in the United States on September 25, 1999.

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

Synopsis

Template:Incomplete synopsis The gang arrive in Viridian City. They find the gym where Ash is about to battle, just as Gary shows up bragging about having ten Badges. He enters the gym just for practice. Gary’s battle with the gym leader (also the leader of Team Rocket) Giovanni is quite easy, winning against Giovanni’s Golem and Kingler with his Nidoking and Arcanine. Then, Giovanni decides to bring out his new Pokémon. Mewtwo(in armor), and Gary is defenseless against it, as it brings chaos to the whole gym. Meanwhile, Ash carelessly flings Togepi into the air, and it lands in Team Rocket’s lap. Jessie and James struggle to capture it, and they eventually present it to Giovanni only to find Giovanni only wants rare and powerful Pokémon and Togepi doesn’t fit the bill. Ash and the others search the city for Togepi, but to no avail. They hear Togepi in the gym and open the doors. They find Togepi, as well as an unconcious Gary. Gary is terrified, as he describes this new Pokémon as truly evil.

Ash goes in to compete to be totally surprised to find the gym masters are Jessie and James, as Giovanni had to leave for an emergency. The battle is intense, as the trainer is electrically shocked as their Pokémon get hurt. The shocks bring Ash to his knees just as he sends out Pidgeotto, who beats Jessie’s Pokémon, shocking her. Meowth has a control panel to blow up the opponents’ side of the playing field, but Gary bursts in to stop him. The match finishes and Ash wins. Jessie is completely fried. Then, Togepi decides to play with the explosion controller, and accidentally sends Jessie and James flying. Gary’s cheerleaders do a cheer for Ash. Then, the group continue along. Realizing that Ash doesn’t know where the Pokémon League is, they decide to head back to Pallet to ask Professor Oak and visit home.

Major events

• Gary challenges the Viridian Gym Leader and loses to a mysterious Pokémon.
• Team Rocket temporarily become the Gym Leaders of the Viridian Gym.
• Ash earns his eight and final badge after defeating Team Rocket.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Nidoking
• Arcanine
• Machamp

TV episode debuts

• Mewtwo (in armor)

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Giovanni
• Gary
• Gary's cheerleaders
• Viridian Gym guards

Pokémon

Who’s That Pokémon?: Mr. Mime (US and international), Windie (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Pidgeotto (Ash's)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Squirtle (Ash's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Nidoking (Gary's; debut)
• Arcanine (Gary's; debut)
• Persian (Giovanni's)
• Golem (Giovanni's)
• Machamp (Giovanni's)
• Cloyster (Giovanni's)
• Kingler (Giovanni's)
• Rhydon (Giovanni's)
• Mewtwo (Giovanni's; debut; in armor)
• Fearow

Trivia

File:Mewtwo Analysis.jpg

Mewtwo's armor causing problems to the Pokédex

• Some scenes of this episode are hints to scenes from the first movie. These include the battle with Giovanni and Gary.
• Only three of Gary's badges are known: Boulder Badge, Cascade Badge, and Rainbow Badge. It is possible that Gary has also obtained the Volcano Badge, but the image isn't clear enough for an accurate identification, and the gym was destroyed before he would have had a chance (in Volcanic Panic).
• This marks the first and only time a Gym Leader refuses to give the badge to Ash despite winning the battle fair and square.
• This also marks the first time that Ash won a badge at the first attempt, and only the third time that he won a Gym badge for actually defeating the Gym Leader in a Pokémon battle.
• It's subtly hinted that Mewtwo's armor might have been interfering with the Pokédex's scanning ability. When the Pokédex was saying that the Pokémon was unknown and didn't have any available data, there was static interference on the Pokédex screen as well, which none of the other unidentified Pokémon both prior and after had.
• The episode title is a pun of "Battle of the Bulge".
• Like in Riddle Me This, Pikachu was able to defeat, or at least, injure Rhydon with a Thunderbolt attack despite the Ground-type's immunity to Electric moves.
• Mewtwo also appears as a painting on Giovanni's wall.
• This is the first time Giovanni's face is clearly seen, as it has always been in the shadows in previous episodes.

Errors

• After Gary's Arcanine defeats Giovanni's Kingler, a different perspective gives it the size of a Growlithe.

In other languages

• Finnish: Merkin herruus
• French: L'arène Team Rocket
• German: Der Kampf um den Erdorden
• Italian: L'ottava Medaglia
• Latin American Spanish: ¡La batalla por la medalla!
• Iberian Spanish: El combate de la medalla
• Brazilian Portuguese: A Batalha da Insígnia

← EP062 : Clefairy Tales

Original series

EP064 : It's Mr. Mime Time →

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