EP043

← EP042 : Showdown at Dark City

Original series

EP044 : The Problem with Paras →

The March of the Exeggutor Squad

EP043   ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！ Nassy Squad Big March!

First broadcast Japan May 7, 1998 United States October 30, 1998

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ポケットにファンタジー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda Storyboard 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Animation director 山本郷 Gō Yamamoto Additional credits

The March of the Exeggutor Squad (Japanese: ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！ Nassy Squad Big March!) is the 43rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on May 7, 1998, and in the United States on October 30, 1998.

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

Synopsis

The gang find themselves in town on the same day as a carnival. Brock and Ash change into funny outfits and start dancing. Misty and Pikachu, embarrassed, walk away and go on some rides and eat ice cream, then notice a woman shouting at a man with an Exeggcute. The woman hits the man and says goodbye. Misty asks the man if everything is alright and he asks her if she'll be his assistant for his magic show, since his previous assistant just quit. He introduces himself as Melvin and conjures some flowers and flags. Misty agrees to help him, but just this once. Misty is forced to wear a leotard with Goldeen fins on it and is embarrassed, but luckily only four people showed up. Unfortunately, Ash and Brock arrive and Ash laughs at her. Melvin then starts to juggle his Exeggcute and everyone, even Misty, think it's boring. Then Melvin pulls out a wand and a tiny flame comes out. The crowd then falls back and say things like "That was pathetic!" He tries again, and a huge jet of flame comes out. Misty tells him to be careful, but he's so thrilled that it actually worked that he doesn't listen to her and the sprinklers go off. Melvin is fired and wants to give up all his dreams, but Ash and co. give him some tips. Ash does his own trick involving a "magic" box with fire, water, and electricity coming out, but it really just contains Charmander, Squirtle, and Pikachu, who get into a fight inside the tiny box. Ash says that Melvin's Exeggcute doesn't do much, so it uses Hypnosis on him. Brock and Misty wonder why Ash is acting so dopey, especially after he follows Melvin's command and spins in circles while acting like a Bulbasaur. After that Melvin commands Ash to pull him into the Leaf Forest. Team Rocket sees Melvin and Ash and starts to follow them. Misty then realizes that Ash was hypnotized. The Leaf Forest is full of Exeggutor, which Melvin has Ash weaken. He then catches the entire mob. Team Rocket make an entry and say their motto, then tie Melvin up. His Exeggcute starts to evolve, and uses Hypnosis on Team Rocket. The other Exeggutor copy this and end up hypnotizing each other, causing them to go on a rampage toward the town. Brock and Misty show up and wake up Ash and Melvin, who were trampled by the marching Exeggutor. Ash is no longer hypnotized. The four of them head for town, where they see that the carnival has been almost entirely destroyed, and the Exeggutor mob is coming back. The carnival owner tells them that he's planted a time bomb so that when the Exeggutor come back, they'll be blown up. Ash, Brock, and Misty are of course opposed to this, so they decide to try to stop the Exeggutor before they reach the bomb. They try both Squirtle and Bulbasaur, but neither do much. Then Ash sends out Charmander, whose fire attacks successfully stop some of the Exeggutor. However, it quickly becomes exhausted, and the Exeggutor keep coming. Misty tries to convince Melvin to use his fire trick to stop the Exeggutor, and although he's positive he'll fail, he tries anyway. It works, and together with Charmander, they stop the Exeggutor. Suddenly, Charmander evolves into Charmeleon. The gang continue on their journey.

Major events

• Ash's Charmander evolves into a Charmeleon.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Charmeleon (Ash's)

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Melvin

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?: Exeggcute

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Charmander (Ash's; evolves)
• Charmeleon (Ash's; newly evolved, debut)
• Squirtle (Ash's)
• Exeggcute (Melvin's; evolves)
• Exeggutor (Melvin's; newly evolved)
• Exeggutor (Melvin's; multiple; new)

Pokémon seen at the carnival:

• Venusaur (living debut)
• Butterfree
• Oddish
• Machoke
• Bellsprout
• Ponyta
• Dodrio
• Chansey

Trivia

• This is the last episode to air in syndication in the US. Due to this, there was a near four month gap between this episode and The Problem with Paras as a result of Pokémon being moved to the Kids' WB! lineup.
• Early in the episode, Ash and Brock are wearing party outfits. Brock's outfit, which has pink frills for the sleeves and the cuffs of the pants, has large similarities to his future Takeshi's Paradise outfit, including the maracas he holds. The outfit from this episode thus may have served as inspiration for the later outfit.
• This is the first episode in which one of Ash's Pokémon evolves in the same episode as another character's Pokémon.
• This episode is featured on the Volume 9: Charmander copy of Pokémon All-Stars.

Errors

• When Exeggcute evolved into Exeggutor, it was without the aid of a Leaf Stone and the upper lip of the head on the far right wasn't fully colored in.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		椰蛋樹軍團大前進 / 椰蛋树军团大前进
Czech		Pochod Exeggutorů
Dutch		Op de Loop voor de Exeggutor Bende
Finnish		Exeggutorit vauhkona
European French		Un Pokémon tout n'oeuf
German		Angriff der Kokowei
Hebrew		שעטת האקזקיוטורים she'atat haExeggutorim
Hungarian		A nagy Exeggutor-menet
Italian		Il mago Melvin
Portuguese	Brazil	A Marcha dos Exeggutors
	Portugal	A Marcha dos Exeggutors
Russian		Марш Экзегуторов
Spanish	Latin America	¡La marcha del escuadrón Exeggutor!
	Spain	¡La marcha del escuadrón Exeggutor!
Swedish		Trollkarlen Melvin

← EP042 : Showdown at Dark City

Original series

EP044 : The Problem with Paras →

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