EP066

← EP065 : Showdown at the Po-ké Corral

Original series

EP067 : The Pi-Kahuna →

The Evolution Solution

EP066   ヤドンがヤドランになるとき When Yadon Becomes Yadoran

First broadcast Japan October 15, 1998 United States October 2, 1999

English themes Opening Pokémon Theme Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ニャースのうた

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

The Evolution Solution (Japanese: ヤドンがヤドランになるとき When Yadon Becomes Yadoran) is the 66th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 15, 1998 and in the United States on October 2, 1999.

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

Synopsis

Ash’s mom and friends are going to go to the Seafoam Islands. Misty and Brock are going to go surfing. Ash goes to Professor Oak’s lab to discover that Oak is trying to find out why Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro. Professor Oak suggests that Ash go to the Seafoam Islands to meet Professor Westwood, the original creator of the Pokédex who would know the answer.

Happy to have an excuse to go to the beach, Ash and Pikachu head to the Seafoam Islands. Ash arrives and surprises Brock and Misty, who are riding on sailboards. They walk to Westwood’s lab and discover that he is actually the fifth of many Westwoods, and insists on being called that. He happens to also be trying to figure out the mystery of Slowpoke and Shellder. Westwood goes outside to fish, trying to understand Slowpoke. Ash and his friends examine Slowpoke sitting next to them. Psyduck comes out of its Poké Ball and talks to the Slowpoke. After what seems to be some random, unintelligent conversation, a Krabby comes out the the water. It first grabs onto Slowpoke's tail, and then Psyduck's, leaving it in great pain jumping up and down. The team decides to go have some lunch for a break.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket's Boss is taking a vacation on the beach and making Jessie and James dig for clams. Upset that they cannot take a break, James digs up a Shellder and decides to try to capture it. James calls out Weezing and defeats the Shellder with Haze, but Jessie steps up to capture it. They go to the boss, but he is annoyed with them as usual. He orders them to steal all the Pokémon from Westwood's lab. The Team Rocket members arrive in a parasail and startle everyone, especially Professor Westwood, who tries to escape. They find that the only Pokémon Professor Westwood has is a Slowpoke. Westwood tries to run away with his Slowpoke, but Team Rocket catches up and sends out the Shellder to make it evolve into Slowbro. They have a hard time with it, and it accidentally clamps onto Psyduck’s tail instead. Jessie gets mad and throws the Shellder again, but it clamps onto Psyduck's head this time, giving it a major headache.

Psyduck, now much more powerful because of its headache, uses Disable to stop everyone and causes Team Rocket to fly off into the distance with Confusion. As Slowpoke walks toward Psyduck to say thanks, it trips and Shellder clamps onto its tail, evolving it. Team Rocket runs back to grab Slowbro, but it uses Mega Punch, causing Team Rocket to blast off again. Westwood figures out why Slowpoke evolves, which is because both Pokémon benefit: Shellder balances Slowpoke so it can use Mega Punch, and Shellder gains land transportation on Slowpoke’s tail. The episode ends as Psyduck goes to say goodbye to Slowbro, though it only looks like meaningless conversation.

Major events

• James's Weezing is revealed to know Haze.
• Jessie catches a Shellder, but it merges with a Slowpoke and evolves into a Slowbro and leaves her.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Delia Ketchum
• Professor Westwood V
• Giovanni

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Raichu (US and international), Slowbro (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Shellder (Jessie's; new; evolves with Slowpoke; leaves)
• Weezing (James's)
• Persian (Giovanni's)
• Mr. Mime (Delia's, Mimey)
• Slowpoke (Professor Westwood V's; evolves)
• Slowbro (Professor Westwood V's; newly evolved)
• Krabby
• Magikarp

Trivia

• Professor Oak's lecture:
  • Pokémon senryū summary: I want to see, an Alakazam using a fork.
• Part of Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture for this episode was used in the dub as part of the introduction to the VHS of Mewtwo Strikes Back.
• Giovanni references the time that Mewtwo destroyed the Team Rocket Base.
• The book Prepare for Trouble is based on this episode.
• Meowth may be imitating Moe Howard from The Three Stooges after Shellder appears and sticks out its tongue: "Oh, you're a wise guy, huh?"
  • If this is correct, this is the second time the anime has made an allusion to the Stooges; the first time was in The Flame Pokémon-athon!.
• Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back and Pikachu's Vacation is played in the episode. However, the BGM is replaced in the dub.

Errors

• In the beginning of the scene where Giovanni is yelling at Jessie and James, he is barefoot. He is shown later in that same scene with blue sandals on.
• Meowth calls Shellder a "crummy crustacean". This was probably done for effect, as to make an alliteration; Shellder is the "Bivalve Pokémon," and therefore a mollusk if applying real world taxonomy.
• Shellder was knocked out by James's Weezing's Haze attack. In the games, Haze does no damage and therefore couldn't replicate this effect.
• When Slowbro uses Amnesia, Ash and co. are stunned and Brock says "That's supposed to make its opponents forget!" This is not actually true, as Amnesia affects the user only in the games as well.
• Professor Westwood V says Shellder clamps onto Slowbro's tail, when it actually clamps onto Slowpoke's tail and then evolves into Slowbro.

In other languages

Language		Title
Bulgarian		Еволюционното Решение
Mandarin Chinese		當呆呆獸變成呆河馬的時候
Czech		Tajemství vývoje
Dutch		De Evolutie Sensatie
Finnish		Evoluutiomysteeri
European French		Le mystère de l'évolution
German		Rätselhafte Entwicklung
Hebrew		הפתרון להתפתחות hapitaron lahitpat'chut
Hungarian		Miből lesz a Pokémon?
Italian		Una grande scoperta
Portuguese	Brazil	A Solução da Evolução
	Portugal	A Solução da Evolução
Russian		Разгадка тайн эволюции
Spanish	Latin America	¡La solución de la evolución!
	Spain	La solución de la evolución

← EP065 : Showdown at the Po-ké Corral

Original series

EP067 : The Pi-Kahuna →

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