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

Screenshots on Filb.de

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.

Blurb

Ash decides to join his mom and friends who are vacationing on Seafoam Island. While there, he searches out the programmer of the Pokedex to get information about the evolution of a Slowpoke. The mystery of how Slowpoke evolves into a Slowbro is surprisingly revealed when Team Rocket makes their usual bumbling interference.

Plot

Ash's mom and his 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 V, 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 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, 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

Shellder being caught

• James's Weezing is revealed to know Haze*.
• Jessie catches a Shellder, but it attaches itself to a Slowpoke and catalyzes its evolution into a Slowbro and thus leaves her.

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

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Delia Ketchum
• Giovanni
• Professor Westwood V
• Professor Westwood I, II, III, and IV (portraits only)

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 Pokémon Lecture: Alakazam
  • Pokémon senryū summary: "I want to see an Alakazam using a fork."
• Part of the lecture for this episode was used in the dub as part of the introduction to the VHS version of Mewtwo Strikes Back.
• The book Prepare for Trouble is partially based on this episode.
• Meowth imitates Moe Howard of The Three Stooges after Shellder appears and sticks out its tongue by saying "Oh, you're a wise guy, huh?"
• Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back and Pikachu's Vacation is played in the episode. However, the background music is replaced in the dub.
• The Swedish title is a reference to On the Origin of Species (Swedish translation: Om arternas uppkomst).

Errors

• Later Misty rolls the paper with Team Rocket's description, magical appear at side from Ash.
• Misty said that Psyduck used its "tail wag attack", although in multiple episodes, she says the proper name "Tail Whip".
• When Slowbro uses Amnesia, Ash and his friends are stunned and Brock says "That's supposed to make its opponents forget!" This is untrue; Amnesia only affects the user in the games.

Dub edits

• Pikachu's Jukebox: My Best Friends
• The setting of the episode is said to be the Seafoam Islands in the dub when, in actuality it is an anime-exclusive location called Binnes (ビンヌ; a reference to Cannes) in the Japanese version, which has no relation to the aformentioned game location.
• Professor Westwood is outright said to have programmed the Pokédex in the dub, when he was simply one of the people to write the devices bestiary in the Japanese version.
• James tells Weezing to use Haze in the dub. In the original, it was commanded to counterattack.

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
Danish		Gåden Om Slowpoke
Dutch		De evolutiesensatie
Finnish		Evoluutiomysteeri
European French		Le mystère de l'évolution
German		Rätselhafte Entwicklung
Hebrew		הפתרון להתפתחות hapitaron lahitpat'chut
Hindi		एक नई खोज! Ek Nayi Khoj! *
Hungarian		Miből lesz a Pokémon?
Italian		Una grande scoperta
Korean		야돈, 야도란으로 진화하다
Norwegian		Den innviklede utviklingen
Polish		Problem ewolucji
Portuguese	Brazil	A Solução da Evolução
	Portugal	A Solução da Evolução
Romanian		Soluție la Evoluție
Russian		Разгадка тайн эволюции
Spanish	Latin America	¡La solución de la evolución!
	Spain	La solución de la evolución
Swedish		Arternas uppkomst

← 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.