EP090

← EP089 : Shell Shock!

Original series

EP091 : Bye Bye Psyduck →

Stage Fight!

EP090   おどる！ポケモンショーボート！ Dance! Pokémon Showboat!

First broadcast Japan April 1, 1999 United States February 12, 2000

English themes Opening Pokémon World Ending

Japanese themes Opening ライバル！ Ending タイプ・ワイルド

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda Storyboard 葛谷直行 Naoyuki Kuzuya Assistant director 井上修 Osamu Inoue Animation director 梶浦紳一郎 Shin'ichirō Kajiura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Stage Fight! (Japanese: おどる！ポケモンショーボート！ Dance! Pokémon Showboat!) is the 90th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on April 1, 1999 and in the United States on February 12, 2000.

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

Blurb

Ash, Misty, and Tracey buy tickets to the Pokémon Showboat, a wonderful carnival where Pokémon can speak and perform plays! A young actress from the performance has been having problems with her Raichu ever since it shocked her early in their relationship. Ash and Pikachu may be able to help. Of course, they'll have to deal with Team Rocket first, as they attempt to steal all the talking Pokémon.

Plot

As they continue exploring the Orange Archipelago, Ash and his friends they stumble upon a floating theater called the Pokémon Showboat, where all of the actors, singers, and dancers are Pokémon. The three of them decide to see the show and enter the paddle steamer boat. They watch as Abra referees a boxing ring match between Hitmonchan and Machoke while Clefable watches. As the show comes to an end, Ash says that he guesses there are more Pokémon than just Meowth who can talk.

Suddenly, Togepi wanders off behind the stage. The others run after it and find out that the Pokémon in the performance were lip-syncing to human voice actors hidden backstage. A young actress named Kay appears and yells at the group to be quiet. As the performance ends with the Pokémon dancing on stage, Roger, a voice actor, asks Kay to send her Raichu out to the stage to dance with the other Pokémon. Raichu then appears from behind a box, but when Kay asks it to perform, it sits there sadly and refuses. Ash's group and the voice actors then sail to the next island, Kinnow Island. Ash thanks Roger for taking them along and asks if there is anything they could do in return. He replies that he would like Ash to teach Kay some pointers on how to become closer with her Raichu. Meanwhile, Team Rocket are pursuing the vessel in their Magikarp submarine and plot on stealing the performing Pokémon.

Back on the floating theater, Ash is trying to teach Kay how to get along with her Pokémon. He asks her to show him a performance with her and Raichu, which she does, but Raichu continues to do nothing. Ash then tries to give Raichu some words of encouragement but ends up getting shocked in the process. Later on, Ash tries to talk to Kay about Raichu. Kay blames herself for Raichu not wanting to perform. She explains that when she first met Raichu, the Electric-type approached her, and in its excitement, it nearly shocked her. Kay reacted instinctively and threw Raichu off her and into some crates. Since then, Raichu was too nervous to perform with Kay because it could sense Kay's fears of being shocked again.

Just then, Team Rocket fires two torpedoes at the paddle steamer, which sends Raichu flying into Kay's arms. Raichu starts to shock Kay, but she reassures it, saying that it was okay and that she isn't afraid of being shocked anymore. Team Rocket then appears on the boat. Ash tries to stop them, but Roger insists they comply to avoid destroying the Pokémon Showboat. With everyone tied up, Team Rocket goes to steal the performing Pokémon. As they do, Meowth notices Raichu crying and threatens it, only to get shocked instead. Hitmonchan attempts to intimidate Meowth and James, but upon noticing Roger's eye movements, it pretends to agree with James.

The voice actors manage to get up, even with the ropes still around them, and distract Team Rocket by voicing over their Pokémon. The trick works, and Team Rocket is convinced; Meowth even sympathizes with them, knowing the struggle that talking Pokémon face. The trio soon finds themselves surrounded and are intimidated by the Pokémon's tough talk. Hitmonchan uses Fire Punch and burns James' face. James angrily sends out Victreebel, only for him to get devoured by it. Jessie then sends out James's Weezing and orders a Smokescreen, which chokes everyone on the ship, except for Ash and his friends, who break free from the ropes. James calls back Weezing and the smoke disperses. Ash and Tracey then confront Team Rocket with Pikachu and Marill. Meanwhile, the voice actors have broken free and Kay rushes over to her cowering Raichu. Everyone watches on in amazement as Kay then teams up with her Raichu and uses Mega Punch to blast Team Rocket off the boat.

As the boat stops at another island and prepares for the next show, Ash takes the time to call Professor Oak on the video-telephone about the floating theater. Just then, Kay runs out of the boat and informs Ash that Roger cannot perform in the show because he lost his voice from Team Rocket's earlier Smokescreen. Kay fills in for Roger's part, while Ash, his friends, and their Pokémon join the stage performance.

Major events

• Tracey's Marill uses Water Gun for the first time.

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

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Misty
• Tracey
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Roger
• Kay
• Len
• Anne

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

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

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Squirtle (Ash's)
• Staryu (Misty's)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Marill (Tracey's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Victreebel (James's)
• Raichu (Kay's)
• Clefable (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)
• Abra (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)
• Machoke (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)
• Hitmonchan (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)
• Chansey (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)
• Mr. Mime (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)
• Jynx (Roger, Kay, Len, or Anne's)

Trivia

Jynx's foot

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture:
  • Pokémon senryū summary: Free, Free; a freely flying Butterfree.
• This episode aired on the second anniversary of Pokémon - I Choose You!
• This episode's English dub title is a reference to the popular saying “stage fright".
• The first lines of the poem that Kay recites are from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
• The scene where Hitmonchan and Machoke were fighting each other references the Rocky movies.
• When Ash helps with the performance at the end of the episode, he remarks, "It's kinda hard to match the lip flaps, isn't it?" This is a reference to "lip-flap," which is a problem faced by production companies such as 4Kids when dubbing anime.
• When Victreebel bites down to James's head, Jessie calls James's Weezing out instead of him and tells it to use Smokescreen.
• In the last scene where all of the Pokémon are dancing, Aim to Be a Pokémon Master was played in the background. In the English version, Pokémon World was played.
  • The dancing scene has Jynx's feet seen for the first and only time.
• This is the first episode since its debut where Ash's Lapras does not appear.
• Despite the fact that both the preceding and succeeding episodes are included, this episode was missing from Netflix when S02 was still available on Netflix, likely because of its depiction of Jynx. It was also excluded from Pokémon TV. When the episode still had a presence on Pokémon.com before April 2013, the synopsis lacked pictures of Jynx.
  • It is also removed from the re-release of the Orange Islands DVD box set.
  • In addition, it was skipped by Hungama TV and Disney XD in India and was replaced by Bound For Trouble.
• The Pokémon Junior book Raichu Shows Off follows the plot of this episode.

Errors

• In the scene where Raichu shocks Meowth, Meowth's Japanese voice can be heard in the English version.
• At one point during the dancing scene, Jynx's feet are colored in red.
• When Pikachu uses Thunder, he used Thunder Shock instead.

Dub edits

• Pikachu's Jukebox: What Kind of Pokémon Are You?
• In the original version of the episode, Kay and Ash voiced over Raichu and Pikachu, respectively, using their normal voices. In the dubbed version, they used higher pitched, comedic voices.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		跳吧！神奇寶貝豪華友輪
Czech		Zápas na plovoucím divadle
Dutch		The Show Must Go On!
European French		Un combat théâtral
German		Theater, Theater...
Hebrew		קרב במה Krav bama
Hungarian		Ősbemutató
Italian		Tutti in scena
Norwegian		Scenekamp
Polish		Walka na scenie!
Portuguese	Brazil	Uma Briga Teatral!
	Portugal	Lutem no Palco!
Romanian		Luptă de Scenă
Russian		Битва на сцене
Spanish	Latin America	¡Lucha en el escenario!
	Spain	Lucha escénica
Swedish		Teaterbåten

← EP089 : Shell Shock!

Original series

EP091 : Bye Bye Psyduck →

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