EP163

← EP162 : Type Casting

Original series

EP164 : Carrying On! →

Fossil Fools

EP163   こだいポケモンパーク！アルフのいせき！！ Ancient Pokémon Park! Ruins of Alph!!

First broadcast Japan September 7, 2000 United States September 15, 2001

English themes Opening Born to Be a Winner Ending

Japanese themes Opening OK! Ending ポケモンはらはらリレー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 冨岡淳広 Atsuhiro Tomioka Storyboard 藤本義孝 Yoshitaka Fujimoto Assistant director 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Fossil Fools (Japanese: こだいポケモンパーク！アルフのいせき！！ Ancient Pokémon Park! Ruins of Alph!!) is the 163rd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 7, 2000 and in the United States on September 15, 2001.

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

Blurb

Ash, Misty and Brock have reached the famous Ruins of Alph. Summoned there by a note from Professor Oak they join him and an old student of his, Foster in a facility for studying Pokémon fossils. Foster has made an amazing discovery, live prehistoric Water-type Pokémon thought to be extinct for thousands of years! Does their appearance have anything to do with the interrupted water flow from a nearby reservoir? Watch as our heroes find out what's fishy with the freshwater!

Plot

Ash and his friends visit the Ruins of Alph, a place where many Fossils of ancient Pokémon including Omanyte and Omastar have been discovered. Upon their arrival, the group is met by Professor Oak, who shows them around while telling them that he found out about a mysterious discovery. They meet up with Foster, a scientist and one of Oak's top students from Celadon University. He takes Oak aside and tells him that it would be dangerous if any information about the discovery would be leaked, but Oak vouches for them and their reliability. Ash notices a man washing a bone; Foster tells him that the man is removing the dirt from a Fossil they just found with a special device that uses a powerful but harmless water spray.

After determining the fragment's source, the device stops working, with Foster telling they've been having had water flow problems lately. Oak asks about the water's source and Foster answers, specifying it's a natural crystal clear water reservoir deep in the woods. The scene then turns to Team Rocket pumping the water into bottles and labeling them. Then they all daydream about what they will each do after getting rich from selling water. The pumper then stops working and the scene turns back to Oak admiring Foster's artifacts. Foster informs them that their studies have found that the first Pokémon appeared 2,000,000 years ago and all the Pokémon has its origins in the ancient seas. Misty is thrilled to hear the latter, again revealing her love for Water-type Pokémon. Then, ironically Brock drags Misty away from Foster by her ear.

In the following scene, Foster leads the gang to a forbidden entry saying it is a place 2,000,000 years in the Pokémon past. As the door opens, a robotic Aerodactyl is flying around. Foster names the place The Ancient Pokémon Study Park. It's a special interactive and unique environment that recreates the Pokémon world being set to be opened for the public next week.

They proceed to a lake where a huge statue of a Kabutops is seen preying on a fish. Then, Ash asks him about his mysterious discovery which Oak told them about. Foster tells them to wait when an Omastar and two Omanyte come out of the water. Initially, they all think the Pokémon are robots but Foster informs them that they're real. When the gang reacts to this, the Pokémon frighten up and dig in the sand.

After witnessing this, Oak reveals that it was an Omanyte who inspired him to become a professor. It all goes back when he was 6 years old and along with his class, they visited a Pokémon museum where he saw an Omanyte shell. Foster then reveals how he discovered them. He believes that their natural habitat was disturbed so they came to this Park.

The scene turns to James trying to fix the pump while Jessie and Meowth are drinking water from the bottles. While repairing the pump, he discovers an Omanyte who was jamming the pump. Then, they proceed to make plans with the Omanyte willing to search for more of them, while the scene turns back to the main characters. There, they are seen watching the two Omanyte and the Omastar on the surveillance cameras. One more Omanyte and Omastar appear, and Foster reveals that the previous ones appeared the same day they had water problems.

The door opens, and another scientist enters informing them the water has stopped flowing completely. They all agree to go to the reservoir. Outside the building Ash sends his Noctowl to scout the reservoir. The scene turns to Team Rocket where they are shown using the pump to take the Omastar and Omanyte out of the water. The scene reverts to the others who are shown to be in a SUV heading to the reservoir. Noctowl returns and Ash realizes there is something at the reservoir.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket loads their air-balloon with the Pokémon, when the others arrive. Then they start to recite the motto. Meowth explains to them how they found the Pokémon, when Oak realizes the Omanyte and Omastar from the Park came when Team Rocket started pumping the water. After Foster tells them to return the Pokémon, Jessie declines to send her Arbok and James his Weezing. Arbok proceeds to use Poison Sting and Weezing Sludge but Pikachu dodges both attacks then uses Thunderbolt followed by a Tackle which sends them into Team Rocket and blowing up the pump. Jessie and James call their Pokémon back and proceed to lift-off with the Omanyte and Omastar.

Suddenly, the balloon stops due to the overload of Pokémon. Ash sends his Noctowl again and orders him to make a hole in the balloon bringing Team Rocket down to earth. Pikachu shocks them and the Omanyte and Omastar send them blasting off with Water Gun. The scene then turns to the Omastar and Omanyte as they are returning back in the water. Then a scene is shown where the Pokémon dig a hole in the depths of the water, which leads them to a waterfall connected to a cave full of Omanyte and Omastar. Afterwards, Foster and Professor Oak bid farewell to Ash's group.

Major events

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

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

• Ash
• Brock
• Misty
• Jessie
• James
• Professor Oak
• Foster
• Researchers

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Pichu (US and international), Omanyte (Japan)

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Togepi (Misty's)
• Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
• Noctowl (Ash's; Shiny)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Omanyte (multiple)
• Omastar (multiple)
• Aerodactyl (robot)
• Kabutops (fossil)

Trivia

Recurring earthenware artifact.

A reversal of roles

• Exciting Pokémon Relay replaces Takeshi's Paradise as the Japanese ending theme.
• One of the clay artifacts that is displayed in this episode also appeared in Me, Myself and Time, over three-and-a-half years later; and again in Bucking the Treasure Trend!, over nine-and-a-half years after its original appearance in this episode.
• The Ruins of Alph in the games is entirely different and focuses on the Unown.
• Archaeology currently dates the first Pokémon at two million years ago, though a Kabutops Fossil had been discovered that is 20 to 30 thousand years older than that.
• Like life on Earth, the prevailing theory is that Pokémon life began in the sea.
• The English title is a pun on fossil fuels, a source of energy.
• In a case of role-reversal, Misty gets infatuated by someone and then, Brock drags her away by the ear.
• This episode revealed the scientific name of Kabutops, Kabutops Maximis. The only other Pokémon with a confirmed scientific name is Oddish, whose scientific name is Oddium Wanderus.
• Music from the second movie can be heard in this episode.
• The Kabutops statue shows a real-world fish in Kabutops's claws.
• In this episode, Team Rocket uses a variation of their motto.

Errors

• When Pikachu uses Tackle, his mouth moves but his voice cannot be heard.
  • In addition, Pikachu cannot even learn Tackle.
• In the dub, when Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt (and when Misty points out that the Omanyte and Omastar would get shocked as well as Team Rocket), he says, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt, Pikachu!" which is redundant as he says "Pikachu" twice in the same sentence.

In other languages

Language		Title
Bulgarian		Чудати вкаменелости
Mandarin Chinese		古代神奇寶貝公園，阿露福遺跡
Czech		Ztracený svět
Dutch		Fossielenjagers
Finnish		Fossiili herää eloon
European French		Voyage dans la préhistoire
German		Aufregende Entdeckungen
Hebrew		פוקימונים פרה-היסטורים Pokémonim pre-historim
Hindi		प्राचीन पोकेमोन Prachin Pokemon *
Italian		Jurassic Pokémon
Polish		Zagadka z przeszłości
Portuguese	Brazil	O Parque dos Pokéssauros *
	Portugal	Tolos por Fósseis
Spanish	Latin America	¡Pokémon prehistóricos!
	Spain	Locos por los fósiles
Swedish		Förhistoriska figurer

← EP162 : Type Casting

Original series

EP164 : Carrying On! →

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