| The Breeding Center Secret
|
そだてやのひみつ！
The Secret of the Breeding Center!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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August 6, 1998
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| United States
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May 1, 1999
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
| Animation
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Team Ota
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| Screenplay
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大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
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| Storyboard
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井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani
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| Assistant director
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井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani
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| Animation director
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志村泉 Izumi Shimura
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| Additional credits
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The Breeding Center Secret (Japanese: そだてやのひみつ！ The Secret of the Breeding Center!) is the 57th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on August 6, 1998 and in the United States on May 1, 1999.
Synopsis
Ash, Misty, Brock and Todd are taking a break in the middle of a city when they see a commercial for a Pokémon breeding center. Thinking it might be an interesting place to visit, they head off to locate it. Misty decides to drop off her Psyduck at the breeding center in order to get its eyes fixed. Ash believes that Misty is planning on leaving the Pokémon at the center, but she tells him that no matter how annoying it is, she'll keep it.
After leaving the breeding center, Todd notices a sign in a restaurant, advertising an all-you-can-eat meal for free. He believes that there is a catch, but the group heads in regardless. The owner tells the kids that he will give them a free meal if they can guess and show him his favorite Pokémon. Everyone releases all of their Pokémon, but the owner tells them none are his favorite. He then pulls out a picture of a Psyduck. Shocked, Misty asks him if the restaurant will still be open later in the evening. The owner informs her that he will be, and the group heads back to the breeding center, only to find it closed. Todd tells her they could wait until tomorrow, but Misty angrily tells him she wants to get Psyduck then and there. Snooping around the back, they find a secret entrance and walks in.
Misty and the others are shocked to discover all the Pokémon in cages. They also find a conveyor belt leading into another room. Unknown to them, Butch and Cassidy are in the other room deciding on which Pokémon to give to Giovanni. Todd takes pictures of the fake breeding center and the cages as evidence, but Butch and Cassidy see the flash, however, Ash and the others hide, and when Butch comes to investigate, Pikachu uses an electric attack from inside one of the cages, making Butch think that the flash they saw was from Pikachu's electric attack.
Then, Jessie, James, and Meowth arrive to steal the Pokémon (as Giovanni has not informed them that the breeding center was run by Butch and Cassidy, as they might screw it up), and run into Ash and the gang, and mistakenly believe that they are also trying to steal the Pokémon. However, Butch and Cassidy catch them, and Jessie recognizes Cassidy, though James doesn't. Butch and Cassidy do a Team Rocket motto. Raticate appears at the end of their motto. While they chase them around, James goes to pick up his Weepinbell that he left, only to discover that it has evolved into Victreebel, and is constantly trying to eat his head. Butch and Cassidy trap Ash, Brock, Todd, Jessie, James, Meowth, and Victreebel in cages, leaving only Misty, Pikachu, and Togepi, who escape.
Butch and Cassidy take Todd's camera and frame him, Ash, Brock, Jessie, James, Meowth, and Victreebel as burglars, and Officer Jenny arrests the seven of them. Misty goes back into the breeding center in disguise to get the camera, and Pikachu sneaks around and picks up the camera. Right when Ash and the others are put in jail, Misty shows Officer Jenny the pictures, and Ash, Brock, and Todd are cleared, and subsequently released. Together they move against Butch and Cassidy, and Pikachu fries Raticate with a Thunderbolt. Ash's Bulbasaur defeats Butch and Cassidy with its Vine Whip, and both are tied up and hauled off to jail.
Ash and the others go to the buffet, and since they have Psyduck with them they get to eat their free meal. Meanwhile, Team Rocket digs a tunnel out of jail. Ash and his friends reach a fork in the road. Ash, Misty, and Brock go on to Cinnabar Island while Todd goes the other way, to the mountains so he can take some more pictures. As Ash, Misty, and Brock walk along the road, Jessie, James, and Meowth are digging underneath them.
Major events
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Humans
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Psyduck (US and international), Victreebel (Japan)
Trivia
- This is the last episode to play the Pokérap.
- This episode is followed by different episodes between the original Japanese version and dubbed versions. The episode is followed by Riddle Me This in the original Japanese version and by Princess vs. Princess, the first episode with Pikachu's Jukebox, in the dub.
- The Psyduck-loving Chef later makes a cameo appearance in A Friend In Deed. He's the chef who mentions how a customer, (who happens to be Delia), was never able to work in the chef's area before.
- James asks Jessie who Cassidy is and if she knows her. This would later contradict the events in Training Daze where James would have known who Cassidy was because they were in a competition against each other.
- Cassidy and Butch's motto is said for the first time.
- Meowth addresses James as "James Bond" at one point.
- The book Psyduck Ducks Out is partially based on this episode.
- Brock falls in love with Cassidy at one point.
- Although the facility's facade was that of a breeding center, apparently Butch and Cassidy were evolving Pokémon deliberately, as James's Weepinbell evolved. Weepinbell evolves only by use of a leaf stone.
Errors
Jessie's missing lipstick
- When Ash and his friends and Team Rocket are asking why they are at the breeding center, Jessie has no lipstick.
- In three scenes, Jessie's earrings are turquoise.
Dub edits
- The Omurice is referred to as ice cream.
In other languages
Czech
Dutch
Finnish
European French
German
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Polish
Brazil
Portugal
Romanian
Russian
Latin America
Spain
Swedish
