| Beauty and the Beach
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アオプルコのきゅうじつ
Holiday at Aopulco
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First broadcast
| Japan
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July 29, 1997
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| United States
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June 24, 2000
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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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園田英樹 Hideki Sonoda
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| Storyboard
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鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
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| Assistant director
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鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
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| Animation director
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酒井啓史 Keishi Sakai
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| Additional credits
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Beauty and the Beach (Japanese: アオプルコのきゅうじつ Holiday at Aopulco) is the 18th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on July 29, 1997 and in the United States as a "lost episode" special on June 24, 2000.
Synopsis
Ash and his friends have finally arrived in Porta Vista, a beachside tourist town. Wasting no time, Ash, Brock and Pikachu change into swimsuits and jump into the ocean. Misty arrives a few minutes later, also in a swimsuit, and Ash and Brock stare at her. She asks why they're looking at her, and Ash cracks that It's unusual to see you looking like a girl! .This earns him a beach ball to the face by an angry Misty.
Team Rocket, still using their Gyarados submarine, spy on beachgoers from their vantage point underwater. They decide to steal the money of the wealthy tourists. Suddenly, Jessie notices a speeding boat heading in their direction. The boat is piloted by Brock, who thought Ash borrowed it because Pikachu was on the boat. The boat collides with the sub and eventually crashes into a dock. Moe, the owner of the boat, comes out to survey the damage. Ash, Brock and Misty volunteer to work to help pay the cost of repairing the boat and the dock. Moe agrees to this.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket's sub has washed up onto a private beach and they're greeted by a woman named Brutella. James asks if they can work for her restaurant to help pay for repairs to their sub, and she agrees. Later, it's revealed that both Moe and Brutella are restaurateurs and rivals. For a while, Brutella's restaurant has more customers and Team Rocket taunts Ash and his friends over this. Ash decides to have his Pokémon help out as well. Squirtle and Pikachu are told to hand out fliers advertising Moe's; Pidgeotto and Charmander are to help keep the grill going in the kitchen, and Bulbasaur is assigned to help Misty do her waitress duties. This works well until Meowth sabotages everything (sending fliers flying, spraying oil on the stove, and throwing banana peels on the floor to trip up Misty and Bulbasaur), causing the crowd to leave Moe's restaurant for Brutella's. Ash apologizes for messing everything up.
Brutella arrives with Team Rocket a few minutes later and tells Moe that he needs to pay her the money he owes her. If he's unable to pay by the next day, she'll take his boat as payment. Moe is despondent, as he doesn't think he'll have the money by then. He explains that he'd planned to take a world cruise in his boat. Ash encourages him not to give up on his dream.
Then, two familiar faces appear: Professor Oak and Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum. Ash is surprised to see both of them. Professor Oak explains that the Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest is set to start shortly, and he suggests handing out fliers to the audience. He also suggests that Misty enter and (hopefully) win some prize money to help out Moe. Ash sends out Pidgeotto, who blankets the beach and town with fliers. Soon, Moe's restaurant is full again, much to Brutella's dismay.
As the contest begins, Moe sits with Delia and Professor Oak. He explains how Ash encouraged him not to give up on his dream. Delia says that she and the professor are in town with the Pallet Town Volunteer Patrol. The contest begins, with Brock as emcee. Misty is the first contestant, and she uses her Starmie and Ash's Squirtle to form a UFO. Team Rocket's Ekans and Koffing are next, and they're costumed as an Omastar. They're kicked off the stage by Gary Oak and his cheerleaders, who are apparently the next contestants. Gary grabs the microphone from Brock and insults Ash, who jumps out of his seat and heads for the stage.
Meanwhile, Brutella tells Jessie and James that she knows they're Team Rocket members and that she's fixed their submarine. She blackmails them into stopping the contest and destroying Moe's restaurant so that the audience will come to her restaurant instead. Jessie tells Brutella that they can destroy things without even trying.
Back onstage, Ash challenges the always-cocky Gary to a battle, but Gary refuses, stating that he doesn't want to battle an amateur trainer. Brock steps between the two rivals before Ash's anger gets the best of him. Just then, the Gyarados submarine explodes from the water, causing panic. People run away, thinking that it's a real Gyarados on a rampage. Ash grabs the microphone and tells the remaining frightened audience members that it's a mecha, not a Pokémon. Team Rocket then fires a heat-seeking missile from the sub. Under Gary's skeptical eye, Ash sends out Pidgeotto and Charmander. Charmander's Flamethrower attack hits the missile, which turns and changes course: straight for the submarine! Team Rocket pedal furiously to get away, but they crash into Brutella's restaurant, which is then destroyed by the missile.
Ash and his friends say farewell to Moe, who is heading off on his long-awaited cruise. Ash also says goodbye to Professor Oak and his mother, who is holding a trophy inscribed with the words: "First Place in Our Hearts: Ash Ketchum."
Major events
- Misty and Brock meet Gary*
- Ash wins the Beauty Contest *
- Delia takes possession of the Beauty Contest's trophy *
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who’s That Pokémon?: Pidgeotto (US and international) Brutella (Japan)
Trivia
The infamous scene cut from the dub
Another shot cut from the dub
- Of the four banned episodes that have aired on Japanese television, this is the first one that was banned in all countries outside of Asia.
- The reason why the episode is banned was because there is a scene halfway in when James crossdresses and wears inflatable breasts for a beauty contest. Although intended for comic effect, the nature of the scene caused so much controversy that the whole episode was banned for almost 3 years, until it was aired as an edited version titled "The Lost Episode" in 2000. The ending of this episode was shown as a flashback in the dub of Hypno's Naptime, even during which time this episode was, and still is, banned.
- This episode marks the first chronological appearance of Team Rocket's Gyarados submarine.
- This episode, along with The Psychic Sidekicks and The Fortune Hunters, has never been released on VHS and DVD.
- After premiering on June 24, 2000, this episode was rerun only on August 18, 2000 and then never shown again in the United States.
- This episode was not dubbed when Nathan Price was voicing Meowth, so it is chronologically the first episode in which Maddie Blaustein provides his voice.
- This episode's dub title is a reference to the fairytale, Beauty and the Beast. It shares this trait with the episode Beauty and the Breeder.
- This episode shares its dub title with a Nintendo Comics System story of the same name.
- Misty's beach ball appears similar to a Master Ball.
- Contrary to popular belief, Delia does not win the Beauty contest in either version, as she never entered. The winner of the contest is actually unknown and unspecified.
- Of all banned episodes, this is the only one that was intended to be skipped completely by 4Kids, and ironically, was the only one that eventually made it to the air.
- It is also the episode which has the dubious honor of having the longest time between its original Japanese airing and its first dub airing, at nearly three years.
- Prof. Oak wears the same pineapple-print shirt on In The Shadow of Zekrom! episode.
Errors
- In the English dub, Brock mistakenly calls Misty's Starmie a Staryu.
- Meowth's paw is seen with pads when talking to Jessie about fixing the Gyarados Submarine. Meowth in general are not usually seen as having this body feature.
- When Ash calls out Pidgeotto and Charmander, Charmander's tail-flame is in front of Pidgeotto's foot, even though Charmander is behind Pidgeotto.
- When Ash calls out all of his Pokémon, Butterfree is strangely absent, even though he said "I choose everybody!"
Dub edits
- In the English version, Moe tells Misty that she reminds him of his granddaughter, while as in the Japanese version, he thinks about "having fun" with her when she's eight years older.
- Ash and Brock were inviting everyone to have peculiar dishes such as French-fried flounder, seven-layered crab cakes, squid on a stick, and clam-juice snow-cones in the dubbed version. In the original, they only invited everyone to have ramen and shaved-ice and to take a break from the sun.
- The term "Oil" on the oil barrel that Meowth is pumping into the restaurant is edited out.
- Brock's mention of the "$1,000 prize for the winner of each category" is dub added.
- James was wearing an inflatable bikini. This scene, which caused the episode to be banned for almost three years for being unable to get past the censors, was cut completely from the dub.
- In one of the cut-out scenes, James says to Misty, "When you're older, you'll have a chest like this".
- After Misty finishes her turn at the contest, the next footage shows James showing off his inflatable bikini. Then, their Pokémon posing as an Omastar comes on stage. Only the Pokémon were seen in the dub.
- After Brock comments about Gary's cheerleaders, Jessie and James, with the bikini still on are seen fuming before being pulled aside by Brutella. In the dub, this scene skips and goes straight to their conversation with Brutella.
- Even though it was a first season episode, "Pokémon World" was used instead because of the premiere timing. Also, during the part where fliers for the contest was shown, the theme was played in the background. This may suggest that this episode was a special for the Orange Islands dub rather than an actual episode itself.
- This is one of the few occasions where the Japanese writing on signs and fliers is not painted out in the American version.
- James's response to Brutella's command to destroy Moe's restaurant is different between the two versions. Originally, James says "We'll go through the fire and through the water!", which is also the first line in Aim to Be a Pokémon Master. In the dub, he says "You can count on us! Destroying things is our specialty!"
- In the original scene where Jessie retakes command of the Gyarados submarine, she uses the "-baba" suffix, a normal trademark of the hag, by accident. Because Brutella doesn't use that term in the dub, the scene is rewritten to simply have Brutella's raspy voice rubbing off on Jessie instead.
- In the Japanese version, no winner is specified, and it's implied that Delia was only holding on to it for the winner. In the dub, Ash is the winner, being awarded for saving the contest from Team Rocket and Brutella. The move makes sense, as it saves Ash from having to carry it around while on his journey
In other languages
Dutch
European French
Brazilian Portuguese
