| Don't Touch That 'dile
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ワカバタウン！はじまりをつげるかぜのふくまち！
Wakaba Town! The Town Where Winds Telling of a Beginning Blow!
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First broadcast
| Japan
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October 14, 1999
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| United States
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October 14, 2000
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Don't Touch That 'dile (Japanese: ワカバタウン！はじまりをつげるかぜのふくまち！ Wakaba Town! The Town Where Winds Telling of a Beginning Blow!) is the 117th episode of the Pokémon anime and the first episode of the Johto League arc. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 14, 1999 and in the United States on October 14, 2000.
Blurb
Ash begins his journey in Johto, a largely unexplored region said to be thickly populated with Pokémon entirely new to him and his friends.
Plot
Ash and his friends are walking through a foggy forest for New Bark Town in order to register for the Johto League. Ash notices a familiar tree branch and declares that they must be lost. Misty scolds Ash, and the two of them get into an argument, which Brock is forced to break up. Togepi senses something and promptly hops out of Misty's arms, prompting the others to follow. The group is startled after seeing a mysterious blue Pokémon, later revealed to be Suicune, on a formation in the middle of the lake. When Suicune notices them, it runs away. Ash tries to follow it but falls off a steep edge, and Pikachu and Togepi soon follow. Becoming alarmed by his disappearance, Misty and Brock go after Ash, but they also trip and fall. Jigglypuff walks by and seems to find it fun before sliding down the hill as well.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket is also lost in the same fog-filled forest. They become hungry and decide to run, and soon find themselves out of the forest and staring at a large building. The trio is started by a horde of Fearow and rush inside what is actually a Pokémon Lab. A voice suddenly speaks up, and the group soon finds the source, Professor Elm. He is too busy looking through his microscope to realize the visitors are Team Rocket; thinking it is Nurse Joy, he tells them to check up on his Totodile. They encounter Totodile shortly after, and it bites onto Meowth's tail and sprays a Water Gun at James's face. Posing as Nurse Joy, Jessie says she will bring Totodile back to the Pokémon Center before picking Totodile up and running out of the lab, followed by James and Meowth.
Upon reaching New Bark Town, Ash and his friends head for the Pokémon Center, but when they reach it, they are met by Nurse Joy's Chansey. She presses a button after Brock speculates on Chansey not being Nurse Joy, and a screen appears. A recording of Nurse Joy plays on the screen, saying that she is with Professor Elm and will be back by 2:00. Noting the time on the clock, Misty realizes that it is 3:30. Ash and Misty decide to sit down as they wait, though Brock is furious and demands that they go find her. However, when the three of them reach Elm's laboratory, they see police officers led by Officer Jenny surrounding the premises. Brock tries to offer Jenny a bouquet of flowers, but Misty pulls him away by his collar.
Ash, Brock, and Misty rush inside the lab and see Nurse Joy scolding Elm for being careless. Brock tries to flirt with Nurse Joy as well but is pulled away by Misty again. Ash and his friends then learn about the stolen Totodile, who was supposed to be picked up a female Trainer. They also learn about Johto's starter Pokémon. Ash mentions that he is from Pallet Town and is questioned about having met Professor Oak. Hearing this, Elm then proceeds to rant to Brock about his time as one of Oak's top students at the university while Misty and Ash play with the Cyndaquil that Nurse Joy took from Elm. After this, one of the police officers brings a plaster mold of Team Rocket's footprints. Officer Jenny's Growlithe sniffs the mold and begins to tracks down Team Rocket and Totodile.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket decides to take a break at a local park, and Jessie is furious when Totodile chomps down on her hair. Meowth goes to make a phone call to the Boss, though Jessie smacks him away with the phone booth door and claims that he would take all of the credit. While the two of them argue, James walks past them and makes the phone call. At that moment, Ash, his friends, and Officer Jenny arrive on the scene. Team Rocket recites their motto and comment that they can't return Totodile because it won't let go of Jessie's hair. Ash scolds the three for stealing a new Trainer's Pokémon, but Team Rocket is unfazed and attempts to run away. Ash then sends out Bulbasaur and has it use Vine Whip to trip Team Rocket. James has Weezing use Smokescreen, but Ash's Charizard blows the smog away.
Bulbasaur manages to pull Totodile off Jessie's hair, and the Pokémon lands in Ash's arms. As Growlithe goes in to apprehend the trio, Weezing's Sludge leaves it blinded. James uses the opportunity to call on Victreebel, who latches onto his head. Jessie resorts to using Lickitung. Ash sends out Squirtle, and its Water Gun hits Lickitung. Desperate to flee, Jessie calls out Arbok, and together with Team Rocket's other Pokémon, they attempt a group attack. Ash replies with his own group effort: Pikachu's Thunderbolt, Charizard's Flamethrower, Bulbasaur's Razor Leaf and Squirtle's Water Gun combine and send Team Rocket's Pokémon flying. To finish things off, Totodile sends Jessie, James, and Meowth on their way with a Water Gun. Officer Jenny is disappointed not to have made any arrests, but is grateful that Totodile is safe and sound.
Back at Elm's lab, Ash makes a call through to Oak. Ash speaks briefly before letting Elm talk to his former mentor. As the two Professors get deep into conversation, Nurse Joy arrives and escorts Ash and his friends to the Pokémon Center. There, she officially registers Ash for the Johto League. Ash and his friends then leave New Bark Town, unaware of Jigglypuff, who is still following after 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?: Chikorita (US and international), Fearow (Japan)
Trivia
- OK! replaced The Rivals as the Japanese opening theme.
- Meowth's Party replaced Riding on Lapras as the Japanese ending theme.
- This episode marks the start of Generation II in the anime.
- The Japanese title of the episode is a reference to the slogan of New Bark Town.
- On home media releases of Pokémon: The Johto Journeys, this episode is considered the season premiere. However, on televised airings, that title goes to The Pokémon Water War.
- The English dub of this episode first aired exactly one year after the original version.
- This episode's English dub title is a reference to the advertising slogan "don't touch that dial!"
- Pokémon Johto replaces Pokémon World as the English dub opening theme.
- This is the only time that the first episode of a region aired before the game the region corresponds to was released in Japan; Pokémon Gold and Silver were not released in Japan until more than a month after this episode's first airing.
- Coincidentally, this is the only time that music from a new generation premieres after the opening episode of its respective region. Instead, the music debuts in Spinarak Attack, the first episode to air after the release of Gold and Silver in Japan.
- This episode is featured on Volume 16: Totodile from Viz Media's Pokémon All-Stars series, and Pokémon All-Stars: Totodile from Magna Pacific's Pokémon All-Stars series.
- This episode was partially adapted into the book Go West, Young Ash.
- When Professor Elm talks to Professor Oak, he mentions an article in a magazine called National Pokégraphic, which is a reference to the real-life magazine National Geographic.
- This episode marks a rare instance in which Team Rocket's Pokémon blast off before Team Rocket themselves. It is also the first time where they are marked as individual twinkling stars as opposed to a single one after blasting off.
- In the Finnish dub, the first eight episodes of the third season had rather poor sound mixing, as some of the lines were too loud and the others were fairly quiet, and the English dub soundtrack may be silently audible in the background.
- Music from Pikachu's Vacation and Mewtwo Strikes Back is used in this episode.
Errors
- When James tries to make a phone call, his glove disappears momentarily.
- Towards the end, when Ash's Pokémon all attack at once, Bulbasaur uses Razor Leaf, but the sound for Vine Whip can be heard.
- When the plaster cast is made of Team Rocket's footprints, the prints are indents in the plaster, when really they should be protruding from the cast.
- In the scene where all of Ash's Pokémon defeat Team Rocket, Charizard's wings are completely orange. In the next scene, they are back to normal.
- In the European Portuguese dub, when Ash is naming the Kanto starters, he says Charizard instead of Charmander.
- In the Dutch dub, Jessie calls her Lickitung "Lickingtung".
Dub edits
- Pokémon Karaokémon: You & Me & Pokémon
- Misty's claim that they may find another Pokémon like the one they saw in the woods was originally her wondering what the Pokémon was.
- Ash asking about an entrance fee for the Johto League was in the dub only.
- Professor Oak's "They always call in the middle of my soap operas" line was originally just him saying, "Hello, this is the Oak Laboratory."
- The dub omitted Professor Elm's mention that the starter trio Ash had with him are given out in Pallet Town.
- Ash mentioning Gary Oak was dub-added.
- The English dub implies that the Trainer that Totodile will receive is female, whereas the Japanese version doesn't state the gender of the Trainer picking up Totodile. Interestingly, later in the anime, a female Trainer named Marina is seen with a Totodile that she received from Professor Elm.
- Originally, Professor Elm doesn't specify when Totodile's Trainer would show up.
- In the English dub, Misty reveals that Ash slept in until 4:00 PM in the first episode, while Misty doesn't specify any time in the original version.
In other languages
Bulgarian
Czech
Dutch
Finnish
European French
German
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Italian
Polish
Brazil
Portugal
Romanian
Latin America
Spain
Swedish
