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AG173

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← AG172 : Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys' Crisis! (Part 2)
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
AG174 : New Plot, Odd Lot! →
All That Glitters Is Not Golden!
AG173.png
AG173   EP447
ウソッキー！黄金伝説！？
Usokkie! Gold Legend!?
First broadcast
Japan April 20, 2006
United States November 28, 2006
English themes
Opening Battle Frontier
Ending Pokémon Go!
Japanese themes
Opening スパート！
Ending 私、負けない！～ハルカのテーマ～
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami
Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada
Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane
No additional credits are available at this time.

All That Glitters Is Not Golden! (Japanese: ウソッキー！黄金伝説！？ Usokkie! Gold Legend!?) is the 173rd episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 447th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 20, 2006, and in the United States on November 28, 2006.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
201

Blurb

Ash and May spot an amazing golden Sudowoodo at the edge of a lake, but it knocks Ash's Poké Ball away when he tries to catch it. Brock and the others don't believe it, until they reach the next town and find a saloon full of locals looking for the golden Sudowoodo. They also meet Keenan, the golden Sudowoodo's Trainer, who can't explain why it's golden or why it ran away from him. Our heroes happily decide to help Keenan find Sudowoodo, yet Keenan doesn't seem to want the help.

Team Rocket is already on the hunt, and they catch the Sudowoodo at the lake. Ash stops them just in time, but Sudowoodo won't even return to its Poké Ball and runs off again. Keenan finally explains why: he experimented on it to help it overcome its dislike of water, and that's how it became golden. He can turn it back to normal if he can get it back home—easier said than done after Sudowoodo wanders into town and ends up chased by a gold-hunting mob!

Team Rocket shows up with the Bonsai Boy robot and tries to grab Sudowoodo for themselves. Keenan throws himself in front of the robot to protect Sudowoodo, who realizes Keenan never meant it any harm. Sudowoodo uses Brick Break to wreck the robot, and Pikachu takes care of Team Rocket. After Keenan turns Sudowoodo back to normal, the treasure hunters don't even notice it since it's no longer golden. With another good deed done, our heroes continue on their way!

Plot

The group decides to stop for lunch as they make their way to the Battle Pyramid. While May and Ash volunteer to collect water, they encounter a golden Sudowoodo. Ash is intrigued, after Pikachu strikes Sudowoodo down with Thunderbolt, and attempts to capture it. The wild golden Sudowoodo, manages to block the oncoming Poké Ball. After a few moments of resistance, it forces the Poké Ball back towards Ash, striking the young Trainer in the face. Sudowoodo promptly sprints off into the distance, leaving Ash nursing his bruise.

The group wander into a nearby town looking for a restaurant after Ash and May failed to retrieve any water needed for cooking lunch. May and Ash later recount their story to Brock and Max, though they have their doubts. They soon enter a saloon-style restaurant filled with some particularly menacing patrons. May notices a poster inside advertising the next Pokémon Contest is going to be hosted in Mulberry City. As May mentions her sighting of the Sudowoodo, almost every patron inside of the establishment surrounds her demanding to know more about the Sudowoodo sighting. Everyone begins fighting over the incident as a young man motions for the group to evade the feuding patrons. Keenan rushes Ash and the others inside his home, successfully escaping the mob of people. He draws the curtains closed before revealing a photograph featuring himself alongside the mysterious golden Sudowoodo. Keenan explains that the golden Sudowoodo is his, and its special color gives it water resistance, much to May's disappointment. Max is curious as to how Sudowoodo became gold-colored. Keenan replies that he doesn’t know, though Brock suspects that it may have polished itself against rare metals like other Rock types like Onix. Ash offers to help Keenan locate his missing Sudowoodo, though he doesn’t appear all that thrilled to have the assistance. Meanwhile, having eavesdropped on the conversation, Team Rocket has also set their sights on the golden Sudowoodo.

Team Rocket is first to arrive at the lake. Jessie believes the lake water and a resident goddess may be responsible for Sudowoodo’s golden hue. She volunteers to offer Mime Jr. as tribute, though James yells at her for that. Instead, they disguise Meowth as a Sudowoodo and prepare to kick him into the lake as an offering. However, the real golden Sudowoodo bursts from the water. Meowth returns the favour, dressing Jessie in a diving suit with an attached rocket booster pack and net in hand. Jessie is unprepared as she is propelled forward, though she manages to net the golden Sudowoodo. The group and Keenan soon arrive, with Pikachu threatening Team Rocket with his sparking cheeks. James and Meowth instantly flee, fearing another blast off. Jessie, however, stands her ground. So Keenan tries to recall Sudowoodo back to its Poké Ball. The Sudowoodo dodges the red beam, and Jessie is struck instead, leaving her momentarily paralyzed in place. She soon flees like her teammates.

Ash notices that Sudowoodo doesn't seem happy to see Keenan, though he insists that it is his Pokémon. Brock calls upon Bonsly to converse with Sudowoodo. However, Sudowoodo flat out refuses to return and dashes off into the distance. Keenan begins running after Sudowoodo, but the pursuit ends after he trips over. After Keenan recovers from the fall, he manages to let slip how Sudowoodo actually managed to turn "golden". In an attempt to strengthen Sudowoodo, he performed an experiment on it, and this resulted in Sudowoodo's unusual golden color. However, Sudowoodo was less than impressed and abandoned Keenan. Ash and his friends offer their assistance, hoping to bring Sudowoodo back to Keenan's for a reversal experiment.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket has actively been tracking Sudowoodo down in their balloon. Meowth takes aim before firing several nets at Sudowoodo, driving the golden Pokémon to flee into the nearby town and saloon from earlier. The patrons look surprised doubting what they have seen. Sudowoodo begins moving backwards and rushes outside followed by the group of men. Keenan waves and motions Sudowoodo towards his location but Sudowoodo just ignores Keenan's call and heads down another street. Seeing the competition, Team Rocket takes evasive action, activating their Potted Bonsai Boy Mark 1. Sudowoodo narrowly dodges the mecha's grasp, though a water tower is consequently knocked over. Pikachu attempts a Thunderbolt, but the mecha is electric-proof. The mecha rushes forward with another attack, though Keenan intervenes with a shovel in hand. The mecha knocks him aside and preares to snatch Sudowoodo. Keenan, however, remains determined and grasps onto the mecha's legs attempting to halt its approach. Sudowoodo becomes inspired by Keenan's heroic efforts and strikes forward knocking the mecha backwards. Sudowoodo rotates forward with a final strike of Brick Break destroying the mecha. Pikachu follows with a Thunderbolt, blasting Team Rocket off.

Keenan apologizes to Sudowoodo, hugging it as he promised to revert its golden state. Keenan and others are confronted by the keen group of men once again, though manage to reach the safety of Keenan's home. Sudowoodo is placed inside of the strange machine once more and the effect is reversed returning Sudowoodo to its non-golden color. Afterwards, the group and Keenan along with Sudowoodo stroll past the prospective men with ease. Keenan is relieved that he and Sudowoodo are a team once again. He wishes May all the best with the Mulberry Contest before waving the group off.

Major events

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Pokémon

Trivia

Solana and Jack in the opening
  • Solana and Jack Walker replace the final scene in the Japanese opening. This is the first time that a movie-exclusive character has appeared in the anime.
  • I Won't Lose! ~Haruka's Theme~ replaced GLORY DAY ~That Shining Day~ as the Japanese ending theme.
  • Pokémon Symphonic Medley and the ballad version of Battle Frontier are used as background music.
  • 4Kids background music is used in this episode.
  • This is the last episode to be animation-produced by OLM Team Ota. OLM Team Iguchi would take over from New Plot, Odd Lot! until Gateway to Ruin!.
    • This is also the last episode without a credited director of the anime despite 須藤典彦 Norihiko Sudō being credited for the role in the previous two episodes as well as from the next episode onwards.
  • This episode reveals that if a human gets hit by the tractor beam that a Poké Ball creates when recalling a Pokémon into it, they will get stunned for a short period of time.
  • Jessie's fantasy comes from a Japanese tale about one throwing an object by accident and it turning into gold. There is a similar Western fairytale, where a woodsman loses his axe in a lake. The lake's spirit asks if he had lost an axe of pure silver or one of pure gold, but the woodsman says he had lost a cheap axe. He is awarded both the silver and gold axes for his honesty.
  • The English dub title of this episode is a parody on the famous phrase (which is itself a mistranslation of a line in The Merchant of Venice) "All that glitters is not gold". This reference is also made in All That Glitters!.
  • The episode's title is formatted as All That Glitters Is Not Golden on Pokémon.com, without the exclamation mark.
  • Brock's explanation of an Onix evolving into Steelix foreshadows the evolution of his Onix, which is revealed four episodes later.

Errors

  • As Ash is attempting to catch Sudowoodo, his backpack appears and disappears between shots.
  • When everyone flees into Keenan's house for the first time, the golden Sudowoodo appears on the screen for a split-second, despite not being with them at this point.
  • In the scene that shows an Onix evolving in the middle of Brock's explanation, Steelix is missing its teeth.
  • As the golden Sudowoodo is running from Brock's Bonsly, it has the colors of a normal Sudowoodo.
  • When Keenan is holding back Team Rocket's mech, his thumb partially overlaps his hair.
  • When Keenan waves goodbye for Ash and his friends, his mouth moves as if he is speaking.
  • Sudowoodo appears

    Sudowoodo appears

  • Steelix's missing teeth

    Steelix's missing teeth

Dub edits

In other languages



← AG172 : Pokémon Ranger - Deoxys' Crisis! (Part 2)
Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire
AG174 : New Plot, Odd Lot! →
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.
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