EP027

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Hypno's Naptime

EP027

スリーパーとポケモンがえり！？
Sleeper and Pokémon Hypnotism!?

First broadcast

Japan	September 30, 1997
United States	October 13, 1998

English themes

Opening	Pokémon Theme
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	めざせポケモンマスター
Ending	ひゃくごじゅういち

Credits

Additional credits
Animation	Team Ota
Screenplay	大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard	石山タカ明 Takaaki Ishiyama
Assistant director	井上修 Osamu Inoue
Animation director	梶浦紳一郎 Shin'ichirō Kajiura

Screenshots on Filb.de

Hypno's Naptime (Japanese: スリーパーとポケモンがえり！？ Sleeper and Pokémon Hypnotism!?) is the 27th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 30, 1997, and in the United States on October 13, 1998.

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

Blurb

Our heroes come to a town in which a great deal of children have recently turned up missing. Working together with Jenny to search for these children, they begin an investigation at the Pokémon Center, inquiring into the disappearances, but Joy has other concerns. For some reason, the Pokémon in the Center aren't getting well at all. Jenny reveals that a mysterious sleep wave has been passing in and out of the town for several days. Our heroes suspect a connection between the missing children and the Pokémon's poor condition. Team Rocket begins a sinister search of their own for the source of these strange occurrences. What could be the cause of this sleep wave?

Plot

After arriving at HopHopHop Town, Ash and his friends suddenly encounter a woman calling for her son Arnold, who embraces Ash by mistake. Once Ash clears up the misunderstanding, the group learns that Arnold, as well as many other children, have been missing for three days. Officer Jenny pulls up to add another missing child poster, and Brock immediately volunteers to help solve the mystery. Ash is reminded of his own mother and takes it upon himself to solve the mystery. The group arrives at the Pokémon Center, where Nurse Joy reveals that the Center's Pokémon lost their energy as of three days ago. She shows them a few of the Pokémon that have been affected, and even Pikachu becomes tired. Suddenly, a device on Officer Jenny's hip starts beeping. Jenny explains that she is tracking sleep waves that have appeared in the city. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is also tracking the source of the sleep waves in the hope of putting Boss to sleep so they can take a much needed vacation.

Ash and the group track the sleep waves to a rooftop mansion with a trimmed hedge garden. Ash and Brock burst through the doors. To their surprise, there is a formal gathering of well-dressed adults, and Drowzee and Hypno resting on a podium. The adults explain that their old Drowzee finally evolved to Hypno three days ago, and they have been using Hypno's sleep waves instead of sleeping pills. Finally, a man explains that they are the members of the Pokémon Lover's Club, who have all grown to love Hypno the most. Apparently, the city life is stressful on the members, and so they have turned into insomniacs. The only cure they could find was Hypno's sleep waves. However, as Brock deduces, Hypno's hypnosis is generally used on Pokémon. When altered to affect people, it has side effects that cause Pokémon to lose energy, and possibly affect particularly sensitive children. Misty, curious as to this last idea, allows herself to be hypnotized by Hypno. Hypno starts its Hypnosis and she suddenly begins acting like a Seel, and runs into a nearby park. It opens up into a clearing revealing not only Misty, but all the missing children, acting like Pokémon and Brock reiterates his theory. Officer Jenny attempts to awaken the children from their hypnosis, but it is of no use. The head of the club suggests using Drowzee's sleep attacks to induce dream wavelengths that could counteract Hypno's wavelengths.

Back at the mansion, Drowzee uses its ability to put Misty into a trance. Finally, it claps, awakening Misty from both the trance, and the hypnosis. Relieved that this solution worked, Ash carries Drowzee to take it to the clearing to cure the other children. En route, Team Rocket soars down from the sky on hang gliders, reciting their motto. On the ground, Jessie pulls out a mirror, and they try to get Hypno to hypnotize itself. Ash, with some fast thinking, throws a potted plant, smashing the mirror. Not yet finished, Team Rocket breaks out whips and snare the two Hypnosis Pokémon. Ash holds onto Drowzee while Misty uses Staryu to cut the whips. Ash calls Pidgeotto to gust Team Rocket away.

With Team Rocket out of the way, Drowzee uses its abilities to cure the children, who awaken and run home. Arnold's mother embraces her son, much to the relief and delight of Jenny, Ash, and his friends. They head back to the Pokémon Center and cure the Pokémon there. Misty wonders what they dream about, and Brock suspects they dream of getting stronger and evolving. Ash attempts to take all the credit for solving the case, though Brock and Misty quickly correct him by saying that he didn't solve anything, and that Jenny did, making Ash laugh nervously and hang his head in shame.

Nurse Joy then realizes there is one Pokémon, a Psyduck, that is still holding its head. Brock, as a Pokémon Breeder, volunteers to take it, but shortly after heading out, he sees that it might be worth too much effort and attempts to pass it off on Misty, claiming that as a Water-type Pokémon, it should go to her. Misty refuses to accept the so-called "boring" Pokémon. Ash's Pokédex reports that Psyduck always has a headache. Misty, in a fit of shock over this reveal, trips over a rock and a Poké Ball rolls out of her bag in front of Psyduck. It pecks the Ball, activates it, and is accidentally caught, much to Misty's dismay. Ash halfheartedly congratulates Misty on her capture, and when the narrator does the same, Misty explodes on him.

Major events

Psyduck being caught

Misty accidentally catches a Psyduck.

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

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Psyduck

Trivia

Psyduck inside of its Poké Ball

Two different species of real-world fish are seen in Meowth's fantasy. Ash's Pokédex also describes Drowzee as the descendant of a tapir, another real-world animal.
This episode breaks the fourth wall several times:
- Team Rocket says that they came early because of the "time constraints" on the show.
- When James asks why they didn't resort to their more useful plan right away, Jessie responds, "We have to fill a half-hour."
- Misty responds "Don't congratulate me!" when the narrator congratulates her for catching Psyduck.
One of the children hypnotized by Hypno wears an outfit similar to that of Tracey Sketchit.
This episode was partially adapted into the book Psyduck Ducks Out.
Just before Team Rocket's arrival, Ash is seen carrying Drowzee out of the mansion on his back despite Drowzee weighing 71.4 lbs. This is an example of animation physics.
This is the first episode where a Pokémon, Misty's Psyduck, was shown inside of its Poké Ball. This didn't happen again until 743 episodes later in The Light of Floccesy Ranch!.
Originally, Ash's flashback about his mom was from Beauty and the Beach; but was later changed to a clip from Pokémon - I Choose You! after the episode aired in Japan for an unknown reason. Since 4Kids! receives the version from the original airing, the Beauty and the Beach clip was carried over into the English dub, despite the episode being initially banned. This is often mistaken as a dub edit.
When Meowth goes in front of the mirror, he sings, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the sleepiest of them all," which is a reference to Snow White.
This episode was skipped in the initial rotation on the Norwegian Pokémon TV on April 1, 2016. It was later added during the rerun on August 12, 2016.
In the Japanese version, soon after Ash sees the Magikarp in the Pokémon Center, he says that it's "A Koiking on the cutting board.", which is a reference to the Japanese proverb of "a carp on the cutting board".
What James says in the Japanese version before Team Rocket blasts off is a reference to the Japanese proverb "if the wind blows the bucket makers prosper".
This episode was modified after the EP038 seizure incident. All scenes with a full-screen hypnosis effect by either Drowzee or Hypno were changed to a still image. This change affected all home releases and re-broadcasts in Japan and all international versions of the episode.

Errors

In the original broadcast of the episode, Ash's response of "Drowzee?" is missing, leaving his mouth moving without making a sound.
When Brock tells two boys to tell him everything they know, his bag is colored green like his vest instead of blue.
The rings in Nurse Joy's hair are colored in the center when they should be left clear.
When Officer Jenny says that she, Ash, and his friends should find the source of the sleep waves, her left glove is missing. This also happens to Jessie when she says that the sleep waves are coming from the town.
When Nurse Joy is holding Cubone and Oddish, the cream spot on Cubone is missing.
After Ash tells one of the Pokémon Lover's Club members to look at his Pikachu, one of Misty's suspenders is missing.
In the English dub:
- The Pokémon Fan Club is referred to by its Japanese name, the Pokémon Lover's Club.
  - Similarly, one of the club members refers to Drowzee by its Japanese name, Sleep, when mentioning it emitting dream wavelengths that could counteract Hypno's wavelengths.

Nurse Joy's hair
Officer Jenny's missing glove
Jessie's missing glove

Dub edits

Kanto Pokérap: Day 2
The writing on the posters was replaced by dots.
The exchange between Ash and Misty was a bit different between the two versions. Misty originally says that she'd better watch out for kidnappers due to her being cute. Ash acts confused, then Misty says "What?!", and Ash then grudgingly mentions that she's cute and she'd better watch out. In the English dub, this was changed to Misty mentioning that she'll be on these posters when she's a movie star, and Ash mentioning that she may be a star of horror films.
The echo in the Pokémon Center and the Pokémon Lover's Club is dub-only.
Misty asking if Officer Jenny's "Sleep Wave" detector's beep was her radio was originally supposed to be her cellphone; cellphones weren't nearly as common in America when this episode aired in English as they are today or already were in Japan back then.
A PLC member mentions in the English dub that Hypno became their favorite. Originally, he mentioned that Drowzee and Hypno were their favorites.
Brock's statement about the kids and Misty suffering from "Pokémon-itis" was originally meant to be Pokémon Gaeri (a reference to the hypnotic condition called atavistic regression).
Originally, Jessie doesn't break the fourth wall. Instead, she says that James should stop complaining.
The statements about what the kids want to be when they grow up were different between the two versions. The kids who say they wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer, fireman, and doctor originally wanted to be a Pokémon Master, pilot, and the world's best cook, respectively.
Misty's reply to Brock's statement about the Pokémon dream was originally her saying that she bets that battling, growing stronger, and evolution aren't the only things they probably dream about. In the English dub, they changed it to her saying she "gets those dreams as well".
In the scene where Misty catches Psyduck, there is a two-second shot of Misty, Pikachu, and Brock hopping sideways that was cut.

In other languages

Language		Title
Arabic		بوكيمون التنويم المغناطيسي
Mandarin Chinese		素利拍與神奇寶貝催眠 / 索利柏与神奇宝贝催眠
Czech		Hypnův spánek
Danish		Sengetid For Hypno
Dutch		De Slaapgolven van Hypno
Finnish		Hypno ja nokkaunet
French	Canada	Sommeil sur la ville
French	Europe	Sommeil sur la ville
German		Hypnos Nickerchen
Hebrew		שנתו של היפנו Shnato shel Hypno
Hindi		Hypno पोकेमोन Hypno Pokémon *
Hungarian		Hipnopokémonok
Italian		Un mistero da svelare* Un pisolino ipnotizzato*
Korean		사라진 아이들을 찾아라! salajin aideul-eul chaj-ala!
Norwegian		Hypnos hypnose* Hypnos blund*
Polish		Hypno-Pokémonowa drzemka
Portuguese	Brazil	Soneca Hipnótica
Portuguese	Portugal	Hora da Sesta do Hypno
Romanian		Ora de Somn a lui Hypno
Russian		Гипно-покемоновый сон
Serbian		Хипнова успаванка
Spanish	Latin America	¡La siesta de Hypno!
Spanish	Spain	Siesta hipnótica
Swedish		Pokémon och sömnvågorna* Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Sömnsjukan*
Turkish		Hypno'nun Uyku Saati