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EP041

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← EP040 : The Battling Eevee Brothers
Original series
EP042 : Showdown at Dark City →
Wake Up Snorlax!
EP041.png
  EP041  
おきろ！カビゴン！
Wake Up! Kabigon!
First broadcast
Japan April 23, 1998
United States October 28, 1998
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending ポケットにファンタジー
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 大橋志吉 Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
Assistant director 小川浩司 Kōji Ogawa
Animation director 志村泉 Izumi Shimura
Additional credits

Wake Up Snorlax! (Japanese: おきろ！カビゴン！ Wake Up! Kabigon!) is the 41st episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 23, 1998 and in the United States on October 28, 1998. It was initially intended to air in Japan on January 20, 1998, but was rescheduled following the EP038 incident.

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

The further you journey, the hungrier you get. On empty stomachs, our heroes' search for food brings them to a small village, but find there is no food at the bakery nor at the grocery store; even the town restaurant is out of food. Just as our hungry heroes lose the energy even to move, the town elder arrives and offers to feed them. He explains to them that a drought has made it impossible to gather a harvest in the village, but cannot explain why they suffer from drought even though it rains often. In return for the meal, our heroes follow the dry riverbed upstream, investigating the cause of the drought.

Plot

Ash and his friends are heading for another town, with Pikachu fast asleep. They run into a hippie, who plays a song on his Poké Flute that wakes up Pikachu. He then asks them for food, but they don't have any, so they continue on their way. Shortly after, Team Rocket arrives, and is rude towards the hippie when he plays them a song and asks them for food. After they walk away, he mentions that they give off bad vibes and should learn to respect their elders. Meanwhile, Ash and his friends reach a town, only to find that the local stores and restaurants have no food to sell, as there are no ingredients to cook with. The town's mayor stumbles upon them, shows them to his home, and feeds them. He tells them that the village is unable to get any food because the river has dried up, killing all the produce a fortnight ago. As a result, Ash and his friends decide to head upstream to check it out.

The group discovers a large forest of thorns and decides to crawl through it, but Misty gets scratched in the process. With the help of Ash's Bulbasaur and its Razor Leaf, they get through the thorns, only to find that the flow of the river is being blocked by a sleeping Snorlax, which is very big and weighs close to 1,000 pounds. Ash and his friends try to wake Snorlax up using an announcement speaker and moving it. Ash even attempts to catch the Pokémon, but the Poké Ball just bounces off Snorlax's belly. Soon after, Team Rocket arrives and tries to steal Snorlax, which Ash and his friends try to help them with, as it will unblock the flow of the river.

However, their attempt to steal Snorlax by attaching cables from their hot-air balloon doesn't work. Instead, Meowth and the balloon are sent crashing into the dried waterbed after the cables snap. Ash states that he didn't expect anything less than failure from Team Rocket, but his snide comment infuriates them. Further attempts to wake up Snorlax with an alarm clock and a bucket of water prove unsuccessful, so they decide to try the Sleeping Beauty approach and get a Pokémon to kiss Snorlax. After some deep thought, Misty tries to have Horsea kiss Snorlax, as Ash points out it resembles a horse. Instead, Psyduck releases itself from its Poké Ball and kisses Snorlax, blushing afterwards. Team Rocket forces Meowth to kiss Snorlax, which doesn't work either, even though Snorlax seems to flinch when this happened.

Snorlax then rolls over, revealing a card that tells them that only the beautiful music from a Poké Flute will awaken a Snorlax. Ash checks his Pokédex for details, and they remember the hippie had a Pokémon flute. They run over to him and ask him to wake up Snorlax, but Ash and his friends get into an argument with Team Rocket. Eventually, Jessie tries to attack with Arbok, but a Gust attack from Pidgeotto, which turns into a cyclone and sends the trio blasting off again. Ash and his friends then take the hippie to Snorlax, which turns out to be his. He wakes Snorlax up with his Poké Flute, but the river is still blocked. The real source of the blockage is more thorns, but they turn out to be Snorlax's favorite snack. The hungry Pokémon eats all of the thorns, successfully unplugging the river and ultimately saving the town. In honor of the group's effort, the town's mayor declares a celebratory banquet.

After eating enough food, Snorlax goes back to sleep again. Team Rocket soon realizes that they won't be able to steal Snorlax, and then Snorlax rolls over on top of them.

Major events

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?: Snorlax


Trivia

The scene where Misty was shown bleeding
  • After the hiatus caused by EP038, the show moved from Tuesday to Thursday. The original schedule was as follows:
Code English title Japanese title Planned broadcast Actual broadcast
* Holiday Hi-Jynx ルージュラのクリスマス December 23, 1997 October 5, 1998
* Snow Way Out! イワークでビバーク — October 5, 1998
EP040 The Battling Eevee Brothers イーブイ４きょうだい January 6, 1998 April 16, 1998
EP041 Wake Up, Snorlax! おきろ！カビゴン！ January 13, 1998 April 23, 1998
EP042 Showdown at Dark City たいけつ！ポケモンジム！ January 20, 1998 April 30, 1998
EP043 March of the Exeggutor Squad ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！ January 27, 1998 May 7, 1998
EP044 The Problem with Paras パラスとパラセクト February 3, 1998 May 14, 1998
EP052 Princess vs. Princess げきとう！ポケモンひなまつり March 3, 1998 July 9, 1998
EP053 The Purr-fect Hero こどものひだよ！ぜんいんしゅうごう！ May 5, 1998 July 9, 1998

Errors

  • The tune that the Hippie is playing doesn't sync up with his fingerings.
  • When the Hippie is seen playing the flute, Ash's and Misty's shoes are completely white.
  • When Ash is surprised when the Hippie tells him and his friends to leave, Pikachu's cheek pouch is missing.
  • In the shot after the title card, Ash's bag is missing.
    • Similarly, when Psyduck is sent out, Misty's bag is missing.
  • When Ash and his friends are at the bread store and Misty tilts her head and cries, her tears stream diagonally instead of vertically.
  • When Ash tells the baker that he wants some bread, the left strap on his bag is colored white instead of green.
  • When the restaurant owner turns away Ash and his friends, the Slowpoke on the restaurant's "Closed" sign is missing its ears.
  • When Brock says that the town has no food, Ash's gloves turn completely dark-green.
  • When Psyduck is sent out, its left foot is colored the same as its body.
  • When Ash mentions that he and his friends made it through the thorns, Pikachu briefly overlaps him.
  • The Pokédex says that Snorlax is a Sleepy Pokémon, not a Sleeping Pokémon.
  • When the Hippie sees Snorlax for the first time, the cream colored part of Snorlax's body changes tone as it breathes.
  • Ash's mouth can only be seen faintly when the Snorlax first wakes up and walks away.
  • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, the Pokédex says that some Snorlax weigh more than one tonne and that they eat 900 kilograms due to an incorrect conversion from pounds to grams. The latter error also occurs in the Russian dub by Pilot Studio.
  • Pikachu's missing cheek pouch

    Pikachu's missing cheek pouch

  • Ash's miscolored bag

    Ash's miscolored bag

  • Psyduck's miscolored foot

    Psyduck's miscolored foot

Dub edits

  • Kanto Pokérap: Day 1 (Version 2)
  • When Misty was shocked that there wasn't any bread left in the town, there was originally Japanese text behind her. This background was replaced in the dub.
  • The town was actually a village in the Japanese version.
  • The messages on Snorlax's card originally said "Do not wake up." and "If you need me, please wake me up with a Poké Flute."
  • In the Japanese version, James refers to Snorlax as a pop idol in his fake newscast. This comparison is not present in the English dub.

In other languages



← EP040 : The Battling Eevee Brothers
Original series
EP042 : Showdown at Dark City →
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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