EP245
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Will the Real Oak Please Stand Up?
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Will the Real Oak Please Stand Up? (Japanese: にせオーキド！？ ポケモンせんりゅうたいけつ！！ Fake Okido!? Pokémon Senryū Confrontation!!) is the 245th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 25, 2002, and in the United States on September 27, 2002.
Blurb
Hearing of the posh reception prepared for the host and guest of a radio show to be recorded before a live audience, Jessie and James of Team Rocket quickly announce that they are in fact the long-awaited celebrities. Their mastery of disguise is soon put to the test, as it turns out that the guest in question is to be none other than Professor Oak. James quickly rises to the occasion, creatively answering arcane Pokémon questions from excited fans. When the real Oak arrives, the children find his answers inconsistent with those received from James the day before, and ironically finger the real Oak as a fraud. When the two Oaks finally face off, the real Oak slips up in a Pokémon trivia challenge, leaving onlookers to conclude that James is the real deal. In the final test, it is decided that each of the two professors must compose a poem in the style for which Oak is renowned. Professor Oak is confident that poetry—his second love after Pokémon—will secure him victory, but little does he know that James has a hidden knack for verse as well.
Plot
Ash and his friends are sitting in a restaurant eating hamburgers when, over the radio, DJ Mary announces that Professor Oak's radio show is beginning. In this installment of the program, Oak explains that Starmie's blinking crystal is theorized to be used to communicate with beings from outer space. He ends with a poem about Starmie, though Ash and Misty find the poem to be awful. Brock adds that people say that you have to think about Pokémon poetry for a while to truly understand the deeper meaning. Over the radio, DJ Mary announces that she and Professor Oak will be doing a live recording of the show tomorrow at 1:00 pm at the Maroon Town fairgrounds with a follow-up question-and-answer session. Brock is thrilled that Mary will be there as well and rapidly flips through his guidebook to find where Maroon Town is. It is right on the way to Blackthorn City and is only one town away. Excited, the group heads off towards Maroon Town.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket is famished as they stumble their way into Maroon Town. They collapse from exhaustion when Meowth notices one of many posters on the buildings around them. Meowth explains that they are advertising a free public recording of Professor Oak's talk show, and after the taping, there is a free lunch buffet for the stars of the show. The three of them become excited and state that all they have to do is become the stars of the show. They quickly disguise themselves as DJ Mary, Professor Oak, and a producer. Hearing lots of talking, Nurse Joy walks over to greet the disguised Rocket trio. Joy is surprised to see the celebrity guests already in town, but James explains that they simply want to meet their loyal fans as soon as possible. Impressed, Nurse Joy escorts them over to the stage at that moment. At the stage, the three of them hungrily eat all of the food for tomorrow's luncheon. Before she goes off to get more food, Nurse Joy asks if James could answer some questions for the children. James worries about not knowing the answers, so Meowth sits behind him with many books in order to find the answers. One child asks about Farfetch'd's leek stalk, though Meowth cannot find the answer quickly enough so James says that it is a hockey stick. Amazed, the children ask him more questions. Another boy asks why Electric-type attacks do not work on Pokémon like Quagsire even though it is a Water-type. James, after getting the answer from Meowth, explains that Quagsire is also part Ground-type so electricity does not affect it. The children begin to ask many questions too quickly when a group of people carrying cameras appear in front of Jessie. Because they are the DJ Mary Fan Club, they happily welcome DJ Mary to town and ask if they can all take her picture. Team Rocket becomes caught up in all of the excitement. Later, in a hotel's hot spring, they all relax and scheme about all the other freebies that could come their way.
The following morning, the real Professor Oak and DJ Mary arrive in Maroon Town. Nurse Joy says that they already came, and she shows Team Rocket, disguised as the two of them, eating at the breakfast table. The children from the day before, approach the real Professor and say that they don't believe Farfetch'd carries around a hockey stick, it must carry around some sort of root. He clarifies that it is not a root or a hockey stick, but the stem from a plant. The children become angry because the Professor must be lying to them. Ash and his friends walk up to greet the Professor. Brock becomes infatuated with Mary until Misty pulls him away by the ear. Nurse Joy asks if the group can reveal who the people at the breakfast table are. Team Rocket ducks under the table to avoid the twerps' discerning eyes, but Brock is quick to pick out that this DJ Mary’s voice is odd. Jessie shakes Brock silly, and Professor Oak confronts the imposters directly. Team Rocket becomes worried about being caught, so Jessie tells James that their only shot is to play the bluff for all it is worth. Misty suggests a contest in order to prove which Professor is real. Professor Oak is quick to agree to the idea, and James is pushed into accepting the contest's terms.
A disguised Jessie and DJ Mary welcome everyone to the live recording of the radio show, a contest to determine the real Professor Oak. The contest will consist of three questions. The first Professor to answer two of the three correctly will be deemed the winner. Nurse Joy begins reading the first question, "What is the evolved form of Slowpoke that-" when Professor A, the real Professor Oak, says that the correct answer is Slowbro. Although this is correct, there was more to the question. The rest of the question asks what the name of the attack that Slowpoke learns upon reaching level 46. James, disguised as Professor B, does not have a clue; upon the buzzer, he says that he has amnesia. Amnesia, luckily, is the correct answer and earns him the first point. The second question consists of a silhouette that must be identified. James thinks it is the hand of a Sudowoodo while Professor Oak believes it is an Aipom's tail, which is the correct answer. Worried about losing, Meowth comes onstage dressed as the producer and suggests that the last question should be a poetry contest. Concerned, Jessie confronts James who explains that he was the champion stand-up poet in grade-school for three years and even won the Golden Tongue Award. DJ Mary says they need a theme when, from under Meowth's coat, something says Wobbuffet. Everyone agrees and James begins with his poem. Professor A, the real Oak, recites his own poem, but it leaves the audience confused. Nurse Joy is left to deliberate and declares that contestant A is the real Professor Oak. She explains that James's poem had no understanding of Pokémon poetry, which she knows because she is a fifth level master of Pokémon poetry. Joy explains that all of Professor Oak's poems have one thing in common, the power to reassure and relax people. Joy states that James is the fake Oak and an amateur at Pokémon poetry when Wobbuffet falls out from under Meowth's coat.
Upon being found out, Team Rocket remove their disguises before performing their motto. James uses Weezing's Smokescreen to aid their escape in their balloon, along with all the catered lunch. Ash begins to send out one of his Pokémon when Professor Oak sends out a Pidgey that he caught along the way. Pidgey uses Quick Attack to cut the rope carrying the stolen loot. Unsuspecting of Pidgey's power, Team Rocket is blown away by its Gust attack. After Pidgey comes back, the children run up to Professor Oak and apologize for believing he was fake. He does not mind and only wants to talk about Pokémon with the children. Later, hanging from a limb on the side of a cliff, Team Rocket yells for help. James thinks of another poem before the branch finally snaps and sends them plummeting towards the ground.
Major events
- Professor Oak catches a Pidgey.
- For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
- Ash
- Brock
- Misty
- Jessie
- James
- Nurse Joy
- Professor Oak
- DJ Mary
- Children
- DJ Mary fanclub
- Town residents
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Corsola (US and international), Farfetch'd (Japan)
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Togepi (Misty's)
- Wobbuffet (Jessie's)
- Weezing (James's)
- Pidgey (Professor Oak's; new)
- Eevee (child's)
- Farfetch'd (fantasy)
- Blastoise (fantasy)
- Sandslash (fantasy)
- Aipom (image)
Trivia
- The test:
- What is the evolved form of Slowpoke's move learned at level 46?
- Answer: Amnesia
- Identify the silhouette.
- Answer: an Aipom's tail.
- Create a poem about Wobbuffet.
- James: It inflates its psychic self / But light will put it on the shelf / Wobbuffet
- Professor Oak: Wobbuffet / When life is a mystery / It's your answer
- Jessie: Wobbuffet / Has a hair barrette
- The English dub title is commonly interpreted by fans to reference Eminem's hit song "The Real Slim Shady"; however, the line used in that song and in the dub title actually originated from the well-known game show To Tell The Truth.
- The plot of this episode may have been inspired by the Imposter Professor Oak card from the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
- This is the third time a member of Team Rocket has addressed Ash or one of his friends by name. This time, while disguised as DJ Mary, Jessie refers to Brock by name. The first time was in Electric Shock Showdown, and the second time was in Fire and Ice.
- As with most level-up learnsets, Slowbro's has changed since Generation II, when this episode was created and aired, making the first answer no longer correct: Slowbro only learns Amnesia at level 46 during Generation II or in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.
- This is the first episode in which James disguised himself as Professor Oak; the second time was in A Faux Oak Finish!.
- Melody's song from The Power of One can be heard during Professor Oak's Wobbuffet poem.
- This episode does not have a Pokémon Lecture. However, the session theme plays before the radio show at the beginning when the episode starts.
Errors
- When Jessie says that it was Professor Oak's final answer when he gets the first question wrong, her mouth is layered over her glasses.
- When the silhouette of an Aipom's tail appears onscreen, Misty says it is similar to the test in The Ultimate Test, where they saw a Jigglypuff seen from below. In actuality, the Jigglypuff was seen from above.
- In one scene, both Jessie and DJ Mary are missing their socks.
- In one scene, Jessie and DJ Mary appear to be the same height, when Jessie should be taller.
The layering error
Jessie and DJ Mary's missing socks
The incorrect height
Dub edits
- The scene where DJ Mary and Professor Oak confront Jessie and James in their disguises was cut short for the broadcast version of the dub and the first US home video release. After DJ Mary says to Jessie that she is the real Mary, Jessie starts shouting at Mary and Professor Oak that she is the real Mary; DJ Mary is terrified of Jessie's behavior, and she holds on to Professor Oak, jumping up and down with her eyes closed in terror while holding onto him. This was cut from the dub because it looked like a sex act. With this cut, DJ Mary holds onto Professor Oak in fear of Team Rocket for no reason at all. However, the version streamed on Pokémon TV and Prime Video, as well as the second US home video release leaves this scene intact.
- While this scene is cut as well in the Latin American dub, DJ Mary's voice fades out in the middle of a sentence, as does Brock's, all while Jessie's screaming can be heard for only half a second.
An extended shot
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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 Bulgarian
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Кой е истинският Оук? | |
| Mandarin Chinese | 假大木博士，神奇寶貝川柳對決！ | |
 Dutch
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Wil de Echte Oak Nu Opstaan? | |
 European French
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Y a-t-il un Professeur Chen dans l'assistance ? | |
 German
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Der Poké-Reim-Battle | |
 Hebrew
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?מי פרופסור אוק האמיתיmi Professor Oak ha'amiti? | |
 Hindi
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कौन है असली Professor Oak? Kaun hai aasli Professor Oak? * | |
 Italian
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Il falso Professore | |
 Polish
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Kim pan jest, Profesorze Oak? | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Quem é o Verdadeiro Professor Carvalho? |
 Portugal
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O Concurso da Verdade! | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Que el verdadero Profesor Oak se ponga de pie! |
 Spain
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Buscando al auténtico Profesor Oak | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
