Yeah, we thought we'd spare you that moment.
Japanese Title: Holiday at Aopulco
Original Airdate: April 29th, 1997
US Airdate: June 24th, 2000
The one where... An episode gets banned overseas for the first time.
Tropes:
- Banana Peel: Meowth tosses several in Moe's restaurant, which cause Bulbasaur and Misty to accidentally slip and spill the food on the customers, causing them to leave in disgust.
- Beach Episode: The first episode to feature it, complete with Fanservice.
- Beauty Contest: ''The Porta Vista Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest" featuring Misty, Jessie, James, and Gary's Cheerleading Squad as the contestants. Of course the one-off dub edit removes Jessie and James' involvement in the contest due to the questionable content. Their Pokémon, however, still get to participate.
- Cross Dresser: James's infamous skimpy bikini outfit, complete with inflatable Fake Boobs that puts most to shame.
- Dirty Old Man: The angry restaurant owner Moe immediately calms down after seeing Misty (who's in her swimsuit), saying that she'll be fun in eight years. The English dub changed to "you remind me of my granddaughter"... which actually makes it worse considering he still has that lustful gaze.
- Dub Personality Change: In the Japanese version, Misty is a Tomboy with a Girly Streak Proud Beauty who gladly enters the beauty contest. The English dub tones her down and makes her more tomboyish by having her complain about the show, but implying that she secretly likes it.
- Dub Text: Misty's whispered, dub-only rant on the stage about how degrading the beauty contest is — which sounds like the writers throwing a bone to the Moral Guardians — only comes once she's on the stage and long after she announces her own desire to participate, so it really comes off as if Misty's in blatant denial.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The episode stems from a period when Game Freak didn't have as strict regulations on the anime, hence all the fanservice and the Dirty Old Man jokes.
- Eye Catch: The Who's That Pokémon answer is Brutella in the Japanese version and Pidgeotto in the dub.
- Eyelid Pull Taunt: Jessie does this to Ash and company after the customers that they failed to gain enter in rival Brutella's restaurant. They also do this when Brutella announces that Moe's got to pay up or lose his prized boat to her.
- Fake Boobs: A rather controversial one that caused the episode to be skipped off the US broadcast entirely. The scene in question occurs during "The Porta Vista Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest," where Jessie AND James compete against Misty in a bikini showcase. James in particular has two oversized inflatable breasts that even make Jessie's look tiny in comparison, and the two make fun of Misty's relatively undeveloped ones. All scenes featuring James's fake breasts were edited out in the one-off airing that came much later in the dub.
- Fan Disservice: James's bikini and fake inflatable boobs spoils any Fanservice potential in the beauty contest, turning it into cringe comedy. It was too much for 4Kids to show that scene even when they finally broadcast it in the US.
- Only in It for the Money: Misty's only reason for entering in the Bikini Contest is to get the prize money to repay the damages. Of course this is only in the dub as in the original, Misty actually adores the spotlight (hence why she looks happy despite supposedly being embarrassed at this, and why she went Ocular Gushers when James mocked her with his inflatable fake breasts).Misty: This is totally embarrassing and degrading but we need the money.
- This line from Misty is despite the fact that even in the English version, she volunteers to participate.
- The Rival:
- Moe's restaurant rival is Brutella, who isn't above of hiring Team Rocket to sabotage her competition.
- Gary Oak returns after being physically absent since the first episode and is just as egotistical and a jerkass to Ash. This also marks the first time that Misty and Brock meet Ash's rival.
- Shout-Out:
- Team Rocket gives one to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
James: We'll scare the wallets out of those beach bums and live the life of the rich and infamous.Meowth: Champagne wishes and catnip dreams here we come!- The town of Porta Vista is called Aopulco in Japanese, which seems fairly obviously a reference to the Mexican resort city of Acapulco.
- The English title is a reference to Beauty and the Beast.
- Verbal Tic: In the Japanese version, Brutella would often add "baba" to the end of her sentences, referencing her Japanese name Obaba. This does not occur in the dub, as the joke would not have translated well. A gag is changed later in the episode, where at one point Jessie accidentally does the same thing in the Japanese version (adding "baba" to the end of what she is saying before correcting herself), whereas in the dub Jessie briefly unintentionally imitates Brutella's voice.
