Ghost wedgies!
Japanese Title: Capture at the Pokémon Tower!
Original Airdate: September 2, 1997
US Airdate: October 7, 1998
The one where... Ash dies. For the first time, at least.
Ash and company travel to Lavender Town to capture a Ghost Pokémon to defeat Sabrina's Psychic-type Kadabara. After several scares in Pokémon Tower, Ash and Pikachu are knocked out by a falling chandelier. Haunter, one of three Ghost Pokémon living in the tower, pulls their spirits out of their bodies and the five fly off for a night of fun where Ash learns more about the fun-loving specters. After they return Ash to his body, he leaves, telling his friends that he couldn't capture any of the ghosts if they didn't want to be captured. While leaving, he discovers that Haunter has decided to follow him, so it is back to Sabrina's gym for a rematch!
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Ash Face: Happens to Brock when Charmander tries to light a candle for him and ends up torching his head too. Later, he fries all three twerps in fear.Brock: Light the candle, not me!
- Astral Projection: Ash and Pikachu both experience this after being knocked out by a chandelier. Apparently, Haunter caused it by manipulating their unconscious bodies somehow. Ash can fly, walk through walls, and apparently still carry things, even lifting Misty high off the ground, although neither she nor Brock can see him.
- Breather Episode: After the team's harrowing encounter with the genuinely unsettling Sabrina in the previous episode, this one is meant to be a lighthearted romp where the main threat are a bunch of silly, harmless prankster Ghost Pokémon. Even Ash's death is a fun and light-hearted affair!
- Corner of Woe: Haunter and Gengar end up here when Ash pans their comedy act.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar are all shadowy, dark-colored ghosts, but they're a friendly bunch and the worst they do is scare people and pull harmless pranks.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Ash's prank early in the episode where he uses a Halloween skull mask to spook Misty, Brock, and Pikachu is not taken well by them. Not only do Misty and Brock angrily scold Ash for his idiotic stunt, but Pikachu gives him a good Thunderbolt zapping as punishment.
- End-of-Episode Silliness: The episode ends with Team Rocket tied up by Gastly and Gengar, forced to ride on a merry-go-round.Jessie: I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE!
James: LET ME OFF! I'M DIZZY!
Meowth: STOP THE RIDE! I WANNA GET OFF!
All: LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S THROWING UP AGAIN! - Falling Chandelier of Doom: A falling chandelier leads to Ash and Pikachu's Astral Projection.
- Flatline Plotline: The first one of many that Ash experiences over the course of the series. It proves to be instrumental in helping him get to know the resident Ghost-type Pokémon better.
- Foil: Compared to the Gastly in "Ghost of Maiden's Peak" just a few episodes prior, all three Ghost Pokémon here are tricksters at worst but friendly and lack any true malice. Despite the darker Pokédex entries in the games, this ends up setting the anime's primary stance on Ghost types: tricksters that can be problematic but aren't totally evil and dark.
- Forced Level-Grinding: This is the main reason why the protagonists go in the first place; to get a new party member who can defeat Sabrina.
- Friendly Ghost: Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar are a friendly bunch and take Ash on a fun adventure during his out-of-body experience.
- Funny Afro: Jessie's hair poofs up after being burned by Charmander, much to her dismay.
- Hollywood Darkness: When the door to the tower closes on the trio, Misty exclaims that it's "pitch black!" It is decidedly not.
- Humiliation Conga: Team Rocket, especially Jessie, is subject to three of these throughout the episode.
- In the first one, James ends up falling down a floor, Meowth gets scared by Gastly and accidentally scratches Jessie's face in the process, which causes Jessie to kick him into the hole with James, and Jessie cries about her scratched face only to see Gastly's face in the mirror, scaring her half to death and causing her to fall down in the hole with the others. And then the floor that broke their fall collapses as well, and they fall down even further.
- The second one is when Ash and his Pokémon investigate the hole Team Rocket has fallen in. Believing that a Ghost Pokémon is lying down there, Ash orders Charmander to use Flamethrower, giving the trio quite the burn. Then Ash throws a Poké Ball, which lands right on Jessie's face. As Jessie swears revenge on Ash for ruining her face, Meowth notices that Jessie's hair is on fire, causing her to run around in terror before crashing into her comrades.
- At the end of the episode, Team Rocket gets captured by Gastly and Gengar, who tie them up and force them to go on the merry-go-round for their amusement.
- Lighter and Softer: Pokémon Tower is a bleak dungeon in the games, being a Pokémon graveyard filled with scary ghosts, possessed Channelers, and eerie music. Here, it's a mundane haunted tower, and the resident ghosts are just a bunch of lovable pranksters who like to watch TV and play with toys when they aren't messing with people.
- Manchild: Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar are all incredibly silly and immature. They even have a toy room that they hang out in when they aren't scaring people.
- Mundane Utility: Ash uses Charmander's Flamethrower as a light source twice.
- Never Say "Die": The dub dances around this. Part of Misty's relief when Ash finally comes to is her saying "You're alive!"
- Non-Malicious Monster: The ghostly trio don't actually mean any harm. Sure they like scaring the hell out of anyone who wanders into their tower, but their activities are no more than harmless pranks, and beneath it all they just want someone to play with.
- Ship Tease: Popular Ash/Misty episode due to the Tears of Joy mentioned below as well as Ash playfully lifting Misty off the ground while he's a ghost.
- Tears of Joy: Misty cries with relief after Ash regains his senses, since she and Brock both thought he was dead.
- Troll: The ghost trio live for messing with anyone who visits the tower. And once he becomes a ghost, Ash gets in on the fun by freaking Misty out and dropping her on top of Brock.
