Uhh, how about we just be friends, ok?
Japanese Title: Do Coil Dream of Electric Mice!?
Original Airdate: October 21st, 1997
US Airdate: October 16th, 1998
The one where... Reckless pollution is bad for the environment.
As our heroes make their way through the industrial town of Gringy City, Pikachu, perhaps weary from travel, is in a strange state; the electric sacks on his cheeks are continually twitching as though overcharged. At the town's Pokémon Center, Joy diagnoses Pikachu as being in the first stages of a Pokémon cold. She begins treatment immediately, but the town suddenly goes into a blackout. Assuming the problem to be in the power-generating station near the beach, Ash and friends go to investigate. There they discover the Pokémon, Magnemite and a pack of Grimer—Pokémon created from sludge. What exactly is going on?
Tropes
- Adults Are Useless: While most episodes are focused on the 10-year-old Ash and friends solving people problems, this one is particularly strong on that theme. First the Nurse Joy who checks out Pikachu is overly dismissive, causing Ash to lecture her on bedside manner, then when the power goes out Ash makes it his mission to get it back on, because otherwise the Pokémon in intensive care at the Pokémon Center might die. Not only does the Pokémon Center not have a back-up generator, the adult electric company employees already working on the issue are evidently not competent enough to handle the matter themselves. In the end Ash has to fight off the Grimer and capture Muk in order to get the power back on.Ash: (to Nurse Joy) Miss? Excuse me, but are you, by any chance, the oddball in your family?Nurse Joy: Oh, no. It's the rest of my family who are the oddballs.
- Big Damn Heroes: Magnemite and its group of Magneton appeared at the last minute to save Ash and the group from the Grimer and Muk when all hope seem to have been lost.
- Call-Back: Ash carries Pikachu with the rubber gloves he used in the very first episode.
- Crapsack World: Gringy City, as its name would imply, is an absolutely grimy, over-industrialized city suffering from rampant pollution. In fact many of its former residents have straight up left due to the number of factories in town.
- Dub Induced Plothole: Possibly one of the most nonsensical instances of this trope ever; when Muk is facing Ash and his friends towards the end of the episode, we see it shown at two different angles in two consectuvie shots. In the dub, this was mistaken for two Muks approaching, so Ash declares "An adult Muk...and its child!" But then he only captures one Muk, which according to the dub means that he just separated a parent from its offspring (which, again, is said to be a child Muk rather than a Grimer like one would assume a Muk's child to be.)
- Early-Installment Weirdness: This is the only episode where Muk can be smelled through its Poke Ball.
- End-of-Episode Silliness: Professor Oak receives Ash's Muk, whose rancid odor even escapes the Poké Ball.Prof. Oak: What's the idea of sending me a Muk? Yuck!
- Epic Fail: Team Rocket plans to capture Pikachu through a giant magnet as Pikachu's illness causes his body to be magnetized. However, they use it right after the electrical workers explain why Magnemite no longer follows Pikachu after the later is cured, which causes Team Rocket to attract a lot of Magnemite and Magneton instead, causing the Gyarados sub to sink afterwards, the result...TEAM ROCKET'S SPLASHING OFF AGAIN!
- Eye Catch: Magnemite is the feature of “Who’s That Pokemon?”
- Forgot About His Powers: Other than Pikachu, none of the main characters think to send out their other Pokemon to fight against the army of Grimer. When the Power Plant workers suggest this, Ash simply says that Pikachu can't handle all of them as if Pikachu is their only Pokemon.
- Green Aesop: Clean up the pollution in the ocean and air, or a bunch of sludge-like lifeforms will infest your city's pipes and shut off the power needed for the intensive care.
- Made of Iron: Muk takes a lot of electric attacks before it's weakened enough to capture. Even after being zapped by several Magnemite and Magneton, it still wants to fight, and it takes Pikachu unloading its excess electricity and Magnemite before it finally falls.
- Malaproper:Ash: Magnemite's following Pikachu everywhere, almost like a streaker or something.
Brock: Ash, you mean a stalker! - Monster of the Week: Muk and its Grimer gang.
- Never Say "Die": Averted when James straight up says "Meowth, you nearly killed us!"
- Out of Focus: Team Rocket, strangely enough. After having a dedicated sub-plot of them trying to enter the Pokémon Center through sewers, they disappear from the second half of the episode until the very end where they apparently figure out Pikachu's magnetized body offscreen and try to use a giant magnet to catch him...only to find out that they were too late, and they get a bunch of Magnemite and Magneton instead.
- Red Herring:
- Since the episode focuses on the Magnemite following Pikachu around and saving the day by summoning its friends against the Grimer and Muk, one might believe that Ash will catch Magnemite. In the end, however, Magnemite loses interest in the cured Pikachu and no longer stalks him, while Ash ends up catching the Monster of the Week Muk instead.
- After Team Rocket failed to enter in the Pokémon Center through the sewers, they spot Ash and his friends passing by them to the power plant. One might expect the trio to follow the twerps and ambush them or go through crazy shenanigans with the Grimer gang or Magnemite's friends. However, they do not appear again until the end of the episode, with a plan that is relatively unrelated to their previous build-up save for apparently knowing that Pikachu's illness makes it magnetized...however, what they didn't realize was that Pikachu has been cured and upon activating the magnet they attracted a bunch of Magnemite and Magneton.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Nurse Joy is right that Pikachu had a cold. However, she recommended rest, while what ends up solving it is a massive Thunderbolt discharge to Muk that gets rid of extra pent-up electricity that Pikachu had.
- Shout-Out: To Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Not only is the Japanese title and the polluted city derived from the novel itself, but the electrical workers at the power plant are named Philip and Dick according to the companion pocket guidebook in Japan.
◊ And this wouldn't be the franchise's only reference to the book either. - Sick Episode: Pikachu spends most of the episode with a cold, which causes it to spark and electrocute things without warning.
- Stalker with a Crush: Magnemite followed Pikachu due to it being attracted to Pikachu who had became magnetized due to its cold. After Pikachu dispelled the excess electricity, however, Magnemite lost interest.
