Japanese Title: Blimp Accident!?
Original Airdate: February 4th, 1999
US Airdate: January 8th, 2000
The one where... Ash and Co. flight Spirit Airlines.
Ash, Brock, and Misty prepare for their long journey to Valencia Island to bring back a mysterious Poké Ball for Professor Oak. After discovering that the trip will take a month to get there, Ash manages to win a free blimp ride so it will take only a day! Once on board, they realize the blimp is being powered by Team Rocket! And things only get worse from there!
Tropes
- Bad Boss: Giovanni knew the blimp was dangerous, but let Team Rocket take charge of it anyway.
- Bedsheet Ghost: Jigglypuff becomes wrapped in a tablecloth. The heroes and Team Rocket mistake it for a ghost.
- The Chew Toy: Jigglypuff gets tangled in a rope, is left dangling high in the air, and is splashed with water.
- Crash Course Landing: After defeating Team Rocket and sending them off the blimp, Ash, Misty and Brock notice the gas bags are suddenly leaking, and that they have to work fast to steer and land the blimp with the water tank for the ballast system empty. Thanks to Brock's steering, and Ash and much of their Pokémon running back and forth to create ballast, they are able to crash-land the blimp on Valencia Island, without even getting injured in the landing.
- Hindenburg Incendiary Principle: Averted in that the blimp does not explode when it crash-lands at the end, but earlier when our heroes confront Team Rocket inside the framework, Misty scolds Ash that he can't have Pikachu do electric attacks in a blimp or it will explode, implying the blimp is filled with a flammable gas like hydrogen.
- Insurance Fraud: The only thing Giovanni kept maintained about his blimp is the insurance.
- Just Plane Wrong: Although everyone calls it a blimp, the airship has a rigid metal framework and is more of a Zeppelin.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everybody, when Jigglypuff appears.
- Tempting Fate: On the blimp, Ash hears the floor creaking, then he says he was worried the floor below him was going to collapse, which it does before he can finish the sentence.
- Uriah Gambit: Giovanni sends the Team Rocket Trio on a mission involving the blimp, hoping that it would crash so he could collect the insurance money and getting rid of them.
- Who Is Driving?: Team Rocket realizes no one is piloting the blimp.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Giovanni sends Team Rocket on the blimp so he could collect on their insurance policies when it crashes and possibly kills them.
- You Have Failed Me: He chooses them for it due to their constant failures.
