Japanese Title: Southern Pokémon and the GS Ball
Original Airdate: February 11th, 1999
US Airdate: January 15th, 2000
The one where... We get introduced to a certain PokeBall. (And Brock leaves)
After making a crash landing onto Valencia Island, our heroes get directions to Professor Ivy's laboratory where the mysterious Pokéball is being held. Once at the laboratory, Brock realizes that Professor Ivy and her group of scientists are Pokémon breeders just like him! Suddenly Brock begins to feel at home and thinks about staying for awhile to continue his studies on Pokémon breeding.
Tropes
- Cliffhanger: Ash and Misty are left unconscious in a blimp without a pilot.
- Expospeak Gag: When Professors Ivy and Oak exchange greetings over the phone, they trade compliments on the others' research articles, both of which have long and elaborate titles that boil down to "regional differences in pokémon" and "human-pokémon relations", respectively.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Team Rocket are able to rebuild the blimp in less than a day.
- Genius Slob: Professor Ivy and her assistants are so busy with research that can't keep house. This is where Brock steps in to help.
- Gentle Giant: Professor Ivy's Gyarados is surprisingly nice. Ash wishes he could get Charizard to act like that.
- Hindenburg Incendiary Principle: The blimp Team Rocket has captured Ash and Misty on is filled with inflammable hydrogen gas, and Ash is warned not to have Pikachu use any electric attacks or the blimp will burst into flames...Jessie: Hold it! This blimp is a giant flying inflammable gas tank!James: If your Pikachu uses its' Thunderbolt..Meowth: We'll all go Pika-BOOM!
- Just Plane Wrong: Team Rocket claims the blimp is filled with hydrogen, an unstable gas that would cause the airship to ignite.
- MacGuffin: The GS Ball.
- No-Sell: The GS Ball endures everything, from saws to lasers, and can't be teleported.
- Put on a Bus: Brock's first departure from the series.
- Shipper on Deck: In an incredibly funny scene, Team Rocket when they capture Ash and Misty:James: Jessie, I think we've accidentally captured a pair of very romantic creatures in our little cage!Jessie: (making lovey-dovey eyes) You mean? Daaaaawwww!Meowth: Dey're loveboids!Ash: (Ash and Misty look at each other for a second before turning away, blushing) -You're crazy!Misty: Crazy is right! Never in a million years!Jessie: (Jessie and James are doubled over while Meowth is rolling on the floor) But you're blushing!James: Kissy, kissy!
- Skewed Priorities: Ash is hesitant to take the blimp back because the food was bad and there wasn't a movie... rather than because it was run by Team Rocket and crashed.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Jessie disguises as a male pilot as part of her and James's plan to capture Ash and Misty on board the rebuilt blimp, by simply combining her pilot outfit with a fake mustache and deepening her voice a bit.
- Theme Naming: Professor Ivy's three assistants are named Faith, Hope, and Charity in the English dub, after the three Christian Theological Virtues outlined by medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas
