The Flame Pokémon-athon! – Pokémon Season 1, Episode 33

Filler / stand-alone episodeFillerHighest Japanese rating

The Flame Pokémon-athon! is the 33rd episode of Pokémon: Indigo League, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 33rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 33, Bulbapedia code EP033). It first aired in Japan on 11 November 1997 and in the United States on 21 October 1998. It falls within the season’s Fuchsia, the Safari Zone & the Pokémon Shock stretch (EP28–EP38).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

Ash and friends arrive at the Safari zone in search of some new Pokemon when a herd of Tauros charges right nearby. Ash decides he wants to catch one, Pikachu pretends to be asleep so Ash sends in Charmander instead, who is then jumped on by a Growlithe who then proceeds to battle Charmander, Ash is about to send out Squirtle when a trainer on a Ponyta tells them to stop, because its a Pokemon reserve and illegal to catch Pokemon there. It turns out shes Lara Laramie and this is the Big P Pokemon Ranch that is owned by her family. After seeing that Ash and his friends aren’t actually Pokemon thieves she invites them to a party at the ranch that night and telling them about a big race taking place tomorrow.

Another trainer; Dario the Dodrio trainer arrives and taunts Lara that he’s going to beat her in the race tomorrow. During the evenings festivities Dario approaches Lara and tells her the Tauros are going crazy at the ranch, she rushes to sort it out when something startles Ponyta and he throws her off, breaking her elbow. Realising that shes not going to be able to ride Ponyta in the race tomorrow she watches how Ash manages to calm Ponyta.

In the meantime its revealed that Dario did a deal with Team Rocket to cause the disturbance that led to Lara breaking her arm. Later on Lara begs Ash to try and ride Ponyta at the race tomorrow in her stead and he accepts, before having his hand badly burned again. Lara talks to Ponyta and convinces it to let Ash ride it at the race the next day.

Many competitors enter the race on all sorts of different Pokemon but it soon becomes apparent that it’s a two horse race; Ash & Ponyta vs. Dario and Dodrio. But Team Rocket and Dario aren’t there to play fair and one by one racers are sabotaged. Dodrio is the fastest, and due to an electrode exploding thanks to another of Team Rocket’s traps Ash and Ponyta are knocked out briefly. Pikachu shocks them back into action but despite being back in the race they were quite far behind. A PokéPitStop slows Dario and his troublesome Dodrio down a little and Dario prompts Team Rocket to again delay the other racers, Jessie and James start fighting Ash and Misty while Dario races off. Misty tells Ash to go, and he does but not before blasting Team Rocket off with a fire attack. Victory for Dario and Dodrio looked certain, but when Ash and Ponyta managed to draw level, Dodrio pecked Ponytas head and slowed it down, flying ahead once more.

Ponyta reacted to this provocation by evolving into Rapidash, the fastest of all Pokemon and clinched victory by a nose at the finish. An angry Dario and Dodrio attack Ash and Rapidash before Rapidash kicks them into the sunset. Lara directs Ash and his friends to the Safari Zone which is nearby and they say their goodbyes.

Major Events

• Debuts: Sandslash, Nidorina, Ponyta, Rapidash, Electrode, Rhyhorn, Tauros. Highest Japanese rating of the series (18.6%)
• Pokémon Ondo kept in dub. Elements Vol. 2.

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Sandslash#0028 · EP033
• Nidorina#0030 · EP033
• Ponyta#0077 · EP033
• Rapidash#0078 · EP033
• Electrode#0101 · EP033
• Rhyhorn#0111 · EP033
• Tauros#0128 · EP033

Captures and evolutions

• Ponyta → Rapidash#0078 · Lara Laramie

Trivia

• The English title plays on “marathon”.
• The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto story.

Changes in the English Dub

• Laramie banners, festival stalls, ポケモンレースSTART and がんばれサイホーン banners scribbled
• “GOOL” typo left
• Lara’s broken arm becomes “hurt”; she is made a Laramie
• Brock’s age line rewritten
• Dub ending: the Kanto Pokérap (Wednesday segment)
• Pokémon Ondo at the festival is kept with its Japanese lyrics — the only Japanese song 4Kids ever left in Japanese

Part of our Pokémon: Indigo League guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.