Ditto’s Mysterious Mansion – Pokémon Season 1, Episode 36

Filler / stand-alone episodeFillerDitto debut

Ditto’s Mysterious Mansion is the 36th episode of Pokémon: Indigo League, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 36th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 37, Bulbapedia code EP037). It first aired in Japan on 9 December 1997 and in the United States on 26 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

As our heroes continue their journey a sudden rain storm comes out of nowhere. Desperately seeking shelter they head over to an isolated mansion in the woods, they enter and announce themselves but no one appears to be home.

Another Pikachu appears, Misty picks it up but its face is distorted, Ash concludes that its a new type of Pikachu and tries to catch it. A girl called Duplika arrives dressed as Ash and reveals that the Pokemon was infact not a Pikachu, but a Ditto. Duplika reveals that Ditto is unable to get its face right when it transforms into another Pokemon, she then challenges “Ashy-boy” to a match. She takes on Ash’s Bulbasaur with a Ditto transformed into a Bulbasaur and wins by default when Ash gives up. She heads into the dressing room in the Theatre of Imite (Imitation, which is clearly her and her Pokemons specialty) and imitiates Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy and Misty. Ash isn’t amused however and is stood around trying to figure out how to beat Ditto.

Duplika states that she wants to become the greatest Ditto master and a big star, and isn’t set to rival Ash, but the only thing getting in the way of her dreams is that Ditto can’t replicate faces properly!

Team Rocket turn up in the Imite House and try to steal Ditto, they then ask Ditto to transform into a Dratini so they can give it to the boss as a present. But Jessie has other ideas and wants Ditto to transform into what her first love would look like as an adult, but she notices the quality problems with the face transformations right away…. Pidgeotto and Zubat find where Team Rocket are holding Ditto and they set off to save it.

Team Rocket have spent a lot of time threatening and pressuring Ditto into transforming properly, and in the end it paid off with Ditto replicating Meowths face perfectly. The group demand they give Ditto back, Jessie and James give Meowth over to Duplika and fly off with Ditto who uses a Meowth bite and escapes their balloon, but Team Rocket not knowing when to quit send out a net cannon, Duplika orders Ditto to replicate it, and returns fire, firing Pikachu and one of his thunderbolts straight at the balloon and blasting Team Rocket off. Duplika tests out her Ditto’s now perfect transformation abilities. The Imite House is now reopened and Duplika’s dreams are now a reality.

The group say their goodbyes to Duplika and Ash (dreaming of a Ditto of his own) and gang head off on their journey.

Major Events

• Debuts: Duplica
• Ditto. Original JP airing previewed EP038.

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Ditto#0132 · EP037

Trivia

• 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

• Fourth paint-free episode
• Dub ending: the Kanto Pokérap (Tuesday segment)

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