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| Season | Pokémon: Indigo League (Season 1) · Christmas, Mewtwo & the road to Indigo arc (EP64–EP73) |
| Episode | Season 1, episode 70 · English episode 70 · Japanese episode 72 · Bulbapedia code EP070 |
| English title | Go West, Young Meowth |
| Japanese title | ニャースのあいうえお Nyāsu no Aiueo — “Nyarth’s A-I-U-E-O” |
| First aired (Japan) | 12 November 1998 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 9 October 1999 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Takeshi Shudō |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mezase Pokémon Master (Aim to Be a Pokémon Master) – Rica Matsumoto · Type: Wild – Rica Matsumoto |
| English opening | Pokémon Theme – Jason Paige |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Onix (US) · Meowth (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Lights, Camera, Quack-tion! (EP069) |
| Next episode | To Master the Onixpected! (EP071) |
Plot episodeMeowth’s backstory
Go West, Young Meowth is the 70th episode of Pokémon: Indigo League, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 70th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 72, Bulbapedia code EP070). It first aired in Japan on 12 November 1998 and in the United States on 9 October 1999. It falls within the season’s Christmas, Mewtwo & the road to Indigo stretch (EP64–EP73).
Synopsis
It’s a beautiful morning in Pallet Town and Ash and Brock are up with the sun getting ready for the Pokemon League competition. Just then the postman arrives with an invitation to the world premiere screening of a new Pokemon movie called “Pokemon in Love” being shown in Hollywood, California! It’s the movie Ash and co helped film in the previous episode. Everyone is really excited about going, especially because it’s the movie that they’re meant to be in! even Ash whose meant to be training for the Pokemon League decides to come along.
Team Rocket are also looking at a billboard for the movie, and Jessie and James really want to see it. Meowth however isn’t enthusiastic about returning to Hollywood, he starts to reminisce about how he lived alone, hungry and lonely on the streets but after seeing a Hollywood movie with a really pampered Meowth in it he went there, inspired to follow his dreams.
Back in reality, Ash, his mom and friends arrive at Hollywood to find that the place where the Premiere is, is actually a run down dump compared to the Hollywood they imagine. Team Rocket are watching on as Ash and co arrive at the cinema, Meowth states “This ain’t the town it used to be” before walking off to take care of “some personal business”. He begins to reminisce again about how he was chased from restaurants etc, until he met a Persian and some other Meowth who threw him a bone, literally. Together he and his group broke into various foot outlets and stole all they could eat, and then he spotted a rather pampered female Meowth in a store across the street, rushing over to greet “Meowsy” he caused a traffic pileup. Meowsy completely rejected Meowth and said he could never be human and give her the things that her rich trainer could, they sped off in a car and left Meowth crying in the streets wishing he could be more human. So Meowth started watching dancing lessons etc and learned to stand on two legs, he also started listening in on speech lessons and learned to speak and read, all so he could have a chance for Meowsy to want him. The first word he read in a book was ROCKET.
Meowth heads back to the store where he met Meowsy and takes her some flowers, but she still rejects him, calling him a dirty street Meowth and a freak thats even worse than before. This is what gave Meowth the determination to become rich and powerful, and hence join Team Rocket. Just then he is approached by his old gang who want him to rejoin, Meowth says no and that he is sticking with Team Rocket, it’s then revealed that Meowsy is no longer a posh pampered Meowth and is now part of the gang. She explains that her owner moved away and abandoned her when she ran out of money, leaving her on the streets to fend for herself, this is when the gang took her in. Meowth talks to Meowsy and says he wants to take her with him, Persian objects to this and the other Meowth advance on him, Jessie and James turn up to save him and send Arbok and Weezing after the gang, leaving Meowth in a showdown against Persian, who Meowth manages to defeat. Meowsy rushes past Meowth and straight to check on Persian, licking his wounds, explaining that the Persian took her in when she had nothing and it wouldn’t be right to abandon him. Meowsy then goes on to call Meowth a walking, talking freak.
Ash and co finish watching the movie they were supposed to be in, but all the bits with them in were apparently cut. They’re also not overly sure it’s blockbuster material. Team Rocket burst onto the stage, do nothing inparticular and then leave. Meowth gazes at the nights sky from a rooftop, wondering if maybe Meowsy is looking at the Moon too.
Major Events
- — Meowth’s backstory (Meowzie
- Learning to speak and walk
- Joining Team Rocket). Debut: Meowzie. Storyboarded by Yuyama
- DVD cover title “Hollywood Heartbreak”
- GBA Video Vol. 4
- All-Stars Vol. 11. Lecture: Geodude.
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Takeshi Shudō.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Meowth in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Onix in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- “Pokémon Movie” erased from invitation, billboard, map and marquee
- Licence-plate text
- Picture-book letters swapped
- The fictional “Holywood” becomes Hollywood, California
- Dub ending: Pikachu’s Jukebox — 2.B.A. Master
- Meowth sings Nyarth no Uta; the dub keeps the melody with new lyrics
Part of our Pokémon: Indigo League guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.