Stage Fight – Pokémon Season 2, Episode 10

Filler / stand-alone episodeWithdrawn from rotation (Jynx)

Stage Fight is the 10th episode of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 90th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 92, Bulbapedia code EP090). It first aired in Japan on 1 April 1999 and in the United States on 12 February 2000. It falls within the season’s Island-hopping stretch (EP86–EP92).

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

Synopsis

Ash and friends are watching a Pokemon stage production all about a Hitmonchan defeating his rival, Machoke in boxing and its partner, Clefable hoping it would then get out of fighting forever. Togepi decides it would like to get a closer look and runs backstage, their Ash and co find the voice actors behind the movie but are then approached by a member of the stage crew who angrily tells them to keep their voices down backstage, she also asks Ash if thats his Pikachu and states it must be nice to be so close.

Meanwhile on the stage the PokéCast of the production thank everyone for watching and begin a dance. The crew member who approached Ash and co tries to call out her Raichu to go on stage and dance with the other Pokémon, but the Raichu seems sad and doesn’t want to go on stage.

The production team allow Ash and friends to accompany them on their boat to the next Island, Ash asks if theres anything he can do to thank them and the production manager, Roger asks if Ash could give Kay (the owner of Raichu) some advice on how to have a better relationship with Raichu, Ash agrees. Team Rocket are following the ship in their sub.

Ash begins giving Kay some advice, and asks to see them perform together but Raichu isn’t forthcoming and gently shocks Kay away, Ash approaches and pats the Raichu but is then shocked quite hard as thanks.

Later on Ash finds Kay looking sad and asks her if maybe her Raichu is afraid of her, but Kay says its her fault because she’s the one whose afraid, she explains that the day her and Raichu met she was so happy and gave Raichu a big hug, Raichu got excited too and accidentally gave her a little shock causing her to fling Raichu and it fell on the floor and then started to cry, since then Kay has been afraid of Raichu and as a result Raichu is constantly nervous around her. Ash convinces her that she can make it work and Kay agrees.

Suddenly Team Rocket begin attacking the ship, disabling it with Torpedos. The group see Raichu hiding on deck behind some boxes, but Team Rocket hit the ship with another Torpedo, knocking Raichu into the air, Kay dives and saves Raichu from the fall and holds onto it, she doesn’t seem afraid anymore. Team Rocket then interrupt and tell Ash to do what they say, he disagrees, but then Roger tells Ash to just do as they say because otherwise Jessie and James will blow up the Showboat, and thats all they have. Team Rocket tie everyone up and begin to pick which Pokémon to steal first.

Roger and the rest of the production team all get up and walk together, still bound. They peer through the stage area and start doing voice acting like they’d do in their show, to Team Rocket’s eyes their Pokémon are actually talking, none the less they continue to battle them, using a smokescreen they get away from all of the actor Pokémon, Ash and co get free just in time to catch up to them and attack with Marrill and Pikachu. Kay finds Raichu cowering in a corner and approaches it, despite getting an initial shock Kay holds onto Raichu and tells him it’s ok, and it seems the pairs troubles are behind them!

But Team Rocket aren’t done yet, and come back one last time to get shocked by Pikachu and finally to be sent blasting off by a Mega Punch from Raichu. The showboat continues its journey to the next port and Ash and co call Professor Oak to tell him about all the stuff that happened, Kay then comes running down the pier and shouts Ash, telling him that something has happened to Roger, one of the voice actors and because Weezing’s smokescreen has damaged his voice he can’t perform, and the show is about to start! It sounds as though the imminent show is going to be cancelled unless they get another voice actor, but Raichu volunteers Kay to take the main role and Ash and Pikachu even help the performance.

Once again Ash and friends help save the day and the show is a great success, their Pokémon journey continues.

Major Events

• Kay’s stage-shy Raichu on the Pokémon Showboat
• Marill’s first Water Gun
• A Jynx dances in the finale
• Withdrawn from English-language rotation (Jynx)
• Aired in Japan on the series’ second anniversary

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Hideki Sonoda.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Orange Islands story.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Raichu in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Golduck in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Withdrawn from English-language rotation because of Jynx (on screen for about 38 seconds) — missing from Netflix, Pokémon TV and the 2015 Complete Collection
• The Japanese finale dance uses Mezase Pokémon Master; the dub swaps in an early Pokémon World with gaps where nobody sings
• The “Pikachu Appears” cue cut, so Kay’s poem plays in silence; the first dub episode to use music from the English Pikachu’s Vacation

Part of our Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.