Bye Bye Psyduck – Pokémon Season 2, Episode 11

Filler / stand-alone episodeGolduck debut

Bye Bye Psyduck is the 11th episode of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 91st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 93, Bulbapedia code EP091). It first aired in Japan on 8 April 1999 and in the United States on 26 February 2000. It falls within the season’s Island-hopping stretch (EP86–EP92).

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

Synopsis

Our heroes are headed back to Pallet Town to bring Professor Oak the mysterious G.S ball, but decided to stop at an Island for some rest and relaxation on the way. Pikachu and Psyduck are enjoying a ride on Lapras in the shallows, Psyduck falls asleep and rolls off, sinking into the water. Pikachu sounds the alarm, Togepi dances alongside him, fortunately Misty is able to decipher what Pikachu is saying and all the water Pokémon are sent out to search for Psyduck, but to no avail.

Meanwhile however Psyduck has been rescued by a Tentacool and a young woman called Marina in a boat, they arrive at the bit of beach Ash and gang are on and return Psyduck to them. Psyduck seems really pleased to see Misty and runs straight over to her, it’s tail glowing, which Marina seems to think could mean its getting ready to evolve. Ash mentions Golduck and it seems both Misty and Marina are water specialists and both their favourite Pokémon is Golduck, they even both make their own lures.

Marina challenges Misty to a Pokémon battle to see who is the better water trainer. Team Rocket as normal are stalking the Island in their sub looking for Ash and co with a view to stealing Pikachu, they set eyes on them just as Misty and Marina’s battle is starting.

Misty sends out Goldeen to face Marina’s Tentacruel, but after a promising start Misty’s Goldeen is beaten by Tentacruel’s poison sting. It turns out that Marina’s secret is that all of her Pokémon are dual types, and that is her advantage in battle, Misty sends out her Staryu and immediately uses its Swift attack, quickly beating Tentacruel. Next up Marina sends out a very focused, strong looking Psyduck, Misty orders Staryu to attack with watergun, but the Psyduck deflects the attack using its confusion. Misty then attempts to send out Psyduck but throws out an empty ball instead, Ash attempts to throw her backpack over so she can find the ball with Psyduck in, he misses and it lands in the water. As Misty pulls her backpack out of the water, she finds a golduck stuck to the bottom of it, and everyone is amazed at how quickly her Psyduck evolved!

Golduck flexes and showboats while Misty expresses her love for it, the battle then resumes, Marina’s Psyduck sends a huge wave at Misty and Golduck, Golduck turns the wave and sends it straight back their way whilst riding the wave. Team Rocket create a whirlpool underneath it and send it crashing into the water, they capture Marina’s Tentacruel and Psyduck in the process. Misty offers to rescue Marina’s Pokemon from Team Rocket but she declines and says she can get them back herself, Marina sends out Starmie and Misty sends Golduck to help. Team Rocket send their sub straight at Golduck, who uses a powerful psychic attack to pick it up and fling it onto land, Marina rushes over to Team Rocket and their crashed sub and Team Rocket begin their motto.

Team Rocket state that if Marina wants her Psyduck and Tentacruel back then Ash will have to give them Pikachu. Pikachu can’t attack because it would shock Marina’s captive Pokemon. Marina runs to get her Pokemon back herself but Arbok blocks her path, just as Arbok is about to attack her a powerful watergun comes out of nowhere and smashes Arbok against a tree, it’s Golduck, he strides boldly toward everyone, destroys Team Rockets sub, rescues Marina’s Pokémon whilst protecting them from the flames surrounding the subs wreckage and then returns to shore and gives a thumbs up.

Marina and Misty prepare to finish their battle, Marina’s Starmie vs. Golduck, Starmie starts well hitting Golduck with tackle and bubble, Misty commands a hyperbeam attack but Marina uses lightscreen to try and block it, unfortunately for her the lightscreen was put down and Starmie is beaten, Golduck winning the match for Misty. Misty gets a Pokéball out and tells Golduck to return for a rest, but then Psyduck pops out and it turns out that Golduck wasn’t hers at all and it was just a wild one that likes to show off to girls. She declares Golduck as “the Pokémon version of Brock”.

Misty has a psyduck sized headache, her and her friends wave goodbye to Marina and set sail once more.

Major Events

• Misty battles Marina
• Psyduck appears to evolve but the Golduck is a wild show-off
• Golduck’s main-series debut
• Goldeen’s first battle
• US Who’s That Pokémon? is Mewtwo

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Golduck#0055 · EP091

Trivia

• The English title plays on an echo of "Bye Bye Butterfree".
• The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
• 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 Golduck in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Mewtwo in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Tsubaki renamed Marina

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