 |
|
| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · The National Park & the road from Goldenrod arc (EP161–EP172) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 7 · English episode 164 · Japanese episode 166 · Bulbapedia code EP164 |
| English title | Carrying On |
| Japanese title | ポッポやのでんしょポッポ! Poppo ya no Densho Poppo! — “The Carrier Poppo of the Poppo Store!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 14 September 2000 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 22 September 2001 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Junki Takegami |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | OK! – Rica Matsumoto · Pokémon Hara Hara Rirē (Exciting Pokémon Relay) – Rikako Aikawa |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Mewtwo (US) · Pidgey (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Fossil Fools (EP163) |
| Next episode | Hassle in the Castle (EP165) |
Filler / stand-alone episodePidgey Express
Carrying On is the 7th episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 164th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 166, Bulbapedia code EP164). It first aired in Japan on 14 September 2000 and in the United States on 22 September 2001. It falls within the season’s The National Park & the road from Goldenrod stretch (EP161–EP172).
Synopsis
Ash’s Noctowl rescues an injured carrier Pidgey, leading the gang to a family-run Pidgey Express threatened with closure. A huge Fearow is attacking the little bird, so Noctowl’s Hypnosis convinces it that it is facing a Charizard; the exhausted Pidgey crash-lands on a cliff ledge, and Noctowl soothes it with another Hypnosis before carrying it to safety. Brock bandages its wings, and the backpack it wears leads them to a nearby town and to Malachi, a boy who recognises the bird as Ken.
Malachi’s grandfather Denjirō runs a courier service that delivers post and newspapers to outlying islands by Pidgey, but with aeroplanes and e-mail taking over he plans to shut it down when he retires, despite the boy’s obvious love of the work. Then Nurse Joy on Wayaway Island calls: a Pidgey carrying medicine has gone missing. Malachi, Ash and friends take the training blimp up to search.
Team Rocket are plucking Pidgey from the sky and hiding their balloon in artificial cloud, which Noctowl’s Whirlwind disperses. Arbok dangles by its tail firing Poison Sting until Noctowl’s Hypnosis turns its aim on its own side; Noctowl and Ken rip open the sack, the flock pecks the balloon to bits and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt finishes the job. The medicine is delivered, and Denjirō decides Malachi can one day inherit the Express.
Major Events
- Noctowl reveals Whirlwind
- The Pidgey Express
- Homages to actor Ken Takakura
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Junki Takegami.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Johto story.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Pidgey 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
- The Japanese homages to the actor Ken Takakura are lost.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.