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| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · The National Park & the road from Goldenrod arc (EP161–EP172) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 14 · English episode 171 · Japanese episode 173 · Bulbapedia code EP171 |
| English title | Power Play! |
| Japanese title | ブラッキー! やみよのたたかい!! Burakkī! Yamiyo no Tatakai!! — “Blacky! Battle During a Dark Night!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 2 November 2000 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 20 October 2001 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| 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? | Shellder (US) · Umbreon (Japan) |
| Previous episode | A Better Pill to Swallow (EP170) |
| Next episode | Mountain Time (EP172) |
Plot episodeGary returnsUmbreon debut
Power Play! is the 14th episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 171st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 173, Bulbapedia code EP171). It first aired in Japan on 2 November 2000 and in the United States on 20 October 2001. It falls within the season’s The National Park & the road from Goldenrod stretch (EP161–EP172).
Synopsis
Ash runs into Gary, whose Eevee has evolved into Umbreon, and the rivals team up to stop Team Rocket’s power-stealing Wobbuffet robot. Ash arrives in time to watch Umbreon dismantle Alex Davis’s Alakazam, shrugging off Psychic, picking the real one out of Double Team and finishing with Hidden Power after a narrow escape from Hyper Beam. Ash’s attempt to show off his own team backfires when Chikorita clings to him, Cyndaquil wanders, Totodile dances and Noctowl nods off, and Gary walks away unimpressed.
In town, the lights go out and the Pokémon Center’s intensive care unit fails. At the hydroelectric plant the trio find the workers tied up and Team Rocket channelling the town’s electricity into a Robo-Mecha Wobbuffet that counters every attack thrown at it. Gary, shadowing the group, spots that the machine is tethered by its cable and has Umbreon cut the cord.
The robot returns pedal-powered by James and Meowth, and Pikachu’s Thunderbolt only recharges it, so Ash feeds it Cyndaquil’s Flamethrower and has Chikorita’s Vine Whip clamp the counter shut, blowing it apart from inside. Ash and Gary jointly fire up the backup generator, with Pikachu’s Thunder Shock topping it off, and Gary admits that Ash has grown stronger; next time, he says, he may be the one issuing the challenge.
Major Events
- Gary returns with his Eevee evolved into Umbreon (Umbreon debut)
- Team Rocket’s power-stealing Wobbuffet robot
- Alex Davis voiced in the dub by a contest winner of the same name
Pokémon making their anime debut
Umbreon#0197 · EP171
Captures and evolutions
- Eevee → Umbreon#0197 · Gary · off-screen
Trivia
- The English title plays on the sports term "power play".
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Umbreon in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Shellder in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- Umbreon’s footwork dodge is called “Agility”, a move it cannot learn.
- Team Rocket Forever plays in Japanese during the Wobbuffet-robot attack.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.