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| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · Ecruteak City & the Fog Badge arc (EP181–EP183) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 24 · English episode 181 · Japanese episode 183 · Bulbapedia code EP181 |
| English title | A Ghost of a Chance |
| Japanese title | やけたとう! マツバとうじょう!! Yaketa Tō! Matsuba Tōjō!! — “The Burned Tower! Matsuba Appears!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 18 January 2001 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 10 November 2001 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | OK! – Rica Matsumoto · Boku no Best Friend e (To My Best Friend) – Hiromi Iwasaki |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Raticate (US) · Gengar (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Houndoom’s Special Delivery (EP180) |
| Next episode | From Ghost to Ghost (EP182) |
Plot episodeMorty debutsHo-Oh identified
A Ghost of a Chance is the 24th episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 181st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 183, Bulbapedia code EP181). It first aired in Japan on 18 January 2001 and in the United States on 10 November 2001. It falls within the season’s Ecruteak City & the Fog Badge stretch (EP181–EP183).
Synopsis
Ash reaches Ecruteak City and meets Gym Leader Morty in the haunted Burned Tower, where Gengar’s Shadow Ball shows what awaits him. A fire-breathing hawker named Infernando fails to sell the gang an Itemfinder but succeeds with James, who spends the food money on a “Treasure Detector” that unearths only bottle caps, which James treasures anyway. Inside what they take for the Gym, the trio flee flames that turn out to be illusions cast by Gastly; Noctowl’s Foresight exposes them, and a swarm of Haunter and a Gengar join in until a blond young man calls them off.
Morty explains that this is the Burned Tower, destroyed three centuries ago and now home to the Ghost types he protects, and he identifies the carving Ash recognises as Ho-Oh, though he doubts the boy really saw one. Togepi and Pikachu then vanish into a hole, and Morty sends his Ghosts searching; the pair emerge outside straight into Team Rocket’s hands.
Gengar trips the fleeing trio with its tongue and Morty’s Night Shade frees the captives, who are caught by Haunter and Gastly. Arbok and Weezing dive at Gengar, which vanishes and reappears unharmed, then a point-blank Shadow Ball leaves a crater and blasts Team Rocket away. Ash agrees to battle Morty tomorrow, knowing Gengar will be waiting.
Major Events
- Morty debuts
- Ash learns that the bird he saw in EP001 was Ho-Oh
- James buys an Itemfinder
- Dub working title The Tower Inferno dropped after 9/11
- Banned in South Korea
Trivia
- The English title plays on the idiom "not a ghost of a chance".
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Gengar in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Raticate in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- A shot of the group entering the Burned Tower is skipped.
- Meowth scratching Ash’s face is replaced with stars on a black background.
- The Itemfinder becomes a “Treasure Detector”.
- The dub’s working title The Tower Inferno was dropped after the September 11 attacks; the Fire and Ice VHS still uses it.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.