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| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · Festivals, balloons & the first Gen III Pokémon arc (EP201–EP207) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 45 · English episode 202 · Japanese episode 204 · Bulbapedia code EP202 |
| English title | The Big Balloon Blow-Up |
| Japanese title | ポケモンききゅうだいレース! あらしをこえて!! Pokemon Kikyū Dai Rēsu! Arashi o Koete!! — “The Big Pokémon Balloon Race! Get Past the Storm!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 14 June 2001 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 25 May 2002 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Shōji Yonemura |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mezase Pokémon Master (Whiteberry version) – Whiteberry · Maemuki Rocket-dan! (Face Forward Team Rocket!) – Team Rocket |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Remoraid (US) · Fearow (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Doin’ What Comes Natu-rally (EP201) |
| Next episode | The Screen Actor’s Guilt (EP203) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeBalloon Race – joint win
The Big Balloon Blow-Up is the 45th episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 202nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 204, Bulbapedia code EP202). It first aired in Japan on 14 June 2001 and in the United States on 25 May 2002. It falls within the season’s Festivals, balloons & the first Gen III Pokémon stretch (EP201–EP207).
Synopsis
Ash pilots a Pikachu-shaped balloon in a Pokémon Balloon Race that Team Rocket sabotage from the sky. A marker ball lands near the gang, dropped from a Fearow balloon flown by Skyler, who is training for the race; his father Tenma, a designer of Pokémon-themed balloons, lends Ash a Pikachu balloon so that he can enter. Noctowl tows it so hard on the practice run that it nearly tips over.
Meowth, genuinely smitten with ballooning, talks his partners into entering for the prize of an advanced burner, but Jessie and James spend the night before tampering with the other entries. At the start most balloons fail at once, Weezing’s Smog and Arbok’s Poison Sting pick off more, and an outraged Meowth scratches his teammates and gets tied up for it. James’s jet engine punches the Meowth balloon through a storm.
When Ash’s burner shorts out, Cyndaquil’s Flamethrower keeps the envelope hot and Noctowl heaves them over a mesa. James switches to missiles, injuring Ash’s shoulder, so Noctowl carries Pikachu across while Skyler’s Fearow draws fire and Drill Pecks the launcher and engine to pieces; Pikachu’s Thunderbolt destroys the balloon and blasts the trio away. Ash and Skyler both land bullseyes and share the win, and Ash gives the burner to the family who will actually use it.
Major Events
- Ash and Skyler are joint winners of the Pokémon Balloon Race
- Marc Thompson’s first major dub role
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
- 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 Fearow in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Remoraid in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.