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| Season | Pokémon: Master Quest (Season 5) · The road to Blackthorn arc (EP239–EP250) |
| Episode | Season 5, episode 32 · English episode 241 · Japanese episode 243 · Bulbapedia code EP241 |
| English title | Hocus Pokémon |
| Japanese title | ポケモンまほうでだいへんしん!? Pokemon Mahō de Daihenshin!? — “A Huge Transformation with Pokémon Magic!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 21 March 2002 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 5 April 2003 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Shinzō Fujita |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Ready Go! – Naomi Tamura · Pokettāri Monsutāri – Kana |
| English opening | Believe in Me – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Dewgong (US) · Murkrow (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Some Like It Hot! (EP240) |
| Next episode | As Clear as Crystal (EP242) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeAsh becomes a Pikachu
Hocus Pokémon is the 32nd episode of Pokémon: Master Quest, the fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 241st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 243, Bulbapedia code EP241). It first aired in Japan on 21 March 2002 and in the United States on 5 April 2003. It falls within the season’s The road to Blackthorn stretch (EP239–EP250).
Synopsis
Walking toward their destination in a forest, Ash and company meet Lilly, a pokémon magician. Lilly explains she is on a quest to find the ingredients she needs to cast a spell that would enable humans to read the minds of pokémon to understand each other. Ash and company agree to help her.
Team Rocket overhears what she is trying to do and realizes they could use the spell to their advantage. Despite Team Rocket’s interference, Lilly is able to get her ingredient at last so she can now create the spell only to discover that the spell continues onto the next page of her book, but on that page the ink is smeared and almost illegible.
Major Events
- Ash turned into a Pikachu (first human→Pokémon)
Trivia
- The book is written in “ancient text from Pokémonia from roughly the age of the third king”. The text shown on the page is based on runes. Most likely the same set used to create the Ancient Mew card.
- The English title plays on “hocus pocus”.
- The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
- 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 Murkrow in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Dewgong in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- Jynx picture in Lily’s book replaced with a flower and a Spinarak/arachnophobia scene cut
Part of our Pokémon: Master Quest guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.