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| Season | Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) · Grotle, Barry, the Relic Badge & Canalave arc (DP098–DP104) |
| Episode | Season 11, episode 51 · English episode 566 · Japanese episode 570 · Bulbapedia code DP103 |
| English title | Jumping Rocket Ship! |
| Japanese title | 混戦混乱ミオシティ！ Konsen Konran Mio Shiti! — “Chaotic Melee in Mio City!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 20 November 2008 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 25 April 2009 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Hai Tatchi! (High Touch!) – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) & Hikari (Megumi Toyoguchi) · Ashita wa Kitto (Surely Tomorrow) – Kanako |
| English opening | We Will Be Heroes – Kirsten Price |
| Previous episode | Shield with a Twist! (DP102) |
| Next episode | Sleepless In Pre-Battle! (DP104) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeCanalave CityMeowth’s fake defection
Jumping Rocket Ship! is the 51st episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 566th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 570, Bulbapedia code DP103). It first aired in Japan on 20 November 2008 and in the United States on 25 April 2009. It falls within the season’s Grotle, Barry, the Relic Badge & Canalave stretch (EP98–EP104).
Shown in the UK on 16 April 2009, nine days before its Cartoon Network premiere on 25 April.
Synopsis
Ash, Dawn, Brock and Barry fly into Canalave City by blimp, where Jessie and James, disguised as an air hostess and a photographer, offer the group a commemorative photograph. Barry reluctantly sends out only Empoleon while the others release their whole teams, and when the Trainers step aside as instructed, they drop into a pitfall and the “camera” fires a net over the Pokémon. Jessie reveals herself and begins the motto, but Empoleon’s Hydro Pump and Chimchar’s Flamethrower collide with Seviper’s Haze and Carnivine’s Bullet Seed in a huge explosion that scatters every Pokémon across the city. Pikachu, Pachirisu, Mime Jr. and Meowth land together, and Meowth hatches a plan: win Pikachu’s trust by claiming that he wants to quit Team Rocket and travel with the twerps, then capture it along with the others. He backs up the claim with an invented sob story.
Ash, Dawn, Brock and Barry bicker as they cross a bridge in search of their Pokémon and spot Staravia and Gliscor looking for Ash. Team Rocket try to snatch them from their balloon, and James launches a decoy female Staravia, which Staravia chases off into the woods, but when Jessie asks for a decoy Gliscor, James admits he has not made one, and Gliscor’s X-Scissor brings the balloon down. Croagunk drifts past on a boat, unconcerned. Elsewhere, Empoleon, Piplup, Happiny and Grotle wander the city as Piplup insists it knows the way and leads them into dead end after dead end, Happiny carrying the tired Grotle. Ash’s group find Sudowoodo, Buneary, Swinub, Ambipom, Buizel and Chimchar, while Team Rocket recover most of their own Pokémon. When both sides spot Meowth’s party across a lake, Meowth runs off with Pikachu, Mime Jr. and Pachirisu, and Pikachu grows suspicious.
The groups finally reunite in the streets, and Meowth repeats his tale; the twerps are doubtful at first but come round, feeding him and Mime Jr. Poffins and suggesting that a talking Meowth could become a TV personality. Tempted, Meowth heads with them to the Pokémon Center to call Sinnoh Now’s Rhonda about a media career, until they all fall into another of Team Rocket’s pits. Mime Jr. runs back to James, but Meowth stays with the twerps, and Barry tells the trio that Meowth has left them for good. When Empoleon’s Hydro Pump and Buizel’s SonicBoom knock Jessie and James into a heap, Meowth remembers his years with the team, turns on Empoleon with Fury Swipes and declares that he belongs with Team Rocket, and the heroes’ Water-types blast all three of them away together, Meowth looking happier than ever. Staravia returns, Croagunk reappears just in time to jab a smitten Brock, and the friends see Barry off to train on Iron Island.
Major Events
- The group fly in by blimp with Barry
- Team Rocket’s photo trap scatters everyone’s Pokémon across the city
- Meowth fakes a defection, then returns to Team Rocket
- Barry leaves for Iron Island
Trivia
- The English title plays on “jumping ship”, for Meowth’s fake defection.
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The DVD prints the title as Jumping Rock Ship!
- Japanese voices can still be heard under the English ones
- The English title-card music changes
Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.